Kurzgesagt tends to push a lot of pseudoscience (e.g. carbon capture tech) and other stuff following the investment interests of their founders.
I like their animation style and honestly I wish they used proper data sources, however if you check the sources they mention on some of their more dubious videos they all come from some made up source.
This is particularly upsetting with everything related to parroting whatever Bill Gates is pushing (artificial meat, carbon capture, inequality is the teacher's fault, climate change isn't that bad, etc.)
Ys. It didn’t feel very convincing, nor did they actually address the issue of them citing a company Bill Gates owns in order to support another one he owns.
Seeing where the money is is a good way to see why someone says what they do. That’s disappointing. I’m mostly there for their space videos personally and so far there doesn’t seem to be any propaganda there.
Climate Town - Does a decent job explaining climate-related topics and still makes them interesting.
Jay Foreman - Very funny map trivia.
JerryRigEverything - A bit too much promotion on some stuff, but really comprehensive tear downs.
MIT OpenCourseWare - learn good.
Pop Culture Detective - Deconstructive pop culture tropes that make you think a lot.
SNES drunk - retrogaming (not just SNES) but well done, 0% additives just prime content.
stacksmashing - electronics trivia and hardcore reverse engineering.
The National Gallery - If you're into history, this is an excellent channel about art trivia. I'm not much into art and this is always top quality for me.
Tom Scott plus - Tom Scott does British telly stuff like playing board games or chasing people on the streets with an apple tag.
Voices of the Past - This is slow, exhaustive history for nerds. Worth it if you want to let the story wash all over you.
Vox - slightly left leaning great journalism, albeit sometimes too brief to explain complex topics.
Weird History - They get some stuff wrong, but it's still entertaining.
Project Farm - Wanna buy an angle grinder? Now you do.
Insider - Had a series of "How Real Is It?" videos that let professionals describe stuff seen in movies, and it is both entertaining and a learning experience.
Corridor - Some stuff of dubious quality but if you're interested in FX, it's good.
LegalEagle - Law is hard, but is law fun?
brian david gilbert - Existential horror camouflaged as comedy.
PBS Space Time - Good but hard space science.
BurtBot - Orcs with normal voices.
Joel Haver - Neat if you're into deadpan humor.
Taskmaster - Probably some of the best british television available in YT.
Bonus round:
Practical Engineering - How stuff is built but explained well enough that even I can understand it.
Plus, use FreeTube, not You Tube. Don't be a slave of their terrible algorythm and all the recommendations will turn out to be of your taste.
Ben Eater. He’s been explaining the low level details of how computers work. Literally building a functioning computer from nothing but a cpu and a breadboard. Incredibly good explanations.
In the same vein, check out CuriousMarc, especially the series about restoring an Apollo Guidance Computer to working order. (They actually finish up by simulating a moon landing.)
And for those who have watched all Ben Eater’s videos, I highly recommend James Sharman’s . I’ts a bit less step-by-step-tutorial, but it covers more ground than Ben.
Kurzgesagt RULES, I am a Patreon and I LOVE their work. Doesn’t watch it now because I grew out of the style and prefer more scientific content but I support them for what they put out for the next generation
Besides his educational content, he also has some pretty good (still somewhat educational) game show type series, like Citation Needed and Two Of These People Are Lying (links to the playlists).
Also runs a podcast game show called Lateral which is pretty fun to listen to. Last I checked only highlights were uploaded to YouTube, and full episodes are on typical podcast services
Some More News - a disheveled and sarcastic anchor does a deep dive into a current topic
Contrapoints - an ex-philosopher does a really deep dive into a topic (sometimes a concept or a phenomenon, sometimes a particular person or event), with incredibly high production value and costumes. Unfortunately this means she only puts out 2 videos a year, but they're now usually 1-2 hours long.
Podcasts - some have YT channels, but often no video, so if you're looking for something to watch, this may not be helpful
Behind the Bastards - a deep dive (often 2+ hour+ episodes) into different historical or current terrible people
Maintenance Phase - two journalists talk about various health, diet, and wellness scams and misconceptions
If Books Could Kill (no YT channel) - Michael Hobbes from Maintenance Phase and Peter from 5-4 talk about "airport books"--bad pop science books
You're Wrong About - Sarah Marshall and Michael Hobbes (until late 2021) talk about pop culture misconceptions, everything from O.J. to the Satanic Panic to Iran-Contra and more.
Sort of in the same vein is NotJustBikes, who has really great insight on subpar American infrastructure compared to other developed countries.
(https://youtube.com/@NotJustBikes)
Tom Scott, he has done a video every week for like 10 years. Sort of a science travel adventure nerd. His videos are generally short and interesting.
Veritasum - Science guy with some interesting topics
Donut Media - If you like cars, they do some interesting and funny things while not being complete asshats.
The Proper People - Abandoned places, nice videos and respectful exploration.
Cash Jordan - Gives tours of NYC apartments from tiny studio apartments up to multi-million dollar penthouses.
Geography Geek - A lot of interesting geography-related facts.
Knob Feel - Short and sweet reviews of various knobs.
Vice Grip Garage - If you are interested in how old cars are repaired and have lots of time, he has many ~1.5 hour videos of dragging old cars out of the bushes that haven’t ran for 20 years, getting them mostly running, and driving them home.
Polyphonic - Interesting video essays about various music and musical artists.
Definitely want to highlight Townsends, OverlySarcasticProductions, Kurzgesagt. I would add EEV Blog (for electronics enthusiasts) and Five Watt World for music folks (mostly guitar).
Adam Something - Mostly about civil engineering and public transportation, but also a ton of commentary on the right wing from a European leftist perspective.
Ladyknightthebrave - Film theory and criticism.
King Arthur Baking - Just solid baking videos.
Tasting History with Max Miller - Cooking show about historical foods with brief dives into the dish’s history.
Oversimplified - Short animated videos on history.
F.D. Signifier - Black leftist takes on society, politics, and pop culture.
Lindsay Ellis - Now retired from YouTube due to harassment, but excellent film theory and criticism, originated the current film theory video format.
Chinese Cooking Demystified - Chinese cooking videos that focus on how it’s actually done in China.
All Gas No Brakes/Channel 5 - Modern gonzo documentary news.
Breadsword - Film theory and criticism.
Contrapoints - Leftist trans commentary on philosophy, political theory, pop culture, and basically everything.
Luetin09 - Incredibly deep dives into Warhammer 40,000 lore.
He had to rebrand as Channel 5 News. The initial investor for AGNB retains the trademark to that name.
He’s since left YouTube and is Patreon-only now. A real shame too, he does some really great work, but not enough that I’m willing to pay a sub for it.
He hasn’t released anything on YouTube since his movie came out. After that he went Patreon only, though Im sure the public scrutiny played a large role.
Most likely. The allegations appear to be at least partly disputed, but not really clear if it’s all going anywhere. His journalism is pretty solid despite his personal conduct, at least what he’s admitted to, being fairly shitty and/or gross.
Gotta give a shout out to Oculus Imperia for warhammer content! Not exactly for watching so much as listening, but his narration is impeccable and all of his stuff I’ve seen has been of top quality
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