Our goal is to inspire people to learn – and we believe humor and a good story to tell are just as important as straight facts.
https://kurzgesagt.org/about/
Courtesy of kurzgesagt.org (https://www.youtube.com/c/inanutshell)
Ever wondered what would happen to Earth if humans suddenly disappeared? Or more simply, wished that someone explained the banking system to you in a way you could understand it? You can find the answer to these questions and much more on Kurzgesagt!
Meet your next-favourite Youtube channel
Through entertaining and colourful videos, Kurzgesagt (German for “In a nutshell”) explores a wide range of scientific, historical, technological and philosophical topics in an appealing manner.
I want to make the videos in a way where it works for everybody. Grandparents are supposed to be able to watch them with their grandkids. You know, my first and foremost goal is to spark curiosity.
Founder Philipp Dettmer interviewed by NewScientist.
The Munich-based animation studio has gathered over 19.4 million subscribers: what started as the bachelor thesis of founder Philipp Dettmer has sparked incredible interest in online audiences, thanks to the relative accessibility of their argumentations and their iconic bird characters (who are actually personal avatars for the channel’s patrons!)
A lot goes behind the channel’s videos: aside from the animation, the team thoroughly researches their topics and gathers expert’s insights, always making sure to provide detailed sources in the captions of the content they upload. Though they are the first to admit that some of their projections, or their step-to-step process on how to turn Venus into a habitable planet, might not be 100% correct, Kurzgesagt thrives on research and statistics.
Fact-based, hence reliable(?)
While the channel mostly receives positive feedback from its audiences, some have pointed out an underlying neoliberal bias in Kurzgesagt’s interpretations of statistical data. In this article, writer Alex Mell-Taylor goes in depth about the ideological undertones of Kurzgesagt’s argumentations.
For instance, in their video What do Alien Civilizations Look Like? The Kardashev Scale , Kurzgesagt argues:
“We know that humans are curious, competitive, greedy for resources, and expansionist. The more of these qualities our ancestors had the more successful they were in the civilization-building game. Being one with nature is nice but its not the path to irrigation systems or gunpowder or cities. So it’s reasonable to assume that aliens able to take over their home planet also have these qualities.”
While this line of reasoning might at a first glance make sense, Mell-Taylor claims that it is unscientific to assume that humans are inherently expansionist and greedy and that it is inconclusive to treat such traits as a measure for ‘successful civilisations’. It might even be argued that doing so upholds imperialism as a ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ social system.
However, one might argue that although our societal culture has been shifting towards international peace and cooperation, the foundations of many ‘successful’ states have indeed been built on expansionist and competitive attitudes. Even from a wider perspective, despite the rise of ecology and the growing ‘save the planet’ movement, it might be argued that modern humans’ ‘success’ over other animal species lies in their careless exploitation of the planet’s resources. Some might even raise questions around the paradigm shift regarding our attitudes towards nature – or more simply other states- : we advocate for harmony because selfish exploitation of resources has stopped serving us.
Exploring this debate would definitely require more attention, but for the sake of this blog, it could simply compel us to be critical when we consume science-based content. Not by chance, both Kurzgesagt and Mell-Taylor acknowledge how scientific facts can be misinterpreted and framed by misleading narratives:
The problem with this assertion is that the use and study of science is never objective, especially when new information conflicts with well-established worldviews. Facts can retrospectively turn out to be very subjective.
Mell-Taylor in The Inescapable Neoliberal Bias Behind ‘Kurzgesagt — In a Nutshell’
My main goal is to inspire people to do very, real research for themselves. We try very, very hard to not spread false narratives about science.
Dettmer interviewed by NewScientist.
We need more science-communicators
What would you say to scientists who are working in some abstract field to better spread their ideas and their findings?
Talk to science communicators.
Dettmer on his NewScientist interview.
Despite its arguably – and inevitably- biased perspective, Kurzgesagt is an outstanding example of how digitalisation has opened up innovative and more accessible ways to learn complicated concepts. The passionate tone of the video’s narrator and the adorable yet explicative visuals have an incredible didactic power, and its popularity shows its audiences’ insatiable curiosity. Not by chance, across other platforms, scientists and doctors have opened up accounts to share their knowledge in accessible nuggets. Some explain how vaccines work with our immune system, others open up to questions to debunk medical myths. Personally, as a young woman, it is insightful to find online content and communities built around gynaecologists who share their expertise and knowledge in an entertaining and stigma-free way.
Kurzgesagt teaches us that learning doesn’t have to be difficult and that no question is too far-fetched to attempt answering (while being critical!). Have you ever watched one of their videos?
References
https://www.youtube.com/c/inanutshell
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