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If 100 years ago futurists were imagining things that were not so different from Skype-like global communications technologies and wonders such as a device that could encompass all the instruments of an orchestra, they did so on distinctly analogue lines. What no one foresaw, however, was that a single system would underpin nearly every innovation of the coming information revolution. Enter Claude Shannon, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-educated mathematician who solved the communication problem that early 20th century thinkers didn’t even know we had.
Director: Adam Westbrook
Website: Delve
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Environmental history
In Kazakhstan, ‘atomic lakes’ still scar the landscape decades after Soviet nuclear tests
13 minutes
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Architecture
A 3D rendering of the Colosseum captures its architectural genius and symbolic power
17 minutes
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Language and linguistics
Do button-pushing dogs have something new to say about language?
9 minutes
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Making
On the Norwegian coast, a tree is transformed into a boat the old-fashioned way
6 minutes
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History of technology
Curious singles and tech sceptics – what ‘computer dating’ looked like in 1966
6 minutes
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Computing and artificial intelligence
Why large language models are mysterious – even to their creators
8 minutes
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Design and fashion
A ceramicist puts her own bawdy spin on the folk language of pottery
14 minutes
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Ethics
Plato saw little value in privacy. How do his ideas hold up in the information age?
5 minutes
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Information and communication
‘Astonished and somewhat terrified’ – Victorians’ reactions to the phonograph
36 minutes