The Real Thing Online

James Burke offers another brilliant distilled (and well paced) re- interpretation of how we mechanically perceive the world around us.

This is a very lay-yet-sophisticated approach to explaining how our senses and thought processes digest data to make us who we are and how we function in the world we live in.

One might also call it a kind of scientific parable of sorts on interpreting society, but the primary emphasis here is on Burke explaining us to ourselves, and not so much on social dynamics.

This series was made prior to the massive computer tech revolution we are in today, yet the same basic principles that are being rediscovered by tech professionals to bring us faster and more efficient computers are presented here in a "user friendly" TV series. Burke even explains parallel processing towards the end, and leading up to the big finale explains some of the neuro- chemistry and signal processing that our brain cells perform, all paralleling some of the computer architecture of more advanced machines and networks.

The look of this mini-series is marginally dated, but that's mostly because it was shot on 16mm. Otherwise the information here is, as the British say, "spot on".

Younger viewers may get impatient with its look, but older audiences, particularly Burke fans in the US (assuming you haven't seen it before) should delight in another educational tour created and narrated by James Burke.

Enjoy.