Loading...History, geography, and politics all have one thing in common: they are analytical. Not only that, but all three academic studies have a many real-world consequences, so being able to understand and analyze the three studies is a very useful skills. CGP Grey, a channel run by a guy known as Grey, is a modern day master of exactly that: analyzing history, geography, and politics. That might not be what he set out to do, as he was previously a physics teacher, but CGP Grey has become a distributor of interesting and useful knowledge about mainly history and politics, but also geography and some other subjects, through his videos.
CGP Grey is one of my favorite YouTubers, for many reasons. First of all, I just happen to like the topics he covers, but that’s just my preference. Other than that, CGP Grey does an amazing job of explaining sometimes incredibly complicated topics, as politics, geography and history tend to be, and always makes his videos fun and entertaining. Unlike many science and educational YouTubers, CGP Grey’s videos don’t feature his face, rather featuring animations using text, images, and a stick figure version of himself. (in fact, there really aren’t any images of Grey online, but that’s a different story)
While not politics nor geography, and only a little history, CGP Grey’s most popular video is his video called “Humans Need Not Apply”. With over 5 million views, Grey takes on a very large and important topic in the video. He talks about machines, AI, and how, in his opinion, humans will be pushed aside by machines in almost all jobs. Some people think that machines and computers are creating jobs, and some think they are stealing them; CGP Grey talks about both sides, and uses his analytical skills to liken our current situation with that of horses in the early 1800s. The video really makes you think, and is at the same time entertaining and interesting.
But as I said in the beginning, CGP Grey really specializes in history, politics, and geography. And since the last video didn’t have any, here’s a great video with all three. Called “American Empire”, the video is about how, just like the UK and other colonizing European countries, the U.S’s “empire” is very complex and interesting. From the Philipines to Puerto Rico, America has a large and complex system of territories, and CGP Grey explains it all in an interesting and fun way. You can watch the video HERE.
Altogether, CGP Grey is an amazing educational resource. His videos teach you about history, politics, geography, and more in a fun, entertaining and interesting way. His animations only add to the fun of the videos, and help illustrate what he’s saying very well. Although you can only hear his voice, if you watch his videos enough you almost feel like you know him. (and if you listen to his hit podcast Hello Internet with Brady Haran from Numberphile, you’ll only get to know him more) His videos are always intriguing, thought-provoking, educational, and of course, fun in a uniquely CGP Grey way.