HackerTubewatch
Surprise me
Frame from Gradient descent, how neural networks learn | Deep Learning Chapter 2 Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

Gradient descent, how neural networks learn | Deep Learning Chapter 2

43 videos recommended on HN
YouTube
4 HN users recommended this explainer3 months2017–2024 score 3.5
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN recommends the series as a very accessible way to understand the math behind machine learning and LLMs.

3Blue1Brown's second neural network chapter explains cost functions and gradient descent, showing how a network learns by minimizing error during training.

“3Blue1Brown which explains math in very accessible way” (HN, 2017)

1 strong recommendations · 3 recommendations · 1 citations · Explainers · intro

5 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@hal9000xp Nov 2017 Strongly recommends
on HN thread Ask HN: Best way to get started with AI?
Read more
I'm in the same boat. For long time, I was interested in AI but at the same time intimidated by math. I'm relatively comfortable with discrete mathematics and classical algorithms and at the same time calculus and linear algebra is completely foreign to me. Also, I do not accept way to learn ML without good understanding of core principles behind it. So math is a must. A few months ago, I stumbled upon very amazing YouTube Channel 3Blue1Brown which explains math in very accessible way and at the same time I got feeling that I finally started understanding core ideas behind linear algebra and calculus. Just recently he published 4 videos about deep neural networks: [link] [this video] [link] [link] So my fear of ML was gone away and I'm very excited to explore whole new world for neural networks and other things like support vector machines etc
Accessible math explanation that removed fear of ML.
@miklosme May 2020 Recommends
on HN thread Humans Not Invited
If you want an extensive answer, I recommend the neural network playlist on 3Blue1Brown: [link] For a quick answer, watch this segment: [this video]
Quick answer on how neural networks learn.
@superkuh Oct 2024 Recommends
on HN thread LLMs Aren't Thinking, They're Just Counting Votes
Read more
> when an LLM tells us that the sun rises in the east, it's not because it truly understands astronomy or the solar system. Rather, it has seen the phrase "sun rises in the east" repeated so many times in its training data that this becomes the highest probability answer. It's less about understanding and more about pattern recognition. This is not too different from most human person's experience with basic education ( [link] ). Though it is obvious that humans can do more than that too. And while "voting" that may be a close-enough metaphor for the multi-layer perceptron layers, it is not what is happening in the attention layers. I suggest checking out 3blue1brown's videos on gradient descent [this video] and "How might LLMs store facts" [link] versus how attention works [link]
Explains gradient descent, helpful for understanding LLMs.

Citations, criticism and jokes

@afarrell Nov 2017 Cites it
on HN thread What is backpropagation and what is it doing? [video]
A bit of a side-note, but I think it is an interesting piece of marketing that Amplify Partners decided to sponsor[1] the previous video in this series. I wonder (and hope) we'll see more VCs sponsoring open educational content relevant to their focus. [1] [this video]

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.

Keyboard shortcuts

/
Search
j k
Next / previous video
r
Surprise me
l
Like (video page)
w
Watch later (video page)
?
This help
Esc
Close