The story of computers: from electronic tape and punched cards, to austere-looking robots.
Social & External
Self - Commentator
Commissioned by the Festival of Britain to show the similarities and contrasts between 1851 and 1951, by means of the Great Exhibition and the Festival.
In the first decades of the 20th century, when life was being transformed by scientific innovations, researchers made a thrilling new claim: they could tell whether someone was lying by using a machine. Popularly known as the “lie detector,” the device transformed police work, seized headlines and was extolled in movies, TV and comics as an infallible crime-fighting tool. Husbands and wives tested each other’s fidelity. Corporations routinely tested employees’ honesty and government workers were tested for loyalty and “morals.” But the promise of the polygraph turned dark, and the lie detector too often became an apparatus of fear and intimidation. Written and directed by Rob Rapley and executive produced by Cameo George, The Lie Detector is a tale of good intentions, twisted morals and unintended consequences.
The Cost Of Convenience examines how internet platforms are impacting our mental health, restructuring our communities, threatening our democracy, and violating our human rights.
In a culture immersed in technology, Instagram is reviving adventure, face to face community and real relationships. Through sharing the stories of friends old and new, "Instagram Is" sets out to discover the answer to the question "How can something so digital get people out from behind their devices and into the analog world?"
In a few years, technology will merge with our bodies in ways that today seem unimaginable, and will redefine the limits of what is a human being. There are already people who, driven by the desire to experiment, have crossed the biological limits by introducing electronic devices that provide them with capabilities that go beyond what is "normal." They are the first hybrids, and they face the reaction of society, which goes from malignancy to enthusiasm. Today they are only a small minority, and many people consider them as disrupted experimenters, but in the near future we may recognize them as pioneers.
Host Grant Jeffrey discusses how technology and government activities are changing the way our information is handled. How is this shaping our lives?
This documentary-drama hybrid explores the dangerous human impact of social networking, with tech experts sounding the alarm on their own creations.
Once upon a time there was a large Finnish company called Nokia that manufactured the world’s best and most innovative mobile phones. Nokia’s annual budget was larger than that of the Government of Finland and their phones spread everywhere and changed the whole culture of communication. But then something changed. Film portrays the rise and fall of Nokia and the Finnish mobile phone industry. Nokia engineers, designers and managers tell their story about the creation, success and downfall of the Finnish mobile phone.
"Welcome to Macintosh" is a documentary that mixes history, criticism and an unapologetic revelry of all things Apple. Whether a long time Mac fanatic or new to computers, Welcome to Macintosh explores the many ways Apple Computer (now Apple, Inc.) has changed the world, from the early days of the Apple-I to the latest the company has to offer.
Over the past few years, technology has improved our lives in so many ways. Now, some people, called trans-humanists, are taking the next logical step - they are fusing their bodies with digital implants to increase their abilities and expand their senses - they are becoming, in effect, real life cyborgs. How is life going to change for us all if some people have supernatural powers?
By observing the technological developments of artificial intelligence in several countries, this film sheds light on the advantages and limits of algorithms and their repercussions on the lives of citizens. Whether at the level of the State, the police, universities, or companies, artificial intelligences should be used as a tool, but very often become a substitute for the work of the individual. There are many abuses: manipulations, addictions, or centralization of power. What can governments and States do to best regulate these technological advances?
Hackers Wanted explores the origins and nature of hackers and hacking by following the adventures of Adrian Lamo, and contrasting his story with that of controversial figures throughout history.
Chemical engineer and inventor Maria Telkes worked for nearly 50 years to harness the power of the sun, designing and building the world's first successful solar-heated modern residence and identifying a new chemical that could store solar heat like a battery. Telkes was undercut and thwarted by her (male) boss and colleagues at MIT, but she persevered. Upon her death in 1995 Telkes held more than 20 patents, and now she is recognized as a visionary pioneer in the field of sustainable energy whose work continues to shape how we power our lives today.
The Duplex A86 is a 10 kilometer underground highway buried more than 90 meters deep. This concrete tube, measuring the equivalent of more than 30 lying Eiffel towers, is the longest tunnel in France. The result of a succession of technical prowess born from the imagination of visionary engineers, the Duplex A86 allows you to cross all of western Paris in a few minutes.
Four children want to invite their friends to a picnic, but they don't know how to use the telephone. Suddenly, the room goes dark and the phone becomes large enough for them to climb into. They walk through a tunnel and meet a man named Telly, who takes them into the world of Telezonia, where they are shown various kinds of telephones. They meet several costumed characters, such as Question Mark, who teaches them how to answer the phone; Q and Z, who show them how to use the phone book; and Exclamation Point, who teaches them how to place a call. By the time they leave Telezonia, they are full-fledged telephone users.
Back in 1976, microprocessors had a maximum of 8.5K transistors for 64bits of memory. The Queen of England sent her first email, and Steve Wozniak designed the Apple I. And a post-Star Trek but pre-TJ Hooker William Shatner made this film for AT&T about the future of microprocessors.
What if, before rushing headfront into technology progress, we think twice about it ? As our societies bet on technology outbids, some chose to invest on sobriety : the "low tech".
A tale of how the great vision and epic failure of General Magic, the "greatest dead company in Silicon Valley", changed the lives of billions.