Friday, June 13, 2008 | Science : Teaching Science | print version

From Big Bang to Us - Made Easy

potholer54

A recently completed youtube series on Science and the history of the Universe.

From Big Bang to Us -- Made Easy (Full 11-part series)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wg1fs6vp9Ok&feature=PlayList&p=DB23537556D7AADB&index=0&playnext=1

(from Potholer54's youtube page:) WE NEED YOU! -- I am looking for people who can "seed" the Made Easy series, either hosting it on their websites, mailing DVDs to schools or to other 'seeds', or spreading through BitTorrents. If you can help spread a bit of science and counter the rolling tide of creationist ignorance, please get in touch. Message me with a description of what you can do. Thanks!

The 'Made Easy' series is designed to explain the evidence that shows how we got here, from the Big bang to human migration out of Africa. A better quality version will soon be available for free download from a website -- details to be announced. I will be happy to send DVDs free of charge to schools after the series is finished.

The 'Made Easy' series of videos can be freely copied and distributed for educational purposes, but cannot be used for commercial gain in whole or in part. They cannot be altered, transformed or added to. If you use repost these videos you must attribute them to 'Potholer54 on YouTube."

Name: Potholer

I've been a journalist for 20 years, 14 years as a science correspondent. My degree is in geology, but while working for a science magazine and several science programs I had to tackle a number of different fields, from quantum physics to microbiology. My particular talent was my ignorance. By not understanding half of what I was assigned to cover, I had to reduce scientific discoveries from the complex to the simple. If I wrote it in a way that I could understand it, then my readers could understand it.

1 -- History of the Universe Made Easy (Part 1)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wg1fs6vp9Ok
Forget gods and goblins, here is the real story of how we know the extent of our universe in time and space. Throw away all those religious books and look at some hard evidence.

2 -- History of the Universe Made Easy (Part 2)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KMQk6MveZOE
This concludes the two parts on the history of the universe, showing how our universe, solar system and planet Earth formed through natural and predictable processes.

3 -- The Origin of Life made easy
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ozbFerzjkz4
This video answers two commonly held fundamentalist misconceptions: That scientists believe life popped out of nowhere, and that life cannot come from non-living chemicals. It explains the most commonly accepted hypothesis about the origin of life on Earth. As with all hypotheses, there are things we have yet to understand about the steps that took us from organic chemicals to replicating chemicals -- from non-life to life. If we had all the answers this wouldn't be a hypothesis, it would be a theory. So don't expect a Nobel prize for spotting problems, because solving problems is what research is all about. The video simply shows the various steps to forming primitive cells and challenges fundamentalists to show which one is impossible, and why.

4 -- The Story of the Earth Made Easy
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lN8XXaDrK4A
Is the Earth really 6,500 years old? And was there a global flood 4,000 years ago? The only way to find out is to look at the clues from the past. This video explains the evidence geologists use that shows slow uplift, erosion and sedimentation over hundreds of millions of years. (This video replaces an earlier one which -- horror! -- had audio of Kent Hovind)

5 -- The Age of Our World Made Easy
http://youtube.com/watch?v=w5369-OobM4
Methods of dating easily explained, that clearly prove the age of the Earth and our universe. Part of the "Made Easy" series that explains science in clear and simple terms. A must for people who think the world is just 6,000 years old.

6 -- Natural Selection Made Easy
http://youtube.com/watch?v=R_RXX7pntr8
Explains natural selection in simple terms. A must for anyone who is confused by the Theory of Evolution, and wonders why it's taught in classrooms. This video is part of the 'Made Easy' series that explains the history of our world, from the Big Bang to the human migration out of Africa.

7 -- The Theory of Evolution Made Easy
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7w57_P9DZJ4
Explains the Theory of Evolution in simple terms. A must for anyone who is confused by what the Theory is, what it means, and why it's taught in classrooms. This video is part of the 'Made Easy' series that explains the history of our world, from the Big Bang to the human migration out of Africa.

8 -- Human Evolution Made Easy
http://youtube.com/watch?v=MCayG4IIOEQ
The evidence for human evolution. Part of the "Made Easy" series which traces our origins from the Big Bang to the human migration out of Africa. This video can be copied and distributed fro educational purposes, but not for commercial use. It may not be built upon or transformed. You must attribute this work to "YouTube's Potholer54".

9 -- Human Ancestry Made Easy
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8edyoZFW-Lg
Traces our migration out of Africa and explains, through DNA evidence, how humans colonized the world. Part of the Made Easy series of videos that show the evidence of our origins, from the Big Bang onwards.

10 - The Scientific Method Made Easy
http://youtube.com/watch?v=zcavPAFiG14
The 'Made Easy' series explains the evidence of our origins, from the Big Bang to the human migration out of Africa. This video explains how we acquire this knowledge, and how ideas go from a hunch in a laboratory to accepted theories taught in school.

The video cuts at the end, and the final sentence should read: "In the next video, I'll look at whether belief can be regarded as science."

11 -- Creation 'Science' Made Easy
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xO7IT81h200
Creation Science is fairly simple to understand. The conclusion is laid out for you -- just read Genesis -- so there's nothing to investigate. The question is whether this really is science. Even if it isn't, should it be taght in school as a way of 'opening' young minds?

This is the penultimate video in the 'Made Easy' series, which looks at the evidence showing our origins, from the Big Bang to the human migration out of Africa.

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1. Comment #192565 by ashridah on June 13, 2008 at 11:55 am

I really love this series, it's funny, informative, and insightful.

If you go to potholer54's youtube page, and go to his playlists page, you can get the entire series as one single embeddable youtube video. Perfect for placement on a blog, or whereever, and will autoplay all of his content in one hit.

Also, check out youtube user's AronRa's series on Foundational Falsehoods of Creationists. It's up to it's 11th or 12th video now, and while dense with information, is also extremely informative.

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2. Comment #192569 by Steve Zara on June 13, 2008 at 12:11 pm

Excellent narration.

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3. Comment #192575 by Sh!fty on June 13, 2008 at 12:41 pm

Any chance there are spanish subtitled versions of these? I would like to show it to people here in Mexico.

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4. Comment #192578 by Prankster on June 13, 2008 at 12:50 pm

Wonderful, just wonderful!

They should really get around to showing this in schools.

Incidentally I was also looking at some related links over on Youtube (planets and stars to scale, voyages across galaxies etc), all superb and awe-inspiring and making you realise how utterly insignificant the need for religion is as no "god" could have come up with something so wonderful as the universe we live in.

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5. Comment #192580 by Lucas on June 13, 2008 at 12:56 pm

First one is great. Especially liked that last line. I appreciate the condensing of this information, not just because it simplifies it for the layman, but because it is dense and quick, without filler. I don't feel like I'm being spoken to like a child as I do with most science documentaries. No BS here, just facts, explained lucidly.

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6. Comment #192582 by Eventhorizon on June 13, 2008 at 1:08 pm

I've been waiting for this all my life. Just fantastic!

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7. Comment #192591 by edwaltthespisactor on June 13, 2008 at 1:36 pm

I'm a teacher and I use my BEBO page as a teach group page and guess what my latest video feed is going to be????

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8. Comment #192593 by Nails on June 13, 2008 at 1:49 pm

Simple and beautiful.

i will endevor to watch the rest of the series and burn it onto DVd and pass it onto all those who will watch it.

Other thought-provoking videos in the public domain:

http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?docid=-3974466981713172831&q=uk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcBV-cXVWFw

I must confess I understand very little physics, but I love cosmology!

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9. Comment #192596 by ashridah on June 13, 2008 at 2:02 pm

I'd be a little careful about presenting this in a class. It's highly critical of religion, and that might be seen as a bias against religion.

This could easily play out against you when public institutions aren't supposed to weigh in on religion at all (so much for being institutions of education, mind you)

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10. Comment #192602 by Steve13 on June 13, 2008 at 2:24 pm

Hi this is a little off the topic but why is there no link to James Randi's site in the link pages

http://www.randi.org/joom/

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11. Comment #192605 by Big City on June 13, 2008 at 3:03 pm

Eventhorizon:

I've been waiting for this all my life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy52yueBX_s

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12. Comment #192607 by notsobad on June 13, 2008 at 3:23 pm

So where is the torrent?

Any chance there are spanish subtitled versions of these?

Time to volunteer ;)

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13. Comment #192612 by mejdrich on June 13, 2008 at 3:52 pm

I've been watching Potholer54 since #4, and I'm glad to see him featured here.

He seems to be a part of a "second wave" of YouTube Atheists. The angry kids with cameras are being replaced by scientists who take on the teaching role in the debate: wonderful!

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14. Comment #192616 by bluebird on June 13, 2008 at 4:06 pm

Cool videos for a hot summer day... I look forward to watching these, thanks for posting!!

Lots of space news recently--GLAST blasts off, shuttle lands safely, etc. (woohoo, love it!)

EDITED

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15. Comment #192629 by rod-the-farmer on June 13, 2008 at 5:35 pm

Re Comment #192596 by ashridah

I'd be a little careful about presenting this in a class. It's highly critical of religion, and that might be seen as a bias against religion.

I agree. Starting about volume 5, the criticism of religion becomes quite strong, and I am not sure this would be permitted in many school classrooms. Has anyone shown this to a class ? What was the reaction of both students, colleagues and the school board ?

Still, excellent stuff, surely. But I would tone it down, myself, if asked.

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16. Comment #192672 by SilentMike on June 13, 2008 at 10:15 pm

9. Comment #192596 by ashridah
15. Comment #192629 by rod-the-farmer

I agree as well. Maybe there's need for two versions. This one for the Internet community, and another one that is more "public school friendly" without all the jabs at Christians. The jokes about Kirk Cameron are funny, but this is the kind of thing that turns educators away, because it makes the movie look too partisan.

EDIT: Yeah, definitely could use some patch ups. The explanations are brilliant, but the references to God and the religious are counter-productive and need to be more mild.

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17. Comment #192683 by TruthByEvidence on June 13, 2008 at 10:58 pm

I'm surprised this hasn't been featured earlier. I've enjoyed these videos since their genesis.

WONDERFUL! ^_^

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18. Comment #192753 by passutoba on June 14, 2008 at 12:35 am

fantastic....have just watched the natural selection and evolution ones....very well constructed and incredibly lucid and easy to follow......many thanks potholer!

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19. Comment #192774 by beders on June 14, 2008 at 12:55 am

Great videos!
But I'm shocked to hear that some of the posters would think that very logical, simple thoughts about religion would offend students and thus cannot be used in school or for educational purposes.

What about free speech?

Do you really think everything must be toned down to just not offend fundamentalists?

I think that is ridiculous! Instead, after showing these videos, teachers could openly discuss these "heretical" statements and use them - dare I say it - to teach the controversy.

Students may even be clever enough to separate the scientific statements from the polemic ones, which is a good lesson all in itself.

Something is very very wrong if those videos can't be shown in schools.

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20. Comment #192797 by evotruth on June 14, 2008 at 1:23 am

beders, i totally agree!

I'm a teacher and I use my BEBO page as a teach group page and guess what my latest video feed is going to be????

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21. Comment #192806 by N4hkuri on June 14, 2008 at 1:50 am

Thank you very very much for these wonderful videos!

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22. Comment #192826 by huzonfurst on June 14, 2008 at 2:41 am

Not only should these videos be shown in every school in the world, fundamentalists of every faith ought to be forced to watch them - a la Clockwork Orange with their eyelids held open - until they get it!

To those who wish to "spare the feelings" of believers, it's time to show these cretins the same regard they've shown for atheists throughout history (short of burning them alive perhaps).

Religion can't be stomped out of existence soon enough for me.

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23. Comment #192870 by rod-the-farmer on June 14, 2008 at 5:16 am

I am not so much worried about offending fundies. What I DO think is that a regular public school might choose not to show it at all, just as they would probably choose not to show a creationism video. There is a strong anti-religion tone to this, that could, IMHO, be safely eliminated without taking away from the science message. You get more flies with honey. We need to hear from anyone who HAS shown these at a school, and the reactions of students, colleagues, parents, school board etc.

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24. Comment #192871 by skip on June 14, 2008 at 5:17 am

These videos were excellent.

Potholer - You need to find a producer and get this on TV. It's that good ... Call the discovery channel!

Seriously

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25. Comment #192989 by Sh!fty on June 14, 2008 at 11:56 am

Time to volunteer ;)

That is why I'm asking ;) I just want to know if there is already some work done on them.

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26. Comment #193010 by A on June 14, 2008 at 12:35 pm

I didn't watch the video as I went for the box instead.

I guessed that inside was a picture of Jesus riding a motorbike whilst smoking a cigar.

I saw nothing at the end of the video to indicated my guess was wrong.

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27. Comment #193069 by SilentMike on June 14, 2008 at 2:21 pm

22. Comment #192826 by huzonfurst

I absolutely agree with rod_the_farmer's reply (23. Comment #192870). This is a matter of being smart and finding the best way to get your message across.

I enjoy a good creationist thrashing on YouTube as much as the next guy, the meaner the better. But that's just not the way to get into the science classes. It's the way to get YouTube fame. If you want your stuff in schools you should focus on the science and not on ridiculing Kirk Cameron (as tempting as it is to do just that).

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28. Comment #193140 by Quine on June 14, 2008 at 7:20 pm

Great job; plenty of education in one place. You can make a less anti-religious form to go into general media if you like, but for one, I would like you to leave the YouTube version as is, or make it even more critical of those who truly deserve to be ridiculed.

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29. Comment #193157 by dragonfirematrix on June 14, 2008 at 10:21 pm

Science is the truth, the light, and the way. No man comes unto the truth except by proof.

Science rock !!!

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30. Comment #193160 by nother person on June 14, 2008 at 10:32 pm

This is indeed excellent, particularly because of the attention to explaining how we know rather than the standard science video fare that stops with a description of what we know, and which leaves the impression that it is the authority of science that is important and not it's methods.

But one small quibble. 'Knowing' the location of a point by triangulation is a different kind of 'knowing' than 'knowing' that the big bang happened. The big bang, for all its status as the reigning paradigm, is still a guess. It's what must have happened only if a number of assumptions are held. The assumptions are reasonable, but they are still assumptions. This wouldn't be a big deal if the producer didn't stress his knowledge claim so strenuously. Kids (at least some of them) always know when adults are bullshitting.

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31. Comment #193192 by Eventhorizon on June 14, 2008 at 11:57 pm

Bigcity
I love that advert.
These videos really are like science as epiphany to me.

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32. Comment #193281 by tieInterceptor on June 15, 2008 at 7:19 am

I've been a fan of potholer54 "made easy" youtube videos since episode 3 or 4,

great to see that it's featured here, Potholer did a great job.

Love the one about our human ancestry, it's very powerful and moving.

And as many have mentioned already, the best thing is how clearly explains HOW we know... it really shows how important the scientific method is, and how amazing it is to follow the evidence to get real knowledge.
Also, by contrast it exposes how ridiculous it is to believe in any "personal revelation" scribbled down by a goat herder on a parchment in the bronze age.

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33. Comment #193886 by phatbat on June 16, 2008 at 7:34 am

Amazing video's - very nicely explained.

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34. Comment #194069 by evotruth on June 16, 2008 at 11:37 am

Please check Potholers new videos:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_5ka-D5UMr0

and check out his new channel and video:

http://uk.youtube.com/user/Potholer54debunks

Also, the school DVD will be edited as to not include the anti-religion.

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35. Comment #194073 by thewhitepearl on June 16, 2008 at 11:44 am

I love these videos!

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36. Comment #194083 by phil rimmer on June 16, 2008 at 12:01 pm

Wow the potholer stuff is astonishingly good. How have I missed it?

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37. Comment #196967 by TeraBrat on June 20, 2008 at 6:27 pm

"The Big Bang" by Simon Singh gives a much more detailed explanation. There are lots of similar books but I read that one and it was very well written.

This video is a nice tool to give people an inroduction to cosmology.

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38. Comment #196980 by TeraBrat on June 20, 2008 at 8:12 pm

That comment about water...I can't believe there are people who are that stupid.

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39. Comment #198036 by psi on June 23, 2008 at 4:57 am

Some people have an issue with the religion bashing in these videos. What do you think is wrong with ridiculing religion? Theories and hypothesis get "bashed" all the time in science. If your hypotheses is nonsense, it will definitely be ridiculed. The sensitivity around religion and discussing it openly like any other topic should end. Religion is just another failed hypothesis and should be treated as such, especially in a science class.

Sure, these videos could present almost exactly the same information without resorting to bashing religion. The point however, is that there is a vast amount of scientific material out there doing just that. I feel there is a definite need to show it the way it is WHILE making reference to how ridiculous religion's viewpoint of it is. We need to take a stand against religion and especially IDers/Creationist at some point, don't you think?

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40. Comment #247696 by Patte Lanus on September 14, 2008 at 9:18 pm

This is fabulous! Thank you to Potholer and thank you to Richard Dawkins! I think the version without the religion-bashing included could well be accepted in public elementary schools and we would help further the cause of science in this country. The original version with the refutation of religion could be sent to the middle schools. There are 22 public elementary schools in my city and many private and charter schools as well. I am willing to send copies to all in the hopes of making a difference. And I certainly agree that Potholer should find a way to get this onto TV.

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41. Comment #247702 by Patte Lanus on September 14, 2008 at 10:55 pm

This is a huge THANK YOU! to Nails for the link provided to the Hubble Space photos and for the resulting thoughts of how fortunate we are to be alive to experience the wonder of it all! Many thanks!

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42. Comment #298335 by bright84 on December 7, 2008 at 10:16 am

i downloaded all the videos i live in Jamaica.. i going to make couple of them on DVD and give them away ... and also add it to mininova as a torrents next week in avi format splitting the in 4 parts IE
1-3 4-6 7-9 10-11 so that its easier to seed

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43. Comment #300098 by madprofessor on December 11, 2008 at 2:12 am

sorry for the delay in getting the torrent out. here it is.

click here to go to the torrent

about the torrent

NOTE: The video 'Origin of Life Made Easy' has been revised to correct errors. This DVD is the current correct and working DVD.

Search Yahoo Groups for 'madeeasygroup' for more information, and go to youtube and search for 'potholer54'

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This series explains the scientific evidence for our origins, from the Big Bang to the human migration out of Africa, in a way that most 7th-graders would understand. It challenges people who believe we were created by a deity 6,000 years ago to confront the evidence instead of ignoring it.

The 'Made Easy' series of videos can be freely copied and distributed for educational purposes, but cannot be used for commercial gain in whole or in part. They cannot be altered, transformed or added to. If you use repost these videos you must attribute them to 'Potholer54 on YouTube.'

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44. Comment #301839 by madprofessor on December 16, 2008 at 12:13 am

this torrent is the same movie but in AVI format

click here to download the torrent

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45. Comment #309742 by Potholer54 on December 31, 2008 at 2:02 pm

Thanks for the interest in my videos. After reading these comments, and others on my YouTube message board, I decided to edit out the religious references in the Made Easy series and make a schools-only version. This is now complete (there'll be an announcement on my channel.) A number of schools have applied for DVDs, which I am distributing fee of charge.

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46. Comment #309746 by Steve Zara on December 31, 2008 at 2:07 pm

Comment #309742 by Potholer54

These are very good videos. As I said, months ago, the narration is superb.

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