Before the shadow of political correctness descended on the BBC, starting in the 1980s, the Corporation used to be a hive of intellectual freedom and creativity.
For this reason some of the more intelligent and in-depth programs from its golden era now seem to have an almost Aff-Rightish feel to them. These include Connections, a fascinating documentary series by James Burke, which explored the development of technology and civilization throughout the ages (see video below).
What makes this program particularly Aff-Right is the ambivalence about the benefits of technology. This is especially apparent in the first program in the series, The Trigger Effect, in which Burke looks at “technology traps” and our blind dependence on technology that few of us understand. The program focuses in particular on the massive power cut that blacked out a large part of the North East United States in 1965.
Burke also imagines how life would be if the closely interdependent technological systems on which we all depend broke down completely, presenting in effect an archeofuturist scenario.
One of the key points in the program, which was made in 1978, is encapsulated in the phrase, “Never have so many people understood so little about so much,” something which is even truer today.
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