1
Thinking across fields
Big Think
Experts from every field thinking out loud. You get to see their reasoning, then take it and reflect on it for yourself.
Vanessa Chang·@thinkwithv
A Field Guide
No. 3 · Learning
Instead of
college
the 8 YouTube channels I'd watch —
and how to actually learn from them
The one idea
Information is cheap. AI can summarize every one of these channels in seconds. The learning happens where the AI can't go — where you sit with it, reflect on it, and use it.
You saved the video. Now what?
The top comment on the video was someone retyping all eight names by hand. Someone else asked if they needed pen and paper. So here's the list, with links, somewhere better than your saved tab. Bookmark this page instead.
The 8 channels
Everyone has access to these. The difference between the people who thrive in the age of AI and the people who don't is who actually takes the first step. So here are eight places to start.
2
Building and funding
Y Combinator
You've got to know the system. This shows you how things actually get built and funded, straight from the people writing the checks. Business school minus the business school.
3
The math behind AI
3Blue1Brown
An animated channel about math that explains everything that makes AI go: neural networks, transformers. This is stuff you can't watch on 2x, and that's the whole point. Sit with it. Watch it twice until it clicks.
4
Lectures and problem sets
MIT OpenCourseWare
The MIT education without the six-figure tuition. Real lectures and real problem sets to sit through yourself.
5
Learning by asking
Answer in Progress
A few co-hosts, one question, the whole journey — mistakes and stumbles included. Beginner mindset as a regular practice.
6
Stories worth sitting with
Pursuit of Wonder
Visual storytelling that makes you sit with philosophy, psychology, science and literature. The kind of subjects that make you reflect.
7
Reading the hard books
Jared Henderson
A philosophy PhD teaching you how to actually read the hard books.
8
Learning how to learn
Justin Sung
The stuff nobody teaches you in school: how to learn. How to actually study, take notes, and retain it.
"How do you watch all this?"
Fair question. You don't. Here's how I actually learn from a channel:
Pen and paper allowed
1 · One subject
Pick one subject and one video. Not the whole channel. Not all eight.
2 · Not on 2x
Sit with it. Watch it again if you have to, until it clicks.
3 · Take notes, then reflect
Write down what you understood in your own words. Then ask what it changes about how you think or what you'd do.
4 · Use it
Apply it to something real this week. That's what turns information into knowledge, and knowledge into wisdom.
5 · Keep going
Go deep. Then the next video. Just keep going.
What you hand off, what you keep
Before you let AI "help" with this:
- (a)Hand off the curating.Finding the channels is the part I did for you. Letting AI pull a transcript or a quick summary is fine too.
- (b)Keep the sitting-with-it.A summary is information. Understanding is what happens when you reflect on it and use it. That part can't be outsourced.
- (c)The check.Could you explain the idea to a friend without the summary? If not, you skipped the learning, not just the watching. Go back and sit with it.
Focus on one subject, one video at a time. Go deep, take notes, and reflect. Watch it again if you have to. Just keep going.
Engraving: Think with V studio · Channel images: each channel's own YouTube page.
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