National Geographic: the videos Hacker News recommends
Not the channel's most viewed videos: the ones HN commenters kept linking with real commentary. The top pick, "50 Years Ago, This Was a Wasteland. He Changed Everything | Short Film Showcase", cited in climate and water threads as an encouraging example of large-scale landscape restoration.
- 3 HN recommenders 3 months 2018–2022documentaryCited in climate and water threads as an encouraging example of large-scale landscape restoration.
- cited 3× 0 months 2021–2022news clipHN commenters bring it up as proof that laser mosquito defense is technically feasible, in threads about DIY pest-zapping projects.
- cited 3× 0 months 2019–2024demoCited as evidence of how ancient people could move huge stones with only ropes and simple methods.
- cited 3× 0 months 2020–2023explainerCited as a vivid example of parasites controlling host behavior whenever zombie-fungus comparisons come up.
Questions
Which National Geographic video does Hacker News recommend most?
50 Years Ago, This Was a Wasteland. He Changed Everything | Short Film Showcase: recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users between 2018 and 2022.
Is this every National Geographic video?
No. Only videos that at least three different HN users linked, in at least three different months, with at least a sentence of their own commentary. That filter is what makes the list useful.
Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.