Lectures worth a weekend
Curated by Claude · 9 videos · 9 hr 7 min
These are the university lectures and classic talks that HN commenters recommend again and again, often with the words 'drop what you're doing.' Each entry is a single lecture, usually the first of a full course, so you can sample a great teacher and keep going if it clicks. The list opens with Feynman, moves through physics, math, computing and machine learning, then turns to people, ethics and writing.
Play all on YouTube- 156:04
Richard Feynman - The.Character of Physical Law - Part 1 The Law of Gravitation (full version)
1.4M views • 15 years agoTinkerin' ThinkersThe first of Richard Feynman's 1964 Cornell Messenger Lectures, The Character of Physical Law, focusing on the law of gravitation. Feynman builds up from planetary motion to the nature of physical laws.The first of Feynman's 1964 Cornell Messenger Lectures, building from planetary motion to what a physical law is, clear enough that commenters say no formal training is needed.
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AT&T Archives: Similiarities of Wave Behavior (Bonus Edition)
473K views • 14 years agoAT&T Tech ChannelA Bell Labs film in which Dr. J.N. Shive uses a mechanical wave machine to demonstrate reflection, standing waves, resonance and impedance matching. He includes some equations but relies mostly on real-world examples a layperson can follow.J.N. Shive's Bell Labs wave machine demonstration, which HN calls the best introduction to waves of any sort, done with a contraption rather than equations.
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Lec 1 | MIT 18.06 Linear Algebra, Spring 2005
4.9M views • 17 years agoMIT OpenCourseWareThe first lecture of Gilbert Strang's MIT 18.06 Linear Algebra course, covering the geometry of linear equations. It opens a full 35-lecture university course.Gilbert Strang's opening lecture on the geometry of linear equations, HN's default answer to how to learn linear algebra properly.
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Lecture 1A | MIT 6.001 Structure and Interpretation, 1986
995K views • 17 years agoMIT OpenCourseWareThe first lecture of MIT's 1986 6.001 Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, given by Harold Abelson, introducing Lisp and the idea of computer science as the study of process.Abelson opens SICP by arguing that computer science is not about computers, the lecture one commenter says turned them from a UX designer into a programmer.
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1:08:40Lecture 1 | Machine Learning (Stanford)
2.7M views • 18 years agoStanfordThe first lecture of Andrew Ng's Stanford CS229 Machine Learning course, giving an overview of the course. It introduces supervised and unsupervised learning, learning theory and reinforcement learning.Andrew Ng's first CS229 lecture, recommended on HN as the original and more rigorous version of the course that taught a generation machine learning.
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1:28:13RL Course by David Silver - Lecture 1: Introduction to Reinforcement Learning
1.9M views • 11 years agoGoogle DeepMindThe first lecture of David Silver's reinforcement learning course, introducing the field and its basic concepts. The course follows the Sutton and Barto textbook.The AlphaGo lead's introduction to reinforcement learning, praised for clear explanations that pair well with Sutton and Barto's textbook.
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57:151. Introduction to Human Behavioral Biology
20.5M views • 15 years agoStanfordThe opening lecture of Robert Sapolsky's Stanford course on Human Behavioral Biology, explaining the course premise and how to avoid categorical thinking. It starts a roughly 25-lecture series on how biology, genes, hormones and environment shape behavior.Robert Sapolsky's first lecture on how genes, hormones and environment shape behavior, a series HN commenters keep calling the best course they have ever taken.
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54:56Justice: What's The Right Thing To Do? Episode 01 "THE MORAL SIDE OF MURDER"
42.7M views • 17 years agoHarvard UniversityThe first episode of Michael Sandel's Harvard course on moral reasoning, opening with the trolley problem and the choice between killing one to save five. Sandel draws out student arguments and introduces utilitarian and other approaches to justice.Michael Sandel opens his Harvard ethics course with the trolley problem and a hall full of students arguing, a series HN says everyone should watch.
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1:21:52LEADERSHIP LAB: The Craft of Writing Effectively
9.3M views • 12 years agoUChicago Social SciencesLarry McEnerney of the University of Chicago Writing Program gives a graduate-student session on writing effectively. His core idea is that readers care about value to them, not the writer's thinking process.Larry McEnerney's session on writing for what readers value, which many HN users say changed how they write well beyond academia.