James Burke : Connections, Episode 10, "Yesterday, Tomorrow and You", 3 of 5 (CC)

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Episode 10, conclusion of James Burke's most well-known series "Connections" which explored the surprising and unexpected ways that our modern technological world came into existence; ways often having more to do with happenstance than planning or foresight. The series dealt with what Mr. Burke calls "connections" between nearly-unrelated historical figures who's ideas, once "connected", caused major changes to occur in the present day, and beyond. Burke showed that only in retrospect can we really appreciate and comprehend the profound impact that these particular (and almost exclusively accidental) connections had, and then questions whether or not that need be the case as we move forward.

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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Education

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• James
• Burke
• Connections
• Science
• History
• Yesterday
• Tomorrow
• and
• You
• Summary
• Non
• Linear
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• JamesBurkeFan

[Grak70]

This part of the episode is prophetic regarding the growing know-nothing populist movement.

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Hmm... there is some truth in that statement.

[mercer240]

@Grak70 there are and always will be luddites and fill-in-the-blank fundamentalists.

[Ishkur23]

Technological progress is not about inventing new things, it's about making new inventions accessible. Edison understood this, Ford understood this, and Jobs understood this. Cars and computers were originally complicated contraptions understood only by students and hobbyists. Today they are life-changing tools brought to the bidding of the public's average intelligence through push-button simplicity.

[Kurtlane]

There was a funny story in that book: a man went to a doctor, complaining of some problem in his ear. The doctor examined him and wrote a prescription for some drops to be put in his ear. He wrote r.ear (for right ear) on the prescription. The pharmacist read these as one word. The surprised patient was told he had to use the drops on his bottom.

Supposed to be a true story.

[Kurtlane]

The name of that book was (the best I can remember): "Medical jargon fast speaking at the price of clarity and exactness."

So much for being exact.

To be sure, there are lots of cases where the jargon needs to be there. But there are also plenty where it deliberately serves to isolate the "elect specialists" fro the rest of us and to allow a mafia to flourish.

[Kurtlane]

"The medical profession talks mumbo-jumbo because it needs to be exact."

Well, I took pharmacy courses,and was required to buy a special book of medical jargon. It was full of real mumbo-jumbo, nothing to do with exact. Terms like "stat" - for "right away." Or "LOL" - for "little old lady." Lots of terms had several meanings that could be confused with disastrous results.

(cont.)

[victorialucas38]

I'm sure that power station is the same one featured in the 1976 Tom Baker 'Dr Who' story, 'The Hand of Fear'.

[madmax200769]

This episode, (in fact the whole series) has a fair bit of relevance to Nassim Taleb's concept of "fragility" esp. at 4m40s

[AntiMusick]

4:20 Next Years Model

[riverlioness]

@mercer240

....There will always be souless bureaucrats, as well.

[ryoushii]

@TheLastBrainLeft I love it when someone prattles on without the slightest sense of self-knowledge. We are near the peak oil production estimates, which even big oil acknowledges. You talk about "experts" on climate when what you really mean is bought and paid for shills of the fossil fuel industry and a hand full of crackpots.  You are what you think others are - a scientific illiterate who follows the witchdoctors who make you feel all warm and fuzzy and not responsible.

[summer20105707]

Great show. Excellent.