FREE
Streaming
RealAudio!

  INTRO
(1:07)

  PART 1
(24:00)

 PART 2
(25:50)

James Burke

The Knowledge Web

What do the Hubble Space Telescope, Buffalo Bill, and the Spanish Inquisition have in common? How do margarine’s strange origins tie it to plankton shells, receding stars, hot chocolate, and the first solo Atlantic flight?

If you’ve ever seen James Burke’s documentary TV series Connections or read his column of the same name, you know how he brings together these seemingly unrelated ideas and innovations, spinning a vast web of knowledge.

In a special visit to the Smithsonian, James Burke explains how the Internet now brings countless new connections to light. He also asserts that the World Wide Web has given us a new awareness of our interdependence—with each other and with the past—and discusses how this will change our lives.

Mr. Burke is the author of The Day the Universe Changed and The Pinball Effect. His new book is The Knowledge Web: From Electronic Agents to Stonehenge and Back (Simon and Schuster).