Episode 727 | James Burke

[@jozefserf2024]

James Burke is by far the single greatest educator in the world today. His 1980 series The Real Thing remains unsurpassed up to 2024.

[@John-g6x1h]

"I don't think there's any chance of us having a dictator in this country any time soon." I had to back that up a couple of times. What a difference a few years makes.

[@nthperson]

James Burke is absolutely correct about the way technological developments have enhanced the opportunities to introduce to people ideas and knowledge that was in earlier periods restricted to a privileged minority. Thanks to the brilliant work done by people who have written the code for software programs such as PowerPoint, I have learned how to use the software, turn presentations into narrated videos and then upload every lecture I have developed over four decades of teaching to my own KZbin channel. Millions of other people have done the same sort of thing. And, here we are, at our leisure pulling up all of the brilliant insights of James Burke (and so many others).

I could listen to him all day.

[@jt4369]

Oh, fantastic. It's great to see that James Burke is still giving lectures.

[@forrestlana]

would be awsome watch a new Connections 4 series !.. Burke.. the world is better with your knowledge. Thank you ! ❤

[@vikenmekhtarian]

More like this please! :) James Brooke was a mooc for me. I learned so much from his series. He does what many optimistic intellectuals do when faced with the wall of the challenge of human intelligence, he takes on a bird's eye view and ignore the micro issues that sort themselves out as they always have. Because we all have the same number of neurons doesn't mean we all know how to use it, this is where people like James Brooke reside, they make sense of the seemingly chaotic reality of the world, and like all intellectuals, he underestimates his importance. More like this please !

I LOVE THUS GUY. I have for him non but the best wishes. I learnt a lot from him and it is gracefully that I see how his mind is still as active and ready.

[@KEVMANWILLY1]

Along with David Attenborough, one of my favourite humans of all time. A wondrous, fascinating man. I want him to adopt me!

[@chase_h.01]

Burke please don't die. I'll be sad.

[@trevorrisk]

+Chase H I check in regularly to make sure he's still alive.

[@stephenmurray1919]

He's such a major part of my science intake in childhood - and a dead ringer for Zoot from the muppets - I always wait for new stuff from him, but I'm just glad he's still in the game. Incidentally, if you are looking for stuff from him, he did a radio broadcast on BBC around new year's day on the effects of the end of scarcity - which might take place in the middle of this century. It was like getting into a time machine back to the 70s to hear him.

[@Drchainsaw77]

I'm not sure Zoot is who you think he is...

[@crumplezone1]

I am a hard man to impress but Mr Burke has always impressed me very much

[@kungfumaster8171]

Would be incredible to sit and have a 2 hour chat with this enlighten man.

[@stevecavell4479]

What an amazing human being.

[@BunneRabb]

James Burke has given the world at large the ability to step back from the minutiae and constant barrage of overblown urgency that permeates modern life and see a tightly women tapestry emerge and therefore, allow us to see the way in which technology and environment shape the world. And the degree to which history shows how we keep doing the same things with new technologies, and discern the difference between what's new and what's a rerun with new bells and whistles. And that is one of the most important things one can possibly learn.

[@RobynHarris]

He has such an extraordinary ability to simplify and draw the immense complexity of the universe into a story that can be understood by the general public. If only our class of political charlatans and confidence men would take the time to listen and learn from his teachings, we could live in a world made rich by our own innate abilities and intelligence. Instead we scrabble and fight each other to the death over the tiny crumbs scattered on the floor, refusing to lift our eyes and see the huge banquet of riches laid before us that could be ours jointly.

[@RobynHarris]

+Thomas Headley Agreed, they are convenient scapegoats for the wider problem we mostly share. We are a species that has been bred for a 10 minute ROI expectation and we need to adopt millennium or longer cost benefit mindset. Not helped by the fact that we have perhaps two or three decades before our technology becomes so powerful that any random half dozen disgruntled citizens will likely have the ability to bring the whole of civilization to an untimely end.

[@mark-shane]

Connections wasnt a PBS series it was BBC series

[@laurahoglin8208]

But in America, it was aired on PBS.

[@crinoid1919]

James Burke, Carl Sagan, Niel Tyson.... the giants of our era

[@crinoid1919]

congratulations on posting the stupidest comment on the internet. It takes real shit for brains to reach such a pinnacle. Way to go shit head! keep up the good work

[@kevinrdunnphs]

+crinoid1919 those three are educators not on the leading edge of knowledge, when they say standing on the shoulders of giants, they mean Newton, Einstein and Hawking, not Neil or James, I love them but they aren't the giants of our day

[@AndyFromBeaverton]

Please strike Tyson from the list. He's be sucked up by the MeToo movement. Burke is unique because he has proved inventions, not people, drive history.

[@miller-joel]

Knowledge is not the same as wisdom. We put almost exclusive emphasis on the first at the expense of the second.

[@dedicatedspuddler7641]

I so want to be a noodler! What a great interview. James Burke is awesome.

[@TrevorHaagsma]

You’re an inspiration.

[@ScoopDogg]

Great man

[@philippesauvie639]

This guy presented the Apollo 11 Moon Landing on BBC and in the late 1970s Makes the 'Connections' series whose first episode starts with him in the plaza of the World Trade Center at night, empty. He then takes an elevator to the top of one of the towers without encountering another human being. Then, within a few moments, he mentions 911 several times. Thinking and curious people have been trying to connect the dots on that event for the last 22 years now.

[@dpsamu2000]

One of the themes that Burke hit on frequently in Connections was money. School costs so much now because government funding created more demand. More demand + more money = higher prices. When Luke Skywalker tried moral persuasion to get Han Solo to help rescue princess Leia he failed. When he said "She's rich." everything changed. The future will be where people put their money. Right now the scarcest commodity is time because there's so much entertainment to spend it on. What provides entertainment faster will be what people pay for. But service providers won't be who does it. The more time you spend the more money they make. KZbin prioritizes click bait. Sifting through it is an opportunity.

[@eamonnca1]

This guy was responsible for much of my worldview when growing up. A remarkable influence. That said, he’s wrong on urbanization. People are moving to cities more and more, and there’s no sign of telecommuting reversing that trend. We want to be close to each other. We’re sociable animals, it’s in our nature.

[@rawsavage1]

Orthodoxy's Last Stand. The Great Decentralization continues.

[@ARIZJOE]

Ms. Doland posits insightful questions, e.g., "Isn't it a good idea for people to go away for four years to study the arts & sciences?" Well, it is, because not every one has the concentration and diligence of a James Burke. Things like chemistry, physics, molecular biology are obscure and recondite, and the average student cannot assimilate those disciplines when exposed to distractions. Also, the whole education process edifies the metaphysics and epistemology of disciplines as a whole, much like a vaccine is essential to both public health and to an individual's personal health. As we have seen recently, scientific truths are suddenly up for grabs by hoi polloi who don't have the foggiest knowledge. A bulwark must be set in place to prevent a Dark Ages. And a part of that is the University, where students and professors work together. FYI: i have all of Burkes' PBS series on video, and I paid to hear him give a lecture in Arizona.

[@peterhudson5748]

“Do you want to pop tarts or don’t you?” Hilarious! I can’t believe she didn’t laugh.

[@IllogicalMachine]

I love James Burke and think he's brilliant, but my question for him would be: How can we reasonably expect a 'post-abundant' society to come to fruition when there are already technologies that would greatly ease economic and environmental burdens, yet are barred from mass-distribution by special interests? For instance, practically everyone agrees dependence on fossil fuels are significantly detrimental economically and ecologically, yet alternatives have been successfully staved-off for a century for the benefit of a few. Isn't this disparity in power fundamentally opposed to the creation of an egalitarian, technocratic society? Also, isn't this power-differential an integral factor in how our society came to be as it is, and if so, what could he propose to neutralize its propagation into the future? I'm a bit more skeptical than he is, but he is much more intelligent than I am. Would love to know his thoughts on this.

[@daultonbaird6314]

IllogicalMachine There was a time when the common person had very little autonomy and free time. Some shifts are gradual others are rapid. I beleive that the rich will gradually lose their control over us just as royalty did from the 17th into the 20th centuries, albeit, kicking and scratching.

[@GrimHellscream]

@Daulton Baird You're right about the gradual loss of monarchic power, but imo, cash was, is and always will remain king. Intellectual and industrial power houses were, in hand, able to separate us from our misplaced credulity but how will people ever be able to separate themselves from money? Even the monarchy can't avoid that trap. The barrier to entry in terms of specialization and cash on the part of both the laborer and the upstart owner I feel is about reaching its peak in the West. We can't pay people any more to do their job, because we can't borrow any more for this job to be done, so we can't grow any more to compete in the big leagues where the benefits of economies of scale start to take effect, so we have to charge more, where in a world everyone is getting paid just above the margin means we're no longer competitive because people are scrimping. Either way you look at it, it's a downward spiral on both sides with only the top corporations making the bank. As weirdly Orwellian as a social credit score seems to me, that seems like the path the world is headed down in terms of any new form of power in a modern society, of course running alongside (and being run by) traditional monied avenues so as not to rock the boat too much.

[@Grimenoughtomaketherobotcry]

I think Burke does tend to self-censor when in front of an US audience. One of the episodes in TDTUC was filmed at Robert Owen's New Lanark utopian socialist community, and if I recall correctly, Burke discusses, if only briefly, the development of class conflict in emergent industrial capitalism. This was, at the time it was filmed, specifically for a British audience. I've noticed that in his talks before US audiences, he assiduously avoids the "c" words: class conflict and capitalism. I think he did use the term "corporate" once in this interview, but that was to brush off, naively or disingenuously, the question about corporate violation of information privacy by saying they won't do it because someone, "will know". Guess no one told him what happens to whistle-blowers, governmental or corporate. Maybe he should have a chat with Edward Snowden.

[@jedibusiness789]

“ For instance, practically everyone agrees dependence on fossil fuels are significantly detrimental economically and ecologically, yet alternatives have been successfully staved-off for a century for the benefit of a few.” Nonsense. Because of oil and natural gas, millions are lifted out of poverty. It’s the few who tell the masses how to heat food and water, what cars to drive, what one should buy. Talk to the Germans who are forced to pay 45-50 cents per kilowatt hour because of solar and wind schemes. “Green Energy benefits the wealthy through tax breaks pay for by lower and middle class.

[@fredhoupt4078]

a hero of mine

[@2425eryy]

He's inspiring.

[@niklar55]

Mmmm! How his hairstyles have changed during my lifetime, from ''Tomorrows World'' to now. Not too much of it to style now though. Entertaining and thought provoking as always.

[@SeamusTheHunter]

"Well, that's no better a solution than any of the others, is it?"

[@georgeschlaline6057]

Brilliant scientist

[@hongcha2020]

Interview had good pacing, though a wee slow at the begnning. Yes. Burke seemed a tad optimistic for me. Though he was spot on in the 70s and 80s. They should give him another show.

[@paulchattaway]

I fear he's wrong about one thing, the algorithms *are* listening, not just noting who talks to who, but my understanding is that the transcripts get tossed if there are no suspicious keywords / phrases in them. Although, there's no technical reason why they would have to toss the transcripts, data storage being so cheap now (for example, to capture the terabyte of traffic I generate per month and hold onto it until next month would only cost $50 spread out over how many years the storage lasts before breaking down, I'm somewhat certain ISPs do this now since that's only about one additional dollar per month in a $100/mo contract).

[@muzio78]

I do kinda want the Pop Tarts yes

[@theseanze]

What an awful interviewer. How is this studio the only one to have a recent interview with James Burke? The first few questions he seems to wince with quickly setting boredom, and he graciously lets the comment about Spiderman's uncle fly over his head.

[@rudemanthony]

16:00 The question about 1984 gets a really odd and out of character answer from Burke. Especially in the way he makes it sound as thought Orwell wrote 1984 in 1984; when in reality it was released in 1948. I've watched everything with James in it I can find and I have never seen him be so unsure of himself, like he was lying almost. I guess it really is 1984. P.S. The look on Burke's face when he says "this country will never be run by a dictator."

[@christopherdiedrich40]

Ray Jaworski I'm listening and going through the comments and it seems a lot of people are feeling as I myself did at this point in the interview. Your statement comes about às close to my thoughts exactly and please do excuse me if I'm wrong about yours but I'm basically picking my jaw up&out of my lap wondering how much did it cost or was Burke a cheap sell out. Or maybe, just maybe...what sleazy crime did they set him up with...pizza anyone? lol ok,ok I'm bored and it's late but really James, you've really changed.

[@rd58rd58]

Burke is careful about not being openly opposed to PC, but he is clearly anti-PC if you listen to him carefully. He just doesn't want to step in it like Dawkins did and be assaulted by the left wing fascistic thought police in academia today. What do yo think he is saying when he says: suppose there are certain group of people you associate with explosions? he is speaking the truth and some people are upset by that.

[@richardvernon317]

Unfortunately those certain group of people you associate with explosions come in all colours, creeds and religions, so James is total correct in not being specific. Back in the 1970s they were White, Irish and Christan!!

[@barryclarke3010]

@@rd58rd58 I wonder what Mr Burke would say today that the technology he has advocated for so long is being used to sensor free speech and close down free speech ,in particular regard to climate skeptics, how science is being used to turn society into a totalitarianism agendas with no dissent allowed.

[@daultonbaird6314]

Life extension will make time unimportant. cyber-brain implants will eliminate the need for education. Fun, peace, joy, experiences, introspction, intensly complex thought, etc will be important in the next phases of social evolution.

[@bigbadbith8422]

18:44 - insight of the decade?

[@Jenalgo]

This is what you get when you ask a brilliant man a whole stream of lame, childish questions. A poor questioner creating a wasted opportunity.

[@Grimenoughtomaketherobotcry]

Not Burke's first rodeo, and he handled it for the most part gracefully, though I do think he gave a rather perfunctory brush-off to her one good question about corporate violations of information privacy. In claiming they won't do it because "someone will know", he is being either extremely naive or thoroughly disingenuous. I find it hard to believe that a man of his intelligence is the former.

[@rohnkd4hct260]

What would he say today with "Distance Learning" and "Social Distance" in the schools.

[@yuxiangchen746]

His wisdom has made the predictions very reflective of our future. But my question is that if he knows quite well about science and technology, why doesn't he become a scientist who propel the progress of human history?

[@vikenmekhtarian]

He is a scientist, of humanities.

[@johnakni]

I am a big James Burke fan, but he lost me with his Indiana comment. No mean streets in Indiana? Has he heard of Gary, murder capitol of the world?

[@ARIZJOE]

".....Constitutions and Maqna Carta's which they never were what think they were anyway...." So much for the American originalists and textualists' The founders could never conceive of an Industrial or post-industrial tech society. FYI: I have met many, many judges and law school professors, and have been shocked at how the vast majority were bereft of scientific knowledge and were innumerate.

[@gavinthorburn5385]

Why is he not a sir ?

[@jstephenallington8431]

And you couldn't be more wrong about "Mass Surveillance" which is better known as, (or maybe more easily described as) Data Mining. Mass Surveillance, or just simply Surveillance, as is more common, has risen to unprecedented levels all through the U.S. if you don't know anything about it, then you're just not paying attention to the problem.

[@jesperandersson889]

Have they gor my foam-records?

[@mokanlines]

I could sit and talk with James Burke for hours. In this video however, I find the interviewer boring.

[@anjkovo2138]

Is he still alive

[@crumplezone1]

Very much so

[@patrickmccormack4318]

17:17

[@Crapweeds]

Uncle Ben or Voltaire?

[@srhanna]

There are more people in the world today than at any time in history. Looking back has very limited usefulness in that context.

[@Rombizio]

I love James Burke. But his optimism is making him blind. The world might turn out ok in the future, but there is overwhelming evidence it will not.

[@billkramer2994]

BS you can prove what you believe in!

[@miller-joel]

He underestimates the nefarious intentions of certain organizations. Major blind spot. Assange? Snowden?

[@georgeschlaline6057]

More James less the Girl

[@davidwilkie9551]

If you think NSA is Not listening to you, say something more interesting! Understand the Holographic Principle.., and therefore what Conscience must be, in cause-effect.