Professor Jerry Brotton reveals that maps are far more than neutral guides to places: they are expressions of the societies that create them and powerful instruments for shaping territory, belief and authority. Beginning with some of the earliest known maps, he traces how cartography evolved from marking land and ownership to serving kings, empires, scientists and governments. From Henry VIII’s coastal surveys and the Cassini family’s scientific breakthroughs to the drawing of modern national borders, the series shows how maps can define who controls land, who belongs where and even how entire peoples understand the world around them. Across the three episodes, presented here together in a single uninterrupted video, the journey moves from ancient and medieval worldviews to imperial expansion and the digital age. Brotton explores religious maps, Aztec symbolism, Victorian attempts to classify societies, the politics behind projections of the globe, and the rise of Google Earth and data-driven mapping. He then follows the mapmakers and explorers who turned distant lands into targets for conquest and profit, from Ptolemy and Columbus to Walter Raleigh and the trading empires that followed. The story ends in the Arctic, where new maps are once again being used to stake claims over oil, gas and minerals, proving that even in the twenty-first century, cartography remains inseparable from power, plunder and possession.
The documentary delves into the captivating world of Artificial Intelligence, exploring its rapid advancements, societal impact, and ethical dilemmas. Through interviews with experts, it highlights the potential for AI to learn like humans, revolutionizing our work and creations. It also raises critical questions about its regulation, the dangers of military applications, and the need for international cooperation. This thought-provoking documentary offers a deep dive into the AI revolution and the profound implications it holds for our future, making it a must-watch for anyone intrigued by the intersection of technology, ethics, and society. iHUMAN is a political thriller about artificial intelligence, power and social control. With unparalleled access to the inside of the booming AI industry, this film shows how the most powerful and far-reaching technology of our time is changing our lives, our society and our future.
Set in the dark underbelly of Silicon Valley, The Social Dilemma fuses investigative documentary with enlightening narrative drama. Expert testimony from tech whistle-blowers exposes our disturbing predicament: the services Big Tech provides-search engines, networks, instant information, etc.-are merely the candy that lures us to bite. Once we're hooked and coming back for more, the real commodity they sell is their prowess to influence and manipulate us.
With more board configurations than there are atoms in the observable universe, the ancient Chinese game of 'Go' has long been considered a grand challenge for artificial intelligence. On March 9, 2016, the worlds of Go and AI collided in South Korea for an extraordinary best-of-five-game competition, coined the Google DeepMind Challenge Match. Hundreds of millions of people around the world watched as a legendary Go master took on an unproven AI challenger for the first time in history. AlphaGo chronicles a journey from the halls of Cambridge, through the backstreets of Bordeaux, past the coding terminals of DeepMind in London, and, ultimately, to the seven-day tournament in Seoul. As the drama unfolds, more questions emerge: What can artificial intelligence reveal about a 3000-year-old game? What can it teach us about human mind?
In the third programme of the series, Aleks gives the lowdown on how, for better and for worse, commerce has colonized the web - and reveals how web users are paying for what appear to be 'free' sites and services in hidden ways. Joined by some of the most influential business leaders of today's web, including Eric Schmidt (CEO of Google), Chad Hurley (CEO of YouTube), Bill Gates, Martha Lane Fox and Reed Hastings (CEO of Netflix), Aleks traces how business, with varying degrees of success, has attempted to make money on the web. She tells the inside story of the gold rush years of the dotcom bubble and reveals how retailers such as Amazon learned the lessons. She also charts how, out of the ashes, Google forged the business model that has come to dominate today's web, offering a plethora of highly attractive, overtly free web services, including search, maps and video, that are in fact funded through a sophisticated and highly lucrative advertising system which trades on what we users look for. Aleks explores how web advertising is evolving further to become more targeted and relevant to individual consumers. Recommendation engines, pioneered by retailers such as Amazon, are also breaking down the barriers between commerce and consumer by marketing future purchases to us based on our previous choices. On the surface, the web appears to have brought about a revolution in convenience. But, as companies start to build up databases on our online habits and preferences, Aleks questions what this may mean for our notions of privacy and personal space in the 21st century
These scientists are part of a global race. It's been running for over a decade... to build a mythical machine, the holy grail of calculations - a quantum computer. Remarkably, first-generation quantum computers have started to appear. Indeed, earlier this year, Google bought one. The D-Wave 2.
Across the three episodes, presented here together in a single uninterrupted video, the journey moves from ancient and medieval worldviews to imperial expansion and the digital age. Brotton explores religious maps, Aztec symbolism, Victorian attempts to classify societies, the politics behind projections of the globe, and the rise of Google Earth and data-driven mapping. He then follows the mapmakers and explorers who turned distant lands into targets for conquest and profit, from Ptolemy and Columbus to Walter Raleigh and the trading empires that followed. The story ends in the Arctic, where new maps are once again being used to stake claims over oil, gas and minerals, proving that even in the twenty-first century, cartography remains inseparable from power, plunder and possession.