Last night I rediscovered James Burke's Connections. Here is episode one.
(PS Yes there is a strange inadvertent 9/11 subtext - from the Twin Towers, danger in NYC, technology traps, the end of civilization, to even a potential airliner crash, which incidentally is flight 911, what else???? But since this series was aired in 1978, it is safe to say that these were all coincidences.) Below the fold you'll find the next five parts of this episode.
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Ah, I'm glad somebody else has picked up on the freaky subtext in that episode. We could cook up a great conspiracy theory on this basis, right up there with the one that says bin Laden was inspired by Asimov's Foundation.
Incidentally, the study of technological systems as networks has gone quantitative in the last ten years: look up network robustness.