Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchS1E10: Infinite Scroll
Season 1 Episode 10
The Renaissance scholars couldn’t keep up with new information (“Have you read the latest Erasmus book?” “I don’t have time!”) and needed a better way to organize it. Thus came the invention of table…
Published on 7 years, 1 month ago
S1E9: A Little Less Conversation
Season 1 Episode 9
Some people thought the laying of the transatlantic cable might bring world peace, because connecting humans could only lead to better understanding and empathy. That wasn’t the outcome, and recent u…
Published on 7 years, 1 month ago
S1E8: VR or It Didn’t Happen
Season 1 Episode 8
In the Victorian era, plaster casts became a way to preserve important artifacts in 3-D. Now, virtual reality promises to preserve places and experiences. But who decides what gets preserved? And is …
Published on 7 years, 1 month ago
S1E7: A Clock in the Sky
Season 1 Episode 7
In 1714, British parliament offered a huge cash prize to anyone who could find a way to determine longitude at sea. And it worked, sort of ... several decades later. Are modern contests (DARPA challe…
Published on 7 years, 1 month ago
S1E6: From Zero to Selfie
Season 1 Episode 6
In 1969, an anthropologist introduced photographs and films to people in Papua New Guinea who’d never seen themselves represented in media before. It changed their conception of the world. In modern …
Published on 7 years, 2 months ago
S1E5: Human Insecurity
Season 1 Episode 5
The French telegraph system was hacked in 1834 by a pair of thieves who stole financial market information -- effectively conducting the world’s first cyber attack. What does the incident teach us ab…
Published on 7 years, 2 months ago
S1E4: The Fault In Our Cars
Season 1 Episode 4
The first pedestrian killed by a car in the western hemisphere was on New York’s Upper West Side in 1899. One newspaper warned that “the automobile has tasted blood.” Today, driverless cars present …
Published on 7 years, 2 months ago
S1E3: Fork Fashions and Toilet Trends
Season 1 Episode 3
It took a long time for the fork to go from weird curiosity to ubiquitous tool. How long will it take for current technologies -- like the Japanese-style bidet toilet, or heads-up displays such as Go…
Published on 7 years, 2 months ago
S1E2: The Body Electric
Season 1 Episode 2
We’ve used electricity to treat our brains for thousands of years, from placing electric fish on our heads to cure migraines to using electroconvulsive therapy to alleviate depression. But over time,…
Published on 7 years, 3 months ago
S1E1: The Box That A.I. Lives In
Season 1 Episode 1
In the 18th century, a device called the Mechanical Turk convinced Europeans that a robot could play winning chess. But there was a trick. It’s a trick that companies like Amazon, Google, and Faceboo…
Published on 7 years, 3 months ago