Uploaded May 2019 | Updated September 2026, 25 minutes ago
Listen to this Radiolab episode: wnycstudios.org/story/bit-flip
In the video short "Bit Flip," from Radiolab, Simon Adler and Kelly Gallagher (Purple Riot Studio) play with Vaporwave and A E S T H E T I C. With original music and animation and a trove of Belgian PSAs and newsreels at our disposal, we impressionistically tell the tale of a Belgian election and a cosmic ray that got in the way.
The video is a teaser/companion to Radiolab's podcast episode (out May 7, 2019), also titled "Bit Flip." Our story takes us inside the memory of a computer as we explore what happens when a single bit – the fundamental particle of computing – switches from a 0 to a 1. Radiolab investigates a Belgian election that was swung, an airplane that was knocked from the sky, and a fleet of cars that left their drivers braking for their lives. Along the way they discover that what unifies these disparate catastrophes is no software bug, computer virus, or hardware defect. But rather, quite possibly, a cosmic culprit born a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
Like this video, the episode paints its scenes with '80s synths, reverb soaked Muzak and 8-bit samples, conjuring visuals of a technologically simpler and more hopeful time.
Listen to the podcast for free at www.radiolab.org.
Listen to this Radiolab episode: wnycstudios.org/story/bit-flip
In the video short "Bit Flip," from Radiolab, Simon Adler and Kelly Gallagher (Purple Riot Studio) play with Vaporwave and A E S T H E T I C. With original music and animation and a trove of Belgian PSAs and newsreels at our disposal, we impressionistically tell the tale of a Belgian election and a cosmic ray that got in the way.
The video is a teaser/companion to Radiolab's podcast episode (out May 7, 2019), also titled "Bit Flip." Our story takes us inside the memory of a computer as we explore what happens when a single bit – the fundamental particle of computing – switches from a 0 to a 1. Radiolab investigates a Belgian election that was swung, an airplane that was knocked from the sky, and a fleet of cars that left their drivers braking for their lives. Along the way they discover that what unifies these disparate catastrophes is no software bug, computer virus, or hardware defect. But rather, quite possibly, a cosmic culprit born a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
Like this video, the episode paints its scenes with '80s synths, reverb soaked Muzak and 8-bit samples, conjuring visuals of a technologically simpler and more hopeful time.
Listen to the podcast for free at www.radiolab.org.
