James Burke Connections, Ep. 4 "Faith in Numbers"
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters strongly recommend it for its account of how the Jacquard loom and punch cards led to computers.
What it is
Episode 4 of James Burke's Connections series, tracing how commercialism, climate change and the Black Death shaped the move to the Renaissance. It follows threads through waterpower, the printing press, the Jacquard loom and the Hollerith punch card toward modern computing.
Recommended by 4 HN commenters across 5 different months, 2020 to 2026.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec sxp · 2020-11 · on “We have no idea what happens next”
I completely agree. For those who haven't experienced Connections-style history, four episodes are on YouTube: [LINK] My favorite is this one about proto-computers that came about due to the Black Death: [this video]
Strong rec Maursault · 2022-10 · on “Part of the long-lost star catalogue of Hipparchus found in medieval parchment”
Every computer engineer, computer scientist and software developer should learn about the Jacquard loom and its predecessors and its significance as elegantly described by James Burke.[1] [1] [this video]
Strong rec sxp · 2024-07 · on “How an 1803 Jacquard Loom Led to Computer Technology [video]”
If you want a more in depth view about this series of events, I suggest [this video] which is an episode of the amazing documentary, Connections. (The show also has one of the best timed shots in history: [LINK] )
Strong rec aspenmayer · 2025-11 · on “Robert Hooke's "Cyberpunk” Letter to Gottfried Leibniz”
I believe Robert Hooke is mentioned in James Burke’s Connections , a fantastic program that just got a new season on Curiosity Stream; I haven’t seen the new episodes yet but I have thoroughly enjoyed everything else Burke has ever done, so I expect the new series to be great also. [LINK] The episodes Faith in Numbers (1978 original series, S01E04[0]) and Thunder in the Skies (S01E06)[1] feature Robert Hooke from what I can tell from a little searching, though it’s been a while since I saw the series, so I apologize if I’m wrong on that point, though the entire series is worth watching all the same. [0] [this video] [1] [LINK]
Recommends ssalazar · 2025-07 · on “Phrase origin: Why do we "call" functions?”
For those who aren't already familiar, James Burke in Connections has a great summary/rundown of this technological progression from Jacquard loom to census tabulator to computer punchcard, starting around the 36 minute mark here (though the whole video is worth watching). [this video]
Cites staplung · 2026-03 · on “IBM, sonic delay lines, and the history of the 80×24 display”
And the reason they were modeled after the dollar bill size is because there were already many types of systems for storing and organizing them. That came in handy for the census. The old BBC Connections series has a segment with James Burke using the old census tabulators. [this video]