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The Day the Universe Changed is a ten-part documentary television series presented by science historian James Burke. The series tells a series of stories of how specific scientific and technological advances have shaped the Western way of life. The series posits that when one's view of the universe changes, the universe itself effectively changes.
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Episode Summary
Prior to the 19th century, all of life's mysteries were explained as being results of divine creation and part of God's plan. The discovery of fossils led people like Charles Darwin to challenge the ideas of creationism and develop the theories of evolution and natural selection. When applied to society, Darwin's theory of natural selection led to some undesirable consequences. -
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- It Started with the Greeks
- Medieval Conflict: Faith and Reason
- Scientific Imagination in the Renaissance
- Printing Transforms Knowledge
- Science Revises the Heavens
- The Factory and Marketplace Revolution
- Social Impacts of New Medical Knowledge
- Darwin's Revolution
- The New Physics: Newton Revised
- Changing Knowledge, Changing Reality
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Darwin's Revolution Part One
*@-0:40: James Burke falsely predicts that by the year 2000, we will be driving "a light wight turbo charged, blow molded, energy wise, fail safe, non-polluting, computerized, inter cooled, hydro sprung, carbon fiber, low drag, chip design, high speed magnesium chassis, crash tested polycarbonate set of wheels, built for sea water burn when you're finished to heat the house for a week"
*@-2:05: The only constant in the world is change; ironically, we think this way now because back in the 18th Century Carl Linnaeus from Lapland set out to prove that the world didn't change
*@-2:29: The average 18th Century mind believed that nature was subject to strict mathematical laws
*@-3:44: Swedish Botanist Carl Linnaeus believed that God had planned out nature
*@-5:45: Carl Linnaeus published a book entitled ''Systema Naturae'' that categorized and classified plants as creations of God; orderly, balanced and fixed with no gaps or failures
*@-6:31: The Romantics had other ideas; they believed that nature held the secrets of the world
*@-6:45: The Romantics would listen to Beethoven and search for the meaning of life
*@-8:45: Many questions about nature remained unanswered -
Darwin's Revolution Part Two
*@-0:20: In 1796, William Smith discovered Fossils while making canals in England
*@-1:00: William Smith came to the very simple conclusion that other animals must have been living on the land during different periods of history
*@-1:30: The discovery of extinct animals proved that things did change; God had made mistakes
*@-4:04: The more dinosaurs that were discovered, the more confusing history got, because people couldn't figure out how this fit into the bible. They generally settled on the great flood from the Biblical Noah's Ark story
*@-4:40: Agreed was that a catastrophe must have happened to explain the extinct dinosaurs, but on what scale? and why weren't humans wiped out?
*@-5:32: Geologist George Scrope made discoveries that questioned the earth's age
*@-7:12: In 1826 Many answers could be found at the Italian volcano of Mount Etna
*@-9:30: Ancient shellfish fossils were found to be identical to their modern day cousins -
Darwin's Revolution Part Three
*@-0:52: English anthropologist Alfred Russel Wallace read the book ''Principles of Geology'' by Charles Lyell in 1857 the
*@-1:16: Alfred Russel Wallace philosophized about what Charles Lyell wrote and implemented it into his research, developing the first thoughts of evolution
*@-2:16: In 1858, Alfred Russel Wallace sent Charles Darwin a letter describing the theory of evolution
*@-3:38: Charles Darwin's theory was similar to Wallace's; they had both read Lyell and Thomas Malthus' writings about population growth
*@-4:21: Both Darwin and Wallace concluded that species are competing for a limited food supply and the species that survive are those that can live off the available food supply
*@-5:49: Fancy pigeon breeding will give you many different varieties of in just a few generations, but they are all descendants of one pigeon breed
*@-6:21: In 1859, Charles Darwin published ''On the Origin of Species''
*@-6:45: The Christian church got very upset at the idea of an Ape Man
*@-7:49: 1862, Fossils were found of animals that were half bird and half reptile
*@-8:28: King Ludwig II of Bavaria lived in the Neuschwanstein Castle, he took Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and applied to the idea of there being a "supreme race" -
Darwin's Revolution Part Four
*@-0:24: In 1868, Ernst Haeckel published a book titled ''The Natural History of Creation''. Haeckel modified Charles Darwin's theory to suit the Germany Aryan race. He theorized that struggle is necessary and war can enslave the lower races
*@-1:57: In 1899, Ernst Haeckel published ''World Riddle'', which was a great success in Germany and inspired Heinrich Himmler to found a youth movement to bridge Haeckel's ideas to the next generation
*@-2:19: Heinrich Himmler was good friends of Adolf Hitler, who misquoted Charles Darwin often during speeches at Nuremberg
*@-3:07: Charles Darwin was also an early influencer in America as well, where the theory of Survival of the Fittest was explained ''free enterprise style'' at Yale University by William Graham Sumner
*@-3:17: The American capitalist system supposedly weeds out the weak, the unfit...Except in reality, Americans received Government Aid in many forms
*@-3:44: Sumner wondered what the social classes owe each other? His answer: Nothing
*@-4:10: According to Sumner absolute freedom of action was what made America great and now, thanks to Charles Darwin, that was a scientific fact
*@-4:28: During the 19th Century, Charles Darwin's Survival of the Fittest made sense, especially in the wild American west, which was defined by individualism and a terrain where anybody could be what they wanted, as long as they fought hard for it
*@-6:34: Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, wise in the ways of Social Darwinism, became very rich
*@-7:00: There was a third way that Charles Darwin changed the world
*@-7:36: Vladimir Lenin brought the message of Karl Marx to Russia
*@-9:53: In 1917, Vladimir Lenin introduced Russia as the center of socialism -
Darwin's Revolution Part Five
*@-2:24: James Burke returns to Lapland with the conclusion that societies, like pigeons, can be changed within only a couple of generations
*@-3:13: Prior to the 19th Century, cultures looked to God and his divine plan. Thanks to Charles Darwin and those who build on his work, the universe no longer looked so straightforward; humans were just part of nature, in control of their own future -
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Questions and Answers About The Day the Universe Changed Episode 8 | View All | Ask a Question
View All The Day the Universe Changed Episode 8 Questions (7169) | Ask a QuestionWhat would you change on this university's website? (4 Answers)I think it is very well made. It has a lot of interesting information like guest speakers. Change your references URL (no spaces)to the end of the sentence and then ... read moreCan I make iTunes automatically load all episodes of a podcast without hitting the "Get All" button everytime? (1 Answer)Yep, there's a way. Open up iTunes, and go to the Podcasts area. Select the podcast you want to download all from. At the bottom, select "Settings...". Uncheck "Use Default ... read moreHave you watched any of James Burkes documentaries? (2 Answers)Absolutely! I loved both Connections and The Day the Universe Changed. The episodes that stand out were one where he took a whack at a cow carcass with a claymore ... read moreFor the past 6 months, the local PBS channels have been replaying the same 8 Sesame Street episodes on a daily rotation. Why? (3 Answers)Most of the information I have been able to find is general and repetitious and does not tell me exactly what you are asking about. But, there are lots of ... read more
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