HN commenters push it, often forcefully, as the video to watch to see what factory farming really involves, and some say it changed their diet.
Topics › Ideas, Learning & Language
The best philosophy & ethics videos, according to Hacker News
98 videos about philosophy & ethics that Hacker News commenters keep pointing each other to, ranked by how many separate months they were recommended. Part of Ideas, Learning & Language.
One of the most frequently recommended online lecture series on HN, praised for giving people vocabulary to examine ethical positions and for Sandel's skilled teaching.
HN commenters repeatedly recommend it in longevity and aging threads as a concise, fun case for fighting aging.
HN recommends it as an illuminating, eye-opening long-form take on status, luck and how we judge the successful and unsuccessful.
HN commenters post it in threads about purpose, ambition, burnout and career anxiety as a reframing that life is a dance, not a march toward eventual happiness.
HN commenters call it a beloved story and link the animation when threads touch on consciousness, empathy or identity.
HN commenters use it as a short introduction to anarcho-capitalist ideas about private law and how disputes could be resolved without a state.
HN recommends the series as a thorough, non-dogmatic look at meaning, spirituality and escaping nihilism.
Recommended in vegetarian and animal-welfare threads as an introduction to the psychology behind how we treat animals differently.
HN commenters return to it for perspective, comfort and Sagan's soothing voice, and suggest watching it periodically.
HN recommends it as a famous, revealing clash between two thinkers, though some note they largely talk past each other.
HN users recommend it as a comforting, clear introduction to nihilism for anxiety, mid-life doubts and feeling behind in life.
HN recommends it as an entertaining tour of how we define and categorize things, and it is cited when concept boundaries come up.
HN recommends it to engineers as a skeptical counterweight to technology boosterism, especially for those building AI and consumer tech features.
HN commenters link it to argue for cooperation and engagement over isolation, and as an accessible statement of positive-sum thinking.
Commenters post it whenever a thread touches on soft sciences, replication problems, or what counts as real science.
HN recommends it as a classic, clear introduction to Aurelius, with some saying it helped through hard times.
HN people point lost, lonely or burned-out readers to it as a short, humane piece of perspective on how to live.
HN commenters recommend it as a compelling, concise argument for longevity research and a rebuttal to common objections to ending aging.
Cited as an excellent entry point to Dennett's thinking on minds, memes and competence without comprehension.
HN commenters call it an entertaining, complementary philosophical take on surveillance, with a funny story about jamming secret police.
Libertarian-minded commenters post it in surveillance, government and constitution threads as a red-pill argument that political authority is illusory.
Cited as the origin of the 'culture/philosophy as operating system' metaphor and as a quick introduction to McKenna's ideas.
Recommended for its account of competence without comprehension, relevant to evolution and to debates about AI.
Offered as a pick-me-up and calming perspective when people feel lost or stressed.
HN returns to it constantly as a classic on the difficulty of explaining fundamentals and the limits of analogies.
HN cites it as a concise, memorable explanation of ideology, often in threads about advertising, propaganda or AI-shaped narratives.
HN commenters bring it up when urging empathy, patience and attention to the everyday instead of snap judgement.
Recommended in threads on language purity and standardization for its clear take that languages are fluid and that national languages are constructed.
Frequently linked in threads on philanthropy, ethical consumption and billionaire giving as a short, approachable critique of charity.
HN commenters recommend it as a good talk on ethics in software engineering, and Cantrill himself cites it as capturing his views.
Recommended as a worthwhile real-world experiment whenever trolley problems or moral dilemmas come up.
Shared in simulation-argument threads as an entertaining, hacker-minded take, though some commenters criticize Hotz himself.
HN cites it as the prime example of going absurdly deep on a tiny subject, and as a favorite among long YouTube videos.
HN uses it to argue that systems rather than bad apples drive cruelty, and for its section on how anonymity changes behavior.
Recommended as a relatively clear introduction to Zizek's thinking, especially his account of ideology and unknown knowns.
Recommended as a clear introduction to hauntology and lost futures in discussions of Mark Fisher and cyberpunk.
HN readers recommend it as the way to learn what Boyd actually meant by OODA, straight from a collaborator, rather than from the popularized loop diagram.
HN points to it as a primer on Thiel's thinking and as an example of Peter Robinson's skill as an interviewer.
HN recommends it as an inspiring summary of a computational model of mind and a first lecture in a series on the brain as a computer.
HN recommends it as a good long debate for the recurring question of whether Orwell or Huxley was right.
Recommended to people interested in propaganda, misinformation and how to improve public discourse.
Recommended as a lucid, insightful lecture on the limits of human knowledge and the study of mind, one commenter calling it among the best lectures ever.
HN recommends it as the best short exposition of Singer's argument for a duty to give.
HN commenters recommend it as one of the best short clips on YouTube for illustrating Balkan versus Central European identity.
Some commenters credit it with persuading them to go vegan, while others dismiss parts of it as pseudoscience.
HN points to it as a short, tight introduction to Deutsch's idea of hard-to-vary explanations.
Pointed to as an antidote to pessimism about the future, tied to Deutsch's ideas in The Beginning of Infinity.
HN uses it again and again as shorthand for the idea that resentment of unfair pay and inequality is built into primates, including us.
HN users share it as a chance to hear Russell speak himself and get a sense of his values and outlook.
Cited in threads on social media and online identity as a framework of sincerity, authenticity and profilicity.
It is the standard reference whenever a thread turns to rote labels versus real understanding.
HN treats it as the origin of the full-wine-glass meme and an illustration of how models lack concepts missing from their training data.
Recommended as a much easier way into Baudrillard's ideas than reading his own writing.
Pointed to for Penrose's own explanations of the Big Bounce and his three-worlds idea.
HN commenters recommend it as a deeper philosophical look at human rights from a critical Marxist angle.
HN recommends it as a simple entry point to Foucault, especially on mental health and institutionalization.
HN commenters point to it as a liberating account of present-moment awareness and mindfulness.
Commenters cite it as inspirational and relevant whenever power, technology and humanity are in tension.
Cited in animal-welfare and environmental threads as a short, thought-provoking piece on how humans treat animals.
HN uses it to illustrate Feynman's wry view of philosophical questions and perception.
Linked in threads about lobster welfare as an easy way to take in Wallace's essay.
Recommended as more thought-provoking than the usual pill-popping take on Huxley.
HN offers it as a short, light introduction to carnism and the language bias around eating animals.
Recommended in threads about consciousness and reality as a clear exposition of the Vedantic view of waking, dreaming and deep sleep.
HN points people to it as an accessible explanation of what qualia are.
HN recommends it as a short route to Dennett's view of consciousness as a bag of tricks, often in AI and cognition threads.
Offered as an accessible introduction to Camus and absurdism.
Recommended as a short explanation of a non-intuitive anthropic reasoning argument.
Pointed to in threads about mind uploading and teleportation as a good, accessible look at personal identity.
Offered as a less technical introduction to Bostrom's simulation paper.
Used as a source for Searle's own argument in Chinese room discussions, though some find nothing new in it.
HN points to it as the short cliff's-notes version of the essay and as a charming introduction to The School of Life.
HN commenters recommend it as a thoughtful and nuanced take on the philosophy of mathematics.
HN uses it as a reference for epistemic humility and how wrong even the smartest people have been.
Cited as a critique of libertarianism, including as a reply to the 'you can always leave' argument.
HN quotes it in censorship and moderation threads for Chomsky's principle that free speech must cover speech you dislike.
HN mostly cites it as the go-to critique of Peterson when his positions or advice come up.
Pointed to as an accessible introduction to intuition pumps as thinking tools, and shared in remembrance after Dennett's death.
HN commenters share it as a clear explanation of the block universe and relativity of simultaneity.
HN uses it as a reference for the scale of future human population and long-term thinking.
HN cites it in discussions of wealth, status and the moral blame placed on the unsuccessful.
HN mentions it mostly in passing as a Taleb talk on market volatility and predicting crises.
HN shares it as a short, provocative counterpoint in threads on purpose, goals and the pursuit of happiness.
Cited in privacy and surveillance threads as a thoughtful treatment of being compelled to share data and the nothing-to-hide argument.
HN uses it as an example of cost-benefit reasoning about product safety in threads on recalls, security spending and Boeing.
HN uses it as a reference for Zizek's views and as an exercise in critical thinking, not as a strong recommendation.
HN mentions it occasionally as a source for Wolff's views, such as on worker co-ops, rather than as a widely recommended watch.
Mostly posted as a joke in toilet-related threads, especially for the line about German hermeneutic stool inspection.
Linked in simulation-hypothesis threads as an expert panel that takes the idea seriously, and listed among best technical talks.
HN commenters cite it when discussing Bonhoeffer's idea that stupidity is a moral failing rather than an intellectual one.
HN commenters repeatedly cite it for Fromm's line about selling one's personality at work, especially in threads on careers, mental health and labor.
HN uses it as shorthand for the divide between systematizing and humanistic outlooks, applied to arguments about science, society and language.
HN commenters cite it as the source of the known/unknown unknowns framing, sometimes noting he was unfairly ridiculed for it.
HN links it as the original footage of the famous framing of knowledge and ignorance.
Used as a quick reference clip in capitalism and greed debates.
HN cites it whenever someone worries that explanation or analysis spoils wonder, as a compact statement that knowledge deepens appreciation.
Cited for its optimistic argument that there are few limits to knowledge and human progress.
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