
BBC iPlayer – Horizon – 1977-1978: Now the Chips Are Down - jsingleton
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p01z4rrj/horizon-19771978-now-the-chips-are-down
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jonathonf
This is one of two videos that are excellent (I've used both during teaching).

The other is "Brain In The Box" filmed at Manchester Uni during the 50s*. In
BitB, apart from giving an excellent low-level view of how computation
actually works, the interviewee sets out how computers would have to get
smaller in order to get faster. Keeping in mind this was a decade prior to the
microchip, he showed a small cube (about the size of four standard Rubix
cubes) and compared it to the current room filled with (what I think was) the
Manchester Mark 1 [1]. (This one is quite difficult to find, though. I grabbed
it when the BBC Archives were briefly made available as part of a trial around
2006.)

From this video, the most interesting part for me is the discussion at the
end. At around 1h14 Rick Mclean (sp, basically a 'think tank' member) says
that in order to deal with the existing "work ethic" in the face of massive
unemployment due to automation, the country would need a produce a generation
who "didn't want to work" and wouldn't mind not having a job.

Cue the next 30 years of social policy?

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Mark_1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Mark_1)

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jsingleton
An interesting show to watch. A surprisingly accurate prediction of the
future. It seems people have been talking about the issue of machines
replacing jobs long before many of us were born.

    
    
      First transmitted in 1978, Horizon examines the rise of the
      microprocessor and asks if automation presents a problem for 
      the future of British industry.
    

_Edit: Here 's the show on YouTube for those that can't get iPlayer or don't
want to install Flash:_
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW5Fvk8FNOQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW5Fvk8FNOQ)

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walshemj
I think this was the show that inspired the BBC micro

