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Thanks for the thoughtful response. You put it much better than I did.


I see those youtubers for the most part as well meaning science popularizers, I can't get my kids to read books about the history of science but they'll watch videos about all kinds of interesting stuff all day long if I let them. So they do serve a role and if that's all they contribute then I'm fine with that. But I would come down harshly on anybody that would fake it just for clicks or that would interfere with actual science by spouting unsupported bullshit (this happened a lot during the pandemic).


I think it's a matter of priors. If a Youtuber shows, say, how to make non-Newtonian fluid from starch, then it's much easier to accept it at face value, because we already know such a thing exists, and what would they gain by faking it.

On the other hand, if another one shows room-temperature superconductor which may or may not actually exist, then (1) we don't know if it's true yet, and (2) it's pretty obvious why someone may want to fake it to get their five minutes of internet fame.




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