James Burke : Connections, Episode 8, "Eat, Drink and be Merry", 1 of 5 (CC)

[TheStfu1000]

you look a bit like a nerdy curt smith.

[MX5GS]

I first saw this series in the early 1990s. I was amazed at how well it had stood the test of time back then. I'm even more amazed at how it's even MORE relevant today, over 30 years after its creation.

[Bord750]

I really like the privacy and prophetic mention of identity theft..You rule James lol!

[victorialucas38]

Chillingly prophetic episode, yet again.

[ChorltonBrook]

Not wanting to get in debt I never got a credit card years ago, and now I can't get one 'cos they don't find me credit worthy 'cos I got no history.

[wanderliscious]

@ChorltonBrook ... me too, i consider myself very lucky ;)

[DForce0]

What's a cassette?

[muttilo]

@DForce0 a tape

[barkon]

Wow. I haven't seen this show since the mid-nineties. I just didn't realize then how prescient Mr. Burke was about some things.

[jaymoe67]

WoW, prophetic words... "What will happen when being debt all the time is the normal way to live?" Those who allready have " Real Money " will do just fine, while the whole overinflated credit system (being integrated into the housing market) and all those dependent on it will flounder. Leaving whatever tangible products are left over (such as developed land) to be scavanged by those who had " Real Money " all along. Credit is money that doesn't actually exist.

[luridplanet]

People still like cash 30 years later, there is no doubt

[assemblyassembly]

2:50> whoa, are those actual people and actual numbers? You can see them quite clearly

[lifeatlast26]

@assemblyassembly i grew up in the 90s and 2000's and every tech thing pre-1980 when dealing with banking or any systematic company looks janky and not and inefficient.. very risky too. like these cards ....

[alpha18412]

Plastic is nice but you could kill a moose if you hit it with a Bakelite telephone reciever.

[tellmeverything]

thankyou ,,

[JimPrower]

"What will happen when being in-debt *all the time* is the normal way to live?"

We sure found out the answer to that, and it was NOT pretty.

[PhilJonesIII]

'What will happen when being in debt all the time is the normal way to live?'

We get 2009.

[beepandbop]

This was my favorite episode back in the day. I loved the focus on renaissance-modern military history.

[jiwbink]

"give me the power to issue money, and I care not who makes the laws"

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Nice quote. Can I quote you on that? hehe

[jiwbink]

JBW, Iwish I had said that.

I think it was a stmt by international banker

at the turn of the last century.If I'm not mistaken that banker was also one of "the monsters of Jeckyl Island." There is a video here on Y-T by that same title ,if you have time do yourself a favor and check it out.....bink...

[palsteak1]

@jiwbink

It was Mayer Amschel Rothschild, godfather of the Rothschild banking cartel of Europe.

The precise quote is: "Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes the laws."

At this point I'd like to suggest watching "Money As Debt" which shows the full scale of the banks' power.

[murdelabop]

@JamesBurkeWeb IIRC, the actual quote is "Give me control over a nation's money, and I care not who makes its laws," and it is attributed to J. P. Morgan.

[nNorthWestern]

@murdelabop no he did not, it was Meyer Amschel Rothschild 1744 – 1812 hundred years earlier, jp morgan was born 1837 and he left us with witty quotes such as ¨If you have to ask how much it costs, you can't afford it¨ basically he never said anything smart

[murdelabop]

@nNorthWestern Ah, so when JP Morgan said it he was quoting. Got it. It was certainly a policy he applied.

[TheLastBrainLeft]

"What will happen when being in debt all the time is the normal way to live?"

30 years later, we now know. Burke is a time lord!

[daddyofjames]

'Didn't go for women much'!!! LOL

[breathless46]

I wonder if the future archaeologists/historians will refer at this time as "The Plastic Age, or the Petroeum Age"

This episode is quite prophetic.

[JamesBurkeWeb]

When it was made, or the current time (2009)? I don't think there will ever be an end to the era of plastics, or plastic-like substances, so I doubt there will ever be an era referred to as "The Plastic Age", but "Petroleum Age" will certainly become (assuming we don't annihilate ourselves in the interim) a minor footnote in history some day.

Probably most notably as: The shortest age of all known human "ages", lasting less than 150 years! ;)

- JBW

[Jcolinsol]

Well, the "plastic age" in the same way that we've had the stone age, and various metal ages. We haven't stopped using stone or metal, plastic is just the latest thing to dominate.

Maybe in a hundred years or so we'll be living in the "nano-age" or something.

[AlRoderick]

Next up is probably the composite age.

Neal Stephenson wrote The Diamond Age about a time where nano-forged diamond is the cheapest material in the world, so they make everything from it.

[robroberts2064]

@AlRoderick

nano-compiled!

[p717]

What will happen when being in debt all the time is the normal way to live?

Wow. This show was made at the very beginning of mass credit..and we had are first major bubble burst in the 1980's, and the second in the past 2 years. It's definitely changed the face of the business cycle.

[JamesBurkeWeb]

And yet somehow it ends with the landing on the moon... I guess we're off to Mars!

[p717]

As the truly enlightened say...

it's only money!

[k9thru12]

Best

S

H

O

W

Ever

BBC Licencee Fees are regressive taxation make it free online we have a war to win

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Agreed and agreed.

It's ridiculously ironic too, that the rights to this publicly financed program were sold to a publisher who then sold it to another publisher that doesn't have distribution rights in the UK.

So if you happen to be British, you can't even BUY this show who's production you were forced to pay for in the first place.

- JBW

[FrankinHolland]

Al Beeb stops the showing of things they have licence for on the internet also. I am thinking South Park but I think they already sold that off. Heil Labour!!!!

[TheLastBrainLeft]

I was going to purchase both this series and TDTUC on DVD, but BBC charges a ridiculous price for the sets in America.

God Bless Youtube.

[JamesBurkeWeb]

The BBC doesn't own it. It was first sold to a British academic publisher who recently sold it to American one (Ambrose Video) who then drastically reduced the price. See main channel page for details. Each series costs $150.00 ($15.00 per episode) digitally remastered, uncut and with various other extras (CC, maybe extra footage & interviews? unsure).

I urge people *that can afford it* to actually buy those DVDs. Don't forget it is Ambrose's right, at any time, to shut this channel down

- JBW

[CHANNELOMD]

can they be played in the uk?

[JamesBurkeWeb]

As far as I know, yes. But I'm not sure.

Contact Ambrose directly. They have a channel here on YouTube. They can't deliver it to you but it could be purchased as a "gift" and then send (not copied!) to the UK.

- JBW

[persianlor]

@JamesBurkeWeb $15 an episode is actually pretty amazing, especially when you put it that way. I wish they sold it per episode. Some episodes are just all that more necessary. Not that I'm saying some are less than others...just that some are more breathtaking. BTW: I just checked...it's on sale now...for $100. I;m buying it. Who has "the day the universe changed?"

[robroberts2064]

@persianlor

I bought the DVD set. Totally worth having it, will share with my kids some day...

I found TDTUChanged on a torrent site. It was ripped from cable tv and has a logo overlay.

[ScottfromTexas]

Wow - well stated. Underscores a point I've heard - there is no "public" anything. Whenever you hear "public" something what is really meant is GOVERNMENT OWNED. So many have and continue to fall for this little bait-and-switch. Reference: "public opion" in health care debate - sells better than "government-run insurance." Even government-run health care would be better than *that.* Let's see, how many more layers of bureaucracy can we create while lying about "saving" money with it?

[shobley]

At 3.02 what does he use to visualize the data on the mag. stripe? Some kind of polarizer?

[JamesBurkeWeb]

I believe it is just a very powerful lens taken out of a standard laboratory microscope (which would explain why it has tape on the sides and no handle or anything). Not sure what factor it's magnified at. Clearly enough so that you can't see the sides of the strip (and why it's so dark). Maybe somewhere between 20 to 50 times?

A biologist would be able to spot it immediately I bet.

- JBW

[kabarutfa]

@JamesBurkeWeb

I am not a biologist, nor do I play one on TV, but looking at that segment I would venture that it is a dab of ferrofluid inside an acrylic case (notice the pooling at the bottom of the case).

[ScottfromTexas]

I don't think anything will allow you to see the data on a magnetic strip. You might see some sort of metal strip which is beneath the plastic coating but you can't see magnetic charges visually. ;-)

[slowbird]

"....when being in-debt all the time is the normal way to live" You called it JB. :-(

Thanks for putting these up. I haven't seen "Connections" since I was a kid, and I'm enjoying them immensely and learning alot. :-)

[JamesBurkeWeb]

You're welcome. And in case you're thinking that I am Mr. Burke, I am not. Just a lowly fan...

but you're very welcome all the same!

- JBW

[slowbird]

It may have crossed my mind a few times, but I disregarded it. I didn't mean to imply that I was calling you JB :-)

[PaulUmbarger]

LOL! I was starting to wonder about that one! LOL!

[jba1995]

As i have been rewatching the "Connections" series, JB makes many predictions of our current living conditions here in 2009...a little bit scary actually.

[JamesBurkeWeb]

I get the same eary feeling... that man was / is a visionary of the highest order.

Serious critics actually used to think he was a lunatic with some of the stuff he was saying back in the 70s and 80s, stuff that we'd scoff at now as so obvious it needn't even be mentioned.

- JBW

[ing420021]

when you think that people made such famous predictions such as:

" there's a market for only about 1000 personal computers in the world" - the manager of IBM

or "i don't think anyone needs more then 64 kB of memory" - Bill Gates

you have to ask yourself how clever are thees people we put our trust in to "predict" the future??

I mean, look at all these experts and analysts that you see all the time on TV talking about the markets or world events, and so on, how many times did they get it right??

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Unfortunately not that many times... well at least unfortunately for those who put their faith in brokers who put their faith in banks who put their faith in the stock market who put their faith in those who put their faith in brokers who put... (if you see what I mean ;-) ).

But seriously, yes, not that often. Which is probably why most people thought Burke's predictions were even less reliable since they sounded like something from another planet!

- JBW

[louiswins]

Thanks! James Burke is awesome, and this is one of my favorite episodes.

[JamesBurkeWeb]

You're very welcome. It's one of my favs as well!