The Machine That Changed the World (1992)
(broadcast under the alternative title "The
Dream Machine" in the UK, with different narration)
is a 5-episode television series on the history
of electronic digital computers.
It was written and directed by Nancy Linde,
and produced by WGBH Television of Boston,
Massachusetts, and the British Broadcasting
Corporation.
Backers included the Association for Computing
Machinery, the National Science Foundation,
and the UNISYS Corporation.
The first three episodes deal with the history
of fully electronic general-purpose digital
computers from the ENIAC through desktop microcomputers.
The pre-history of such machines is examined
in the first episode ("Giant Brains"), and
includes a discussion of the contributions
of Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, Alan Turing,
and others.
The fourth episode ("The Thinking Machine")
explores the topic of artificial intelligence.
The fifth episode ("The World at Your Fingertips")
explores the then-newly-emerging worldwide
networking of computers.
All episodes begin and end with a song by
Peter Howell, "Stellae matutinae radius exoritur"
("The morning star's ray arises") and are
narrated by long-time Frontline narrator Will
Lyman.
== External links ==
The Machine That Changed the World on IMDb
Video resource guide at American University
Computing History Museum
Episode synopses at Virginia Tech
Synopsis of Episode 1, "Giant Brains" at waxy.org
Synopsis of Episode 2, "Inventing the Future",
at waxy.org
Synopsis of Episode 3, "The Paperback Computer",
at waxy.org
Synopsis of Episode 4, "The Thinking Machine",
at waxy.org
Synopsis of Episode 5, "The World at Your
Fingertips", at waxy.org
