Hey, I think this can be interesting to some of you

There is a Non-profit organisation based in Swiss, that aims to evaluate the quality of Youtube videos, and generates global recommendations from that: tournesol.app

Currently, there is about 25000 videos included (~50% are in French, ~40% in English, 10% other) at the top of English recommendations we can find Kurzgesagt, Science4All, John Oliver LastWeekTonight

If you like to give your opinion, please come by !

This works like that:

• Paste the link to two youtube videos, one on the left, the other on the right
• Move cursors from left (meaning you prefer the left video) to right (if you prefer the right one instead)
• Confirm to update the global recommendations

Pros: The recommendation algorithm used, 100% Open sourced and developed by universities, said to be mathematically safe against a number of risks (strategic voting, bots attacks…) and “more representative to public opinion than commonly used polling methods”

Cons: The current low number of users (recommendations are pretty biased towards living healthly and reducing carbon footprint, for the moment, not a lot of entertainment yet)

Note that I’m not affiliated not part of the associative, I’m only a user of Tournesol, comparing videos from time to time to improve global rankings

Anything by CGPGrey but specifically Humans Need Not Apply

I created a playlist of the recommendations here and thought I might as well share: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9W-RMmS6ewK9p8OtJEKXtClpXEibXEIU

I also added this video on the Boeing 737 Max from MegaProjects, and a couple on a subject near and dear to my heart: Boy Bands of the 90s:

When Corden Met Barlow and The Boy Band Con.

Bill Wurtz’s history of the entire world, i guess and its predecessor history of japan. They both blur the line of “documentary” a little, but are very good, and his music (beyond those videos) is also great.

Most any of Qxir’s or Plainly Difficult’s videos.

I could probably go on, but my nerd is showing maybe a little too much, and I watch way too much youtube.

Shoutout to Lemmino! I love his video about Jack the Ripper.

The Polybius documentary by Ahoy. https://youtu.be/_7X6Yeydgyg

Thanks for sharing these! I’ve only seen 1 and 5, so I’ve got something to watch this weekend!

Philosophical Analysis of Dark Souls - The Gemsbok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpf3KQBIoCY

I think it might be the best analysis video about a game anywhere on the internet.

Road Guy Rob talks about how highway engineering works in a fun, highly animated way:

Here’s one about a bike lane disaster – where the city screwed up and undid it after a week:

https://youtu.be/zeynqnirofE

Open Dialogue: an alternative Finnish approach to healing psychosis https://youtu.be/HDVhZHJagfQ

Psychiatry - An Industry of Death https://youtu.be/N0LsYY7WNP4

Scientist re-reads the Diamond Age after 25 years https://youtu.be/FmvLbhWSPuY

12 Best Episodes of The Outer Limits 1995 – Sci-fi at its best https://youtu.be/yzj_CvMEtjE

I’m a huge fan of “The Alt Right Playbook”, which breaks down the dirty tactics the alt right uses to recruit people.

Also a huge fan of “In search of a flat Earth”, which looks at conspiracy theories, how they evolve, why people believe in them, and why “the shape of the Earth might actually be the least relevant part of the flat Earth conspiracy”.

It’s a cool bike review AND a sendup to Wes Anderson, Ural Motorcycle Review - Our Best Sidecar

So this isn’t on YouTube but the Ken Burns Vietnam War Series is absolutely phenomenal and hands down the best documentary I have ever seen, not even close. If you can find somewhere to watch it I recommend it endlessly.

Anything by Richard Feldman. I’m binging all of the talks he has given for a third time now