Hey folks.
I wanted to take a moment to share a Youtube channel that some of you may already know about. It’s called Kurzgesagt, and the work being produced by this animation studio in my opinion provides some of the best and most thought out explanations to theoretical science. Their videos cover a wide range of scientific and philosophical topics, such as the complexities of the immune system, realistic ways to combat climate change, and how to live your life with purpose. Often their videos focus on a central debate or topic relevant to present-day science to which they apply literature and expert opinions to formulate a set of answers to the video’s central question. But sometimes their topics get a bit more “what if”. For example, this channel exposed me to: the Fermi Paradox, the Dyson Sphere, uploaded consciousness, stellar engines, and other more SF-ey topics we’ve already talked about in this class.
To me, what is unique about this channel is rather than producing videos that simply outline ideas such as the Dyson Sphere, these people are like “no, what if humanity actually built a Dyson Sphere? How long would it take us? What resources would be necessary to construct such an engineering feat? When in the future could this idea actually become feasible?” Kurzgesagt takes far-fetched ideas and applies science, reason, and understanding to arrive at what they acknowledge is only Kurzgesagt’s answer to the question at hand. I wanted to share this with you all not only because they have some great videos explaining some pretty wild technological ideas (see links below), but their methodology behind video production is some of the most transparent I’ve seen on Youtube’s platform. They provide links to their papers, cite each one of their claims, and (in my opinion) are incredibly objective to the topic at hand. And when an opinion does arise, they are explicit in their video to say something like “based on what we’ve just shown you, this is what we think”. Kurzgesagt provides some of the best educational material regarding science on a platform that too often represents the epitome of misinformation. I encourage y’all to peruse their videos and find one that looks exciting. Oh, and their animation is likewise stellar.
Enjoy!
Dyson Sphere:
Fermi Paradox (there’s also a part 2):
Loneliness (one of their more holistic videos):
Andrew— how fun and clear these videos are! Thanks so much for sharing them. I didn’t know of Kurzgesagt. So glad there are people out there doing this kind of thoughtful, responsible presentation of theories and potential solutions. The best SF authors have a handle on the “S” about which they are writing. I think these videos will help a lot of writers!
Thank you Andrew for sharing this channel. I just watched the Dyson sphere video and was shocked to see how seemingly possible this was, although I would have never imagined it. I’ll make sure to watch some more of the videos.
I love this channel, Andrew! I agree with how they are one of the most transparent channels on YouTube and do a great job explaining topics. Many of their topics I don’t normally follow, but throw in a few animated birds and I get hooked. Thank you for sharing the channel!