Plot Synopsis

Host Josh Klein traces the historical connections that made modern-day innovations possible. Whether he's looking at spy planes, automated control systems, forensics, Indy cars, or the Boeing 777 aircraft, Klein travels back to ancient times to discover how old-age technology set the stage for the creation of each invention, and then follows the development of that technology through the ages to show how it evolved into one of world's greatest, present-day inventions. When exploring the historical links in the development of automated control systems on offshore oil rigs, Klein starts with ancient Rome, where local volcanic ash was once used to create superstrong concrete for aqueducts, making a link to the Romans' development of the hand water pump. The Greeks then took that water-pump technology, improved it, and used it in flamethrowers to help them defend Constantinople. And through the ages, each era developed different and new ways to control critical devices, even as modern-day engineers continue to improve hardware and software to control complicated processes, such as the Perdido, the world's deepest offshore oil rig.