/lit/ - Literature

[Tofu !s7vSX9lhAI No.1539865]

ITT: Academic Earth

I live in Los Angeles, and I'm trying to get work with Central Casting. It's trollbusinessmodel, you have to call this number all day and it's busy 88/89 times you call. To pass the time while pressing redial, I watch Academic Earth videos. As I've mentioned before, I dropped out of school, so here I am trying to get an education. I've watched half of Yale's John Merriman's course on France Since 1871.

http://academicearth.org/courses/france-since-1871

Anybody else watch this sort of thing? Recommendations? Is the whole thing bollocks?

Pic Related.

[Anonymous No.1539887]

France since 1871 is literally one of the worst entities humanity has produced

learn about something worthwhile like Baroque France

[Tofu !s7vSX9lhAI No.1539894]

>>1539887
>entities
Not sure you're good at English. Also, why would that make me not want to watch it?

I'm three videos in (yeah, I exaggerated) and I've learned about terrorist anarchists, France's denial of alcoholism (we just like wine!), and Vichy France, the most stunning act of surrender in the history of the world.

[Neuro !qdUPARcrn. No.1539907]

Academic Earth is great. You should also try iTunes U and TED talks. TED talks don't have the same amount of depth, but they're fascinating, and often times cover topics that you won't find elsewhere.

[Tofu !s7vSX9lhAI No.1539927]

>>1539907
TED Talks are fucking garbage. I can't stand that people keep on taking them as gospel. Yeah, Malcolm Gladwell is tight, but that doesn't make them all good. I swear to god, you'd benefit so much more if you read one non-fiction book rather than watching a hundred TED talks.

The one that tipped me over the edge was the one on life extension (i.e. living a lot longer and potentially forever) by a guy from the Methuselah Foundation. This shit head a lot of points, like that we have a moral obligation to try to study life extension, or that once we start making little jumps we'll keep on making bigger jumps which implies that people in there twenties and thirties today may catch the proverbial wave and live as long as anybody, and all these points would be very interesting if it wasn't for the fact that there is no science behind life extension. We have nothing in that direction except for some fuzzy ideas about stem cells.

Fuck.

There are so many useless fucks who are so happy to be on that stage its all they can do not to masturbate where they stand.

>umadblox.

[Anonymous No.1539950]

>>1539894
lrn 2 infer that I was referring to the thing itself

the phenomona you listed just seem boring and inconsequential next to the western civilization defining 17th and 18th century france

[Tofu !s7vSX9lhAI No.1539983]

>lrn 2 infer that I was referring to the thing itself
You know, when I talk, I speak clearly. I don't accidentally obfuscate meaning so that everything I say comes with a homework assignment.

If it's so good sell me on it.

[Neuro !qdUPARcrn. No.1540016]

>>1539927
>I swear to god, you'd benefit so much more if you read one non-fiction book rather than watching a hundred TED talks.

>implying that non-fiction books can't also be about science-illiterate garbage.

I'm sorry that I recommended you a source of information that requires the viewer to be discerning and critical. Next time I'll recommend something easier so you don't waste your precious time flying off the handle.

[Anonymous No.1540027]

>>1539927
This is one long "stop liking what I don't like" post.

Go fuck yourself, tripfag. We don't care about your boring opinions.

[Tofu !s7vSX9lhAI No.1540037]

>>1539983
The reasons I don't like TED talks:
>Gives people the feeling of using their time well when they're watching the snack food equivalent of learning
>Most are bullshit anyway.

I wasn't entirely clear the first time. The reason that you should a book isn't because most TED talks are bullshit, it's because they are intentional produced to be light entertainment and not a serious source of information.

[Tofu !s7vSX9lhAI No.1540049]

>>1540027
Deal with it.

[Neuro !qdUPARcrn. No.1540066]

>>1540037
Thank you for taking the time to politely explain yourself (sorry, I don't know how to say that without sounding patronizing). I still enjoy TED talks quite a bit, but I do agree that they don't really go into any depth. I'd argue that they are best used for introducing you to new topics. For example, I know have the book "Sergio: One Man's Fight to Save the World" on my reading list because I learned about it in a TED talk.

Anyway, let's not fight.

[Tofu !s7vSX9lhAI No.1540070]

>>1540066
YAY!

[Anonymous No.1540199]

>>1539983
>>accidentally

nothing accidental about subtlety

learn about Louis 14th and Napoleon before wasting any more time on wine or surrender to germans

Louis and Napoleon bookend significant france