Given the question was about channels worth following in 2024, I'm not sure about including Tom Scott, since he's sadly just now stopping his 10 year streak of releasing weekly videos.
Sebastian Lague does some of the best programming videos I've ever watched: https://www.youtube.com/@SebastianLague He is pretty light on the actual code (it's all open to see but he doesn't spend long going over it) and is focused on the outcome, which is huge for me.
Very active channel by the person who made Kirby, Super Smash Bros, and other games. If you're interested in game development or game history, it's work a look!
Or the epic tale of political intrigue in "The $21,000,000,000 hole in Texas" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xSUwgg1L4g about the The Superconducting Super Collider that never was.
For some reason I've really started to enjoy watching more or less silent travel journeys on Japanese ferries. So much I'm planning to do a few trips myself.
That's a great one too! I think I've pretty much watched all that channel as well. It's a great quiet channel to have your coffee in the morning.
There's also a couple variations of the solo Japan name which have varying quality. I don't even know what the original is anymore but I grew up riding ferries so I'm partial to the ferry heavy channels.
If you like aviation-related content, check out Juan Browne: youtube.com/@blancolirio
He breaks down interesting topics, unfortunately often related to general aviation accidents. He also did some interesting videos on the California droughts in the past few years. He's also a 777 pilot for American Airlines.
I like his presentation style and overall approach.
Applied Science, Veritasium, and Smarter Everyday are some of my favorites. The series Smarter Everyday did on submarines and the Kodak factory were incredible!
I sadly stopped supporting veritasium and smarter everyday on patreon because their clickbaty title failed to get me interested in watching the videos anymore.
I sure the economics work out in their favour and the actual content is still great, but for me it wasn't even a conscious decision more like a fading away.
Sad that these day giving even a hint of the actual topic in the titles seems to turn off the algorithm/viewers. That and "short" formats for videos that really need an in-depth discussion.
Back to books it is I guess.
He releases weekly 40-minute episodes covering topics like far-future engineering, aliens, planetary science, and all sorts of insane questions most people would never think to ask let alone spend 40 minutes answering. I stumbled upon this channel in 2020 and am so glad I did.
He produces similar content to Isaac Arthur but in shorter chunks, generally 20 minute episodes that are the ideal content for falling asleep (in a good way).
This is a series with 60-90 minute episodes released every 2-6 weeks. The production quality is insanely high, and the content is generally related to cosmology and history of science, often presenting answers to questions in a form of narrative from early scientists to modern day cosmologists.
Most WSF videos are 2-3 hour long conversations between host Brian Greene and either a single guest (like Stephen Wolfram recently) or a panel of a few guests. Brian Greene is an excellent moderator who possesses an unrivaled ability to articulate and ask thoughtful questions about the most complex of abstract concepts, in a way that a non-expert can understand and appreciate them.
Robert Lawrence Kuhn interviews guests in multi-part 10-20 minute videos asking deep questions about topics like consciousness, cosmology, physics and philosophy. Some of these episodes are old uploads, but I believe some of them are new as well. He's had some excellent guests, like Roger Penrose, Leonard Susskind, Nick Bostrom, and many others.
This one is more of a guilty pleasure, and it's a bit of a fringe channel that built most of its following from the UFO sub-culture. But the host Curt Jaimungal is highly articulate and asks thoughtful questions of guests that might not join other more mainstream podcasts. His open-mindedness has attracted a wide range of guests, from Lue Elizondo and Steven Greer, to Noam Chomsky and Stephen Wolfram. Generally speaking the guests are more weighted toward the "Intellectual Dark Web" variety, but don't let that stop you from watching. I first encountered this podcast because it was the only one to interview Salvatore Pais, the researcher whose name is on the US Navy patents for technology so futuristic that most consider it disinformation (I agree).
Every few months, they release a new video showing reverse engineering techniques and exploring various exploits they found. I normally don't watch tech content on YouTube, but these videos are always worth it, with unexpectedly rich information density on-par with exploit writeups, and presented in a way that takes advantage of the video format.
I listen to this podcast on Spotify, but it's worth including here because it's actually the only podcast I listen to. The episodes are great and Jack is a solid narrator. I recommend starting with episodes 99 and 100 about NSO Group.
Maybe tom7 will release a video this year, I hope he does, because they're all worth a watch. I don't even know how to describe them other than saying he does weird things with computers...
This channel posts reviews of small form-factor computers like routers and and SoCs. I don't watch it frequently, but occasionally there is a video that piques my interest. It should be interesting to anyone who likes content about homelabs.
Featuring content vaguely similar to ServeTheHome, Jeff Geerling posts videos about building things with Rasperry Pis and the like. It's a bit too clickbaity for me but he does have some decent content.
Most people have heard of these so I won't describe them, but they're always worth a watch. If for some reason you haven't heard of one of these, I suggest you click:
The best channel about AI
- AI Explained: https://www.youtube.com/@aiexplained-official
Papers and news about AI and computer graphics
- Two Minute Papers: https://www.youtube.com/@TwoMinutePapers
Awesome channel about science.
- Veritasium: https://www.youtube.com/@veritasium
Very good and long interviews
- Lex Fridman: https://www.youtube.com/@lexfridman
The rest of the list is also for fun and science
- Mentour Pilot: https://www.youtube.com/@MentourPilot
- Tom Scott: https://www.youtube.com/@TomScottGo
- Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell: https://www.youtube.com/@kurzgesagt
- Sabine Hossenfelder: https://www.youtube.com/@SabineHossenfelder