Thread by @PrasannaVighne

#Reccos THREAD: I think YouTube is undervalued as a source of learning. There's an ocean of free knowledge, obscure philosophy lectures, long-lost history shows, and science explainers that we can train the algorithm for. It is THE desert-island website. Here I'm curating a list-

- of some such YT videos and playlists on history, philosophy, science, and art. Of course, these are all good things to get introduced to ideas and cannot and do not replace reading about them in books and such..

1/n: John Berger's 'Ways of Seeing': a 1972 BBC series of "visual essays that raise questions about hidden ideologies in visual images."
Introduction here: ubu.com/film/berger_se…
Watch here:
youtube.com/playlist?list=…

2/n Alain de Botton's 'Consolations of Philosophy' - a good introduction to the history of major ideas of western philosophy. It skims the surface of its subjects and falls short in the right way - leaving us dissatisfied, wanting to know and read more.
youtube.com/playlist?list=…

3/n 1993's 'A Glorious Accident', a Dutch TV show that had some controversial figures (S. J Gould and Sheldrake) among some really credible ones (Dennet, Dyson, and Sacks), discussing science, ideas, and philosophy.

youtube.com/playlist?list=…

4/n Another introductory video for some ideas and their people: 'The Four Horsemen' - ""On the 30th of September 2007, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens sat down for a first-of-its-kind, unmoderated 2-hour discussion."
youtube.com/playlist?list=…

5/n
'A History of Philosophy': A great series of lectures, all 80 of them, from Arthur Holmes, an English philosopher who taught at Wheaton. Despite his bias towards Christianity which I am not happy abt, the series of lectures do seem to be first-rate!

youtube.com/playlist?list=…

6/n 'Men of Ideas', another British show from the 70s, featuring 15 interviews with then-contemporary philosophers:
youtube.com/playlist?list=…

7/n 'The Great Philosophers', another Bryan Magee show where he talks to modern philosophers about the older historical thinkers, ideas, and movements.
youtube.com/playlist?list=…

8/n What an awesome collection of lectures and videos! This would be what a Will Durant history podcast might look like. #History #Philosophy

youtube.com/playlist?list=…

9/n: 'Connections' - another good TV series. Burke also has a book by the same name:
#Science #History #Connections
youtube.com/playlist?list=…

10/n: the original 'Cosmos' from Carl Sagan:
#Science #Cosmos

youtube.com/playlist?list=…

11/n: 'Civilization' - the full series from Kenneth Clark.
#History #Documentary

youtube.com/playlist?list=…

12/n: Nehru's 'Discovery of India' captured on screen in 53 episodes by Shyam Benegal in 'Bharat, Ek Khoj': youtube.com/playlist?list=…
#History #India #Documentary

13/n: Speaking of Benegal, here's his 2014 series about the making of the Indian constitution:
#India #History #Documentary #Politics
youtube.com/playlist?list=…

14/n: Sean Caroll's 'The Biggest Ideas in the Universe', a series about, well, ideas like Emergence, Cosmology, Atoms, Change, Time, etc.
#Science
youtube.com/playlist?list=…

15/n: a 1980 TV show, ‘Oppenheimer’, starring Sam Waterston in the titular role. I have only seen the first couple, but it’s really well written (though not as well directed). It’s also accurate I hear. Will watch before Nolan’s #Oppenheimer next year.

youtube.com/playlist?list=…