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I'd highly recommend the TV series Connections[0], which explores the history of science and technology through the lens of this sort of butterfly effect. There

I'd highly recommend the TV series Connections[0], which explores the history of science and technology through the lens of this sort of butterfly effect. There were a couple later reboots of the series that are not as good IMO, but still worth a watch. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_(TV_series)

the6threplicant 7y ago
Pretty much anything by James Burke, either video or print.
simonh 7y ago
Connections is a fantastic series, it's a lot of fun and I loved it as a child. My concerns about it is that too many people seem to imagine that because historically an outcome had a cause, that therefore that cause must have been necessary, and that therefore the outcome could never have happened without that specific cause. If they Fluyt, a type of Dutch cargo ship had not been invented, would we really have never developed plastics? So the series provides a very valuable insight into historical processes, but some people seem to take that to implausible extremes. A case in point is the many examples of technologies being independently developed by different people under very different circumstances.
- celticninja 7y ago
  Not so much necessary as it was a driving force. A bit like evolution, whatever caused our ancestors to develop eyes wasn't s necessary precursor,it was just something that was reacted too. There resulting solution being good enough to survive. There were many implementations of bicycles that never made it, those branches of development died off. However unlike evolution we can pick those up again and improve on them if we thought we could produce a better bicycle
robohoe 7y ago
Richard Hammond's (from Top Gear fame) Engineering Connection is a continuation of the original Connections. We found ourselves watching it on the weekends during breakfast as a gentle jumpstart to daily thinking. It's fantastic and highly recommended.
Lex-2008 7y ago
Probably worth noting a subtle link at the bottom of wiki page: "Full series on the Internet Archive": https://archive.org/details/ConnectionsByJamesBurke/ https://archive.org/details/ConnectionsByJamesBurke/

the6threplicant 7y ago

Pretty much anything by James Burke, either video or print.

simonh 7y ago

Connections is a fantastic series, it's a lot of fun and I loved it as a child. My concerns about it is that too many people seem to imagine that because historically an outcome had a cause, that therefore that cause must have been necessary, and that therefore the outcome could never have happened without that specific cause. If they Fluyt, a type of Dutch cargo ship had not been invented, would we really have never developed plastics? So the series provides a very valuable insight into historical processes, but some people seem to take that to implausible extremes. A case in point is the many examples of technologies being independently developed by different people under very different circumstances.

celticninja 7y ago
Not so much necessary as it was a driving force. A bit like evolution, whatever caused our ancestors to develop eyes wasn't s necessary precursor,it was just something that was reacted too. There resulting solution being good enough to survive. There were many implementations of bicycles that never made it, those branches of development died off. However unlike evolution we can pick those up again and improve on them if we thought we could produce a better bicycle

robohoe 7y ago

Richard Hammond's (from Top Gear fame) Engineering Connection is a continuation of the original Connections. We found ourselves watching it on the weekends during breakfast as a gentle jumpstart to daily thinking. It's fantastic and highly recommended.

Lex-2008 7y ago

Probably worth noting a subtle link at the bottom of wiki page: "Full series on the Internet Archive": https://archive.org/details/ConnectionsByJamesBurke/ https://archive.org/details/ConnectionsByJamesBurke/