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[Gear noises]
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[Gear noises]
3
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Would you do me favor?
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00:00:51,230 --> 00:00:54,925
I'd like to stop talking,
and when I do
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00:00:55,663 --> 00:00:59,336
take a look at the room you're in
and above all, at the man-made objects
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in that room
that surround you,
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the television set, the lights,
the phone, and so on,
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and ask yourself
what those objects do to your life
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just because they're there.
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Go ahead.
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Well, that is what this series
is going to be all about.
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It's about the things
that surround you
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in the modern world
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and just because
they're there,
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shaped the way you think and behave,
and why they exist in the form they do.
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And who or what was
responsible for them
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existing at all.
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The search for those clues will take us
all over the world
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and 12,000 years
into the past,
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because it's in
those strange places,
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and in those long gone centuries
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that the secret
of the modern world lies.
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And you'd never believe
the extraordinary things
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that led to us
being the way we are today.
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Things like, for instance,
why a 16th century doctor
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at the court of Queen Elizabeth
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did something that made possible for you
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To watch this screen, now.
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Or the fact, that,
because 18th century merchants
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Were worried about ship's bottoms
you have nylon to wear.
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Or why a group of french monks
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And their involvement
with sheep rearing
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helped to give the modern
world, the computer.
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Or what medieval europeans
did with their fire in winter,
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that led to motorcar manufacture.
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[Prayer]
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The story of the events
and the people who over centuries
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came together to bring us
in from the cold,
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and to wrap us
in a warm blanket of technology,
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is a matter of vital importance!
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Since more and more of that technology
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infiltrates every aspect
of our lives.
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It's become a life support system
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without which we can't survive.
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And yet, how much of it
do we understand?
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Do I bother myself
with the reality of what happens
when I get into a big steel box,
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press a button, and rise into the sky?
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Of course, i don't.
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I take going up in the world
like that, for granted
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We all do,
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and as the years
of the 20th century have gone by
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the things we take for granted have multiplied
way beyond the ability of any individual
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to understand in a lifetime.
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The things around us
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the man made inventions
we provide ourselves with,
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are like a vast network, each part of which
is interdependent with all the others.
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I mean, cross the road.
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Whether or not a car coming around the corner
knocks you down may have something to do
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with a person you've never met
fitting the brakes correctly.
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Change anything in that network
and the effects spread like ripples on a pond.
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And all the things in that network
have become so specialized
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that only the people
involved in making them
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understand them.
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I don't mean use them -
anybody can use them.
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Down there, is one of the biggest,
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most complex cities in the world;
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Full of people, using things *as if*
they understood them
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and sometimes
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not even knowing they're doing it.
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New york city
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like all the other major
high-Density population centers,
scattered across the earth
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Is a technology island.
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It can neither feed, nor clothe, nor house,
nor warm its inhabitants
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Without supplies from outside.
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Without those supplies,
the entire massive structure
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and the teeming millions it encloses,
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would die.
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And yet, in cities everywhere
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We act as if that were not so.
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We have no choice.
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The pace of life in New York is set
by the pace of the technology that serve it.
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You just have to hope it will stay that way.
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I'd like you to meet a few people who were in
or near New York City
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on a November evening, over a decade ago.
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And the reason I'd like to meet them
is because they all have one thing in common.
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They were all brought to a sudden and catastrophic
realization of how vulnerable they were...
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...how dependent on one aspect
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of that technological network
I was talking about.
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Because of what this did to their lives.
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Now, until i was told what *this* is,
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I was no more able to recognize what it is
that you are now.
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But watch what it did to those people.
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And, if you look very carefully,
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you'll see evidence of what this does
in every second of what follows...
...now
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It's one minute past 5:00 in the evening.
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Rush-hour in downtown Manhattan.
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800.000 people crowd onto subways
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looking forward to home -
to the end of this journey.
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For most of them,
the technology carrying them
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Doesn't exist.
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They take it for granted.
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Two minutes past 5,
Kennedy airport;
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The usual evening departure rate.
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Passengers with appointments
in New Delhi, London, Tokyo.
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Appointments they expect to keep.
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And 200 planes due to arrive
in the next 5 hours.
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[Announcement]
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No delays expected.
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Three minutes past 5.
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At the energy control center,
downtown,
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nothing special is happening.
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It's the standard rush-hour condition
in the main control room.
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The time of day, when power consumption
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starts to come up to a maximum,
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as people head for home
and meals get cooked.
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It's cool outside, after a high of 58
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the temperature's falling
to an expected low of 39
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with a predicted wind chill
fact starts of 5 degrees.
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The energy levels are
more than enough to cope,
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even on a chilly November evening.
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Ten past 5:00,
Mount Sinai hospital.
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The patient, Mrs. Marconna,
is expecting twins.
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[Banging hammer]
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(James Burke)
12 minutes past 5:00
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The UN General Assembly in session
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The speaker is President Roosevelt's son.
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In their boxes, the interpreters.
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The invisible support structure of the debate,
whatever the language.
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At the U.N., that's taked for granted.
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00:08:04,603 --> 00:08:05,353
(James Burke)
In the subway,
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Herbert Friedman, a lawyer, reads his paper
on his way home to suburban Jamaica.
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Al Haydock works for a publisher on 5th Avenue.
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He passes the time doing a crossword.
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Marjorie O'Shaughnessy also works for a publisher
looking forward to spending a quiet evening at home.
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Steve Boetty, late, been to a movie.
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Bruce Singer, works iin Greenwich Village.
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Bill Palmer is a student,
Just been playing basketball.
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And Hans Kramer: Insurance broker.
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All these people
take the subway every evening,
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they expect to get home,
they always do.
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5:15, Kennedy Airport.
At one of the international terminals
on the board, Scandinavian Airlines 911.
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Scandinavian 911 is on its way into Kennedy.
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The pilot is veteran captain Carl Lustet.
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Kennedy airport control,
scandinavian 911
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Weather information, Jenkins
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5,000 feet, approaching riverhead.
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Scandinavian 911, ROGER
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1221 radio back to the final runway, four right
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(James Burke)
A clear moonlight night,
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00:09:15,552 --> 00:09:18,189
the flight manifests
lists 89 passengers.
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00:09:24,282 --> 00:09:26,535
(James Burke)
The descent into Kennedy
is so far, uneventful.
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It's now 15 minutes
and 30 seconds past 5.
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Announcement on public system
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Please fasten your seatbelts.
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The runaway lights appeared, two apart.
Okay, nice feeling.
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With the next contraction there,
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You'll take a deep breath
and push real hard, okay?.
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The big one's about to start.
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Take a deep breath and
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Push, Okay?
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(James Burke)
At Mount Sinai hospital,
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Ms. Markana is in labor.
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Okay Peter, I think you can put her to sleep.
(James Burke): The anesthetic being used at the time
164
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Is a mixture of gases,
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Including one called cyclopropane.
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It's potentially explosive,
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but everybody know that.
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Okay, she's fairly sleep now.
Okay, with the next contraction
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we'll have a little bit of pressure.
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All right, look;
she's starting contraction now.
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Just a little bit more.
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Okay.
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Okay.
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[Baby crying]
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Okay guys, we've now got a baby.
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00:10:34,610 --> 00:10:38,619
(James burke)
It's now exactly 16 minutes
and 10 seconds past 5
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00:10:40,303 --> 00:10:42,064
one second later,
several hundred miles
178
00:10:42,064 --> 00:10:46,253
north west of the New York City
THIS did what it was built to do.
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with disastrous consequences.
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You may have already guessed
what kind of
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00:10:51,163 --> 00:10:53,295
technological network
this is part of;
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It's a bit of a Power Station.
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00:10:56,477 --> 00:10:59,167
The Power Station known
as Adam Beck 2,
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here at Niagara,
185
00:11:00,426 --> 00:11:02,371
where electricity is generated
186
00:11:02,371 --> 00:11:04,772
by the tremendous power
of falling water.
187
00:11:05,885 --> 00:11:08,795
The water turns turbine blades
that make a shaft spin.
188
00:11:08,795 --> 00:11:11,178
At the top of the shaft are magnets,
189
00:11:11,178 --> 00:11:14,383
and they spin inside a cylinder up there,
190
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that has copper wire coils
on its inner wall.
191
00:11:17,332 --> 00:11:20,669
The interaction between
the spinning magnets
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00:11:20,669 --> 00:11:23,729
and the copper coils,
makes electricity,
193
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that's where THIS comes in.
194
00:11:26,518 --> 00:11:30,002
It's a relay, and its job
is to detect changes
195
00:11:30,002 --> 00:11:33,258
in power going on to a transmission line;
These up here.
196
00:11:33,258 --> 00:11:35,851
Power flows north along these lines,
197
00:11:35,851 --> 00:11:37,638
and on the particular evening in question,
198
00:11:37,638 --> 00:11:41,718
this relay detected an increase
in power on one of those lines,
199
00:11:41,718 --> 00:11:43,475
that was above a pre-set limit
200
00:11:43,475 --> 00:11:47,246
when that happened, magnets
set around this metal cup
201
00:11:47,246 --> 00:11:49,787
caused it to rotate,
and that brought this on
202
00:11:49,787 --> 00:11:51,906
to make a contact like this.
203
00:11:51,906 --> 00:11:53,830
[Bang]
204
00:11:54,731 --> 00:11:55,894
That contact was made
205
00:11:55,894 --> 00:11:58,707
on the evening of november 9th, 1965,
206
00:11:58,707 --> 00:12:01,827
at 16 minutes and 11 seconds past 5.
207
00:12:03,113 --> 00:12:06,036
The effect was to cascade
power off the overloaded line
208
00:12:06,036 --> 00:12:07,817
and on to another, which overload
209
00:12:07,817 --> 00:12:11,120
and tripped the next, until
all five lines going north
210
00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:13,434
had tripped out,
dumping their entire load
211
00:12:13,434 --> 00:12:14,624
onto lines going south.
212
00:12:15,128 --> 00:12:18,046
Within seven seconds,
the tremendous overload
213
00:12:18,046 --> 00:12:21,136
began to take out generating stations
all over northeastern America,
214
00:12:21,136 --> 00:12:22,677
from Boston to New York,
215
00:12:22,677 --> 00:12:24,010
as the network fell apart.
216
00:12:24,556 --> 00:12:26,979
As each area went, it overloaded the next.
217
00:12:26,979 --> 00:12:30,235
Within 10 seconds, the only major system left
218
00:12:30,235 --> 00:12:32,472
was the great energy island of New York.
219
00:12:41,493 --> 00:12:42,683
As the network fell apart,
220
00:12:42,683 --> 00:12:45,350
links between one energy
center and another, broke,
221
00:12:45,350 --> 00:12:48,910
instead of 300,000 kilowatts
coming into New York
222
00:12:48,910 --> 00:12:51,776
to help meet demand,
1.5 million kilowatts
223
00:12:51,776 --> 00:12:55,553
were draining out of the city
to supply areas now cutt off from the network,
224
00:12:55,553 --> 00:12:58,528
but still connected.
Like Leeches, to the New York Generators.
225
00:13:03,256 --> 00:13:04,969
As the overload hit
the New York generators,
226
00:13:04,969 --> 00:13:06,478
they too began to trip out.
227
00:13:06,478 --> 00:13:16,631
[Siren]
228
00:13:26,481 --> 00:13:29,053
As the lifeblood of the city drained,
it went into spasm.
229
00:13:32,499 --> 00:13:33,752
At the U.N, chaos,
230
00:13:33,752 --> 00:13:36,604
the power to keep the lights on
also served the interpreters.
231
00:13:36,604 --> 00:13:43,464
[Interpreters at work]
232
00:13:43,798 --> 00:13:45,342
And without interpreters,
233
00:13:45,342 --> 00:13:49,271
trapped in their darkened boxes,
deprived of access to the ears of the delegates,
234
00:13:49,271 --> 00:13:52,729
the United Nations was suddenly
and totally disunited,
235
00:13:52,729 --> 00:13:55,305
as completely as if at war.
236
00:13:55,305 --> 00:13:56,354
[Female interpreter]
237
00:13:57,456 --> 00:13:59,107
The city's elevators stopped.
238
00:14:01,768 --> 00:14:03,484
Perhaps the subways
were the only technology
239
00:14:03,484 --> 00:14:07,992
that people expected to fail.
Here we go again.
240
00:14:08,309 --> 00:14:11,090
(James Burke)
800.000 people
were now deep in the ground,
241
00:14:11,090 --> 00:14:13,596
under New York,
caught in a technology trap,
242
00:14:13,596 --> 00:14:15,485
most of them had never
thought twice about.
243
00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:23,234
As light went, so did the one
244
00:14:23,234 --> 00:14:24,955
in Ms. Markana's operating field.
245
00:14:24,955 --> 00:14:27,004
(Female nurse)
Okay, i've got her.
246
00:14:27,004 --> 00:14:28,519
(Male doctor)
What the hell's going on?
247
00:14:30,813 --> 00:14:32,367
(James Burke)
It was now only ten minutes
248
00:14:32,367 --> 00:14:33,232
since the crisis
have been triggered
249
00:14:33,232 --> 00:14:36,610
by the relay at Niagara,
more than 500 miles away.
250
00:14:40,837 --> 00:14:42,736
The generators continued to trip out,
251
00:14:42,736 --> 00:14:46,062
and at the Kennedy airport,
the radar screens went blank,
252
00:14:47,670 --> 00:14:49,842
and flight 911 was in trouble.
253
00:14:49,842 --> 00:14:53,432
Flag warning;
Switch number 22 ILA
254
00:14:53,432 --> 00:14:54,219
Okay.
255
00:14:54,219 --> 00:14:56,197
Kennedy airport -
yeah, who've we got?
256
00:14:56,197 --> 00:15:01,005
Yeah, John, can you hold it?
i'll take 200 if I can.
What time did it go off?
257
00:15:01,005 --> 00:15:03,712
Started at 2131 out, they can't hold on.
258
00:15:05,462 --> 00:15:07,963
(James Burke)
By 5:28, the time had come
to protect the system
259
00:15:07,963 --> 00:15:10,926
by deliberately switching
what was left, off.
260
00:15:10,926 --> 00:15:11,899
We shut down those lights in Broocklyn
261
00:15:11,899 --> 00:15:14,948
it's the only thing left going
ought to kill the supply in Broocklyn.
262
00:15:14,948 --> 00:15:17,935
Shall we leave that in
or shut down it down?
263
00:15:17,935 --> 00:15:22,331
We've got to
shut it down, i guess.
264
00:15:22,365 --> 00:15:26,154
The system operator recommends
shutting down Staten Island
265
00:15:27,698 --> 00:15:34,198
[Roar of vehicles]
266
00:15:34,618 --> 00:15:36,871
(James Burke)
Over an area of 18 million
square miles,
267
00:15:36,871 --> 00:15:39,072
30 million people were now in darkness.
268
00:15:39,072 --> 00:15:45,597
John, i've goton the phone.
269
00:15:45,699 --> 00:15:50,564
[Roar of traffic]
270
00:15:50,665 --> 00:15:53,210
(James Burke)
Isolated from each other in small groups,
271
00:15:53,210 --> 00:15:55,110
millions of people were still unaware
272
00:15:55,110 --> 00:15:58,074
of the extent of the blackout,
in the subway especially.
273
00:15:58,074 --> 00:16:01,798
(Male voice)
people started chatting --
But for the most part,
274
00:16:01,899 --> 00:16:03,798
No one really got into it yet,
because we thought
275
00:16:03,899 --> 00:16:06,330
It was just another typical rush hour delay,
276
00:16:06,431 --> 00:16:10,065
but it was dark, and that
was kind of uncertain
to be in such a crowd
277
00:16:10,166 --> 00:16:12,832
but not to be able
to to see anybody,
278
00:16:12,834 --> 00:16:15,664
so one of the women
had candles in her bag.
279
00:16:15,765 --> 00:16:19,564
(Female voice)
You know, i have some candles;
maybe we can light them.
280
00:16:19,665 --> 00:16:21,731
(James Burke)
This abnormal business of
actually talking
281
00:16:21,832 --> 00:16:22,965
to anybody on the subway,
282
00:16:23,066 --> 00:16:28,265
caught on briefly,
all over New York.
283
00:16:28,366 --> 00:16:30,564
(Female voice)
Let's put some light on the situation.
It's my birthday anyway.
284
00:16:30,665 --> 00:16:37,132
Anybody feel like singing
'Happy Birthday' to me?.
[Laughter]
285
00:16:40,233 --> 00:16:44,764
Make a happy situation
out of a terrible one.
286
00:16:44,866 --> 00:16:46,865
(James Burke)
But, while this journey
had taken on a meaning
287
00:16:46,965 --> 00:16:49,431
nobody expected
so too at the hospital,
288
00:16:49,532 --> 00:16:51,731
at ms. Markana's delivery of twins,
289
00:16:51,832 --> 00:16:53,731
thanks to the anesthetic.
290
00:16:53,832 --> 00:16:57,098
(Male doctor)
There was then, a general scurry around
to find flashlights
291
00:16:57,199 --> 00:16:59,098
and I immediately commanded one,
292
00:16:59,199 --> 00:17:01,164
so i can see what was happening.
293
00:17:01,265 --> 00:17:03,198
One of the nurses whom i shall never forget,
294
00:17:03,299 --> 00:17:05,332
Walked into the room,
carrying a lighted candle.
295
00:17:05,433 --> 00:17:06,965
Put the candle out.
Get out of here.
296
00:17:07,065 --> 00:17:09,365
What's going on?
Get out of here,
297
00:17:09,465 --> 00:17:11,664
I'm scared out of my mind,
but especially with
298
00:17:11,766 --> 00:17:14,098
the anesthetic agent,
i had visions of all of us,
299
00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:17,631
the whole place blowing up
in one great conflagration.
300
00:17:19,765 --> 00:17:22,032
(James Burke)
The phone system was
the only thing working,
301
00:17:22,133 --> 00:17:23,497
if you could get a number.
302
00:17:23,599 --> 00:17:26,431
[Conversation in french]
303
00:17:26,532 --> 00:17:28,131
I can't see the runway.
304
00:17:28,133 --> 00:17:29,398
(James Burke)
And captain Lustet
305
00:17:29,433 --> 00:17:30,497
Was learning the full extent
of his predicament.
306
00:17:31,266 --> 00:17:33,866
ILS, the landing aid
that guided him in,
307
00:17:33,866 --> 00:17:35,645
wasn't there anymore.
308
00:17:35,645 --> 00:17:37,778
-- And needs to
check the radio.
309
00:17:37,778 --> 00:17:40,830
Kennedy airport control
Scandinavian 911,
310
00:17:40,830 --> 00:17:42,373
The ils went
311
00:17:45,125 --> 00:17:46,526
(James Burke)
The extraordinary thing
in the subways
312
00:17:46,526 --> 00:17:48,293
was that a full hour
into the crisis,
313
00:17:48,293 --> 00:17:50,401
nobody was trying
to escape from the trap.
314
00:17:50,401 --> 00:18:14,964
[Multiple voices]
315
00:18:15,065 --> 00:18:16,598
(Male passenger)
I just assumed that
something went wrong
316
00:18:16,699 --> 00:18:20,331
with the particular train
that i was riding on.
317
00:18:22,865 --> 00:18:24,398
There was a feeling of "it's being something
to wait out together".
318
00:18:24,432 --> 00:18:26,831
There was nothing anybody
could do about it,
319
00:18:26,932 --> 00:18:34,164
no one knew anything about anything.
320
00:18:34,762 --> 00:18:35,984
(James Burke)
Put yourself in this position,
321
00:18:35,984 --> 00:18:37,239
would you do any different?
322
00:18:37,239 --> 00:18:40,018
Here they were, one hour
into a major disaster,
323
00:18:40,018 --> 00:18:42,597
and still trying to laugh
their way out of it.
324
00:18:42,597 --> 00:18:48,731
[Laughing and chatting]
325
00:19:03,398 --> 00:19:08,965
(Male voice)
People began to be very jovial,
and began to sing
326
00:19:09,066 --> 00:19:11,564
"Show me the way to go home"
and everything
327
00:19:11,665 --> 00:19:13,297
that people could think of,
328
00:19:13,398 --> 00:19:18,965
that related to our plight.
329
00:19:19,066 --> 00:19:21,664
At the hospital, darkness
made no difference.
330
00:19:21,765 --> 00:19:29,498
[Multiple voices]
331
00:19:29,598 --> 00:19:31,264
(Male doctor)
Well, the baby was delivered without the lights,
because you didn't need the light for the delivery.
332
00:19:31,365 --> 00:19:33,431
That's manipulative,
remember, you're reaching up
333
00:19:33,532 --> 00:19:35,797
into the uterus, grabbing a foot,
334
00:19:35,899 --> 00:19:37,932
which is strictly by feel,
335
00:19:38,033 --> 00:19:40,299
erupting the membranes
and you bring the foot down.
336
00:19:40,398 --> 00:19:44,694
The second baby was vigorous,
and we prepared the babies.
337
00:19:44,694 --> 00:19:49,155
(Female nurse)
There you go,
you're such a pretty girl, yes.
338
00:19:52,862 --> 00:19:54,426
(James Burke)
Captain Lustet had only a few second left
339
00:19:54,426 --> 00:19:55,731
to make his decision.
340
00:19:55,731 --> 00:20:00,467
He was at 2.000 feet, past the airport,
and heading straight for
Manhattan in the darkness.
341
00:20:00,467 --> 00:20:00,801
[Roar of plane]
342
00:20:00,801 --> 00:20:12,410
There was only one thing he could do:
Lustet and 200 other jets that night,
343
00:20:12,410 --> 00:20:15,935
landed with the help of radio working on planes
sitting on the ground.
344
00:20:17,847 --> 00:20:19,748
In the subway,
people were still coping.
345
00:20:19,748 --> 00:20:21,832
(Male passenger)
About half an hour
or an hour and a half,
346
00:20:21,932 --> 00:20:23,832
people became very restless.
347
00:20:23,933 --> 00:20:28,379
It was not, not pleasant;
it was not very congenial,
348
00:20:28,379 --> 00:20:29,975
but everybody felt scared.
349
00:20:29,975 --> 00:20:31,785
Never been this late before.
350
00:20:31,785 --> 00:20:33,773
you sit here and wonder and wonder,
351
00:20:33,773 --> 00:20:35,909
And sent nobody down to help us.
352
00:20:35,909 --> 00:20:38,749
[Multiple voices]
Somebody knocked on the window
353
00:20:38,749 --> 00:20:46,648
After about an hour and a half of thiss
train employees would pass outside,
354
00:20:46,648 --> 00:20:50,074
but not look at us and not asnwer us.
355
00:20:50,074 --> 00:20:53,637
When we were banging on the windows
and called out, they just ignored us.
356
00:20:53,637 --> 00:20:56,079
I think he's a conductor from a train,
357
00:20:56,079 --> 00:20:57,257
but i'm not sure.
358
00:21:02,598 --> 00:21:04,081
(James Burke)
Gradually, finally,
359
00:21:04,081 --> 00:21:05,967
people began to realize
where they were,
360
00:21:05,967 --> 00:21:09,921
lost under the ground,
helpless unless help came.
361
00:21:09,921 --> 00:21:10,998
(Male voice)
Well, we have a major power blackout,
362
00:21:11,099 --> 00:21:12,531
it's at least hit the entire city.
363
00:21:12,632 --> 00:21:14,464
Let's all relax;
We'll be trying to get you off
364
00:21:14,565 --> 00:21:20,731
As soon as possible, okay.
365
00:21:20,832 --> 00:21:21,964
[Multiple voices]
I don't knok how long this will take,
366
00:21:22,065 --> 00:21:22,932
It's con edison
367
00:21:23,033 --> 00:21:24,297
And it affects the entire city.
368
00:21:24,398 --> 00:21:28,198
We have people coming by,
evacuating the trains now,
please relax
369
00:21:29,893 --> 00:21:32,158
(James Burke)
Ms. Markana found out
what had happened to her,
370
00:21:32,158 --> 00:21:34,146
though not the way she expected.
371
00:21:34,146 --> 00:21:41,797
(Ms. Markana)
How's that?
When i woke up and i saw hall the candles
372
00:21:41,899 --> 00:21:45,797
lit around the room,
I thought I was dead.
373
00:21:45,899 --> 00:21:47,098
And where was a priest
standing nearby,
374
00:21:47,198 --> 00:21:48,897
and for a minute there, I thought he had come
to give me my latest rites,
375
00:21:48,998 --> 00:21:51,531
and i was afraid that all my
family when knew that I was --
376
00:21:51,565 --> 00:21:53,598
and they came
to light candles for me.
377
00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:02,131
Don't be frightened now;
you're going to be okay.
378
00:22:03,140 --> 00:22:06,011
(James burke)
And finally, as in all good faity stories,
it was over.
379
00:22:06,011 --> 00:22:11,452
(Male voice)
And exactly 5 hours
after the train stopped,
380
00:22:11,452 --> 00:22:14,270
about 10:30 the train began to empty
381
00:22:14,270 --> 00:22:16,090
by having all the passengers walk out
382
00:22:16,090 --> 00:22:17,282
singly upon the catwalk.
383
00:22:19,554 --> 00:22:21,028
(James Burke)
A few days later, people were back
384
00:22:21,028 --> 00:22:23,312
at their daily routine as if it had never happened,
385
00:22:23,312 --> 00:22:26,885
the night New York became a trap, forgotten.
386
00:22:29,472 --> 00:22:31,717
This is one of the more perfect examples
387
00:22:31,717 --> 00:22:34,854
of the kind of technological
trap that we set for ourselves.
388
00:22:34,854 --> 00:22:37,959
The lift, the elevator;
I mean, what is this?
389
00:22:37,959 --> 00:22:39,846
It's a steel box
with some buttons in it,
390
00:22:39,846 --> 00:22:42,160
and, maybe, a trapdoor for emergency.
391
00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:47,688
But whoever looks that close,
Except when this happens, where is it?
392
00:22:47,688 --> 00:22:50,602
and even in this situation, closed in,
393
00:22:50,602 --> 00:22:52,752
with an escape route
that we can't handle,
394
00:22:52,752 --> 00:22:55,856
we behave like many of those
new yorkers did.
395
00:22:55,856 --> 00:23:00,187
We strike a light and we look around
to see how badly things are.
396
00:23:01,039 --> 00:23:03,417
And, if we find in this case,
an emergency button,
397
00:23:03,417 --> 00:23:05,517
absolutely great; we sit back,
398
00:23:05,517 --> 00:23:06,815
and, we wait for help to come.
399
00:23:06,815 --> 00:23:09,834
We wait for technology to come back
and save our lives,
400
00:23:09,834 --> 00:23:13,168
because it's inconceivable
that it won't, isn't it?
401
00:23:13,535 --> 00:23:16,278
I mean, if you admit that,
you've got to admit
402
00:23:16,278 --> 00:23:17,893
that every single day
of your life,
403
00:23:17,893 --> 00:23:19,191
in some form or other,
404
00:23:19,191 --> 00:23:22,314
you unconsciously walk youself
into a technology trap,
405
00:23:22,314 --> 00:23:24,747
because that's the only way to live
in the modern world.
406
00:23:25,914 --> 00:23:27,550
So, you don't admit it,
you say,
407
00:23:27,550 --> 00:23:33,060
oh well, in the situation, we'll cope.
But, what happens when the effects become
408
00:23:33,060 --> 00:23:35,719
widespread, irreversible, devastating?
409
00:23:35,719 --> 00:23:38,165
What happens when, what little resources
410
00:23:38,165 --> 00:23:42,876
you have to help you cope, give up.
Then what?
411
00:23:45,756 --> 00:23:48,008
Well, in all the disaster
scenarios you read,
412
00:23:48,008 --> 00:23:49,932
what happens is that without power,
413
00:23:49,932 --> 00:23:53,077
technologically based
civilisation cracks up rapidly.
414
00:23:53,077 --> 00:23:55,148
Without enough auxiliary power,
415
00:23:55,148 --> 00:23:56,690
and most major cities don't have it,
416
00:23:56,690 --> 00:23:58,493
organisation is imposible.
417
00:23:58,493 --> 00:24:02,427
It's every man for himself,
looting and arson follow,
418
00:24:02,427 --> 00:24:04,933
and in a city not prepared
to be a fortress,
419
00:24:04,933 --> 00:24:08,831
supplies run out, fast.
And, however frightening the thought
420
00:24:08,831 --> 00:24:10,886
of leaving your technological room,
421
00:24:10,886 --> 00:24:13,507
soon or later, there is no way to go
422
00:24:13,507 --> 00:24:15,541
but out, away from the danger.
423
00:24:20,444 --> 00:24:23,733
The minute you decide to move
you're on your own,
424
00:24:23,733 --> 00:24:27,974
in a way that no modern
20th century city dweller
425
00:24:27,974 --> 00:24:29,326
has ever been, in his life.
426
00:24:30,561 --> 00:24:34,036
And then the traps begin to close.
To start with,
427
00:24:34,036 --> 00:24:36,390
do you even know where to go
in order to survive?
428
00:24:37,489 --> 00:24:41,436
Did you manage to get a map before you left?
And if you did, how do you get out?
429
00:24:41,436 --> 00:24:44,432
Walk, drive until you run out of fuel?
430
00:24:45,690 --> 00:24:49,975
Are you ahead of the millions of other people
pouring down these roads, trying to do
431
00:24:49,975 --> 00:24:51,237
just what you're trying to do?
432
00:24:51,961 --> 00:24:53,118
And if they catch up with you,
433
00:24:53,118 --> 00:24:55,259
have you got something they need?
434
00:24:56,022 --> 00:24:58,684
And if you have, can you protect yourself?
435
00:24:59,815 --> 00:25:03,175
Did you bring enough food and drink
to last as long as necessary,
436
00:25:03,469 --> 00:25:06,312
and if you didn't, where will you get, steal?
437
00:25:07,863 --> 00:25:09,879
How far out will you have to push on,
438
00:25:09,879 --> 00:25:16,299
until you're far enough out to be safe?
And can you be sure that's far enough?
439
00:25:17,585 --> 00:25:21,043
And even, if by some miracle,
you finally make it,
440
00:25:21,043 --> 00:25:24,637
do you know enough to
recognize a place to stop when you see it?
441
00:25:24,637 --> 00:25:28,612
I mean, what does survival
without technology look like?
442
00:25:29,315 --> 00:25:30,647
There'd be no signs up.
443
00:25:35,507 --> 00:25:37,490
So, let's say that finally,
444
00:25:37,490 --> 00:25:38,757
somewhere far out into the country,
445
00:25:38,757 --> 00:25:40,998
you come across a place that looks right.
446
00:25:40,998 --> 00:25:42,761
and, let's say that you've
had the good sense,
447
00:25:42,761 --> 00:25:44,619
and the good luck, to look for a farm,
448
00:25:44,619 --> 00:25:46,871
because that's where
food comes from, isn't it?
449
00:25:46,871 --> 00:25:49,277
Okay, so it's a farm, so you decide to stop.
450
00:25:51,144 --> 00:25:52,678
Has anybody got there first?
451
00:25:57,770 --> 00:25:59,625
Or, are the owner still here?
452
00:26:00,071 --> 00:26:01,401
Because you're going to need shelter
453
00:26:01,401 --> 00:26:03,309
and people don't give their homes away,
454
00:26:03,309 --> 00:26:05,650
they barricade themselves in.
455
00:26:06,202 --> 00:26:09,628
So, sooner or later,
exhausted and desperate,
456
00:26:09,628 --> 00:26:11,978
you may have to make
the decision to give up
457
00:26:11,978 --> 00:26:14,799
and die or, to make
somebody else give up and die
458
00:26:14,799 --> 00:26:17,833
because they won't accept you
in their home, voluntarily.
459
00:26:18,993 --> 00:26:22,178
And, what in your comfortable urban life
460
00:26:22,178 --> 00:26:24,852
has ever prepared you for that decision?
461
00:26:26,595 --> 00:26:28,211
Okay, let's say by some miracle,
462
00:26:28,211 --> 00:26:30,782
the place is empty and it's all yours.
Is there enough food in the house?
463
00:26:30,782 --> 00:26:31,791
How long would it last?
464
00:26:31,791 --> 00:26:32,826
How would you cook it?
465
00:26:32,826 --> 00:26:34,334
Wood fires;
are you fit enough
466
00:26:34,334 --> 00:26:36,588
to chop all the wood you need
before winter comes?
467
00:26:38,338 --> 00:26:40,164
If you're lucky, you've got
livestock on the farm.
468
00:26:40,199 --> 00:26:43,214
Great: meat, but can you slaughter
469
00:26:43,214 --> 00:26:45,343
and bleed and butcheires,
470
00:26:45,603 --> 00:26:47,072
Okay, supposing you manage that,
471
00:26:47,072 --> 00:26:50,212
you've got enough meat to eat
until you've eaten all the cows,
472
00:26:50,212 --> 00:26:54,507
but at least you can, start running a farm.
But, it's a modern farm, remember?
473
00:26:54,507 --> 00:26:55,543
It's mechanized.
474
00:26:55,543 --> 00:26:58,576
There's a gasoline pump, but it's empty.
475
00:26:59,573 --> 00:27:02,783
So, you can't use --
The tractor.
476
00:27:02,783 --> 00:27:04,273
What you need is horse and cart.
477
00:27:04,273 --> 00:27:06,757
But, when did you last see
a horse and cart on a modern farm?
478
00:27:06,163 --> 00:27:10,636
And everything else here,
the saw, the power drills,
479
00:27:10,636 --> 00:27:15,415
the light, the sterilizer,
the water supply,
480
00:27:15,415 --> 00:27:19,196
the sewage system, the hoist,
the milking parlor,
481
00:27:19,231 --> 00:27:22,617
the pumps, and everything
on this control panel
482
00:27:22,617 --> 00:27:28,230
demands the one thing
you don't have - electric power.
483
00:27:29,045 --> 00:27:30,430
Everything on this farm
that you found,
484
00:27:30,430 --> 00:27:31,705
doesn't work.
485
00:27:32,224 --> 00:27:33,354
The place is a trap.
486
00:27:35,163 --> 00:27:36,518
But, there's nowhere else to go.
487
00:27:36,518 --> 00:27:38,762
The only way you're
going to survive is
488
00:27:38,762 --> 00:27:40,818
if you find
the one thing you need,
489
00:27:40,818 --> 00:27:43,093
to keep on providing the food
you're going to have,
490
00:27:43,093 --> 00:27:45,660
and you don't need a mechanized
version of that thing.
491
00:27:45,660 --> 00:27:47,457
You need the kind,
492
00:27:47,457 --> 00:27:49,869
people haven't used in a 100 years.
493
00:27:49,869 --> 00:27:53,286
Ah, you need that kind of plough;
you're saved.
494
00:27:55,728 --> 00:27:58,038
Or are you, because
What it comes down to
495
00:27:58,038 --> 00:28:00,204
at this point is this,
can you use a plough?
496
00:28:00,204 --> 00:28:03,251
It's taken a series of miracles
just to get you this far,
497
00:28:03,251 --> 00:28:05,047
and here you are, with
the biggest miracle of all,
498
00:28:05,047 --> 00:28:06,977
a plough,
and animals to pull it.
499
00:28:06,977 --> 00:28:09,639
So, maybe after few days
of fumbling around
500
00:28:09,639 --> 00:28:10,680
with the harnesses
and the bits and pieces,
501
00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:13,648
you manage to yoke up the oxen
and plough the land.
502
00:28:13,648 --> 00:28:16,035
And then, and only then,
can you say
503
00:28:16,035 --> 00:28:17,905
that you have succeesully
escaped the wreckage
504
00:28:17,905 --> 00:28:21,248
of technological civilization,
and lived off the land and survived.
505
00:28:21,248 --> 00:28:24,407
if you know how to use
the furrow, you plough,
506
00:28:24,407 --> 00:28:27,883
I mean, can you tell the difference
between an ear of corn and a geranium seed?
507
00:28:27,883 --> 00:28:30,785
Do you know when to sow,
ehatever it is you think it is?
508
00:28:30,785 --> 00:28:32,705
Do you know when to harvest it,
509
00:28:32,705 --> 00:28:34,874
and eat the bit that you think
isn't poisonous.
510
00:28:35,909 --> 00:28:39,431
I mean, it's no accident
that the chain of events,
511
00:28:39,431 --> 00:28:44,452
triggered off by that relay in the power station,
back there in Niagara Falls ends here with the plough.
512
00:28:44,452 --> 00:28:46,180
The relay itself doesn't matter, i mean,
513
00:28:46,180 --> 00:28:49,262
any one of a million things could fail and cause
514
00:28:49,262 --> 00:28:52,646
our complex civilization
to colapse for an hour,
515
00:28:52,646 --> 00:28:54,627
for a day, however long,
516
00:28:54,627 --> 00:28:59,979
because that's when you find out the extent
to which you are reliant on technology,
and don't even know it.
517
00:28:59,979 --> 00:29:04,574
That's when you see that,
it's so interdependent,
518
00:29:04,574 --> 00:29:06,470
you take one thing away
and the whole thing falls down,
519
00:29:06,470 --> 00:29:07,357
leaves you with nothing,
520
00:29:07,357 --> 00:29:10,244
unless you can plough and survive,
521
00:29:10,244 --> 00:29:14,465
and start the whole process off again,
from scratch.
522
00:29:15,356 --> 00:29:19,265
And, it's no accident that to do that,
you have to have a plough.
523
00:29:20,802 --> 00:29:23,774
Because it was the plough
you that triggered everything off,
524
00:29:23,774 --> 00:29:25,346
a long way back in the past,
525
00:29:25,346 --> 00:29:28,960
After a different set of people
also found out
526
00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:31,570
that their comfortable life
was falling apart --
527
00:29:35,793 --> 00:29:38,005
-- in a world where events
came to a point
528
00:29:38,005 --> 00:29:41,250
where a fundamentally new way
of life had to be found.
529
00:29:54,964 --> 00:29:58,435
That's exactly what happened
about 12,000 years ago
530
00:29:58,435 --> 00:30:04,828
in maybe four places on the earth, Nothert India,
Syria, Egypt and Central America.
531
00:30:05,992 --> 00:30:08,218
It stopped raining and got very hot.
532
00:30:09,082 --> 00:30:15,467
The result of that change in the weather
was to lead an invention, that would trigger
533
00:30:15,467 --> 00:30:18,475
the development of a civilization,
that ends with us in the modern world.
534
00:30:19,472 --> 00:30:20,438
Let me explain that.
535
00:30:20,438 --> 00:30:23,589
You see, the high grasslands
started to dry out,
536
00:30:23,589 --> 00:30:26,648
became like this place,
and the plants and the animals
537
00:30:26,648 --> 00:30:30,138
that had sustained the wandering tribes,
started to disappear.
538
00:30:30,431 --> 00:30:31,650
People began to die.
539
00:30:32,119 --> 00:30:34,506
There was only thing
that survivors could do,
540
00:30:34,506 --> 00:30:40,249
head for water, and so, down they came,
into the great river valleys.
541
00:30:52,645 --> 00:30:54,612
Here in Egypt,
that river was the Nile
542
00:30:55,075 --> 00:30:56,970
and the Nile was an extraordinary river.
543
00:30:56,970 --> 00:30:58,309
It rose in two places,
544
00:30:58,309 --> 00:31:01,689
from one, it brought rotting vegetation,
and from the other, potash.
545
00:31:01,689 --> 00:31:03,966
and any gardener will tell you
what that means.
546
00:31:03,966 --> 00:31:07,113
When it flooded every year,
it dumped compost
547
00:31:07,113 --> 00:31:10,688
and fertilizer onto the land,
and the land bloomed.
548
00:31:10,688 --> 00:31:11,641
Too well.
549
00:31:11,641 --> 00:31:15,995
With easy flood, the population grew to where
Not even the Nile could support it without help.
550
00:31:15,995 --> 00:31:18,578
Faced with starvation, the river dwellers
551
00:31:18,578 --> 00:31:19,843
tried planting grain by hand.
552
00:31:19,843 --> 00:31:21,533
Not enough.
553
00:31:21,533 --> 00:31:33,763
What solved their problem was an invention
that triggered off a series of events,
554
00:31:28,763 --> 00:31:33,454
because that invention was to trigger
the beginnings of civilization.
555
00:32:12,565 --> 00:32:16,026
This is the first great
man-made trigger of change,
556
00:32:16,026 --> 00:32:19,498
the plough, because with it,
557
00:32:19,498 --> 00:32:22,097
you know how much harvest
you're going to get next year,
558
00:32:22,097 --> 00:32:29,329
and because of that, you know you're going
to be here next year.
559
00:32:30,319 --> 00:32:33,123
And after a while, when you can
produce surplus food,
560
00:32:33,123 --> 00:32:35,728
then, that's when things
really start to move,
561
00:32:35,728 --> 00:32:37,059
in the tiny settlements.
562
00:32:41,339 --> 00:32:47,684
With regular food supplies,
the population explodes.
The village expands.
563
00:32:47,684 --> 00:32:49,504
There are more buildings,
and they're bigger
564
00:32:49,504 --> 00:32:53,772
for bigger families, and they're more permanent.
You domesticate animals for their milk
565
00:32:53,772 --> 00:32:56,575
and their meat and their skin,
because they're not there to hunt anymore.
566
00:32:56,575 --> 00:33:01,644
and, basket weaving
and the twisting of grass to do it,
567
00:33:01,644 --> 00:33:05,684
teaches you how to spin flax,
and that makes linen.
568
00:33:08,005 --> 00:33:10,851
But, it's the grain
that causes the fundamental change,
569
00:33:10,851 --> 00:33:13,153
because with it,
you can bake the bread
570
00:33:13,153 --> 00:33:14,775
that is the staple diet
on which everybody lives,
571
00:33:14,775 --> 00:33:20,556
and you learn about ovens,
and about the effects of heat on mus and brick.
572
00:33:21,891 --> 00:33:23,634
But, above all, you have to have somewhere
573
00:33:23,634 --> 00:33:26,335
to store the grain surplus, in pots.
574
00:33:26,335 --> 00:33:28,381
But, there's so much surplus by now,
575
00:33:28,381 --> 00:33:31,667
you need the posts to be made faster,
and you need them to last longer.
576
00:33:31,667 --> 00:33:33,958
So, the potter's wheel happens,
577
00:33:33,958 --> 00:33:36,435
then comes the problem of,
who does it belong to?
578
00:33:36,435 --> 00:33:42,214
And the only answer to that is this, writing.
579
00:33:42,214 --> 00:33:44,252
And the very first writing takes that form,
580
00:33:44,252 --> 00:33:48,738
a name and a symbol for what's inside this pot,
581
00:33:48,738 --> 00:33:56,895
or a lot of pots or an entire village granary.
And so, the little villages grew with their huts
582
00:33:56,895 --> 00:33:59,981
and their granary and then,
almost out of nowhere,
583
00:33:59,981 --> 00:34:02,351
it seems, that happened.
584
00:34:06,317 --> 00:34:07,930
The oldest stone building in the world,
585
00:34:07,930 --> 00:34:11,988
the step pyramid of king Zoser
at Saqqara near Cairo,
586
00:34:11,988 --> 00:34:15,577
built around 2700 B.C.
587
00:34:15,577 --> 00:34:17,622
Instant sophisticated architecture
588
00:34:17,622 --> 00:34:20,010
from mud huts, in one jump.
589
00:34:21,033 --> 00:34:21,880
How did they do it?
590
00:34:25,217 --> 00:34:27,227
Because of what they'd had
to do to feed themselves,
591
00:34:27,227 --> 00:34:28,086
irrigate.
592
00:34:30,253 --> 00:34:31,895
Because the river flooded every year,
593
00:34:31,895 --> 00:34:37,516
and destroyed landmarks and then, retreated,
leaving the soil to dry out,
they had to do two things:
594
00:34:37,516 --> 00:34:41,534
find a way of measuring lands,
so the farmer got his own fields back,
595
00:34:41,534 --> 00:34:45,556
and a way of channeling the water away
for use after the flood had gone.
596
00:34:46,044 --> 00:34:48,644
The kind of measurement
you need, to do those things,
597
00:34:48,644 --> 00:34:51,657
involves geometry and the type of mathematics
598
00:34:51,657 --> 00:34:53,148
a civil engineer uses,
599
00:34:53,148 --> 00:34:57,230
and building canals
teaches you to work stone.
600
00:34:57,230 --> 00:35:01,541
[Hitting stone]
601
00:35:02,236 --> 00:35:04,439
If you know stonework
and geometry and mathematics,
602
00:35:04,439 --> 00:35:05,793
you can build pyramids,
603
00:35:05,793 --> 00:35:08,070
especially if a strong
central government,
604
00:35:08,070 --> 00:35:10,176
that was developed to run
the irrigation schemes
605
00:35:10,176 --> 00:35:11,667
in the first place,
tells you to.
606
00:35:11,667 --> 00:35:14,787
If the pharaoh said he wanted
a pointed stone monument,
607
00:35:14,787 --> 00:35:16,267
that's what he got.
608
00:35:23,897 --> 00:35:25,718
Funny thing is, the same drough
that drove everybody
609
00:35:25,718 --> 00:35:27,856
down to the Nile,
also preserved the things
610
00:35:27,856 --> 00:35:30,571
they built, like their tombs,
for thousands of years.
611
00:35:35,834 --> 00:35:39,042
The stuff on the walls
in this tomb for example,
612
00:35:39,042 --> 00:35:45,922
is 4.500 years old, a kind of cartoon view
of the civilizations the plough created.
613
00:35:45,922 --> 00:35:48,037
I mean, look, here's the irrigation,
614
00:35:48,037 --> 00:35:50,759
here are these people carrying
water pots, you see them?
615
00:35:50,759 --> 00:35:53,449
And, they carry them across
and they pour the water
616
00:35:53,449 --> 00:35:55,242
into a garden that has wall around it.
617
00:35:55,242 --> 00:35:58,366
And then, over here, look, there's a fellow
618
00:35:58,366 --> 00:35:59,407
doing a bit of weeding.
619
00:36:02,289 --> 00:36:08,067
There's the plough,
they domesticated oxen,
620
00:36:08,067 --> 00:36:11,384
They tried to domesticate any animal
that they can get their hand on.
621
00:36:11,384 --> 00:36:14,988
I mean, take a look at this,
animal flat on its back,
622
00:36:14,988 --> 00:36:19,840
tie its back legs, hang on its front legs,
stuff food down its throat,
623
00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:21,038
and hope it'll learn to love you.
624
00:36:21,038 --> 00:36:22,899
Didn't get too far with that one,
625
00:36:22,899 --> 00:36:23,967
it was a hyena.
626
00:36:27,535 --> 00:36:29,174
Well, you've got a growing community,
627
00:36:29,174 --> 00:36:30,543
and plenty of spare food,
628
00:36:30,543 --> 00:36:31,842
And you'll need to protect yourself.
629
00:36:31,842 --> 00:36:34,012
So, making weapons becomes very important.
630
00:36:34,012 --> 00:36:36,366
And here, on this wall, is the whole thing
631
00:36:36,366 --> 00:36:38,069
about handling metals.
632
00:36:38,069 --> 00:36:41,399
Look, here are the
"Weights and Measure" people
633
00:36:41,399 --> 00:36:43,667
checking on how much
metal's going to be used.
634
00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:47,106
Next to them, the furnace men,
635
00:36:47,106 --> 00:36:49,608
You see the way
they're raising the temperature?
636
00:36:49,608 --> 00:36:52,501
They're blowing on these tubes
to create a draft
637
00:36:52,501 --> 00:36:54,149
in the furnace,
to get the temperature high.
638
00:36:55,535 --> 00:36:57,592
Next to them, here's the molten metal
639
00:36:57,592 --> 00:37:00,548
being poured into a mold,
640
00:37:01,545 --> 00:37:04,606
and here, a fellow's beating it flat.
641
00:37:10,743 --> 00:37:12,306
Okay, you get yourself a kingdom,
642
00:37:12,306 --> 00:37:13,003
you get what you deserve.
643
00:37:13,003 --> 00:37:14,974
You get bureaucrats, here they are,
644
00:37:14,974 --> 00:37:18,598
the scribes writing everything down.
See the pens behind their ears?
645
00:37:19,086 --> 00:37:21,730
In this case,
they're noting taxes.
646
00:37:21,730 --> 00:37:23,559
Here the people coming in
to pay their taxes,
647
00:37:23,559 --> 00:37:27,191
led persuasively
by the local police.
648
00:37:27,191 --> 00:37:29,516
Here's a policeman,
with the rod of office,
649
00:37:31,774 --> 00:37:35,481
more policemen, here's an
egyptian scruff of the neck,
650
00:37:35,481 --> 00:37:38,646
he obviously doesn't want pay.
If you end uo not paying
651
00:37:38,646 --> 00:37:42,411
they get out their whips,
and they tie you to a pole.
652
00:37:42,411 --> 00:37:44,727
And that's what you get for
not coming up with the money.
653
00:37:48,339 --> 00:37:51,148
So, you have a busy sophisticated society,
654
00:37:51,148 --> 00:37:52,976
You have to have peopel at the top, in charge.
655
00:37:52,976 --> 00:37:54,905
This is the tomb of one of them.
656
00:37:54,905 --> 00:37:57,238
He was a kind of egyptian chancellor,
657
00:37:57,238 --> 00:38:03,668
responsible directly to the king.
There he is: his name was Miraluka.
658
00:38:06,249 --> 00:38:08,901
By sometime around 3200 B.C.,
659
00:38:08,901 --> 00:38:11,446
the entire 700-mile length of the Nile,
660
00:38:11,446 --> 00:38:13,236
from the Mediterranean to Aswan,
661
00:38:13,236 --> 00:38:16,776
was united and administered
by officials like Miraluka,
662
00:38:16,776 --> 00:38:19,840
each one running what was
called a water province,
663
00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:21,578
a section of the irrigation network,
664
00:38:21,578 --> 00:38:23,724
and of the river, under his command.
665
00:38:28,664 --> 00:38:33,034
What held it all togheter
was the king's magic ability
666
00:38:33,034 --> 00:38:35,118
as a god, to come up year after year,
667
00:38:35,118 --> 00:38:36,650
with an inundation of the Nile,
668
00:38:36,650 --> 00:38:40,215
and to know exactly how high
the waters would do go,
669
00:38:40,215 --> 00:38:42,863
of course, it wasn't magic,
it was his astronomers.
670
00:38:42,863 --> 00:38:46,464
They observed that one
particular star, Sirius,
671
00:38:46,464 --> 00:38:49,798
rises just before dawn
on one particular day,
672
00:38:49,798 --> 00:38:51,672
the 17th of july, every year,
673
00:38:51,672 --> 00:38:55,357
and that day is one day
before the flood begins.
674
00:38:55,930 --> 00:38:58,458
They also saw that on average,
675
00:38:58,458 --> 00:39:02,162
the flood itself came
once every 365 days.
676
00:39:02,162 --> 00:39:03,832
Now, you put those two facts together,
677
00:39:03,832 --> 00:39:08,054
the star before dawn and the flood,
and you've got yourself a calendar.
678
00:39:08,054 --> 00:39:12,704
Under the calendar you can organize people,
you can give them a date to do something on.
679
00:39:13,478 --> 00:39:15,348
and for the King's ability to predict
680
00:39:15,348 --> 00:39:16,501
how high the water would go,
681
00:39:16,501 --> 00:39:19,573
well, you record the level
of the flood every year
682
00:39:19,573 --> 00:39:20,485
with a scratch on the wall.
683
00:39:20,822 --> 00:39:22,901
And after a while,
your experience will tell you,
684
00:39:22,901 --> 00:39:25,517
early on, how high the water's
going to be later.
685
00:39:26,568 --> 00:39:29,188
Now in Egypt, where water is life,
686
00:39:29,657 --> 00:39:32,975
that kind of knowledge
and the ability to control,
687
00:39:33,824 --> 00:39:35,492
gives you the power
to build empires.
688
00:39:53,297 --> 00:39:55,992
These are the great
ancient temples of Karnak,
689
00:39:55,992 --> 00:40:00,400
on the edge of the Nile,
about 450 miles south of Cairo.
690
00:40:00,650 --> 00:40:05,462
They were the center of egyptian religion
build in the imperial of city of Thebes,
691
00:40:05,462 --> 00:40:07,569
when the egyptian empire was at its height,
692
00:40:07,935 --> 00:40:09,652
the greatest power in the world,
693
00:40:10,010 --> 00:40:12,994
this was the New York of the time.
694
00:40:14,271 --> 00:40:17,758
The temples were built over
a period of about 2.000 years,
695
00:40:17,758 --> 00:40:23,595
Each pharaoh adding his bit,
living his name in stone to last forever.
696
00:40:29,815 --> 00:40:38,296
Inside the temple domain, there were 65 towns,
433 gardens and orchards, 400.000 animals,
697
00:40:38,813 --> 00:40:41,523
and it took 80.000 people
just to run the place.
698
00:40:42,059 --> 00:40:43,644
Small wonder that centuries afterwards,
699
00:40:43,644 --> 00:40:48,365
the greeks and the romans came here,
and gawked like peasants, at a civilization
700
00:40:48,365 --> 00:40:52,301
that made their efforts look
like well-dressed mud huts.
701
00:40:52,301 --> 00:40:54,947
It still has that effect today.
702
00:40:58,675 --> 00:41:01,754
You come here, from
the great modern cities,
703
00:41:01,754 --> 00:41:04,860
full of the immense power
of modern technology
704
00:41:04,860 --> 00:41:06,684
At your fingertips: press a button,
705
00:41:06,684 --> 00:41:07,389
turn a switch,
706
00:41:07,389 --> 00:41:10,685
and this place -- stops you dead.
707
00:41:23,036 --> 00:41:24,704
And then, just when you think
708
00:41:24,704 --> 00:41:25,945
you've got the measure of Karnak,
709
00:41:25,945 --> 00:41:29,097
you come here at dawn,
to the hall of columns,
710
00:41:29,097 --> 00:41:31,666
one of the most massive
structure ever built,
711
00:41:31,666 --> 00:41:33,961
and anything i was going to say,
712
00:41:33,961 --> 00:41:34,959
isn't enough.
713
00:41:34,959 --> 00:41:36,578
Look at it.
714
00:41:36,819 --> 00:41:41,363
[Dramatic music]
715
00:42:20,898 --> 00:42:23,361
The egyptian built an empire,
716
00:42:23,361 --> 00:42:25,682
and ran it with
a handful of technology,
717
00:42:25,682 --> 00:42:27,940
the wheel, the irrigation canals,
718
00:42:27,940 --> 00:42:32,927
the loom, the calendar, pen and ink,
some cutting tools, simple metallurgy,
719
00:42:32,927 --> 00:42:36,183
and the plough, the invention
that triggered it all off.
720
00:42:36,183 --> 00:42:42,338
And yet, look hoe complex and sophisticated
their civilization was, and how soon it happened
721
00:42:42,338 --> 00:42:47,619
After that first man-made harvest,
the egyptian plough,
722
00:42:47,619 --> 00:42:50,952
and those of the few other
civilizations that sprang up around the world
723
00:42:50,952 --> 00:42:51,639
at the same time,
724
00:42:51,639 --> 00:42:53,690
gave us control over nature,
725
00:42:53,690 --> 00:42:58,815
and at the same time, tide us for good
to the things that we invent,
726
00:42:58,815 --> 00:43:00,616
so that tomorrow
will be better than today.
727
00:43:02,278 --> 00:43:05,183
The egyptians knew that,
that's why they had gods,
728
00:43:05,792 --> 00:43:07,669
to make sure that
their systems didn't fail.
729
00:43:15,004 --> 00:43:17,060
Karnak was the first great statement
730
00:43:17,060 --> 00:43:19,413
of what technology could do
with unlimited manpower,
731
00:43:19,413 --> 00:43:20,932
and the approval of the gods.
732
00:43:25,215 --> 00:43:28,384
Ironically, the modern
equivalent lies again, in the desert.
733
00:43:28,384 --> 00:43:31,325
This time, the nomads
also settled by a river,
734
00:43:31,325 --> 00:43:32,654
a river of oil.
735
00:43:39,126 --> 00:43:42,132
But, what it took the pharaohs
4.000 years to build,
736
00:43:42,132 --> 00:43:44,378
took the kuwaitis 4.000 days.
737
00:43:44,378 --> 00:43:45,813
What's happened in Kuwait,
738
00:43:45,813 --> 00:43:49,925
the change from a nomadic existence
to being able to buy and use everything
739
00:43:49,925 --> 00:43:51,336
modern technology has to offer,
740
00:43:51,336 --> 00:43:53,769
has come in much less
than one generation.
741
00:43:56,873 --> 00:43:59,748
[Arabian music]
742
00:44:05,769 --> 00:44:08,369
Kuwait represents the immense
power of technology
743
00:44:08,369 --> 00:44:10,759
used in a way most of us
have never experienced,
744
00:44:10,759 --> 00:44:12,933
because we've lived
with a kind of change
745
00:44:12,933 --> 00:44:14,667
it can bring, for more than a 100 years.
746
00:44:14,667 --> 00:44:16,869
Here, it's been focused.
747
00:44:16,869 --> 00:44:19,786
Change has been instant and total.
748
00:44:19,786 --> 00:44:24,996
[Arabic language]
749
00:44:25,780 --> 00:44:28,009
Kuwait has suddenly become like New York,
750
00:44:28,009 --> 00:44:30,612
or any other of the great
urban island of technology,
751
00:44:30,612 --> 00:44:34,750
totally dependent on that technology,
like them, without it,
752
00:44:34,750 --> 00:44:36,426
Kuwait would return to the desert.
753
00:44:38,496 --> 00:44:41,231
Hello, how are you?
754
00:44:43,233 --> 00:44:48,748
Hey listen, I'm coming to spend
my Christmas in New York, okay?
755
00:44:49,811 --> 00:44:51,534
(James Burke)
You see how increasingly,
756
00:44:51,534 --> 00:44:53,472
the only way we, in the
advanced industrial nations,
757
00:44:53,472 --> 00:44:56,734
with our bewildering technology
network can survive,
758
00:44:56,734 --> 00:44:59,719
is by selling bewilderment
and dependence on technology
759
00:44:59,719 --> 00:45:04,994
to the rest of the world.
Or is it not bewilderment and depence,
760
00:45:04,994 --> 00:45:07,701
but a healthier, wealthier,
better way of living,
761
00:45:07,701 --> 00:45:08,606
than the old way?
762
00:45:08,606 --> 00:45:11,428
And yet, whether or not
you dress up technology
763
00:45:11,428 --> 00:45:14,656
to look local, the technology
network is the same.
764
00:45:14,656 --> 00:45:18,177
And as it spreads,
will it spread the ability
765
00:45:18,177 --> 00:45:21,977
to use machines as we do,
without understanding them.
766
00:45:24,133 --> 00:45:26,134
Somebody said, a few years ago,
767
00:45:26,637 --> 00:45:29,221
about the way our modern world
affects us all,
768
00:45:30,094 --> 00:45:31,509
"If you understand something today,
769
00:45:31,509 --> 00:45:34,225
that means it must already be obsolete."
770
00:45:34,540 --> 00:45:40,599
or, to put it in another way,
never have so many people
understood so little about so much.
771
00:45:41,573 --> 00:45:46,220
So, why are we in this position?
Why is our modern industrialized world
772
00:45:46,220 --> 00:45:49,900
the way it is, and not some different way
with different technology,
773
00:45:49,900 --> 00:45:51,421
doing different things to us?
774
00:45:52,084 --> 00:45:54,625
Well, that's what the rest of this series
is going to look at.
775
00:45:56,269 --> 00:45:59,387
You saw, just now,
the plough and irrigation
776
00:45:59,387 --> 00:46:00,604
kicked us all off.
777
00:46:01,385 --> 00:46:03,606
And, that an invention acts
rather like a trigger,
778
00:46:03,606 --> 00:46:07,457
because once it's there,
it changes the way things are.
779
00:46:07,457 --> 00:46:10,476
And that change stimulates
the production
780
00:46:10,476 --> 00:46:11,275
of another invention,
781
00:46:11,275 --> 00:46:13,813
which in turn,
causes change and so on.
782
00:46:17,063 --> 00:46:20,213
Why those inventions happened
between 6.000 years ago
783
00:46:20,213 --> 00:46:24,188
and now, where they happened
and where they happened is a fascinating blend
784
00:46:24,188 --> 00:46:28,678
of accident, genius,
craftsmanship, geography,
785
00:46:28,678 --> 00:46:31,017
religion, war, money, ambition.
786
00:46:31,978 --> 00:46:35,540
Above all, at some point
everybody is involved
787
00:46:35,540 --> 00:46:38,291
in a business of change, not just
the so-called great men,
788
00:46:38,291 --> 00:46:43,401
given what they knew at the time
and a moderate amount of what's up here
789
00:46:43,857 --> 00:46:46,139
I hope to show you
that you or I could have done
790
00:46:46,139 --> 00:46:48,462
just what they did,
or come close to it,
791
00:46:49,530 --> 00:46:52,550
because at no time, did an invention
792
00:46:52,550 --> 00:46:55,951
come out of thin air
into somebody's head, like that.
793
00:46:59,396 --> 00:47:01,584
You just had to put a number
of bits and peices
794
00:47:01,584 --> 00:47:04,564
that were already there,
together, in the right way.
795
00:47:11,978 --> 00:47:15,593
Following the trail of events,
from some point in the past,
796
00:47:15,593 --> 00:47:17,129
to a piece of modern technology,
797
00:47:17,129 --> 00:47:20,113
is rather like a detective story
798
00:47:20,113 --> 00:47:21,631
with you as the detective,
799
00:47:21,631 --> 00:47:24,655
knowing only as much
as the people in the past do,
800
00:47:24,655 --> 00:47:26,621
and like them, having to guess
801
00:47:26,621 --> 00:47:28,247
at what was likely to happen next.
802
00:47:28,247 --> 00:47:32,921
So, the trigger that sets off the first
803
00:47:32,921 --> 00:47:36,959
of those detective stories --
is that.
804
00:47:36,959 --> 00:47:39,294
And i'd like to leave you
with one question
805
00:47:39,294 --> 00:47:46,390
before next time: why does a modern invention
that fundamentally affects the lives
806
00:47:46,390 --> 00:47:48,369
of every single human being
on this planet,
807
00:47:48,369 --> 00:47:51,610
begin 2.600 years ago,
808
00:47:51,997 --> 00:48:00,473
with somebody doing this:
[rubbing stone]?