Every Atheist Needs: The BBC’s A History of Ideas

You know, I was a pretty huge X-Files fan back in the day, and as delicious as David Duchovny was, I loved Gillian Anderson more because she was such a committed skeptic (and hot af). I watched constantly and was 2nd in line for the movie, and I had an “I want to believe” poster over my computer, despite the fact that I identified more with Scully than Mulder. I was pretty into it, to say the least, and somehow, someway, it has eluded me until now, that Gillian Anderson grew up in the UK and actually has a British accent.

I found out today. Watching the videos I am about to tell you about. How it escaped me for so long is inexplicable, and likely some sort of conspiracy.

BBC radio has this huge section on their web site called A History of Ideas. Within this section of its site, there are tons of animated short videos recapping major scientific theories, important philosophical ideas and great historical achievements. They are mostly narrated by Gillian Anderson herself… in her regular, normal British accent of which I had been, until today, entirely unaware.

Here are a couple of my favourites:

There are also tons of interviews with prominent scientists, thinkers and authors on a myriad of topics. You could spend days on this site and learn so much. The animations, especially, are great for school age kids.

Have you seen any of these videos? Which are your favourites?

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#videos