Nothing is new in thermodynamics, and hasn't been for many decades, or centuries (depending on your definition of "new"). How boring is that? And that's the point! To inform, educate AND entertain is not an easy task. It's much easier to just use your imagination, and how well does that work! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uSj0NJe9Gs That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode of The Ascent of Man (which I obviously had never seen before or heard of). The experience is something very akin to watching the planet of the apes. Very disturbing....
I think knowledge is a seriously under-valued commodity in the modern age. We see this everywhere: in the constant erosion of fact into opinion and ‘fake news’ and the echo chambers of social media, in the dumbing down of everything, making it so palatable it becomes uninteresting and unappetising. (Your take on modern documentaries is spot on.) My real bugbear is the insistence that higher education is primarily about securing a career rather than the pursuit of knowledge (But what will you *do* with an English degree?) That may be naive but I honestly think we should celebrate education for its own sake. As a society I am not sure we value it at all anymore.
I never watched Ascent of Man, and I don’t know that I would’ve chosen to do so. But how great to have the choice.
Too young (rare I say that these days) to have watched either The Ascent of Man or Civilisation but I do recall The Day the Universe Changed with James Burke (about 5 years later). Also the original Life on Earth was very good (before Attenborough came over all greeny).
I remember watching The Ascent of Man with my parents. It felt exciting and portentous, magical even. Even his name Dr Jacob Bronowski, sounded important, foreign and academic. Watching that short clip, it seems to my 21st century eyes, rather slow and pedantic.
Nothing is new in thermodynamics, and hasn't been for many decades, or centuries (depending on your definition of "new"). How boring is that? And that's the point! To inform, educate AND entertain is not an easy task. It's much easier to just use your imagination, and how well does that work! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uSj0NJe9Gs That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode of The Ascent of Man (which I obviously had never seen before or heard of). The experience is something very akin to watching the planet of the apes. Very disturbing....
I think knowledge is a seriously under-valued commodity in the modern age. We see this everywhere: in the constant erosion of fact into opinion and ‘fake news’ and the echo chambers of social media, in the dumbing down of everything, making it so palatable it becomes uninteresting and unappetising. (Your take on modern documentaries is spot on.) My real bugbear is the insistence that higher education is primarily about securing a career rather than the pursuit of knowledge (But what will you *do* with an English degree?) That may be naive but I honestly think we should celebrate education for its own sake. As a society I am not sure we value it at all anymore.
I never watched Ascent of Man, and I don’t know that I would’ve chosen to do so. But how great to have the choice.
Too young (rare I say that these days) to have watched either The Ascent of Man or Civilisation but I do recall The Day the Universe Changed with James Burke (about 5 years later). Also the original Life on Earth was very good (before Attenborough came over all greeny).
I remember watching The Ascent of Man with my parents. It felt exciting and portentous, magical even. Even his name Dr Jacob Bronowski, sounded important, foreign and academic. Watching that short clip, it seems to my 21st century eyes, rather slow and pedantic.