Professor Dave

From RationalWiki
(Redirected from Dave Farina)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Dave Farina, in the flesh.
Like and subscribe
YouTube
Icon YT bullshit.png
Up next
I just want to raise the bar of scientific literacy in the world! Because I'm rooting for humanity, as it were.
—David Farina, on his Patreon

David James "Dave" Farina, more well known as Professor Dave, is an American Italian science educator, YouTuber and former lecturer.[1][2][3][4] He received his Bachelors Degree in Chemistry from Carleton College in Minnesota 2005. After this, he migrated to first Hollywood then the San Francisco Bay area to pursue a career in music and taught biology and physics in various settings and lectured chemistry (specializing in organic chemistry) at an accredited university to pay the rent.[5][6][7][8] In 2011, he began to pursue his Masters studies in synthetic organic chemistry at Cal State Northridge. He completed most of his courses on synthetic organic chemistry but was not able to complete the degree.[9]

In January of 2015, he started "Professor Dave Explains", a YouTube channel aiming to create educational videos for all subjects with a focus on making them succinct and with animation that aids in comprehension. He received his MA in science education from Cal State Northridge in 2018, as the education would allow him to make higher quality educational YouTube videos.[10][11]

"Professor Dave Explains" has over 427 million views and as of August 2025 has 3.9 million subscribers.[12] He has videos ranging from economics, psychology, and much more. He also has teamed up with Emile in order to create an AP Chemistry course.[13] On 30th April 2021, he self-published a book called Is This Wifi Organic?[14]

Views[edit]

Religious[edit]

So your God is a beta, wouldn't you agree?
—Farina, talking with Jesse Lee Peterson[15]

Farina is an atheist.[16] He has expressed a dislike for Christianity when Jesse Lee Peterson tried to spew his misogynistic rhetoric and in a debate with Kent Hovind[17] when Kent tried to cite the Bible as evidence against evolution. He also espouses support for separation of church and state.[18].

Politics[edit]

Farina believes that racism is a significant issue in America. He believes that black people are disproportionately killed by police officers based on the data he has seen. He maintains that there are many subtle ways in which America's issues relate to racism[19]. He also believes in a massive redistribution of wealth in order to financially assist those who are under the poverty line.[20] He has described Donald Trump as a "disgusting, narcissistic, ignorant, extremely unintelligent buffoon that has turned America into the laughing stock of the world" and has criticized him for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as telling people to inject bleach within themselves as a cure.[21] He supported Bernie Sanders during the 2016 presidential election.[22] His political views are not expansive, as he doesn't follow politics — preferring to spend his time on his main interest, that being science.[23] He has also criticized Israel for its genocide against the Palestinian people.[24][25]

David has been accused of being a communist by some of his opponents, for example, the co-hosts of Real Science Radio - a Christian pseudoscience YouTube channel/podcast.

Debunks[edit]

Perpetrators of hoaxes in all other realms, prepare yourself. I'm coming.
—David Farina, after making his last Flat Earth video[26]

Farina has tackled lots of pseudoscience, including the Flat Earth, COVID-19 conspiracy theories, the Electric Universe and Electric Sun, James Tour's criticisms of abiogenesis, Ben Davidson and his "pseudoscientific doomsday cult"[27] SpaceWeatherNews (known as Suspicious0bservers at the time of the upload), Young Earth creationism and Pierre-Marie Robitaille.[28] Robitaille has responded to Dave's criticisms with his own video. (Knowledge of MRI Scans totally allows you to talk on astrophysics.) [29] Farina has also been exposing intelligent design proponents from the Discovery Institute in a series that, so far, stretches to ten episodes,[30] Matt Walsh, Christopher Langan, and others. More recently, he has started debunking guests on the Joe Rogan Experience, particularly Terrance Howard and Billy Carson.[31] The former holds some insane ideas about the periodic table, mathematics, and inanimate objects and particles performing sexual reproduction, the latter is a grifter who also promotes Ancient Aliens-style pseudohistory. Along with these two, he repeatedly targeted Eric and Bret Weinstein, which eventually spiraled out into debunking other lackeys of Peter Thiel and those who agree with his agenda.

References[edit]

  1. https://www.carleton.edu/news/stories/professor-dave-farina-05-explains-how-he-attracted-345k-youtube-subscribers/
  2. https://www.edweek.org/technology/professor-dave-explains-how-he-attracted-345-000-youtube-subscribers/2019/03
  3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkA4OImGuBk
  4. https://www.tubefilter.com/2022/07/28/youtube-millionaires-professor-dave/
  5. https://www.carleton.edu/news/stories/professor-dave-farina-05-explains-how-he-attracted-345k-youtube-subscribers/
  6. https://www.edweek.org/technology/professor-dave-explains-how-he-attracted-345-000-youtube-subscribers/2019/03
  7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkA4OImGuBk
  8. https://www.tubefilter.com/2022/07/28/youtube-millionaires-professor-dave/
  9. https://www.davefarina.com/bio
  10. https://sites.google.com/site/davefarinamasters/
  11. https://www.youtube.com/c/ProfessorDaveExplains/about
  12. https://www.youtube.com/c/ProfessorDaveExplains/about
  13. https://youtu.be/gPGvzj3bJW0
  14. Is This Wi-Fi Organic?: A Guide to Spotting Misleading Science Online by Dave Farina (2021) Mango. ISBN 1642504157.
  15. 46:56
  16. https://youtu.be/dVG1dNygOgA?list=PLybg94GvOJ9GEuq4mp9ruJpj-rjKQ_a6E&t=1647
  17. 10:57
  18. 35:46
  19. 13:10
  20. 22:15
  21. 57:42
  22. 1:06:29
  23. 13:10
  24. https://twitter.com/daveexplains/status/1712831567264162196?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
  25. https://twitter.com/daveexplains/status/1711052183444369760?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
  26. https://youtu.be/7ae_XdFEQDw?list=PLybg94GvOJ9Ez94Fef5c19Muip_PXubxH&t=706
  27. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fTLZTEE7mU
  28. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLybg94GvOJ9GEuq4mp9ruJpj-rjKQ_a6E
  29. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRrTvP95kf4
  30. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLybg94GvOJ9HD-GlBnTYutk8D1e71y__q
  31. 0:00:33