The Secret Genius of Modern Life

Episode
Bank Card
Broadcast Info
2023 (59 mins)
Description
Hannah Fry takes a look at the bank card. This humble piece of plastic is often taken for granted, but it’s the digital key to accessing cash and is packed full of extraordinary technological innovations - including some with surprising and sinister origins. Hannah is granted the first ever TV access to Visa’s European bank card data centre, discovers why we have Russian spies to thank for contactless payments, and finds out how the CIA and a 1950s housewife helped kick-start the bank card revolution.
Genre
Culture; Technology

How to cite this record

The Open University, "The Secret Genius of Modern Life". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ou/search/index.php/prog/243628 (Accessed 10 Jan 2025)