Connections: yesterday, tomorrow and you
"Why did we do it this way?" Essential moments from the previous programs are reviewed to illustrate the common factors that make for change. Will they go on operating to affect our futures? And if so, can we recognize them? The second half looks at...
Media history
This program is an excellent survey of the history of mass media. Academic and industry experts discuss the invention and impact of the printing press, telegraph, and telephone, all of which have allowed information to be easily transmitted over gre...
Constant change: the diversification and spread of language
In this program, John McWhorter, author of The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language; Lyle Campbell, of the University of Utah; Brian Joseph, of The Ohio State University; and population geneticist Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza examine factors t...
Birth and death: the life cycle of language
It is predicted that within a century more than half of the world's languages will become extinct, but as languages are lost, new ones emerge naturally or are constructed. In this program, Noam Chomsky; Esperantist Thomas Eccard; endangered language...