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Connections rebooted

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Back in 1978 I was a happy 9 year old, eager to play in the fields, climb trees, build dens and construct dams across streams and ride my bike. Science lessons were best when they used Bunsen burners to ignite stuff like aluminium, sodium or magnesium. Evenings were spent watching things like the Good Life, the Two Ronnies and Secret Army with my mum. When James Burke started his new science series – Connections – I was instantly hooked. He told such stories, revealed where things came from, showed why two totally different inventions led to things we took for granted in the 70s like digital watches, pocket calculators and flymos – all with passion and infectious enthusiasm. He made the world seem like a wondrous place of multidisciplinary discovery, innovation and possibility.

And now he is back again with a new series. In a way, the world has caught up with his polymath systems way of thinking, but I do wonder how his unique take on things will address AI and other hot topics of the 2020s. He seems from the trailer in the linked article to think we will all become adept at making our own video-d documentaries, and he may be right that this will become commonplace part of our communication set – no longer limited to film/tv companies with big budgets.

The YT clip I embed below is a popular one on the socials, showing the great timing he had. But for me, the best bit of the clip is how he rattles off the names of all the people who took the thermos flask and quickly itemizes all the varied uses it was put to when the new innovation was released to the world and people could try out what it could do. Open source science, technology and ideas could be humanity’s best hope as people all round the world with an internet connection and a spark of curiosity take and innovate from what is out there and freely distributed.

Any other fans of James Burke? Any other thinkers and communicators who you think deserve a wider audience/have something valuable and inspiring to communicate?

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

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Comments

  1. Yup. Me too. I remember loving those Connections programmes. At about the same time, there was Jonathan Miller’s The Body In Question. Fantastic stuff.

    I like to think that I would have the same sense of fascination if I were to watch them again now.

    • Thanks for the suggestion, Pajp. The Miller series was one I have vague memories of seeing trailers for, but never watched. It seems to be on YT, so I might dig in.

  2. I rewatched all of Connections on Yer Tube a couple of years back and RUSHED out to buy the book (lots of cool pictures!). The Day The Universe Changed is also mighty. They recently rebroadcast The Ascent Of Man on Beeb 4 which is the biz.
    As regards other great communicators, I have watched documentary series about the history of writing and the lives of the impressionists – subjects that, in themselves I would not be overly keen on – which were scripted and presented so well that I was gripped. (One of the episodes of The Secret History Of Writing was up there as one of the best hours I’ve spent this decade..)

    • Again, some great ideas for filling the hours. I’ve got some endless, mindless data entry planned for this week, so something mindful would be good to accompany it. Pivotal ideas that shift the paradigm are fascinating so that other Burke series looks good.

      Counterfactuals rely on thinking through what would have happened differently had policymakers taken different paths – there is nothing inevitable about the path history has taken till now, and the direction we take from here on is guided by the narrative that takes hold. I think the Secret History of Writing could be a good one.

      Thanks!

  3. Nice work, Sal! You’ve certainly got me keen to watch.

    I have an enormous soft spot for people who are very clever and know a lot and yet are very good at sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm with others without making the viewer feel stupid and inferior. It’s a great art.

    David Attenborough and Mary Beard spring to mind.

    And for our Swedish readers, Robin Paulsson and his experts on Fråga Lund. And Kristian Luuk and Fredrik Lindström on the På Spåret quiz show.

    And I think we can give ourselves on the Afterword a round of applause too.

    If I confess to not knowing the tuning for the Albanian zither, or am a little shaky with my knowledge of the major hit singles on the Faroe Islands in the 1960s, no one makes fun of me!

    It’s very reassuring.

  4. Yep. Tomorrow’s World was also appointment viewing – I even recorded the theme tune onto a cassette with a piano-key tape recorder held up to the telly speaker.

    I’m not sure if they sparked or just fed my curiosity for the world, but I can’t imagine doing anything other than a science-based career. I now, for a week each September, try to pass on my enthusiasm to the current generation of GCSE Physics students.

    Only the other day I was explaining to Mrs F that water isn’t, scientifically speaking, wet – it is sticky. That’s because of the dipole moment, which means water molecules are attracted to each other.

    Mrs F: “Do you find that kind of thing interesting?”
    Me: “Yep.”
    Her: “Hmmmm….”

  5. Another fan here. It was a must-watch back in the day; after each episode, new avenues of reading and research possibilities sprouted from your head like tentacles, a real mind-warp programme.

  6. Yep, loved James Burke. I wish our science teacher at school had the same interest and enthusiasm.
    For other communicators, I have fond memories of this, The Amazing Kreskin, a 70`s version of Darren Brown. And this is the infamous UFO episode. Isnt that wild folks!

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