Connections, Paranoia, Symbols

[rich]

as frank zappa once said--are you with me people?

Any of you folks remember the TV series Connections by James Burke.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_(TV_series))

This a great series about how technology triggers change in history
called Connections. I loved this pgm when it was on TV years ago and
now it's on DVD.
Anyway, I was watching the opening segment called 'The Trigger Effect'
which begins with narrator and science historian, James Burke at the
World Trade Center (walking on the concourse, taking elevator, getting
to the roof (this is 1977 or so) speaking about the technology
trap—how things can go horribly wrong when technology fails. His
example was the 1965 blackout in NYC.
What struck me was that one of the reenactments of people affected was
a SAS plane flying into JFK which lost its way because everything went
black on the ground and was flying blind towards manhattan (it
eventually turned around and was able to land)
To get to the point, the flight number of that plane was 911.

The series is subtitled an Alternative View of Change.

Two related comments about the series:

'Burke begins each episode with a particular event or innovation in
the past and traces the path from that event through a series of
seemingly unrelated connections to a fundamental and essential aspect
of the modern world.'

'If history is driven by individuals who act only on what they know at
the time and not because of any idea as to where their actions will
eventually lead, then predicting the future course of technological
progress is merely conjecture. If we are astonished by the connections
Burke is able to weave among past events, then we will be equally
surprised by what the events of today eventually lead to, especially
events we weren't even aware of at the time.'

It's almost like a hidden message from somewhere, pointing the way in
quite an extraordinary way, yes?

Rich