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Probability & game theory: videos Hacker News recommends
Probability and decision theory: combinatorics, Statistics 110, Bayes theorem, paradoxes, game theory, prisoner's dilemma, Nash equilibrium, randomness, expected value. Below: every video in this topic that at least three HN users linked with real commentary, in at least three different months (33 explainers, 7 talks, 5 lectures), best-scored first, with the comments on each video page.
- Linked in threads about meritocracy, careers and startups as a reminder that luck shapes who ends up on top.
- HN's go-to explainer for why FPTP leads to a two-party system, linked in countless voting-reform and US politics threads.
- HN commenters reach for it constantly as an approachable explanation of why cooperation and reciprocity are rational strategies.
- HN's go-to link whenever ranked-choice voting or voting reform comes up, because it explains the mechanics quickly and entertainingly.
- spinout3 video recommended in 5 different months by 5 HN users, 2012–2025The canonical real-world example in game theory discussions of manipulating a prisoner's dilemma.
- HN recommends it as an engaging lesson in probability and in how statistics can expose cheating.
- Unify The Vote explainer recommended in 4 different months by 3 HN users, 2018–2022HN commenters cite it in voting-reform threads as a visual argument that cardinal systems (STAR, approval) beat plurality and ranked-choice voting.
- HN's go-to link whenever Bayesian reasoning, base rates or imperfect tests come up.
- HN points to it as a reasoned rebuttal to the claim that AI risk is just Pascal's wager.
- The Center for Election Science explainer recommended in 4 different months by 5 HN users, 2014–2023The standard link in ranked-choice voting threads to show IRV does not eliminate the spoiler effect.
- Recommended in game-theory and cooperation threads, with the whole lecture series endorsed.
- HN people use it as a clear, quick explanation of Nash equilibrium and why competitors cluster.
- Recommended as an accessible demonstration that people are bad at producing or judging random sequences.
- HN recommends it as an excellent programmer-friendly explanation of p-values and statistical thinking.
- ScepticaTV documentary recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2013–2017HN cites it as the classic demonstration of survivorship and confirmation bias in betting, trading and prediction claims.
- Julia Galef talk recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2017–2021HN recommends it as a short, accessible intro to Bayesian reasoning and priors.
- National Museum of Mathematics lecture recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2017–2026HN recommends it as an entertaining way to learn math through juggling.
- Recommended on Ask HN threads as a high-quality free probability course for relearning math or building an ML foundation.
- Owen Maitzen explainer recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2022–2025HN recommends it as an accessible, well-visualized entry point to Hackenbush, surreal numbers and their link to Nim.
- HN points to it as the best talk on how people misunderstand probabilities and how designers handle that.
- Primer explainer recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2021HN recommends it as part of Primer's strong series of evolution and emergence simulations.
- HN commenters point to it as a well-argued rebuttal of Dark Forest axioms, and recommend his wider Fermi Paradox series.
- Linked in electoral-system discussions as a quick, clear argument against the electoral college.
- HN points to it as a good, anecdote-filled introduction to the math of shuffling from the expert himself.
- HN people recommend it as the most intuitive introduction to Bayes' theorem and cite it in base-rate arguments.
- HN points to it for an accessible explanation of why wealth and creative output are so unevenly distributed.
- Cambridge University explainer recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2013–2022Recommended as a short, fun introduction to micromorts and thinking about risk.
- HN cites it in LLM randomness and number-picking threads as evidence that humans are also biased and predictable when asked for random numbers.
- HN people link it as a short, funny and accurate explanation of why over-testing and over-screening can do harm.
- N N Taleb's Probability Questions commentary recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2017–2021HN cites it when arguing that different risks follow different distributions and should be judged by growth rates and tails rather than current counts.
- Cited for its well-known attempt to convey the size of 52 factorial.
- HN points to it as an accessible introduction to Bayesian reasoning and as inspiration for personal projects.
- CraftHub Events talk recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2019–2021HN cites it in algorithmic-bias threads for the impossibility result that an algorithm cannot be procedurally fair, group fair and maximally useful at once.
- Undefined Behavior explainer recommended in 2 different months by 3 HN users, 2017–2019HN commenters link it in voting-reform discussions as a concise explanation of range voting versus other systems.
- London Mathematical Society lecture recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2017–2024Used to illustrate that humans pattern-match and find spurious patterns in enough data points.
- Primer explainer recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2020–2026HN commenters link it to explain why plurality voting produces two-party systems and how ranked-choice voting suffers spoiler effects.
- Mentioned whenever the optimal stopping or secretary problem comes up in relation to choosing a partner.
- The go-to short explanation whenever lava lamps, entropy sources, or Cloudflare randomness come up.
- Used as a friendly example of high-dimensional geometry showing up in a simple problem, and of ball volume shrinking inside a hypercube.
- HN links it as a fun explanation of the purely mechanical Dr. Nim game in threads about early game computers and marble-based binary math.
- Hypermind explainer recommended in 1 different month by 1 HN user, 2023–2025HN people cite it as a short explanation of how aggregated individual guesses approach the truth.
- HN recommends it as an excellent, detailed history of Markov chains, often in threads on Markov models and language models.
- It is the standard reference for why rand() is broken in C++ and what to use instead.
- HN mentions it mostly in passing as a Taleb talk on market volatility and predicting crises.
- timb6 explainer recommended in 1 different month by 1 HN user, 2013–2016Used as a quick, convincing demonstration of crowd estimation when discussing aggregated judgment.
- Cited in threads on random sampling as a clear illustration of how reasonable-sounding random choices can give biased results.
- HN uses it as the reference for counting how many songs or melodies are possible from a finite set of notes.
- Linked when someone needs a quick accessible source for the claim that every voting method has flaws.
- Mostly used as a joke or parody reference, and occasionally as the canonical illustration of leveled, second-order thinking.
- singingbanana demo cited on HN 3 times, 2015–2022Used as a reference for the perseverance behind improbable streaks and selective reporting of best runs.
- HN commenters cite it as the accessible summary of the Dark Forest theory whenever SETI, alien contact, or hostile-environment analogies come up.
Questions
What is the most recommended probability & game theory video on Hacker News?
Why Being Delusional is a Superpower by Veritasium: Linked in threads about meritocracy, careers and startups as a reminder that luck shapes who ends up on top.
How is this probability & game theory list ranked?
By HackerTube's score: the number of distinct months in which an HN comment recommended the video, plus half a point for every month with a strong recommendation. One viral thread counts less than steady recommendations over years.
Where do the videos come from?
From every Hacker News comment between 2007 and 2026 that linked a YouTube video, labeled by an AI model as a recommendation, a citation, a joke or a criticism. The list is published by HackerTube under ODC-By 1.0; this edition adds indexable pages and the comment context.