[seer]

Yes, but the YouTube ed channels are such a treasure in and of itself. We had the “tech” to produce content like this for almost a century, but it took the Internet and democratization of content creation to come up with gems like smarter every day, veritasium, extra history, etc

My fear is that this is also being reshaped with ai, mostly for good now but I feel like the personal touch and passion of these creators is being diluted with the advent of generated content.

Maybe we are in a valley of the uncanny valley and the ai tools will become so good that they can successfully translate someone’s passionate vision faithfully, then it could be another renaissance.

[ErroneousBosh]

In among all the MrBeasts and JackSepticEyes on Youtube there are some incredibly creative people.

Two that my 5-year-old loves are OddAnimalSpecimens who could easily have been on BBC children's programming in the 1980s, and Terragreen who would have been his ITV counterpart :-)

Probably the most entertaining child-friendly programme you can watch right now is whatever Jake Carlini is doing. Some wee guy in a house in Austin, Texas is coming up with better stories, better production values, and better life values than any of the "proper" children's TV productions, except maybe Sesame Street.

[seer]

Thanks for the recommendations - I’m also big fan of 3blue1brown and PBS science, but as a recent dad am on lookout for content for my son to watch when he comes of that age - he’s just 1month now, hopefully by that time AI has not enshittyfied everything

[ErroneousBosh]

We're a multilingual household, so another that gets a lot of love is Sendung mit der Maus which was originally a TV series but now is on Youtube as well - including some very old episodes. My son's German is way better than mine though, and these days so is his Gaelic - mostly I deal with people in English and I've kind of started to lose that skill.

If you like big 4x4s (and who doesn't?) then Matt's Off Road Recovery is pretty good. Utah looks lovely, and of course they're culturally fairly free of rude words so that's pretty okay for children.

Quiet Nerd is another of my son's favourites, he builds little electric-powered campers and drives them out into the woods near where he lives.

[Scroll_Swe]

The youtube channels are nowhere near the style and depth of documentaries like the ones above...

[konschubert]

Check out Technology Connections. This is way, way, way more in depth than anything one can find on TV.

[Scroll_Swe]

Thinking about it I have to revise my statement somewhat. I have seen The Great War, Technology Connections etc and my Youtube algo is after 15 years very tuned to me.

The issue is somewhat that this stuff needs to be pushed more into peoples feeds and not pregnant spiderman videos.

[natebc]

If anybody wants some more encouragement to check out Technology Connections ... the vibe is hour+ long Andy Rooney pieces.

[IAmBroom]

Damning with faint praise. He was never a first-rate reporter, AFAIK. More like Paul Harvey.

[rigrassm]

> The youtube channels are nowhere near the style and depth of documentaries like the ones above...

My friend, if you enjoy long format, deep diving documentaries written, produced and narrated without AI about Space, Physics, Human evolution or planet Earths history, then I insist you head over to the History of the Universe YouTube channel and start watching!

This specific video is probably my favorite (I'm a sucker for contemplating "time"and what it actually is) and was the one that got me hooked on their channel. They go way deeper into the details without becoming a formal lecture and it's genuinely captivating. https://youtu.be/ZSmNii0uOmw?si=3Jaty3XcMGlryhh2

https://youtube.com/@historyoftheuniverse https://youtube.com/@historyofhumankind https://youtube.com/@historyoftheearth

[raverbashing]

Close to style, naturally styles are different

Lack of depth? Wrong. Just go beyond the usual pop-sci stuff on YT.

You can go as deep as you want. Surely it won't be "as fun" or "tiktok sized" but if you want depth it's there

[Scroll_Swe]

That is fair, I have checked out some The Great War videos. Not to mention podcast stuff like Hardcore History. They are very good an in depth.

There is also full MIT/Harvard courses on Youtube.

So yes it is all about what one looks up.

[jaapz]

Depends on what you follow. For example, look up The Great War.

At least where I live, basically everything that's on discovery, national geographic and the history channel now is just "experts" talking (reading a script) about "hitler's secret sex life" or some such thing, interspersed with a re-enactment shot or one of the "experts" walking around a slightly relevant building.

[Scroll_Swe]

That is fair, I have checked out some The Great War videos. Not to mention podcast stuff like Hardcore History. They are very good an in depth. There is also full MIT/Harvard courses on Youtube. So yes it is all about what one looks up.

[glenngillen]

Any particular recommendations? I’ve been meaning to queue some up to have in the background playing when the kids are around hoping to stumble across something that that might pique their interests

[rigrassm]

Throwing out my recommendation for History of the Universe as well as its sibling channels. Honestly, the people behind these channels produce higher quality documentaries, both in substance and style, than 99% of the "professionally" created stuff I've watched in at least three last 5 years.

https://youtube.com/@historyoftheuniverse https://youtube.com/@historyofhumankind https://youtube.com/@historyoftheearth

[magicalhippo]

Not GP but here are mine, perhaps not all work for the kids and might require some attention but:

AlphaPhoenix - https://www.youtube.com/@AlphaPhoenixChannel - Probably needs no introduction to HN, but some great educational physics videos.

Huygens Optics - https://www.youtube.com/@HuygensOptics - Retired optics guy, lots of interesting stuff on making lenses and other optics phenomena and physics.

Dr. Jorge S. Diaz - https://www.youtube.com/@jkzero - Really good videos on the early history of quantum mechanics and related physics around that time.

Idealized Science Institute - https://www.youtube.com/@idealizedscience -Educational non-profit aimed at helping teachers and students, mostly physics. Typically featuring great physical demonstrations.

Tasting History - https://www.youtube.com/@TastingHistory - Recreates historical dishes, as well as serving interesting history about or surrounding the dishes.

Brian Lohnes - https://www.youtube.com/@brianlohnes3079 - Weird and fascinating history tidbits from mostly motorsports like drag racing.

Marshall Bruner - https://www.youtube.com/@MarshallBrunerRF - Accessible videos explaining radar and RF concepts.

ProjectsInFlight - https://www.youtube.com/@projectsinflight - Has a few amazing videos explaining how semiconductors work, also how to make them at home.

Modern History TV - https://www.youtube.com/@ModernKnight - Lots of interesting videos about the middle ages in Europe, how people lived their lives as peasants or knights etc.

Extractions&Ire - https://www.youtube.com/@ExtractionsAndIre - Fun guy from down under making compounds for his main channel Explosions&Fire in his shed.