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While I share your disdain for unnecessarily long YouTube videos, Veritasium often (not always) gets a pass from me. I have been instant clicking pretty much ev

While I share your disdain for unnecessarily long YouTube videos, Veritasium often (not always) gets a pass from me. I have been instant clicking pretty much every video he’s released in the past few months and always came out having learned a lot and satisfied. The only other channel I would give the same pass is neo.

jraph 3y ago
> The only other channel I would give the same pass is neo. Nice, thanks for the mention, I'll check this out. At first sight, typically looks like stuff I would enjoy.
- ramraj07 3y ago
  I would start with their Thai Cave rescue video. I scratch my head how this guy is not on tv.
  - drdrey 3y ago
    his Kowloon Walled City is incredibly well made
  - corethree 3y ago
    First 10 seconds into the video I know one major reason working against him. He has a bit of lisp. Personally I don't mind, but I'd be lying if I said his videos would be better without it. Fortunately we have youtube.
  - EE84M3i 3y ago
    It's almost 2024. He seems to do very well on YouTube and has a lot more freedom in his niche. Why would he want to be on TV?
    - alt227 3y ago
      TV presenting pays very well in comparison to Youtube. Plus all you have to do is turn up and read a script, as opposed to filming and editing a video to high production standards, or having to pay somebody out of your ad revenue to do it for you.
  - holoduke 3y ago
    Is someone still watching tv? Nobody in my neighborhood watches linear tv anymore. Already for many years. Maybe some elder people?
    - alt227 3y ago
      Pretty much everyone I know in the UK watches linear TV, old and young. According to last years research, over 50% of people are still watching linear TV via broadcast or cable: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/08/for-the-first-time-ever-more-people-watched-streaming-tv-than-cable/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/08/for-the-first-time-e...
      - lotsofpulp 3y ago
        That is mind boggling. In the US, I know no one under the age of ~50 that watched linear TV. Even the 50+ year olds are using their phone and watching YouTube/Whatsapp videos while “watching” linear TV. Live sports are the only exception, but I would say that is down big time also (as Nielsen indicates). Or rather, a series of gambling ads interspersed with a sporting event. Overall, I don’t think Nielsen is able to properly assess which screen has people’s focus.
      - moffkalast 3y ago
        Ahh, Brexit makes so much more sense now. Nothing like good old TV to really drill unskippable propaganda ads into people 20 times a day during every ad break.
TaylorAlexander 3y ago
You may be interested to see this critique of Veritasium which cooled my views on the channel significantly since I saw it: https://youtu.be/CM0aohBfUTc https://youtu.be/CM0aohBfUTc
- gnicholas 3y ago
  Given the length of the video (50+ mins), could you give us a TLDR? What aspects of the channel does the critique take aim at?
  - gruez 3y ago
    [dead]
  - nojs 3y ago
    He claims Derek’s Waymo video was a paid PR piece and too favourable to the company. He also spends 2 minutes explaining why you need Surfshark VPN
    - ramraj07 3y ago
      Which is obvious to anyone with half a brain though. So what. We have discretion to choose which of his videos to watch. I doubt he got paid by the laws of thermodynamics to make his entropy video.
      - j4yav 3y ago
        Sure, but there are lots of good science content creators out there and I'd rather just watch one where I don't have to worry about it. The Waymo video is over the top credulous, even for something they were being paid to review. In general, the idea of building a channel based on "the element of truth", establishing yourself as an educator, and then shamelessly selling your credibility in that way is kind of a turn off. At least I'm not going to see you as credible in the same way anymore, and others feel the same. That said, the channel is more popular than ever so who knows.
      - deleted 3y ago
js2 3y ago
I intended no shade on Veritasium and my comment that the video is 18 minutes long wasn't an expression of disdain, merely a statement of fact. Rather, my intent was to offer an alternative for folks who prefer to read instead of or before watching a video.
- jahnu 3y ago
  I appreciated it. Most of the time I would be interrupting my music or silence or disturbing those around me if I played videos. Friends send me links to video after video and I just can’t even review whether they are worth my time because of the above issues. At least text I can quickly scan to get a sense. I really regret how video has come to utterly dominate.
- addicted 3y ago
  Thank you for sharing the articles. I did not want to watch a video and preferred reading about this irrespective of the length of the video.
- AtlasBarfed 3y ago
  The video used modern social media length dragout techniques that make virtually all modern podcast like media so tiresome to listen to. "You won't BELIEVE what everyone got wrong" Here's the trumped up drama from people involved. Here's an interview Here's a restatement of the cliffhanger Oops the author dropped enough info that I can read the Wikipedia article in 30 seconds. End streaming media. The amount of "good podcasts" that are ultimately a Wikipedia page drawn out over 20-30 minutes is just ridiculous. "Good tv" like a good john Oliver show or Frontline is chock full of information, further avenues of research if interested, and dense. Geewhiz podcasts like these seem like the result of YouTube algorithmic game theory result rather than an improvement to the access and organization of info that Wikipedia represented. I'm cranky this morning, sorry
  - RuggedPineapple 3y ago
    That's not modern, that's been media since time immemorial. Geraldo spent 2 hours talking about what could be in Al Capone's vault only for them to finally open it up and it was empty. Magazines would print stories in serial format so you had to buy the next issue. Writing and structuring to fit the length you want/need has been the norm for a century or two at least before social media came about. Hell, there's evidence that Shakespeare padded out a couple of his plays to fit the 4-pages per folio printing techniques of the time so that there weren't blank pages at the end.
otteromkram 3y ago
> [...] often (not always) gets a pass from me. Thank you for clarifying what "often" means. Say, how can you tell which ones should get a pass? Is there a way the less intelligent folks (like myself) could get a notification for when you decide to watch or not watch one of Veritasium's latest creations? Do you feel more intelligent after watching that video? If so, could you share some of the techniques you used to capitalize on passive learning?
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
billfruit 3y ago
He's video thumbnails and titles are clickbaits, and often his videos are much longer than is required.

jraph 3y ago

> The only other channel I would give the same pass is neo. Nice, thanks for the mention, I'll check this out. At first sight, typically looks like stuff I would enjoy.

ramraj07 3y ago
I would start with their Thai Cave rescue video. I scratch my head how this guy is not on tv.
- drdrey 3y ago
  his Kowloon Walled City is incredibly well made
- corethree 3y ago
  First 10 seconds into the video I know one major reason working against him. He has a bit of lisp. Personally I don't mind, but I'd be lying if I said his videos would be better without it. Fortunately we have youtube.
- EE84M3i 3y ago
  It's almost 2024. He seems to do very well on YouTube and has a lot more freedom in his niche. Why would he want to be on TV?
  - alt227 3y ago
    TV presenting pays very well in comparison to Youtube. Plus all you have to do is turn up and read a script, as opposed to filming and editing a video to high production standards, or having to pay somebody out of your ad revenue to do it for you.
- holoduke 3y ago
  Is someone still watching tv? Nobody in my neighborhood watches linear tv anymore. Already for many years. Maybe some elder people?
  - alt227 3y ago
    Pretty much everyone I know in the UK watches linear TV, old and young. According to last years research, over 50% of people are still watching linear TV via broadcast or cable: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/08/for-the-first-time-ever-more-people-watched-streaming-tv-than-cable/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/08/for-the-first-time-e...
    - lotsofpulp 3y ago
      That is mind boggling. In the US, I know no one under the age of ~50 that watched linear TV. Even the 50+ year olds are using their phone and watching YouTube/Whatsapp videos while “watching” linear TV. Live sports are the only exception, but I would say that is down big time also (as Nielsen indicates). Or rather, a series of gambling ads interspersed with a sporting event. Overall, I don’t think Nielsen is able to properly assess which screen has people’s focus.
    - moffkalast 3y ago
      Ahh, Brexit makes so much more sense now. Nothing like good old TV to really drill unskippable propaganda ads into people 20 times a day during every ad break.

TaylorAlexander 3y ago

You may be interested to see this critique of Veritasium which cooled my views on the channel significantly since I saw it: https://youtu.be/CM0aohBfUTc https://youtu.be/CM0aohBfUTc

gnicholas 3y ago
Given the length of the video (50+ mins), could you give us a TLDR? What aspects of the channel does the critique take aim at?
- gruez 3y ago
  [dead]
- nojs 3y ago
  He claims Derek’s Waymo video was a paid PR piece and too favourable to the company. He also spends 2 minutes explaining why you need Surfshark VPN
  - ramraj07 3y ago
    Which is obvious to anyone with half a brain though. So what. We have discretion to choose which of his videos to watch. I doubt he got paid by the laws of thermodynamics to make his entropy video.
    - j4yav 3y ago
      Sure, but there are lots of good science content creators out there and I'd rather just watch one where I don't have to worry about it. The Waymo video is over the top credulous, even for something they were being paid to review. In general, the idea of building a channel based on "the element of truth", establishing yourself as an educator, and then shamelessly selling your credibility in that way is kind of a turn off. At least I'm not going to see you as credible in the same way anymore, and others feel the same. That said, the channel is more popular than ever so who knows.
    - deleted 3y ago

js2 3y ago

I intended no shade on Veritasium and my comment that the video is 18 minutes long wasn't an expression of disdain, merely a statement of fact. Rather, my intent was to offer an alternative for folks who prefer to read instead of or before watching a video.

jahnu 3y ago
I appreciated it. Most of the time I would be interrupting my music or silence or disturbing those around me if I played videos. Friends send me links to video after video and I just can’t even review whether they are worth my time because of the above issues. At least text I can quickly scan to get a sense. I really regret how video has come to utterly dominate.
addicted 3y ago
Thank you for sharing the articles. I did not want to watch a video and preferred reading about this irrespective of the length of the video.
AtlasBarfed 3y ago
The video used modern social media length dragout techniques that make virtually all modern podcast like media so tiresome to listen to. "You won't BELIEVE what everyone got wrong" Here's the trumped up drama from people involved. Here's an interview Here's a restatement of the cliffhanger Oops the author dropped enough info that I can read the Wikipedia article in 30 seconds. End streaming media. The amount of "good podcasts" that are ultimately a Wikipedia page drawn out over 20-30 minutes is just ridiculous. "Good tv" like a good john Oliver show or Frontline is chock full of information, further avenues of research if interested, and dense. Geewhiz podcasts like these seem like the result of YouTube algorithmic game theory result rather than an improvement to the access and organization of info that Wikipedia represented. I'm cranky this morning, sorry
- RuggedPineapple 3y ago
  That's not modern, that's been media since time immemorial. Geraldo spent 2 hours talking about what could be in Al Capone's vault only for them to finally open it up and it was empty. Magazines would print stories in serial format so you had to buy the next issue. Writing and structuring to fit the length you want/need has been the norm for a century or two at least before social media came about. Hell, there's evidence that Shakespeare padded out a couple of his plays to fit the 4-pages per folio printing techniques of the time so that there weren't blank pages at the end.

otteromkram 3y ago

> [...] often (not always) gets a pass from me. Thank you for clarifying what "often" means. Say, how can you tell which ones should get a pass? Is there a way the less intelligent folks (like myself) could get a notification for when you decide to watch or not watch one of Veritasium's latest creations? Do you feel more intelligent after watching that video? If so, could you share some of the techniques you used to capitalize on passive learning?

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

billfruit 3y ago

He's video thumbnails and titles are clickbaits, and often his videos are much longer than is required.