James Burke : Connections, Episode 6, "Thunder in the Skies", 3 of 5 (CC)

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Episode 6 of James Burke's most well-known series "Connections" which explores the surprising and unexpected ways that our modern technological world came into existence. Each episode investigates the background of usually one particular modern invention and how it came into being. These explorations are an attempt to locate the "connections" between various historical figures who seemingly had nothing to do with each other in their own times, however once connected, these same figures combined to produce some of the most profound impacts on our modern day world; in a "1+1=3" type of way.

It is this type of investigation that is the core idea behind the Knowledge Web project, whereby sophisticated software is being developed to attempt to discover these subtle interconnections automatically. See http://k-web.org.

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P.S. Sorry about audio quality here. I will repair that when I have time.

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[TheLastBrainLeft]

I wonder if Burke realizes how good he makes free market capitalism look. This entire bit with the coins is the best example.

[chthonicmind]

@CMVBrielman- but he also points out how capitalists will try to exploit that mindset to manipulate the laws to give them monopolies. He also points out how fragile the world we live in really is. There are also many points in the show where self-interest by craftsmen who control the access to the making of guilds reject advances in technology entirely because it isn't in their interests to embrace the advances. It's also sometimes in the interest of people to rob, torture, rape etc

[TheLastBrainLeft]

@chthonicmind Capitalism can be abused. However, as current events portray, too many people are blaming the fundamentals of capitalism itself, not it's abusers.

[CMVBrielman]

@sneakyninjacrow Why? All that progress and innovation, just from the pursuit of cold hard cash. Enlightened Self Interest. Heck, even unenlightened self interest does the trick.  Reviewing this series, how many of those inventions depend on someone just trying to make a buck?

[sneakyninjacrow]

@TheLastBrainLeft Really? I thought he made it look a bit dreary.

[banacheq]

Look up "Coke (fuel)" on wikipedia.

[beepandbop]

What kind of coke is Burke talking about?

The kind of coke used so that iron is not smelted with impurities.