MovieChat Forums > The Day the Universe Changed (1985) Discussion > Burke should do a 25th anniversary adden...

Burke should do a 25th anniversary addendum

posted 15 years ago by FrenchCelt
5 replies | jump to latest

He hints in Episode 10 about how the microcomputer, as it existed in the mid-80s, was about to change the world, particularly regarding the true democratization of knowledge, but even he couldn't have foreseen the Internet as we know it. The universe has changed a couple times since 1985, so maybe an 11th episode, a 25th anniversary addendum, could be made next year to cover all the sweeping change in science and technology...the rise of the Internet, global telecom, the convergence of computers, the Internet and telephony (smart phones, especially, like the iPhone and other similar devices), the impact of GPS and global mapping services like Google Earth/Maps, how the Hubble Space Telescope changed how we, quite literally, view the universe, and how the Large Hadron Collider might change everything all over again (or has changed everything, if they get it up and running by early next year).

I think that would be absolutely fascinating.

[–] smeltman 14 years ago

That is what I thought when the series ended. It is such a great series, and this is no criticism of course, but I wish it was a bit more recent instead of created in the year I was born. I would be very interested to learn what Burke has to say about all the developments you mentioned.

[–] Satan2016 13 years ago

The Internet was well established in 85: ftp,telnet,mail,usenet at hundreds of tech companies, US gov, universities. Speedy 56K links between 10M Ethernets.

[–] FrenchCelt 13 years ago

Yes, but the Internet revolution for the general public (how the Internet changed the universe, in terms of society at large) didn't happen until the mid-to-late 90s.

[–] murad23 8 years ago

You set up a strawman and then knock it down. Burke is not talking about the full general public, but the portion that advances science and thinking

[–] Blueghost 8 years ago

Not to toot my own horn, but my friend urged me to get a domain, and I thought about about buying domains for big companies like Ford, McDonald's, Sears, Chrysler, ABC, CBS, NBC and so forth, but I thought it way too mercenary ... they would have bought me out anyway, but still ...

I think it was the scale and type of change that he and the other well meaning engineers and scientists didn't foresee; the criminal element scamming and stealing people's IDs and financial information. I was highly critical of that, because all the developers saw was free flow of information, not realizing that the whole reason we have national boundaries is to help ensure our own safety.

I thought North America and select Euro countries and Japan would get the net, then access would slowly spread to other nations once we could put proper security measures in place. But instead the developers did it wholesale, and lots of people lost a lot of money, their livelihoods, and even their lives.

I still get angry thinking about it.