The Day The Universe Changed - Episode 04: A Matter of Fact: Printing Transforms Knowledge

Description

The Day the Universe Changed (subtitled "A Personal View by James Burke") is a British documentary television series written and presented by science historian James Burke, originally broadcast in 1985 by the BBC. In the United States the 10-week hour-long series was broadcast October 13–December 15, 1986, on PBS and was rebroadcast on The Learning Channel in 1993.

The series' primary focus is on the effect of advances in science and technology on western philosophy. The title comes from the philosophical idea that the universe  essentially only exists as you perceive it through what you know; therefore, if you change your perception of the universe with new knowledge, you have essentially changed the universe itself.

To illustrate this concept, James Burke tells the various stories of important scientific discoveries and technological advances and how they fundamentally altered how western civilization perceives the world. The series runs in roughly chronological order, from around the beginning of the Middle Ages to the present.

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