Overall: you should watch this; but with caution. Because it tells the story of diversified kinds of inventions in a comprehensive way, by showing a wider spectrum of events, often extended in history over decades and centuries. And that is an interesting approach; but unfortunately it is done in a kind of selective way

Also Steven Johnson simply falls short of being a TV host. He just does not fit this job. And what is more, a typical post-editing error is made over and over: every time a name or date is thrown at the viewer by the host, it is not repeated in a written form; but we are shown on the screen the quotes being read by the host from journals or documents shown at the same time. So why did they make an extra effort to do that (using CGI), but failed to deliver more basic and crucial information (spelling of the names)? A detail like that just shows that it is a more entertaining and less informative kind of program. And that kind of mediocrity of television should not be done on channels like PBS

As for the incorrect title, instead of "How We Got To Now" this series should be called "How USA Got To Now", because it is so much America centered. For example the viewer may think that the problem of unclean streets begun in 19th century in USA, because the show does not even mention medieval cities of Europe flooded with all kind of excrements, mud and garbage, as it also does not evoke sanitary systems of ancient Rome. When speaking about glasses, the show completely skips the early Arabian achievements in the field of optics. And when talking about printing books, it starts with the Gutenberg's movable type and not with what the Chinese did way before him. And as such, the title of this show is incorrect (and the show itself simply uses a false-ish narrative