S1E9: A Little Less Conversation

The Secret History of the Future by Slate

Oct 31, 201828:54Technology

Some people thought the laying of the transatlantic cable might bring world peace, because connecting humans could only lead to better understanding and empathy. That wasn’t the outcome, and recent utopian ideas about co...

Related Episodes

Continue listening to more episodes from The Secret History of the Future.

S2E10: New Media, Old Story

Sep 4, 2019 - 38:15

Radio was originally a social medium, as early radio sets (each of which could transmit as well as receiv...

S2E9: A Brief History Of Timekeeping

Aug 28, 2019 - 33:11

The first mechanical clocks were made to summon monks to prayer. Ever since, timekeeping technology has o...

S2E8: Salvation In The Air

Aug 21, 2019 - 33:36

At the dawn of the 20th century, chemists dreamed of extracting nitrogen from the air and turning it into...

S2E7: A Bug In The System

Aug 14, 2019 - 32:51

The first ever computer program was written in 1843 by Ada Lovelace, a mathematician who hoped her far-si...

S2E6: Dots, Dashes, and Dating Apps

Aug 7, 2019 - 36:49

In the 19th century, young people wooed each other over the telegraph. But meeting strangers on the wires...

S2E5: Mars on Earth

Jul 31, 2019 - 34:26

Polar exploration was the Victorian equivalent of the space race. Major powers vied to outdo each other,...

S2E4: Meat and Potatoes

Jul 24, 2019 - 36:20

The potato seemed strange and unappetizing when it first arrived in Europe. But it grew into a wonder foo...

S2E3: Unreliable Evidence

Jul 17, 2019 - 27:52

In the early 20th century a new forensic technique—fingerprinting—displaced a cruder form of identificati...