One of my favorite performative genres is the introductory lecture to a university course.

Here are a few of my favorites, all of which I consider to be works of art:

Robert Sapolsky& #39;s introduction to human behavioral biology. The first five minutes in particular are the most arresting way to introduce a subject I& #39;ve ever seen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNnIGh9g6fA">https://www.youtube.com/watch...

Hal Abelson& #39;s introduction to The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. As a friend said to me, it& #39;s like he& #39;s delivering a sermon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Op3QLzMgSY">https://www.youtube.com/watch...

Andrew Lo& #39;s introduction to finance.

"What I want to try to do over the next 13 weeks is to convince you that finance is the most important subject that you& #39;ll ever encounter."

THAT is the kind of intensity I want from a teacher. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdHlfiOAJyE">https://www.youtube.com/watch...

It& #39;s striking (and a bit sad) how much better these old lectures are than anything you can find on Coursera or edX.

Lots of great recommendations in the replies! Thanks everyone. So far, we& #39;ve got introductory lectures about:

- Justice
- Biology
- Reinforcement Learning
- The American Revolution
- The Art of Doing Science & Engineering

I& #39;m collecting them here: https://davidklaing.com/links-sublime-introductory-lectures/">https://davidklaing.com/links-sub...