James connects the dots between Napoleon's toothpick and the Nielsen TV ratings to see how scientists have built the quantum computer, a data-processing machine so powerful that it can predict the future.
James jumps in the sensory deprivation tank with a man who took LSD with dolphins to discover how syphilis in the French aristocracy kicked off a journey to the nanofabricator, a machine that can build anything, molecule by molecule, for free.
James opens a cabinet of curiosities to discover how the French Revolution, wallpaper and NORAD brought about the rise of big data; a world where humans finally merge with the internet.
Dog pee, the Polaroid camera and rocket fuel lead to a future where AI is indistinguishable from human intelligence.
A cup of coffee in the 18th century takes James to the pioneering woman who discovered the structure of DNA and a future with genetically engineered people.
How a journey that began thousands of years ago with the Inca and the potato connects to a mad scientist in a castle and German beer; the brink of a future with clean, limitless energy.
James Burke
Host
Iain Riddick
Producer
John Cavanagh
