CGP Grey is an American-Irish educational

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influe ...

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

er, and live streamer who creates short explanatory videos on subjects including politics, geography, economics, sociology, history, and culture. In addition to video production, Grey is known for creating and hosting the podcasts ''

Hello Internet ''Hello Internet'' is an audio podcast hosted by educational YouTube content creators Brady Haran and CGP Grey. The podcast debuted in 2014 and released 136 numbered episodes and 18 unnumbered episodes until February 2020, when the last epis ...

'' with

Brady Haran Brady John Haran (born 18 June 1976) is an Australian-British independent filmmaker and video journalist who produces educational videos and documentary films for his YouTube channels, the most notable being ''Periodic Videos'' and '' Numbe ...

and ''Cortex'' with Myke Hurley.

Early life

Grey grew up in the

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

suburbs of New York City. He went to college in

upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York (state), New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upsta ...

, earning two degrees: one in

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which ...

and another in

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

. When Grey was a child, his father applied for

Irish citizenship Irish nationality law details the conditions by which a person is a national of the Republic of Ireland. The primary law governing these regulations is the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, which came into force on 17 July 1956. Re ...

on his behalf, and he gained dual American–Irish citizenship. Grey's Irish citizenship allowed him to move to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

and he moved to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Grey attended a masters program in economics in London, and he continues to live in the city. Grey became a physics teacher while in London.

Videos

Grey's primary YouTube channel, ''CGP Grey'', predominantly features explanatory videos on subjects including politics, geography, economics, history, productivity, the Internet, science,

American culture The culture of the United States of America is primarily of Western, and European origin, yet its influences includes the cultures of Asian American, African American, Latin American, and Native American peoples and their cultures. The U ...

, and

British culture British culture is influenced by the combined nations' history; its historically Christian religious life, its interaction with the cultures of Europe, the traditions of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland and the impact of the British Empire ...

. The videos intend to debunk common misconceptions or answer everyday questions people may hold. The videos feature Grey narrating over animations, stock footage, and still photographs. While nearly all of Grey's videos feature his voice, his face has never been shown in his videos, and Grey almost always has his face obscured when appearing in other people's videos; he generally uses a stick figure with glasses to represent himself. Grey has stated that the presentation style of his videos is influenced by that of Yahtzee Croshaw's '' Zero Punctuation'' series. Grey's video that debunks popular misconceptions has been featured on CBS, as has his video about the history of the British royal family. Two videos differentiate London and the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

, while explaining the history and government of the latter. Another two videos explaining copyright law and the Electoral College have been featured on

Mashable Mashable is a digital media platform, news website and entertainment company founded by Pete Cashmore in 2005. History Mashable was founded by Pete Cashmore while living in Aberdeen, Scotland, in July 2005. Early iterations of the site were a ...

. The channel also explains the economic disadvantages of US one-cent coins in a video titled ''Death to Pennies''. Other videos, including ''How to Become Pope'', have received media attention and have been used in instructional settings. Grey's video on the American debt limit received praise from economists. Grey's video ''

Humans Need Not Apply ''Humans Need Not Apply'' is a 2014 short film directed, produced, written, and edited by CGP Grey. It focuses on the future of the integration of automation into economics, as well as the impact of this integration to the worldwide workforce. I ...

'' was covered by ''

Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...

'' and ''

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

,'' and his animated video of

Nick Bostrom Nick Bostrom ( ; sv, Niklas Boström ; born 10 March 1973) is a Swedish-born philosopher at the University of Oxford known for his work on existential risk, the anthropic principle, human enhancement ethics, superintelligence risks, and the ...

's " The Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant" was "unanimously praise by the Life Extension Advocacy Foundation. In collaboration with fellow YouTuber

Kurzgesagt Kurzgesagt (; German for "In a nutshell" or "in a few words") is a German-made animation and design studio founded by Philipp Dettmer. The studio's YouTube channel focuses on minimalist animated educational content, using the flat and 3D desig ...

, Grey produced a video entitled "You Are Two" which discusses the right brain versus the left brain. ''

Popular Mechanics ''Popular Mechanics'' (sometimes PM or PopMech) is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do-it-yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation and transportation o ...

'' featured videos by Grey about airplane

boarding Boarding may refer to: *Boarding, used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals as in a: ** Boarding house **Boarding school *Boarding (horses) (also known as a livery yard, livery stable, or boarding stable), is a stable where ho ...

and traffic congestion.

Podcasts

''Hello Internet''

In January 2014, Grey launched the podcast ''Hello Internet'' along with co-host

, another educational

and online content creator. The podcast peaked as the No. 1

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mu ...

podcast in United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Canada, and Australia in February 2014. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' included the podcast among its 50 best of 2016, naming episode 66 ("A Classic Episode") its episode of the year. The paper described the podcast as having "in-depth debates and banter that is actually amusing." Grey reported a podcast listenership of approximately "a quarter million" downloads per episode as of September 2015. The podcast features discussions pertaining to their lives as professional content creators for YouTube, as well as their interests and annoyances. Typical topics include technology etiquette; movie and TV show reviews; plane accidents;

vexillology Vexillology ( ) is the study of the history, symbolism and usage of flags or, by extension, any interest in flags in general.Smith, Whitney. ''Flags Through the Ages and Across the World'' New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975. Print. The word is a synthe ...

;

futurology Futures studies, futures research, futurism or futurology is the systematic, interdisciplinary and holistic study of social and technological advancement, and other environmental trends, often for the purpose of exploring how people will li ...

; and the differences between Grey's and Haran's personalities and lifestyles. Grey's and Haran's opinions and comments on feedback usually starts the next episode of the podcast. As a result of their conversations, Haran has been noted for reappropriating the term "", among other words, to refer to the unauthorized re-hosting of online media.

''Cortex''

On 3 June 2015, Grey launched his second podcast, ''Cortex'', with co-host Myke Hurley of

Relay FM Relay FM is a podcast network covering a diverse range of subjects including consumer technology, productivity, entrepreneurship, creativity, and art. It was founded 18 August 2014 by Myke Hurley and Stephen Hackett. The network's hosts include ...

. The podcast is heavily edited: after recording, Hurley removes "boring parts" before Grey does the same.

Reception

Grey is regarded as a "celebrity in the niche world of educational YouTube videos," according to Caitlin Dewey. According to economist Joshua Gans, "while they may not be names in the halls of academia," YouTubers like Grey "have brought diverse explanations of mathematics, physics, political institutions, and history to millions on the Internet." Robert Krulwich of

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

writes that Grey has "a curious talent for truth telling; he can take a charming lie and, with even ''more'' charm, rip it apart. It is very, very hard, as any teacher will tell you, to unlearn something that makes you comfortable and makes you feel smart, but Mr. Grey has the knack."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grey, CGP American editors American expatriates in England American male YouTubers American people of Irish descent American podcasters American transhumanists American YouTubers Artists from New York (state) British transhumanists Citizens of Ireland through descent DFTBA Records creators Education-related YouTube channels Educational and science YouTubers English-language YouTube channels Irish editors Irish expatriates in England Irish podcasters Irish transhumanists Life extensionists Living people Online edutainment Patreon creators People from Long Island Physics educators Schoolteachers from London Year of birth missing (living people) YouTube channels launched in 2010 YouTube podcasters