1. The realization that we are vulnerable and
blindly dependant on technology was suddenly grasped in New York when:
a. Terrorists hijacked airplanes and murdered
thousands
b. An overload relay tripped in a power station
c. A major earthquake cut off all communications
d. A blizzard stranded almost everyone for days
e. A fire almost burnt down the city
2. One of the consequences of this crisis was:
a. Communications at the UN ceased
b. Subways were ground to a halt, trapping passengers
in the dark
c. Dangerous situations occurred in hospital emergency
rooms
d. Chaos ruled at airports as airplanes in flight
needed to land
e. Trick question - all of the above resulted
3. The TRAP that James Burke refers to can best be
summed up as:
a. Technology can grow so large that it becomes more
important than our individual freedoms … then we are ruled by technology
b. If we don't bother to understand the technology
that surrounds us, we eventually become slaves to technology
c. If we don't bother to understand the technology
that surrounds us, we will eventually lose that technology
d. Our lives are so dependent on technology that if we
find ourselves without it, chaos rules because technology provides order in our
society
e. Technology is the root of all evil because it tends
to corrupts us
4. If you are forced to start from scratch, the first
thing you need is:
a. Money and people willing to work for it
b. A plow and know how to use it
c. Weapons to maintain power
d. Books so you can teach future generations what you
learned
e. Boats so you can trade with others
5. About 12,000 years ago in several different places:
a. Got cold and started snowing
b. It got hot and stopped raining
c. Became cloudy and humid
d. Airborne debris from major volcanoes decreased the
amount of sunlight
e. Tropical storms wiped out crops
6. To survive this event, people
a. Moved to the river valleys
b. Dispersed to populate areas formerly inhabited
c. Pooled their resources and consumed much less
d. Created a system of euthanasia
e. Practiced birth control
7. What initially triggered great advances such as
weaving, pottery, and writing?
a. The first universities were established
b. The great insight of philosophers like Aristotle
and Plato
c. A surplus of food
d. Writings found in the Bible and other religious
books
e. The practice of slavery
8. Which of these byproducts of an organized
civilization is NOT mentioned in the video?
a. Domestication of animals
b. Metallurgy
c. Government bureaucrats and taxes
d. Military strategy
e. Geometry, surveying and stonework
9. The Egyptian calendar was created by linked the
flood of the Nile and:
a. The lunar cycle
b. The rising of the star Sirius
c. The flowering of palm trees
d. The migration of birds
e. The height of the sun
10. An example of an accelerated use of technology …
changing a culture profoundly can be found in:
a. China
b. India
c. Kuwait
d. Mexico
e. Indonesia
11. One of the final points (in this video) James
Burke tries to make is:
a. Our technology network is so vast yet we understand
it so little
b. Change in one area can trigger changes in another
area
c. Change can be driven by many different events such
as accident, genius, craftsmanship, geography religion, war, money, and ambition
… and everybody is involved
d. Given similar circumstances and a little reasoning,
great inventions could be credited to just about anyone
e. Great inventions are a result of someone putting
the pieces together in just the right way
f. Trick question - James Burke makes all these
critical points in a very short time
PS: I believe the implication here is that the evolution of technology
proceeds in a logical manner. That is, if we had to start from scratch, we would
eventually end up in a very similar situation we find ourselves today … and once
there, we become trapped into relying on this technological network for
survival. The entire series is extremely interesting so I've placed tapes 1-9 on
reserve in the library at the South Campus.