I've been re-watching the Connections series on YouTube over the last few weeks. You remember all those great James Burke shows - technology... history... that stuff. Anyhow, I wrapped up the first series over the weekend, and I was just stunned at Burke's conclusions in the last minutes of episode 10. I don't want to give the surprise away, but keep in mind when you watch it (you are going to watch it, right?) that this was 1979.
For anybody who wasn't around in '79, let me paint a picture for you: there were no PCs - at least not like we have now; the Apple ][ got you 48KB of RAM, and the TRS-80 had 4K. We still dialed telephones, and Pink Floyd reminded us that we had "thirteen channels of shit on the tv to choose from". The Rolling Stones were still relevant, and fashion, well... we're still trying to forget all of that.
But I digress. Burke's observations were nothing less than prophetic - one or two details were not quite on the nose, but he clearly knew where we were heading. It's a fabulous programme in any case, and his white leisure suit is worth the price of admission. Watch them all, watch Connections2, Connections3 and The Day The Universe Changed. Science and history together make for outstanding television, and James Burke is nothing short of a genius.
James Burke playlists
