Connections with James Burke

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  E1

  Seeing the Future

  James connects the dots between Napoleon’s toothpick and the Nielsen TV ratings to see how scientists have built the quantum computer – a data-processing machine so powerful that it can predict the future.

  2023-11-09 · 45m
  Mark watched
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  E2

  The End of Scarcity

  James jumps in the sensory deprivation tank with a man who took LSD with dolphins to discover how syphilis in the French aristocracy kicked off a journey to the nanofabricator–a machine that can build anything you wish for, molecule by molecule, for free. What will that mean for the value of things?

  2023-11-09 · 47m
  Mark watched
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  E3

  In the Net

  James opens a cabinet of curiosities to discover how the French Revolution, wallpaper, and NORAD brought about the rise of big data – and a world where humans finally merge with the internet.

  2023-11-09 · 47m
  Mark watched
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  E4

  None of This is Real

  Dog pee, the Polaroid camera, and rocket fuel lead us to a future where AI is indistinguishable from human intelligence. If we can’t tell machines and people apart, what will that mean for humanity?

  2023-11-09 · 40m
  Mark watched
• 
  E5

  Designer Genes

  A cup of coffee in the 18th century takes James to the pioneering woman who discovered the structure of DNA, and a future with genetically engineered people. Will we want to be Super-Human?

  2023-11-09 · 41m
  Mark watched
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  E6

  Limitless Energy

  How did a journey that began thousands of years ago with the Inca and the potato, connect to a mad scientist in a castle, and German beer, then bring us to the brink of a future with clean, limitless energy? And what will that future mean for humanity?

  2023-11-09 · 41m
  Mark watched

Top cast

James Burke