All Seasons

Season 1

  • S01E01 The creator

    • May 7, 2017
    • VPRO

    Creating is a deed that captivates minds. Today, we are better creators than ever before. We will see how we can play with conditions for creating life, make anything we can think of with the code of life itself, and replace parts of our body. Will science render us creators in the primordial sense of the word?

  • S01E02 The conqueror

    • May 14, 2017
    • VPRO

    Humankind conquered the world, in order to survive, and conquers his fellow humans with new ideas. We will see how we as a species have conquered the earth, how we still compete with viruses, and how quantum theory conquers China. How are conquests and science connected?

  • S01E03 The maker

    • May 21, 2017
    • VPRO

    The maker grasps humankind as builders. We make new constructions with building blocks from nature, which we manipulate at the same time. We will see how that leads us to new materials, new connections between people and new bursts of creativity. Will we be able to build everything we wish for?

  • S01E04 The explorer

    • May 28, 2017
    • VPRO

    The explorer peers beyond our known borders and discloses the unknown. We will get a glimpse of the secrets of life, both on earth and elsewhere in the universe, and zoom in on the peculiar history of our own planet. What are the borders yet to cross?

  • S01E05 The illusionist

    • June 4, 2017
    • VPRO

    As humans, we construct our view of reality from the input provided by our senses. How does that work? And how can we make a robot experience something similar? What would the world be like with human minds and artificial ones living together?

  • S01E06 The dreamer

    • June 11, 2017
    • VPRO

    It is through our wildest dreams that we achieve new knowledge. We see dreams of feeding the world with insects, dreams of a synthesis of the fundamental theories of physics, and dreams of our future as extraterrestrials. What if science renders the unimaginable imaginable?

  • S01E07 The searcher

    • June 25, 2017
    • VPRO

    We keep expanding our knowledge, and sometimes we know exactly what we are looking for. Patterns in apparent chaos, new elements or a key for translating old and forgotten languages. We are sure they exist. But how can we find them?

  • S01E08 The player

    • July 2, 2017
    • VPRO

    Humans and animals play and this renders them familiar with their environments. We zoom in on scientists who combine play and mathematics, and see how playing with matter yields new materials with special properties. How are humans as players related to science?

  • S01E09 The thinker

    • July 9, 2017
    • VPRO

    Our brains are constantly aware of our place in reality. How does this work for animals? Does an objective reality even exist, and does it leave any room for something like god? Where will our thinking lead us?

  • S01E10 The connector

    • July 16, 2017
    • VPRO

    Humankind, society and technology are dramatically influenced by science. In this episode we connect all the knowledge of The Mind of the Universe in an overarching outlook on the future. What is the future of humanity, society, and knowledge?