Connections 2
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Connections'' is a
science education Science education is the teaching and learning of science to school children, college students, or adults within the general public. The field of science education includes work in science content, science process (the scientific method), some ...
television series created, written, and presented by British science historian James Burke. The series was produced and directed by Mick Jackson of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
Science and Features Department and first aired in 1978 (UK) and 1979 (US). It took an
interdisciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...
approach to the
history of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal. Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Meso ...
and
invention An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an id ...
, and demonstrated how various discoveries, scientific achievements, and historical world events were built from one another successively in an interconnected way to bring about particular aspects of modern technology. The series was noted for Burke's crisp and enthusiastic presentation (and
dry humour Deadpan, dry humour, or dry-wit humour is the deliberate display of emotional neutrality or no emotion, commonly as a form of comedic delivery to contrast with the ridiculousness or absurdity of the subject matter. The delivery is meant to be blun ...
),
historical re-enactment Historical reenactment (or re-enactment) is an educational or entertainment activity in which mainly amateur hobbyists and history enthusiasts dress in historic uniforms or costumes and follow a plan to recreate aspects of a historical event or ...
s, and intricate working
models A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...
. The popular success of the series led to the production of ''
The Day the Universe Changed ''The Day the Universe Changed: A Personal View by James Burke'' is a British documentary television series written and presented by science historian James Burke, originally broadcast on BBC1 from 19 March until 21 May 1985 by the BBC. The se ...
'' (1985), a similar program, but showing a more linear history of several important scientific developments. Years later, the success in syndication led to three sequels. ''Connections2'' (1994) and ''Connections3'' (1997) were made for TLC. In November 2023, the six-episode series ''Connections with James Burke,'' premiered on
Curiosity Stream Curiosity Stream also know as (Curiosity Channel) is an American media company and subscription video streaming service that offers documentary programming including films, series, and TV shows. It was launched in 2015 by the founder of the Disc ...
, again with Burke as the on-screen presenter. In 2004,
KCSM-TV KPJK (channel 60) is a non-commercial independent television station licensed to San Mateo, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. Owned by Northern California Public Media (not to be confused with Northern California Pub ...
produced a program called ''Re-Connections'', consisting of an interview of Burke and highlights of the original series, for the 25th anniversary of the first broadcast in the US on
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of ed ...
.


Content

''Connections'' explores an "Alternative View of Change" (the subtitle of the series) that rejects the conventional linear and
teleological Teleology (from and )Partridge, Eric. 1977''Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English'' London: Routledge, p. 4187. or finalityDubray, Charles. 2020 912Teleology" In ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'' 14. New York: Robert Appleton C ...
view of historical progress. Burke contends that one cannot consider the development of any particular piece of the modern world in isolation. Rather, the entire
gestalt Gestalt may refer to: Psychology * Gestalt psychology, a school of psychology * Gestalt therapy, a form of psychotherapy * Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test, an assessment of development disorders * Gestalt Practice, a practice of self-exploration ...
of the modern world is the result of a web of interconnected events, each one consisting of a person or group acting for reasons of their own motivations (e.g., profit, curiosity, religion) with no concept of the final, modern result to which the actions of either them or their contemporaries would lead. The interplay of the results of these isolated events is what drives history and innovation, and is also the main focus of the series and its sequels. To demonstrate this view, Burke begins each episode with a particular event or innovation in the past (usually
ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...
or
medieval times In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire an ...
) and traces the path from that event through a series of seemingly unrelated connections to a fundamental and essential aspect of the modern world. For example, the episode "The Long Chain" traces the invention of plastics from the development of the ''
fluyt A fluyt (archaic Dutch: ''fluijt'' "flute"; ) is a Dutch type of sailing vessel originally designed by the shipwrights of Hoorn as a dedicated cargo vessel. Originating in the Dutch Republic in the 16th century, the vessel was designed to faci ...
'', a type of Dutch cargo ship. Burke also explores three
corollaries In mathematics and logic, a corollary ( , ) is a theorem of less importance which can be readily deduced from a previous, more notable statement. A corollary could, for instance, be a proposition which is incidentally proved while proving another ...
to his initial thesis. The first is that, if history is driven by individuals who act only on what they know at the time, and not because of any idea as to where their actions will eventually lead, then predicting the future course of technological progress is merely conjecture. Therefore, if we are astonished by the connections Burke is able to weave among past events, then we will be equally surprised to what the events of today eventually will lead, especially events of which we were not even aware at the time. The second and third corollaries are explored most in the introductory and concluding episodes, and they represent the downside of an interconnected history. If history progresses because of the synergistic interaction of past events and innovations, then as history does progress, the number of these events and innovations increases. This increase in possible connections causes the process of innovation to not only continue, but also to accelerate. Burke poses the question of what happens when this rate of innovation, or more importantly "change" itself, becomes too much for the average person to handle, and what this means for individual power, liberty, and privacy. Lastly, if the entire modern world is built from these interconnected innovations, all increasingly maintained and improved by specialists who required years of training to gain their expertise, what chance does the average citizen without this extensive training have in making an informed decision on practical technological issues, such as the building of
nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced ...
plants or the funding of controversial projects such as
stem cell In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of ...
research? Furthermore, if the modern world is increasingly interconnected, what happens when one of those nodes collapses? Does the entire system follow suit?


Episodes


Series 1 (1978)

The original 1978 ''Connections'' 10-episode
documentary television series Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. *Television documentary series, sometimes called ...
was created, written, and presented by science historian James Burke and had a companion book (''Connections'', based on the series). The 1978 ''Connections'' companion book was published about the time the middle of the series was airing, so likely was written in parallel to the series and had a postproduction editing release. The very popular book was re-released as a work in a 1995 edition, in 1998 (relations to sections below is unknown), and again in 2007 as both hardcover or softcover editions. Since the television series varied in content with each corresponding production run and release, the companion volumes (as is suggested by the plethora of ISBN codes) are also likely to be different works. This 1978 work's coverage deviates in some topics and details being both more in depth and a bit broader, from the lighter coverage of the episodes.


Series 2 (1994)

Released as ''Connections''.


Series 3 (1997)

Released as ''Connections''.


Series 4 (2023)

Released as ''Connections with James Burke'' on 9 November 2023 on Curiosity Stream.


Related works

The first series received a companion book, also by Burke. The first three ''Connections'' series have been released in their entirety as DVD box sets in the US. The ten episodes of series one were released in Europe (Region 2) on 6 February 2017. Burke also wrote a recurring column for ''
Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...
'' which explored the history of science and ideas, going back and forth through time explaining things on the way and, generally, coming back to the starting point. The columns were collated into a book in 1995 (). Burke produced another documentary series called ''
The Day the Universe Changed ''The Day the Universe Changed: A Personal View by James Burke'' is a British documentary television series written and presented by science historian James Burke, originally broadcast on BBC1 from 19 March until 21 May 1985 by the BBC. The se ...
'' in 1985, which explored man's concept of how the universe worked in a manner similar to the original ''Connections''. ''
Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections ''Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections'' is a British documentary series originally broadcast on the National Geographic Channel, and later on BBC2. It is presented by Richard Hammond, and looks at how engineers and designers use historic ...
'', shown on
BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream ...
, follows a similar format, as does
Latif Nasser Latif Abdul Nasser (born July 21, 1986) is a Canadian-American researcher, writer and presenter. He is the Director of Research and co-host at ''Radiolab'' and host of the Netflix show '' Connected''. Early life and education Nasser was born to ...
's ''
Connected Connected may refer to: Film and television * ''Connected'' (2008 film), a Hong Kong remake of the American movie ''Cellular'' * '' Connected: An Autoblogography About Love, Death & Technology'', a 2011 documentary film * ''Connected'' (2015 TV ...
'' TV series shown on
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
.


In video games

''
Connections Connections may refer to: Television * '' Connections: An Investigation into Organized Crime in Canada'', a documentary television series * ''Connections'' (British documentary), a documentary television series and book by science historian Jam ...
'', a ''
Myst ''Myst'' is a graphic adventure/puzzle video game designed by the Miller brothers, Robyn and Rand. It was developed by Cyan, Inc., published by Broderbund, and initially released for the Macintosh in 1993. In the game, the player's characte ...
''-style computer game with James Burke and others providing video footage and voice acting, was released in 1995.Connections – MobyGames
/ref> It was a runner-up for ''Computer Gaming World''s award for the best "Classics/Puzzles" game of 1995, which ultimately went to '' You Don't Know Jack''. The editors wrote of ''Connections'', "That you enjoy yourself so much you hardly realize that you're learning is a tribute to the design." A clip from the episode "Yesterday, Tomorrow and You" appears in the 2016 video game '' The Witness''.


See also

*


References


External links


Partial series 1–3
on the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music ...

Complete Series 1–3
on the Internet Archive * * * * {{IMDb title, id=2600158, title=Re-Connections
TV Cream
on Connections
''Ars Technica'' chats with James Burke
1970s British documentary television series 1978 British television series debuts 1978 British television series endings BBC television documentaries about history Documentary television series about science Films directed by Mick Jackson Historical television series History of technology TLC (TV network) original programming Transdisciplinarity