Een schitterend ongeluk (translated "A Glorious Accident" in English) was a 1993 documentary series featuring six prominent scientists and philosophers. Hosted by Wim Kayzer, a Dutch television producer, and filmed in seven parts, A Glorious Accident included interviews with Daniel Dennett, Freeman Dyson, Stephen Jay Gould, Oliver Sacks, Rupert Sheldrake, and Stephen Toulmin.[1][2]
During six individual interviews with each guest and a final round table, the attendees discussed their vision of their work and the world with the central themes introduced by Kayzer: "How far did you come in your understanding of our thoughts and actions? What did science really bring us at the end of the 20th century: knowledge or also understanding?"[1] "What is consciousness?" "What is memory?"[3]
The roundtable discussion was filmed in the Netherlands.[3] The film was released by VPRO and produced by Nellie Kamer and Wim Kayzer.[4] The film broke viewing records in the Netherlands in 1993.[5]
In the United States, A Glorious Accident was broadcast twice in June 1994 on PBS member station WNET.[3] In September 1996, PBS member station KCET in Los Angeles also broadcast the series.[6][4] The film was over 15 hours in length.[3] The title phrase "glorious accident" is attributed to Stephen Jay Gould[7] who referred to the asteroid-induced extinction of the dinosaurs which preceded the development of humanity.[4]
Together with the series, a book with the same title containing the text from the interviews was also published in the Netherlands in 1993.[8] It was a number one bestseller in Holland for several months.[3] The publisher summary reads:[8]
Transcripts of six interviews and a group discussion [...] with six leading contemporary scientists from various disciplines on the possibilities and limitations of (scientific) intelligence.
In 1997, a book titled A Glorious Accident: Understanding Our Place in the Cosmic Puzzle was also published in English.[9]