Comment by sparky_z

Comment by sparky_z 3 days ago

This is one of those situations where the video is just an insane value-add above and beyond the Wikipedia article that this sort of response is baffling to me. The well thought out presentation and progression of the concepts. Just enough context to keep the non math grad students following along without wasting time or talking down to the audience.The incredible visualizations that are both beautiful and insightful. Someone spent months of their life making this video as good as it could be, and it shows.

addaon 3 days ago

> This is one of those situations where the video is just an insane value-add above and beyond the Wikipedia article that this sort of response is baffling to me. The well thought out presentation and progression of the concepts.

This is good to know, for this video. Unfortunately, HN doesn't have a way to indicate this other than linking to a YouTube video; and in my experience very few YouTube videos are a superior way to absorb information than reading. To find that out, I'd have to either watch the video (negative expected value), or wait for a comment from someone like you -- and now that the latter has happened, perhaps I'll actually try to watch it. In the meantime, I do think there's value in providing information without a (sometimes literal) song and dance around it for those interested in learning over entertainment, on average.

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isotypic 3 days ago

All you have done is contribute a wikipedia article which is the second google result if you search the title of the video. Another user made a comment referencing a textbook they used to learn this material as well as some extended comments of their own - this actually provides information unlike a bare wikipedia link presented with a dismissive attitude.

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throwaway150 3 days ago

> this sort of response is baffling to me

I'm struggling to understand the negative tone in your reply to the parent comment. They simply offered an additional resource on the topic. Rather than welcoming it, you seem to have taken issue with it. One of the strengths of HN threads is that people often contribute further material that others may find helpful.

The video is useful but so is the Wiki article. Some readers will prefer the video, some the article, and some both. Why object to someone sharing another link?

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cgriswald 3 days ago

In fairness to the GP, the OP has now admitted that they made the post without having watched the video and that they did so out of prejudice against YouTube videos. GP wasn’t objecting to the additional resource but the implication via “Without video:” that the video itself is less valuable.

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- addaon 3 days ago
  
  As the OP, I agree with everything you said, but I suggest an alternate characterization: Some subset of people, including me, prefer written communication to video (regardless of whether the video is on YouTube or elsewhere). Since my favorite HN threads delve into a topic, rather than into the details of a particular presentation of a topic, and since on seeing this topic raised I hopped over to Wikipedia to refresh my memory on this topic, I thought I would provide a breadcrumb for others of similar mindset to help jumpstart the topical discussion. Which, clearly, I was not quite successful in doing -- so, lesson learned.
  
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sparky_z 3 days ago

The current top comment by u/steppi is a stellar example of how to offer an additional resource on the topic in a way that adds value to the discussion. This was not that.
I (correctly) interpreted the terse, dismissive tone of their comment, which implied that the video added no value beyond what was found in the Wikipedia page. Other comments here confirm that I'm not the only one who read it that way. The clear subtext was "don't waste your time with that slop, just read this." I was certain that, if that was their takeaway, then they hadn't even bothered to watch the video (which turned out to be correct). But I only knew that because I had already watched the video the previous day and was deeply impressed by it.
At the time I replied, it was the only comment here, and was therefore setting the tone of the discussion. I didn't want all the people who only follow the link after checking the comments to assume that the video was just a lazy Wikipedia summary, upvote the comment for "saving them time", and then move on. My primary goal was to actually describe the video and encourage anyone out there who likes this sort of thing to give it a shot. In order to do that effectively, I felt I also had to push back on the impression left by the comment I replied to.

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