The First Series poster

The First Series

(1978)

Overview

Taking an interdisciplinary approach to the history of science and invention, Connections explores an "Alternative View of Change" that rejects the conventional linear and teleological view of historical progress. To demonstrate this view, Burke begins each episode with a particular event or innovation in the past (usually ancient or medieval) and traces a path from that event through a series of connections to a fundamental and essential aspect of the modern world.

Episodes

The Trigger Effect poster

The Trigger Effect 0.0

October 17, 1978

Both the beginning and the end of the story are here. The end is our present dependence on complex technological networ…

Death In The Morning poster

Death In The Morning 0.0

October 24, 1978

How did a test of gold's purity revolutionize the world 2500 years ago and lead to the atomic bomb? Standardizing preci…

Distant Voices poster

Distant Voices 0.0

October 31, 1978

Telecommunications exist because the Normans wore stirrups at the Battle of Hastings- a simple advance that caused a re…

Faith in Numbers poster

Faith in Numbers 0.0

November 7, 1978

Each development in the organization of systems (political, economic, mechanical, electronic)influences the next, by lo…

The Wheel of Fortune poster

The Wheel of Fortune 0.0

November 14, 1978

The power to see into the future with computers originally rested with priest-astronomers who knew the proper times to …

Thunder In The Skies poster

Thunder In The Skies 0.0

November 21, 1978

A dramatically colder climate gripped Europe during the 13th century profoundly affecting the course of history for the…

The Long Chain poster

The Long Chain 0.0

November 28, 1978

Often, materials discovered by accident alter the course of the world. In the 1600s Dutch commercial freighters control…

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry poster

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry 0.0

December 5, 1978

When Napoleon marched huge forces across Europe, he needed an efficient way to store provisions. A Frenchman preserved …

Countdown poster

Countdown 0.0

December 12, 1978

What happens when you combine a carbon arc light, a billiard ball coating, a spoked wheel and consecutive images? Motio…

Yesterday, Tomorrow, and You poster

Yesterday, Tomorrow, and You 0.0

December 19, 1978

"Why did we do it this way?" Essential moments from the previous programs are reviewed to illustrate the common factors…