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by jalgos_eminator 1566 days ago
Its interesting you mention Destin from Smarter Every Day, because he always came off as a very earnest learner in his videos. Yeah, he's still putting on a show, but it does seem like he genuinely enjoys and revels in the things that he does. It seems to me like Veritasium has a more contrarian thread of: "Oh, you thought the world worked like that? Well you were wrong, and here's a 15 minute video all about how you were wrong." There's an Onion video making fun of Vox that touches on this perfectly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpkQEq75y18

I guess to summarize, with Destin it feels like you are learning with him and Veritasium feels like you are being lectured.
2 comments
boxed 1566 days ago
Funny. Veritasium actually has some videos talking about why he has this approach :)

I saw something similar all the time as a dance teacher: explaining stuff and showing over and over made the students feel like they learned a lot. But they just didn't. It was mostly a total waste of time. I switched to showing ONCE then they had to try. Then I showed again. The speed of learning went up dramatically. The problem I had then was that the students didn't like it!

"Make people believe they're thinking and they'll love you. Make them actually think, and they will hate you."

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l33t2328 1565 days ago
See, I’ve heard that, but I like being challenged. I like to have to “pause and ponder” as the excellent Youtuber 3Blue1Brown puts it, but Vertiassium is just annoying.
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boxed 1565 days ago
Challenged? Or feel like you're being challenged?

It'd be nice with a real scientific test! There's a lot of subjective feeling here and not anything very solid. Veritasium at least backs up his position with his own thesis research. I find that more compelling as an argument than having a position not backed up by anything at all.

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Brian_K_White 1566 days ago
Hey, I also don't like chocolate all that much, and I seem to be some kind of inexplicable alien because of that. So, it's very possible "it's just me" that I don't like good things because curmudgeon. :)

I see the distinction you make there now that you point it out.

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