Playtime with Jarvis, with Steven Johnson


2017-04-09: Inspired by his conversation with Brian Eno, Jarvis invites Steven Johnson to talk about his book Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World. Steven tells Jarvis about how leaps forward in human knowledge have often come through our love of fun, creativity and entertainment. He starts with ancient music, bone flutes and the link between chanting and language. He shows the direct line from music boxes and player pianos to programmable music and computation. He describes how a moment of childish delight led Charles Babbage to conceive of the computer, and considers the wide-reaching influence of Daphne Oram. Looms, typewriters, calculators, bitcoin — Steven explains how technological and cultural innovation is often driven by our urge to make new music. Birthdays: Charles Baudelaire, Tom Lehrer, Hugh Hefner (making excuses), Valerie Singleton (reluctant convent girl), Seve Ballesteros (remembered by caddie Dave Musgrove) and Carl Perkins. Valete: Alessandro Alessandroni.

Peter Broderick - Carried 
Minor Victories - Cogs (Orchestral Version) 
Yvette Mimieux and Ali Akbar Khan - To a Passer-By 
Tom Lehrer - The Old Dope Peddler 
Hefner - Jubilee 
The Monkees - Valleri 

Morton and Cohen - Play Away (Theme Tune) 
[Steven Johnson interview
Ensemble Mare Balticum - Drømde mik en drøm i nat (bone recorder) 
The Troggs - Wild Thing 
Pink Floyd - See Emily Play 
Mechanical Musical Instruments - The Last Rose of Summer 
Kraftwerk - Computer Love 
John Baker - Tros Y Gareg (Main Theme) 
Daphne Oram - Four Aspects 
Player Piano - Ossip Gabrilowitsch: Romance without Words in A-Flat Minor (Op 17, No 3) 
Leroy Anderson - The Typewriter 
Electric Sound of Joy - Play Away 

Focus - Love Remembered 
Can - Moonshake 
Drcarlsonalbion and The Hackney Lass, feat. Dylan Carlson - Hackney Iliad (Instrumental) 
The Lovely Eggs - Slinking of the Strange 
Alessandro Alessandroni - Afro Darkness 
Carl Perkins - Lend Me Your Comb 
Bob Marley and The Wailers - Natural Mystic