Hitler's Jet Caves • 2013 • episode "S1E5" • Nazi Megastructures

50:19

The oceans are at the heart of the terrestrial climate machine. Without them, there is no life. However, they are subjected to significant changes: heating, acidification, pollution, a loss of biodiversity. In 2050, we will do all it takes to preserve them.

S2E1 • Dream the Future • 2018 • Technology

59:00

Mike Wooldridge grapples with the future of AI in the third and final Christmas lecture. Mike takes a ride in a driverless car. Autonomous vehicles, once a science fiction dream, are now a reality. Many AI researchers believe removing human drivers will eventually make our streets much safer. Mike explores how the car ‘sees' and perceives the world – and how with the help of AI, it gets better the more it drives. Although AI will create many exciting opportunities, advances in AI have raised fears – some justified, others not. With the help of expert guests, Mike talks us through some of the risks AI poses. He unpacks the very real danger of bias in AI, asking how we avoid creating AI that favours those who resemble its creators, and he explores the dangers of 'fake news' and how AI algorithms can lead to dangerous online 'echo chambers', helping to foment extreme views. Mike also demonstrates deepfake technology and asks if AI means we simply can't trust our eyes any more? The prospect of super-intelligent AI means that in the future we may be able to mobilise AI to uncover radical large-scale solutions to the biggest problems facing humanity, such as climate change. But we need to think carefully about what we want to let AI control. Could AI in charge of weapons accidentally begin wars – and present a risk to our survival? And, as AI gets ever more intelligent, how should we treat it? How does our audience feel about kicking an AI robot dog? This lecture addresses the big question of AI: can it ever truly be like us, or are humans unique? As AI advances, it seems these ethical questions are destined to get ever more complex… The Christmas Lectures are the most prestigious event in the Royal Institution calendar, dating from 1825 when Michael Faraday founded the series. They are the world's longest running science television series, and always promise to inspire and amaze each year through explosive demonstrations and interactive experiments with the live theatre audience.

S1E3 • BBC Royal Institution Christmas Lectures: The Truth about AI • 2023 • Technology

58:49

Dr Hannah Fry explores how science and technology transformed Britain in the 1890s, giving rise to the modern world - and many present-day anxieties.

S1E1 • Victorian Sensations • 2019 • Technology

54:37

DOWN THE DEEP, DARK WEB reverses everything you thought you knew about the internet and the dangers of the digital world. Our guide is Yuval Orr, a young journalist born in 1984 and well-aware of the gradual encroachment of Big Brother, but like many of his generation, too busy updating his Facebook status to pay it much attention. Assigned with writing an article about the Darknet, he dives headfirst down the rabbit hole. On a journey that takes us through Tel Aviv, Prague and Berlin, Yuval meets tech experts, cybercrime watchmen, and a group of self-appointed underground freedom fighters.

2016 • Technology

58:15

Hannah Fry discovers why innovations in meat packing almost derailed the electric car revolution and how a breakthrough in camcorder batteries led to Elon Musk’s electric empire, as well as demonstrating how not to drive a multimillion dollar prototype car of the future.

S1E4 • The Secret Genius of Modern Life • 2022 • Technology

42:06

Explore Worldport in Kentucky, the parcel distributing powerhouse for UPS.

S1E6 • Super Factories • 2020 • Technology