James Burke's "Connections"

Oh come now. Didn't you ever take apart a toy as a kid just to see what was going on inside it?

One of the disappointing things about the TLC/Discovery Channel versions of Connections is that they lack the scope of those from the BBC. No Carl Davis orchestrations, for example.

Hell, I even bought the Myst-clone Connections game about 10 years ago. I think I still have it.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0007NGDLK.01-A22SBXSPX0BYP._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

He's got a new book coming out this year: American Connections.

Pity I don't have $149.

My local library has the original series available on videotape-- maybe for you it's the same? It is the sort of educational thing public libraries like to stock.

But I thought that he was famous for something before Connections as well...

Part of the reason I am a bit lukewarm to it is, I remember really liking it at the time but when I mentioned it to other clever people they were very scovey about it. So because I am impressionable I decided it had to be a bit rub.

When I was playing D&D in high school one of the magic items I wrote up was "James Burke's Leisure Suit of Knowledge" - wearing it would give you an intelligence/wisdom bonus.

I think Connections 3 was only a half-hour show and suffered somewhat from the reduced time.

From some late-60s BBC footage covering weightless training of the Apollo astronauts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1VrkWb0l2M

This is in my netflix que and am excited to finally see it!

its _awesome_

https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1.0-9/1940004_728961040470889_751492438_n.jpg

Great interview on this podcast:

http://youarenotsosmart.com/2014/03/18/yanss-podcast-020-james-burke-and-matt-novak-ponder-the-future-and-why-we-are-terrible-at-predicting-it/

James Burke has a Kickstarter for a Connections app:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/504632459/james-burke-connections-app

Here he is talking about it:

https://soundcloud.com/youarenotsosmart/089-connections-james-burke

https://boingboing.net/2016/11/17/james-burkes-new-project-ai.html

I rewatched the original series a couple of years back when I could first watch things on the tv through a memory stick.
I saw it when it was first on the tv too.
Think I'd downloaded it at a time when i was burning things to disc to watch them on tv and the discs hadn't worked fro some reason. So I'd had to wait a couple of years to watch it.

Hadn't been aware of follow ups.

Downloading all three seasons and having a go at this methinks. it's been years!

My vague recollection is that it's informative enough and its approach to the history of critical inventions and how each one solved a problem or created a new opportunity is reasonably sound, but like every other similar 'educational' program aimed at a popular audience, it hypes up its own profundity and oversells its amazement at its own astounding insights. It's a slightly eccentric university course, goosed up with a breathless narrative and plenty of actors in period costume doing dramatic re-enactments.

Have fun!

i loved it when i was in high school, which tbh is not a good sign. let's see.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82GUX_NA7AU

Any excuse to post this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WoDQBhJCVQ

Connections 21, the new series, which was supposed to be broadcast in January 2022, is almost completely filmed & expected in January 2023 now. (Not bad for an 85-year old)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/118366228177381/posts/4974583802555575/?comment_id=8380928758587712

(it could be called "Connections 4" by the time it gets released I see)

Oh neat, I had wondered what he’d been up to. I’m very happy that he’s still active

The new series is out on Curiosity Stream rn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-aAFz0ala0

Interview:
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/11/fans-of-connections-rejoice-rebooted-classic-sci-doc-series-returns-with-original-host/

You're either optimistic, or you jump off the bridge, and I don't intend to jump off the bridge. The best thing is to stick around and do something. A lot of AI is the problem, but part of it, by definition, is a solution. There is no reason why we could not think of a way of shaping the use of AI to better suit our problems in the time available, before new problems appear and make things even worse. We have no choice. We have to do this. One way is to blow it up. That's gone. Too late. Can't do that. I think we have a decade of very difficult work ahead of us. I think it's going to be our single major problem of this century.

Not really clear what he means by 'it' in that last sentence. Our single major problem is of course climate change.

I watched a couple of episodes of the original show earlier this year. Good fun but and an interesting broad brush historical overview but it often struck me more as 'just so' stories than sound history. The bit at the start of the first one, where he asserts that the only way to survive societal collapse would be to escape to someone else's handily empty farm and learn to plough, is pretty lol.

I'm always unfairly wary of Burke cos he looks a bit like the terrible Dominic Sandbrook