YouTube changed media consumption forever. Gone are the gatekeepers of information, education, and entertainment. I cancelled my cable subscription after getting a smart TV which had YouTube and Netflix built in (a TV I bought with bitcoin, now that I think about it). Instead of watching a mindless show or sports game, I started feeding my desire for entertainment with education. YouTube has changed my thinking about the world for the better, and these are the channels I've been watching. This is edutainment at its finest.

Listed below are my top 11 favorite channels along with the description from their about page, subscriber and view counts, their twitter account, my personal thoughts on the channel, and, if they have one, a Patreon page where you can become a financial supporter. Imagine if all these content creators were getting paid directly via Steem?

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The School of Life

The School of Life is a global organisation devoted to emotional education. We're fascinated by the sort of questions we're never taught enough about at school or college: How can relationships go well? What is meaningful work? How can love last? How can one find calm? What's gone wrong (and right) with capitalism?

• 1,285,128 subscribers - 90,567,989 views
• Joined: May 18, 2010
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife
• Store: http://www.theschooloflife.com/shop/

I can't say enough great things about The School of Life. Just about every video they put out causes me to think about the topic in a whole new, refreshing way. Whether they are talking about relationships, philosophy, or even pop-culture and architecture, I feel less dumb after watching it. For this one, I had to include two samples.

Sample: How to Use Drugs

Sample: The Dawn of Capitalism

I could go on and on with more samples... Just watch them all. Learn about your favorite philosophers, authors, and more. So much good stuff.

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Crash Course

Tons of awesome courses in one awesome channel: Hank Green teaches you Anatomy & Physiology; Phil Plait teaches you Astronomy; Craig Benzine teaches you U.S. Government and Politics; Adriene Hill and Jacob Clifford teach you Economics. Check out the playlists for past courses in World History, Biology, Literature, Ecology, Chemistry, Psychology, and US History.

• 3,656,932 subscribers - 545,854,775 views
• Joined: Dec 7, 2010
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheCrashCourse
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/CrashCourse

Crash course rocks my world. I've watched the entire World History 1 (42 videos) and World History 2 (30 videos) playlists. I've worked through much of the government and politics, the economics courses, history of gaming, and all of the philosophy courses. SO MUCH GOOD STUFF. Seriously. I don't think I'll send my kids to college. I'll just have them watch these YouTube videos. The sample video I included here is the opening to World History 2 and actually gives a shout out to anarchism (woot!).

Sample: Rethinking Civilization - Crash Course World History 201

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Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

Videos, explaining things. Like evolution, time, space, global energy or our existence in this strange universe. We are a small team of like minded people who want to make science look beautiful. Because it is beautiful.

• 2,715,237 subscribers - 136,855,531 views
• Joined: Jul 9, 2013
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kurz_Gesagt
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Kurzgesagt

Not only are the animations incredible, but the production quality is top notch. I've been so impressed with every video I've seen.

Sample: The Fermi Paradox — Where Are All The Aliens? (1/2)

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Veritasium

An element of truth - videos about science, education, and anything else I find interesting.

• 3,608,209 subscribers - 283,703,297 views
• Joined: Jul 21, 2010
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/veritasium
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/veritasium

Veritasium has a professional, yet casual feel. Derek Muller's passion for science and creating great video content comes through in every video. This sample video in particular, is one of my favorites because it touches on how we understand truth and gain new information.

Sample: Can You Solve This?

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Vsauce

Our World is Amazing.

• 10,788,692 subscribers - 1,040,841,586 views
• Joined: Jul 30, 2007
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/tweetsauce

Michael Stevens is just crazy smart. When he says stuff, I want to listen, even if I previously didn't care about the topic. His videos are a little longer for each topic (10 or so minutes), but they are always interesting.

Sample: Are We Ready For Aliens?

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Vsauce2

Subscribe for Mind-Blowing Creations & The Best of the Internet

• 3,656,932 subscribers - 545,854,775 views
• Joined: Dec 7, 2010
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/VsauceTwo

Vsauce is so much fun. I love their Mind Blow shows where I can keep up to date on the most amazing technologies being invented right now.

Sample:: Paralyzed Man Walks Again -- Mind Blow #98

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SciShow

SciShow explores the unexpected. Seven days a week, Hank Green, Michael Aranda, and Olivia Gordon delve into the scientific subjects that defy our expectations and make us even more curious!

• 3,617,009 subscribers - 493,490,573 views
• Joined: Oct 20, 2011
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/SciShow
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow

SciShow is too awesome to summarize. They now have so many different categories and channels including SciShow Space and SciShow Kids. Super fun, interesting science done in a very approachable way. This sample I'm sharing is one of my all-time favorites. Did you know love is really just a bunch of chemicals?

Sample: World’s Most Asked Questions: What Is Love?

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PBS Space Time

Space Time explores the outer reaches of space, the craziness of astrophysics, the possibilities of sci-fi, and anything else you can think of beyond Planet Earth with our astrophysicist host: Matthew O’Dowd.

• 565,628 subscribers - 29,707,410 views
• Joined: Feb 9, 2015
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/PBSSpaceTime

This is one of those channels where my head starts to melt while watching it. The stuff they talk about is so mind-blowingly incredible, I sometimes only grasp small portions of it and have to watch it a second time. If you're into space, time, relativity, and the nature of the universe, you will love this channel.

Sample: What’s Wrong With the Big Bang Theory? | Space Time | PBS Digital Studios

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PBS Idea Channel

Here's an idea: a PBS show that examines the connections between pop culture, technology and art.

• 701,104 subscribers - 53,572,934 views
• Joined: Feb 17, 2012
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/pbsideachannel

Mike Rugnetta makes every topic super fun. I love how he often responds to specific comments at the end of the videos while also being just a big super nerd when it comes to things like comic books and super heroes. He's smart and fun, just like the videos.

Sample: Will 3D Printing Break Copyright?

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Mental Floss

A channel where knowledge junkies come to get their fix of trivia-tastic information! Subscribe and check for new episodes uploaded every Wednesday and first Monday of the month!

• 1,341,276 subscribers - 159,197,487 views
• Joined Mar 17, 2011
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/mental_floss
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow

There are a lot of list shows on YouTube and many are really good, but the quality and content of this one, to me, stands above the rest. They consistently put out really great information, often destroying incorrect ideas in the process.

Sample: Misconceptions about Memory - mental_floss on YouTube (Ep. 54)

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SmarterEveryDay

I explore the world using science. That's pretty much all there is to it. Watch 2 videos. If you learn something AWESOME, subscribe.

• 4,038,631 subscribers - 301,464,996 views
• Joined: Apr 3, 2006
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/smartereveryday
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/smartereveryday

Destin Sandlin is another one of those online personalities whose enthusiasm is addictive and contagious. I can't help but smile when I watch his videos.

Sample: HOLDING AN EXPLOSION at 20,000 fps - Smarter Every Day 156

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There you have it! My current favorite YouTube channels. In a very real way, these inputs shaped my thinking about the world and made me smarter today than I was just a few years ago. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do and appreciate having them all in one place here.

Please support the content creators by subscribing to their channels and letting them know about Steemit. If you're a fan of someone listed above, maybe tweet them a link to this post and let them know they could be paid in cryptocurrency for publishing their work here. Take a look at the subscriber counts above. That's over 35 millions subscriptions! If just a fraction of those viewers join Steemit, it would really boost the platform adoption for everyone while also rewarding these incredible creators.

If you enjoyed this, please vote it up and give me a follow. Thanks!

Let me know your favorite YouTube channels in the comments.

--- Luke Stokes ---