Be grateful for malaria this summer (a Connections post)
There are a lot of obvious benefits to the current video-on-demand model of video entertainment. More choices are available, giving you access to virtually anything you might want to watch at the exact moment you want to watch it. The biggest downside, though, is how much harder it is to stumble upon anything by pure accident. The algorithm will feed you suggestions, but it can’t quite replicate the experience of looking for something to watch on a Saturday afternoon and choosing something already in progress solely because it was the next channel in line.
I’m not sure how exactly I stumbled upon Connections way back when; I probably saw that it was a science show of some sort and figured I’d give it a go. This is back before the internet, of course, when it was moderately harder to find informative, entertaining video. It’s also possible I just saw it was from the BBC and turned it on immediately. I discovered early on that I preferred the British approach to television over home-grown entertainment. Not to stereotype too much, but BBC shows were just…well, smarter than American ones. Or maybe they just seemed that way because of the accent.
Connection’s gimmick was exploring how one event, invention, or discovery would, through a circuitous path, eventually lead to something completely unrelated. How the looms used to fashion intricate lace designs eventually benefitted computer programming, that sort of thing. (Punch cards.) I was absolutely enthralled. Even if some of the connections were a little forced, I was fascinated by each historical nugget. The eventual destination was set up in each episode’s intro, so watching was as much about the mystery of how on earth the science would get from one event to the next as it was about learning. It was the appetizer sampler tray of science, providing a delicious little taste of everything in advance of the main course.
My favorite episode covered the creation of air conditioning, which goes a little something like this: a guy noticed that malaria was a real problem in hot weather so he reasoned that making it cooler would cure the disease. Not unsound logic, really. Cold killed the mosquitos that spread the malaria, so in a way, he was right. He developed a system to cool the air in a patient’s room and that, my friends, is how you can stand to be in Texas in mid-July.
I think there was an attempt to reboot the show at some point, but for me, you’ll never top host James Burke in his wide-collared, huge glasses glory. His cotton candy floor of hair waving in the breeze as he made history and science accessible and fun. Most, if not all, episodes are on Vimeo, so if you’re looking for a nice diversion from the typical YouTube fast-cut ring-light like-and-subscribe HEY GUYS, I suggest giving it a watch.