theo jansen
30:38Solving Wordle using information theory
11.8M views • 4 years ago
3Blue1Brown
3Blue1Brown uses Wordle as an excuse to teach information theory and entropy, building a solver that picks guesses by expected information and incorporating word frequencies.
13:02Noether's Theorem and The Symmetries of Reality
1.1M views • 8 years ago
PBS Space Time
PBS Space Time explains Noether's theorem: conservation laws such as energy and momentum are consequences of deeper symmetries. It also covers why those laws hold only under certain conditions.
17:35Bell's Theorem: The Quantum Venn Diagram Paradox
8.1M views • 9 years ago
minutephysics
MinutePhysics, with 3Blue1Brown, explains Bell's theorem using a Venn diagram paradox and polarizing filters. It shows why no local hidden variable theory can reproduce quantum correlations.
24:28Euler's formula with introductory group theory
2.8M views • 9 years ago
3Blue1Brown
3Blue1Brown builds intuition for Euler's formula, e^(pi i) = -1, using the core ideas of group theory. It treats exponentiation geometrically as rotation and scaling instead of repeated multiplication.
15:53Quantum Field Theory visualized
2.7M views • 6 years ago
ScienceClic English
ScienceClic gives a 15-minute animated introduction to quantum field theory, covering fields, spin, conserved quantities, the standard model and interactions.
11:07The music theory of V A P O R W A V E
1.8M views • 10 years ago
Adam Neely
Adam Neely analyzes vaporwave through music theory, timbre and nostalgia, and includes a parody track made for the video. He also touches on the phenomenology of music.
27:19Once you understand game theory, you understand the world.
26.5M views • 2 years ago
Veritasium
Veritasium explores the Prisoner's Dilemma and Axelrod's tournaments, showing why tit-for-tat and forgiving strategies win in repeated games. It extends the ideas to cooperation in evolution and conflict.
16:32Pilot Wave Theory and Quantum Realism | Space Time | PBS Digital Studios
1.9M views • 9 years ago
PBS Space Time
A PBS Space Time episode introducing de Broglie-Bohm pilot wave theory, an interpretation of quantum mechanics that avoids much of the strangeness of the mainstream views. It is aimed at curious lay viewers.
15:11Bayes theorem, the geometry of changing beliefs
6M views • 6 years ago
3Blue1Brown
3Blue1Brown presents Bayes' theorem through a geometric diagram, showing how evidence should update beliefs. It works through the Kahneman and Tversky style questions and base rates.
12:00Do we have to accept Quantum weirdness? De Broglie Bohm Pilot Wave Theory explained
125K views • 9 years ago
Looking Glass Universe
Looking Glass Universe explains de Broglie-Bohm pilot wave theory (Bohmian mechanics) as an alternative to the standard interpretation of quantum mechanics. The video lays out the pros and cons of the theory and links to related videos on contextuality and entanglement.
17:55The Fermi Paradox: Dark Forest Theory
412K views • 7 years ago
Isaac Arthur
Isaac Arthur examines the Dark Forest theory, Cixin Liu's proposed solution to the Fermi Paradox in which civilizations stay silent and may destroy any that reveal themselves. He tests the theory's underlying assumptions and arguments.
21:58Group theory, abstraction, and the 196,883-dimensional monster
3.8M views • 6 years ago
3Blue1Brown
3Blue1Brown introduces group theory and abstract groups, then builds toward classification of finite simple groups and the enormous Monster group with its 196,883 dimensions.
18:13Try to Rule Fairly and You'll Be Overthrown
26M views • 10 years ago
CGP Grey
CGP Grey's animated adaptation of The Dictator's Handbook, explaining how rulers stay in power by keeping a small group of key supporters happy rather than ruling fairly. It lays out selectorate theory and how resources shape regimes.
5:28Bonhoeffer‘s Theory of Stupidity
4.7M views • 5 years ago
Sprouts
An animated Sprouts video presenting Dietrich Bonhoeffer's argument that stupidity is more dangerous than evil, because reason cannot reach stupid people. It frames stupidity as a social and moral phenomenon.
23:34Why Democracy Is Mathematically Impossible
10.1M views • 2 years ago
Veritasium
Veritasium explains why no voting system can be perfectly fair, drawing on Arrow's theorem and the work of Eric Maskin. It looks at problems with systems like first-past-the-post and ranked-choice voting.
24:14The Banach–Tarski Paradox
49.1M views • 11 years ago
Vsauce
Vsauce's roughly 24 minute explainer on the Banach-Tarski paradox, building from infinity and set theory to the decomposition of a sphere into pieces that form two spheres.
22:21Why do prime numbers make these spirals? | Dirichlet’s theorem and pi approximations
7.6M views • 7 years ago
3Blue1Brown
3Blue1Brown explains why plotting primes in polar coordinates produces spiral patterns, using modular arithmetic, Dirichlet's theorem and rational approximations of pi.
43:48dark matter is not a theory
750K views • 3 years ago
Angela Collier
Physicist Angela Collier argues that dark matter is not a theory but a set of observations, covering rotation curves, the CMB and why modified gravity struggles to explain them.
57:03HACKENBUSH: a window to a new world of math
562K views • 5 years ago
Owen Maitzen
Owen Maitzen's animated hour-long introduction to Hackenbush, a simple combinatorial game, and how its strategy leads to surreal numbers and the roots of the number system.
30:02The Future Of Reasoning
12.8M views • 5 years ago
Vsauce
Vsauce explores how human reasoning works, drawing on the social theory of reason and the extended mind thesis, made in partnership with Bill Gates around climate change.
20:30Does Superdeterminism save Quantum Mechanics? Or does it kill free will and destroy science?
989K views • 4 years ago
Sabine Hossenfelder
Sabine Hossenfelder explains superdeterminism as an interpretation of quantum mechanics, addressing common objections and misconceptions, including the worry that it kills free will or science. She ties it to Bell's theorem and hidden variables.
9:16Quantum Entanglement & Spooky Action at a Distance
4.5M views • 11 years ago
Veritasium
Veritasium explains quantum entanglement and spooky action at a distance, walking through Bell's inequality and the experiments that rule out hidden variables, in under ten minutes.
10:50The most feared song in jazz, explained
10.6M views • 7 years ago
Vox
Vox Earworm explains why John Coltrane's Giant Steps is so hard to improvise over: it is fast and moves through three keys. Musicians Braxton Cook and Adam Neely walk the host through the underlying music theory.
7:41Is This What Quantum Mechanics Looks Like?
6.2M views • 10 years ago
Veritasium
Veritasium shows silicone oil droplets bouncing on a vibrating bath, a physical analogue of pilot wave theory that reproduces quantum-like behavior such as double-slit patterns.
14:06Testing 432 Hz Frequencies (and temperaments)
4M views • 7 years ago
Adam Neely
Adam Neely tests the claims for tuning to A=432 Hz by trying the unusual tuning systems that its proponents' numerology requires. He compares how they sound against standard tuning and temperaments.
7:00CD / Color
2.9M views • 6 years ago
Captain Disillusion
Captain Disillusion's comedic, fast-paced explainer on how color works in cameras, displays and video. It covers the biology of color perception and what it means for screens.
4:07Why do competitors open their stores next to one another? - Jac de Haan
7.4M views • 14 years ago
TED-Ed
A short animated TED-Ed lesson in which two competing ice cream vendors on a beach illustrate why rival shops cluster together. It introduces game theory and the Nash equilibrium through the Hotelling model.
27:40The Biggest Misconception in Physics
14.2M views • 1 year ago
Veritasium
Veritasium explores why energy is not conserved in general relativity, using Emmy Noether's theorem linking symmetries to conservation laws. Physicists interviewed explain energy loss in an expanding universe.
9:32The Higgs Mechanism Explained | Space Time | PBS Digital Studios
2.7M views • 10 years ago
PBS Space Time
PBS Space Time explains the Higgs field and how the Higgs mechanism gives particles mass within quantum field theory. It is a ten-minute overview for a lay audience.
16:43The Equation That Explains (Nearly) Everything!
1.6M views • 4 years ago
PBS Space Time
PBS Space Time explains the Standard Model Lagrangian, the single equation encapsulating the particle physics theory, and visualizes what its terms mean.
10:37The Bayesian Trap
4.5M views • 9 years ago
Veritasium
Veritasium explains Bayes' theorem with examples and introduces the 'Bayesian trap', where repeated events get mistaken for inevitable ones. It discusses how priors shape our expectations and behavior.
6:23How We Should Vote (Range Voting)
43K views • 10 years ago
Undefined Behavior
A six-minute explainer from Undefined Behavior on range (score) voting. It follows an earlier video on Arrow's Theorem and shows how range voting seems to satisfy the criteria Arrow's Theorem says no ranked system can.
14:03Simulating alternate voting systems
4.5M views • 6 years ago
Primer
Primer uses simulations to compare voting systems such as first-past-the-post, approval, ranked choice and others. It shows how each system behaves and can be manipulated, with links to further voting theory resources.
14:49The Bizarre Behavior of Rotating Bodies
14M views • 7 years ago
Veritasium
Veritasium explains the Dzhanibekov effect, also called the tennis racket theorem, where a spinning object flips unexpectedly about its intermediate axis. The video gives an intuitive account of the underlying rotational dynamics, drawing on Terry Tao's explanation and the original papers.
16:29Are Black Holes Actually Fuzzballs?
1.3M views • 4 years ago
PBS Space Time
A PBS Space Time episode on fuzzballs, the string-theory proposal for black holes that replaces the singularity with a tangle of strings. It explains why black holes seem to both have to exist and break known physics.
10:26Crowd Wisdom Principles
11K views • 4 years ago
Hypermind
A ten-minute explainer from Hypermind on the wisdom of crowds, covering Galton's discovery and the diversity theorem. It argues that collective intelligence comes from diversity, independence and aggregation.
20:28The Most COMPLEX Pop Song of All Time
8.3M views • 5 years ago
Rick Beato
Rick Beato analyzes a pop song he argues is among the most harmonically complex ever, breaking down its chords and key changes. It is a music theory deep dive aimed at general music fans.
10:31Why We Should NOT Look For Aliens - The Dark Forest
17.7M views • 4 years ago
Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
Kurzgesagt animated explainer on the Dark Forest answer to the Fermi Paradox. It argues that if advanced civilizations exist, staying silent may be the safest strategy because revealing yourself invites a first strike.
15:08What does it feel like to invent math?
4.6M views • 11 years ago
3Blue1Brown
3Blue1Brown explores infinite sums from convergent to divergent, with an introduction to the 2-adic metric, themed on the cycle between discovering and inventing mathematics.
10:44P vs. NP and the Computational Complexity Zoo
3.7M views • 12 years ago
hackerdashery
An 11-minute animated introduction to P vs. NP and the wider landscape of complexity classes, inspired by the Complexity Zoo wiki. It assumes no background in computer science.