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Let me tell you a joke.
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Somebody apparently once went up
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to the great philosopher Wittgenstein,
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and said "What a lot of morons
people back in the Middle Ages
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must have been
to have looked every morning
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at what is going on behind me now,
the dawn,
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and to have thought that
what they were seeing
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was the Sun going round the Earth,
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when, as every school kid knows,
the Earth goes round the Sun
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and it doesn't take
too many brains to understand that".
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To which Wittgenstein replied,
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"Yeah, but I wonder what
it would have looked like
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if the Sun had been
going round the Earth".
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The point being, of course,
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it would have looked
exactly the same.
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You see what your knowledge
tells you you are seeing.
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Well, that's what this
series is going to be about:
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how, what you think the universe is
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and how you react to that,
in everything you do,
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depends on what you know,
and when that knowledge changes,
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for you, the universe changes.
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And that is as true
for the whole of society
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as it is for the individual.
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We all are
what we all know today.
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What we knew yesterday
was different,
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and so were we.
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So that's why this series is
also going to look at the past,
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at the way we were
because of what we knew
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that was different from today
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and at how, through history,
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every time our view
of the universe changed--
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and us with it--
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something was created
that would help to make us
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the way we are
in the modern world
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with the distinctive way
of thinking that makes us us
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and not some other bunch
with a different view.
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Not some other bunch thinking
and acting differently,
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us, the end product
of centuries of change
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that thinks it's the best there is,
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just like all the others do.
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Every group, nation, tribe,
cult, ideology,
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each one certain of its version
of the truth,
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prepared if necessary to defend
that version to the death
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to keep it alive.
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And we are no different.
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We defend ours 1,000 feet down,
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here below me, under that mountain.
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It doesn't matter whether
it's a hermetically sealed,
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radiation-proof,
high-tech place like this
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or a stack of bows and arrows
in a jungle hut.
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Every culture has one of these.
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It's where the truth is protected.
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This is what's meant by putting
your money where your mouth is.
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It shows just how far
you're prepared to go
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to defend your view of things.
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Here, as you can see,
the attitude is quite far.
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It's the North American
Air Defense Center
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inside Cheyenne Mountain.
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Any defense command center is
where we define our boundaries,
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within which our view operates
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and across which any threatening
movement will start a war.
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Here, those boundaries extend
far beyond national frontiers.
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They reach out into space.
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If how right your view is
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can be measured
by the territory you defend,
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then this global defense
makes this view
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about as right as you can get.
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But then, we would think that,
wouldn't we?
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So do all the others in their
war rooms or jungle huts.
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And for everybody,
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the amount of effort
you expend on defense
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enhances the value
of your way of life.
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That effort here is maximal.
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A single multimegaton
nuclear warhead
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would wipe this place out,
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and the Russians could put one
through the front door
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if they tried.
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Should it come
from an offshore submarine,
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its flight time will be 10 minutes,
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3 to identify it as incoming,
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7 to react,
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to get countermeasures off the ground
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to handle whatever else
follows the missile.
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All over the Western World,
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military forces train
for what they would have to do
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in those first 7 minutes.
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The numbers are massive,
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4 1/2 million troops,
25,000 battle tanks,
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over 11,000 aircraft,
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an unknown number
of nuclear warheads.
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The Soviet Union test launches
500 missiles a year.
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The next one could be real.
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Readiness is unquestioning,
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the entire system poised to go
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perhaps for the first and last time
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in reaction to the words
nobody wants to hear:
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unknown track.
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This is the command port.
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Prepare to copy and print
the traffic for missile warning.
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I'll check, sir.
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Air Defense, operation center
with an unknown track.
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Track number is Zulu 462.
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Time in all, 19-30-Zulu.
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Course, 1-3-0 degrees.
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Speed, 420 knots.
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Altitude, 28,000 feet.
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Identification, none.
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F-15s, scramble to time
of 19-30-Zulu.
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So why are we so attached
to being the way we are,
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so attached that all these people
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are prepared to die for it?
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Well, if you asked 9 out
of 10 people in the West,
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they'd probably use the word
"freedom", wouldn't they?
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Freedom of speech,
freedom of movement,
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freedom of self-expression,
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or maybe "life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness",
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that and the fact that we think
our version of things
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is the best version there is.
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Look back
as I'm going to in this series
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to the moments
when what we were changed
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because what we knew changed,
and you see how far we've come
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and also how each of those stages
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in the growth of our knowledge
also brought into existence
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a vital bit of what it is we are today.
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Look.
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In 11th-century arab Spain,
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these christian crusaders
made a discovery
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that led directly to the invention
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of the modern university degree.
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In 1420,
we found a new way of painting
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that helped to give us
in the modern world
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the ability to navigate our
ships to a precise landfall
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anywhere on Earth
or on another planet.
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Up to the 15th century,
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we memorized our knowledge
in song or poetry.
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Then we invented a way
to do without memory,
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and as a result,
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ushered in today's standardized
technological existence.
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300 years ago,
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we believed the sky was made
of crystal spheres.
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Then around 1600,
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these gunners destroyed
that glass universe
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and triggered the beginnings
of modern science.
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For centuries, we handcrafted
everything we needed.
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Then an 18th-century religious misfit
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invented the power
to move mountains
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and turned us all
into compulsive consumers.
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The french revolutionary wars
brought into existence
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an obsession with gambling
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that was to make every
20th-century western citizen
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a healthy, long-living number.
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In the 19th century
came discoveries about nature
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that generated our belief ever since
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in the inevitability of progress.
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And in 1844 came the invention
that would give us computers.
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So why did all that happen to us
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and not to the other cultures
on the planet?
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Why did we keep on changing?
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Well, because of the kind
of people we are.
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Let me try and show you
what I mean.
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Look.
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You don't know what that is, do you?
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But you want to, don't you?
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Okay, I'll show you.
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That enough?
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No?
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Okay, try this.
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There, it's a lock.
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See?
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That's the kind of thing we do.
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We try to take the universe
apart to see how it works.
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We can't leave anything alone
without knowing what it is.
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We are insatiably curious,
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and that's what we defend here
with all this military hardware,
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the right to be curious,
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to ask questions and get answers,
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to question authority
and to remove it from power
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if we don't like what it's telling us.
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And that's why we've changed
constantly throughout history
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to become what we are today,
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because we've never stopped
asking questions.
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And what have we got as a result?
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Answers, a mountain of them
gathered over the centuries,
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so much we've had to invent
systems just to handle it;
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so big, information processing
itself is now a science;
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so total, it's generated
the full entire complex
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of the modern western world,
a world based on information
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that we can defend
from a hole inside a mountain
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thanks to the knowledge
we've accumulated
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and that we want to go on
being free to accumulate.
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So why are we so uniquely
curious like that?
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Why did we first start
asking questions,
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and why did we start...
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there?
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If, as I said earlier,
we are what we know--
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and we know a lot--
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then we have Greece
to thank for it.
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The western view of things
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varies a certain amount
from one place to another,
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but basically it's
a dynamic view we all share,
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a highly individualistic
approach to things.
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And we all keep order
in the same way
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00:14:05,777 --> 00:14:07,444
with the same common beliefs
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and the understanding
that to hold it all together,
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00:14:09,480 --> 00:14:12,450
you have to compromise
between doing your own thing
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00:14:12,451 --> 00:14:15,853
and sticking to a minimal number
of rules everybody agrees on
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00:14:15,854 --> 00:14:18,389
if you're going to avoid chaos.
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00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:24,629
If you landed here
from another planet,
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came from another time,
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00:14:26,764 --> 00:14:28,832
all this agreement, all the symbols,
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00:14:28,833 --> 00:14:30,767
the way we all do what we do
as a group,
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00:14:30,768 --> 00:14:33,838
would be like a kind of message
that you could read
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00:14:33,839 --> 00:14:36,773
to find out what kind
of civilization we are now.
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Because like everything else,
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00:14:38,376 --> 00:14:42,412
this unspoken agreement is based
on what we all know,
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00:14:42,413 --> 00:14:44,448
and we're unique in the way
we learn that.
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00:14:44,449 --> 00:14:45,883
It's not genetic.
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You pick it up as you go along,
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00:14:47,585 --> 00:14:49,686
the order things
are supposed to be in,
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00:14:49,687 --> 00:14:51,355
the way things are done.
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00:14:51,356 --> 00:14:53,657
And when you get down
to the individual level,
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the rules of the game are there too,
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00:14:55,660 --> 00:14:57,360
much more subtle.
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00:14:57,361 --> 00:14:59,797
But in spite of the fact
that in one sense
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00:14:59,798 --> 00:15:01,665
this is all greek to me,
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00:15:01,666 --> 00:15:04,535
the agreements are so common
to all of us in the West
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00:15:04,536 --> 00:15:06,570
that wherever you're
watching this from now,
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00:15:06,571 --> 00:15:08,105
it'll make sense.
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00:15:08,106 --> 00:15:09,907
Even if you don't speak the language,
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00:15:09,908 --> 00:15:11,274
you know the code.
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00:15:11,275 --> 00:15:12,209
Look.
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00:15:58,890 --> 00:16:01,758
The way we are began
on the coast of Turkey
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00:16:01,759 --> 00:16:03,494
about 2,700 years ago
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00:16:03,495 --> 00:16:06,530
with a group of Greeks looking
for somewhere to settle
254
00:16:06,531 --> 00:16:08,932
after centuries of war and confusion
255
00:16:08,933 --> 00:16:11,869
had forced this particular lot
to jump in their boats
256
00:16:11,870 --> 00:16:15,439
and head east
for a bit of peace and quiet.
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00:16:20,345 --> 00:16:22,813
Just as well these Ionians
as they were called
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00:16:22,814 --> 00:16:25,382
were a hardy, adventurous,
pioneering lot,
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00:16:25,383 --> 00:16:28,252
because they all fetched up
in a part of the eastern Med
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00:16:28,253 --> 00:16:31,188
not exactly known for its
five-star accommodation.
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00:16:31,189 --> 00:16:33,657
You could see that this wasn't
going to be milk and honey,
262
00:16:33,658 --> 00:16:34,591
for instance.
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00:16:34,592 --> 00:16:36,560
Everywhere they looked,
it was the same story:
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00:16:36,561 --> 00:16:40,564
mountains inland, hemming in
a bit of scrubby coastal strip
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00:16:40,565 --> 00:16:44,301
good for olives, wine,
and getting out of.
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00:16:44,302 --> 00:16:45,269
But since they had just arrived,
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00:16:45,270 --> 00:16:47,604
the Ionians did the next best thing.
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00:16:47,605 --> 00:16:49,406
They went into shipping.
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00:16:49,407 --> 00:16:52,009
By 800 B.C., this intrepid lot
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00:16:52,010 --> 00:16:54,478
had gone north to the russian steppes,
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00:16:54,479 --> 00:16:57,347
south to the Sahara,
west to the Atlantic,
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00:16:57,348 --> 00:17:00,617
and their little ionian ships
were like floating bazaars--
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00:17:00,618 --> 00:17:04,588
wine, oil, corn, silk, salt, millstones.
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00:17:04,589 --> 00:17:07,691
You wanted it,
they'd find it for you somewhere.
275
00:17:07,692 --> 00:17:09,660
Now, the thing about people like that
276
00:17:09,661 --> 00:17:12,296
is that they've always been
after one thing above all else,
277
00:17:12,297 --> 00:17:13,530
haven't they?
278
00:17:13,531 --> 00:17:15,366
They're always looking
for a better deal.
279
00:17:15,367 --> 00:17:16,867
Same with the Ionians.
280
00:17:16,868 --> 00:17:19,236
That's why they left Greece
in the first place,
281
00:17:19,237 --> 00:17:22,273
and why, once ashore,
in this inhospitable dump,
282
00:17:22,274 --> 00:17:23,774
they started doing something
283
00:17:23,775 --> 00:17:25,509
nobody else had ever done before.
284
00:17:28,814 --> 00:17:29,946
They started looking around
285
00:17:29,947 --> 00:17:33,583
to see what they could make
of the place
286
00:17:33,584 --> 00:17:36,587
to make life a shade better
than dreadful.
287
00:17:36,588 --> 00:17:39,823
Now, I know it sounds strange
that I make such a big deal
288
00:17:39,824 --> 00:17:42,225
out of something that seems
perfectly common sense--
289
00:17:42,226 --> 00:17:44,327
taking a practical view of things--
290
00:17:44,328 --> 00:17:48,231
but you have to remember that
at the time, 3,000 years ago,
291
00:17:48,232 --> 00:17:52,036
the rest of the world
was heavily into myths, gods,
292
00:17:52,037 --> 00:17:54,104
mysteries, and other views of nature
293
00:17:54,105 --> 00:17:56,674
not designed to tell you
very much about the world around
294
00:17:56,675 --> 00:17:58,408
except that nature
was none of your business.
295
00:18:03,514 --> 00:18:06,583
So when one of these Ionians,
a guy called Thales,
296
00:18:06,584 --> 00:18:09,853
started asking practical
questions about his environment,
297
00:18:09,854 --> 00:18:12,222
he was really breaking all the rules.
298
00:18:12,223 --> 00:18:14,558
Thales looked at nature
with mechanisms in mind
299
00:18:14,559 --> 00:18:15,892
rather than magic,
300
00:18:15,893 --> 00:18:17,995
and he noticed how everything
came in opposites:
301
00:18:17,996 --> 00:18:21,932
hot, cold; wet, dry; up, down--
opposites,
302
00:18:21,933 --> 00:18:24,301
just like the two sides of a deal,
303
00:18:24,302 --> 00:18:28,838
a crafty businesslike Ionian
like Thales would have said.
304
00:18:28,839 --> 00:18:32,075
This business of opposite
in nature and argument
305
00:18:32,076 --> 00:18:35,112
was to go meaningfully well
with something else Thales did,
306
00:18:35,113 --> 00:18:39,984
which was to nip off to Egypt
and bring back their geometry.
307
00:18:39,985 --> 00:18:43,520
Now, in the laid-back opulence
of life up the Nile,
308
00:18:43,521 --> 00:18:44,754
where the local conditions
309
00:18:44,755 --> 00:18:47,057
produced the world's
most regular good times,
310
00:18:47,058 --> 00:18:50,193
they lived kind of feet up
and mind in neutral,
311
00:18:50,194 --> 00:18:51,361
so to speak.
312
00:18:51,362 --> 00:18:53,764
Problem solving was very much
not their thing.
313
00:18:53,765 --> 00:18:56,166
So geometry got used
for building pyramids
314
00:18:56,167 --> 00:18:59,469
and measuring land and nothing else.
315
00:18:59,470 --> 00:19:02,406
Thales, with practical needs in mind,
316
00:19:02,407 --> 00:19:04,408
tipped the pyramid on its side
317
00:19:04,409 --> 00:19:06,543
and used the triangle
so that two people--
318
00:19:06,544 --> 00:19:08,078
one here and here--
319
00:19:08,079 --> 00:19:11,114
could get a cross bearing
on a ship out at sea here
320
00:19:11,115 --> 00:19:14,151
and work out how far
from land it was.
321
00:19:14,152 --> 00:19:15,252
Good, eh?
322
00:19:15,253 --> 00:19:18,788
But he did something
much more clever.
323
00:19:18,789 --> 00:19:21,991
He took the circle, with its 360°,
324
00:19:21,992 --> 00:19:23,127
and halved it.
325
00:19:23,128 --> 00:19:26,330
So this line had to contain 180°,
326
00:19:26,331 --> 00:19:29,766
half the 360, right?
327
00:19:29,767 --> 00:19:31,601
Okay, try this.
328
00:19:31,602 --> 00:19:33,303
Here's a straight line.
329
00:19:33,304 --> 00:19:34,772
Here's another one.
330
00:19:34,773 --> 00:19:36,673
Now, these angles here and here
331
00:19:36,674 --> 00:19:38,475
must add up to 180, mustn't they?
332
00:19:38,476 --> 00:19:40,277
Let's call them "A" and "B".
333
00:19:40,278 --> 00:19:43,813
And these angles here and here
add up to 180 too.
334
00:19:43,814 --> 00:19:46,216
Call them "B" and "C".
335
00:19:46,217 --> 00:19:51,155
Now, if "A" and "B" make 180
and "B" and "C" make 180,
336
00:19:51,156 --> 00:19:54,058
then "A" and "C" must be the same.
337
00:19:54,059 --> 00:19:55,959
Opposite angles are equal.
338
00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:58,395
From a self-evident thing like a circle,
339
00:19:58,396 --> 00:20:01,665
Thales had gone to a
nonself-evident thing like this.
340
00:20:01,666 --> 00:20:03,267
That's the basis of geometry:
341
00:20:03,268 --> 00:20:06,937
going from something you know
to discover something you don't.
342
00:20:06,938 --> 00:20:09,607
And all this was to turn out
to go very well
343
00:20:09,608 --> 00:20:11,408
with that business
of reconciling opposites
344
00:20:11,409 --> 00:20:12,409
I was on about,
345
00:20:12,410 --> 00:20:15,078
because by about 500 B.C.,
346
00:20:15,079 --> 00:20:18,314
that's how they were running
their cities.
347
00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:23,387
In the town squares,
348
00:20:23,388 --> 00:20:25,755
they'd settle things by
the first ever public debates--
349
00:20:25,756 --> 00:20:28,658
well, shouting matches--
called politics.
350
00:20:28,659 --> 00:20:31,561
And that kind of
arguing opposite points of view
351
00:20:31,562 --> 00:20:33,930
plus their new geometry went together
352
00:20:33,931 --> 00:20:37,601
to produce an entirely original
kind of structure for thinking
353
00:20:37,602 --> 00:20:40,470
with which you could tackle
any subject.
354
00:20:40,471 --> 00:20:43,940
So being an adventurous lot, they did.
355
00:20:43,941 --> 00:20:48,144
The Greeks were into questions
like, "What's it all made of?
356
00:20:48,145 --> 00:20:49,646
"Where did it all come from?
357
00:20:49,647 --> 00:20:52,816
and what's this constant change
in nature all about?"
358
00:20:52,817 --> 00:20:54,485
And the technique they'd developed
359
00:20:54,486 --> 00:20:57,754
for reconciling opposites
to reach political solutions
360
00:20:57,755 --> 00:21:00,557
was also a kind of way
of thinking things through
361
00:21:00,558 --> 00:21:02,993
in general to reach new ideas,
362
00:21:02,994 --> 00:21:07,831
and so, in a physical sense,
was the geometry, remember?
363
00:21:19,577 --> 00:21:24,080
Whatever happened in nature,
lines and angles never changed.
364
00:21:24,081 --> 00:21:25,515
And that's where we began.
365
00:21:25,516 --> 00:21:29,353
I mean the rational way
we in the west look at things.
366
00:21:29,354 --> 00:21:31,655
The rationalism that is
the bringing together
367
00:21:31,656 --> 00:21:35,692
of logic and geometry, that's our way,
368
00:21:35,693 --> 00:21:37,761
driven since the questioning Greeks
369
00:21:37,762 --> 00:21:39,963
to look for the order in nature,
370
00:21:39,964 --> 00:21:43,067
without which there would be chaos.
371
00:22:13,531 --> 00:22:17,400
Today the rationalist greek way
has brought us to the stage
374
00:22:17,401 --> 00:22:19,703
where our search for order,
our questioning,
375
00:22:19,704 --> 00:22:23,373
reaches out even across the
depths of intergalactic space.
376
00:22:29,113 --> 00:22:31,014
The answers we get
from this antenna
377
00:22:31,015 --> 00:22:33,884
come from millions of light-years away,
378
00:22:33,885 --> 00:22:35,618
and if you look around here
379
00:22:35,619 --> 00:22:37,220
or wherever you are now,
380
00:22:37,221 --> 00:22:40,157
you see how the modern world
is made up of answers,
381
00:22:40,158 --> 00:22:43,126
answers to questions in the past
that were so good,
382
00:22:43,127 --> 00:22:45,062
we hung on to them.
383
00:22:54,906 --> 00:22:58,542
They are all around us,
influencing the way we are.
384
00:23:00,845 --> 00:23:02,646
This is an 18th-century answer.
385
00:23:02,647 --> 00:23:05,682
I mean being able to build
a gigantic metal structure
386
00:23:05,683 --> 00:23:07,384
like this radio telescope.
387
00:23:07,385 --> 00:23:10,587
Because the answer to a question
being asked in the 18th century
388
00:23:10,588 --> 00:23:13,990
showed how to generate the power
to make things like that.
389
00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:17,994
And when you can cut metal
on an industrial scale,
390
00:23:17,995 --> 00:23:20,230
you can make machines
on an industrial scale
391
00:23:20,231 --> 00:23:23,000
and manufacture on an industrial scale
392
00:23:23,001 --> 00:23:25,002
to solve the problems
of a rising population.
393
00:23:31,375 --> 00:23:35,078
Steam power was the answer
to that 18th century problem.
394
00:23:35,079 --> 00:23:37,314
They produced enough
to feed themselves all right
395
00:23:37,315 --> 00:23:41,117
and, in doing so, started things
we still live with:
396
00:23:41,118 --> 00:23:44,621
regular work for regular wages,
factories and unions,
397
00:23:44,622 --> 00:23:47,224
the expectation of a steadily
rising standard of living,
398
00:23:47,225 --> 00:23:48,958
and the problem of unemployment.
399
00:24:00,504 --> 00:24:04,507
The telescope here maps the sky.
400
00:24:04,508 --> 00:24:08,211
You feed in the coordinates,
and it gives you that.
401
00:24:08,212 --> 00:24:11,581
It's a radio map of a galaxy
402
00:24:11,582 --> 00:24:16,320
2 million light-years
straight out that way.
403
00:24:16,321 --> 00:24:18,588
This is a map of our galaxy.
404
00:24:18,589 --> 00:24:21,024
There's Andromeda.
405
00:24:21,025 --> 00:24:23,927
There's the galactic center.
406
00:24:23,928 --> 00:24:25,829
That use of coordinates
407
00:24:25,830 --> 00:24:29,132
to map the sky or
where you live or anywhere
408
00:24:29,133 --> 00:24:32,736
is another answer we found
and kept in the 15th century.
409
00:24:40,444 --> 00:24:41,979
Back then, the question was,
410
00:24:41,980 --> 00:24:44,547
how does the newly affluent
florentine merchant
411
00:24:44,548 --> 00:24:47,451
get a bit of class into his life?
412
00:24:47,452 --> 00:24:48,585
The answer was to go to Greece
413
00:24:48,586 --> 00:24:50,487
and pick up some classical culture,
414
00:24:50,488 --> 00:24:51,954
which they did,
415
00:24:51,955 --> 00:24:55,358
together with an entirely
new way of measuring things,
416
00:24:55,359 --> 00:24:57,661
things like the world,
417
00:24:57,662 --> 00:24:59,629
with a system that used gridlines,
418
00:24:59,630 --> 00:25:02,199
the kind of technique we use
today for town planning
419
00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:04,400
or placing an intercontinental
ballistic missile
420
00:25:04,401 --> 00:25:06,569
within 10 feet of its target.
421
00:25:09,507 --> 00:25:13,910
But we live with more than just
physical answers from the past.
422
00:25:13,911 --> 00:25:18,582
When any good attitude or
concept or system worked well,
423
00:25:18,583 --> 00:25:19,882
we hung on to it.
424
00:25:19,883 --> 00:25:22,552
We preserve
representative democracy
425
00:25:22,553 --> 00:25:25,322
intended for a time when only
a few could get to the capital
426
00:25:25,323 --> 00:25:26,956
to speak for the many.
427
00:25:26,957 --> 00:25:29,859
Modern finance was designed
in the 17th century.
428
00:25:29,860 --> 00:25:31,928
Literacy as a test of intelligence
429
00:25:31,929 --> 00:25:33,930
came in the 15th century.
430
00:25:33,931 --> 00:25:37,401
The idea of progress is 19th century.
431
00:25:37,402 --> 00:25:38,569
And yet all those things
432
00:25:38,570 --> 00:25:41,004
are part of our mental furniture today,
433
00:25:41,005 --> 00:25:43,273
because when the answer
to a question,
434
00:25:43,274 --> 00:25:45,842
a solution to a problem, suits us,
435
00:25:45,843 --> 00:25:47,643
we kind of institutionalize it
436
00:25:47,644 --> 00:25:50,446
so that it won't change
even when we do.
437
00:25:50,447 --> 00:25:52,248
The business of questioning itself
438
00:25:52,249 --> 00:25:54,651
has been institutionalized like that
439
00:25:54,652 --> 00:25:58,555
in the kind of place Jodrell
Bank Telescope belongs to:
440
00:25:58,556 --> 00:26:01,624
a university.
441
00:26:17,541 --> 00:26:19,542
If we are what we know,
443
00:26:19,543 --> 00:26:21,411
then this is where we pass on
what we are
444
00:26:21,412 --> 00:26:22,713
to the next generation.
445
00:26:31,255 --> 00:26:32,688
And in the interest of safety,
446
00:26:32,689 --> 00:26:34,958
to keep the boat
from being rocked too much,
447
00:26:34,959 --> 00:26:36,793
we teach the young to ask questions
448
00:26:36,794 --> 00:26:39,062
that have, in the main,
already been answered.
449
00:26:39,063 --> 00:26:41,765
"Tristram Shandy asks us
to help write the novel,
450
00:26:41,766 --> 00:26:44,667
but in so doing, we write ourselves."
451
00:26:44,668 --> 00:26:46,036
Good, I like that,
452
00:26:46,037 --> 00:26:51,140
particularly, I think,
what you said about time.
453
00:26:51,141 --> 00:26:53,143
And to make sure
we've passed on the view
454
00:26:53,144 --> 00:26:56,613
of how things are unmistakably,
we test.
455
00:26:56,614 --> 00:26:58,682
After all, that's the only way
you can be sure
456
00:26:58,683 --> 00:27:01,718
they know
what they're supposed to know.
457
00:27:01,719 --> 00:27:04,854
And the system's worked well
for hundreds of years.
458
00:27:04,855 --> 00:27:08,091
You can see how much we value
this answer from the past
459
00:27:08,092 --> 00:27:11,261
in the way all education
is conservative, cautious.
460
00:27:11,262 --> 00:27:14,064
It's as if we wanted
to reassure ourselves
461
00:27:14,065 --> 00:27:15,064
that in the risky business
462
00:27:15,065 --> 00:27:17,234
of asking questions about knowledge,
463
00:27:17,235 --> 00:27:20,470
we were confidently operating
with tried and tested ideas
464
00:27:20,471 --> 00:27:21,738
that hadn't failed us
465
00:27:21,739 --> 00:27:26,409
since when people dressed
and talked like this.
466
00:27:26,410 --> 00:27:34,151
In nomine Domini, Patris,
Filli, et Spiritus Sancti.
467
00:27:53,270 --> 00:27:54,604
The oldest answers
469
00:27:54,605 --> 00:27:56,872
to the most basic questions
about how to operate
470
00:27:56,873 --> 00:27:59,876
are common to virtually
every culture on the planet,
471
00:27:59,877 --> 00:28:01,378
because at the simplest level,
472
00:28:01,379 --> 00:28:03,814
every culture needs to keep order,
473
00:28:03,815 --> 00:28:06,583
especially this kind.
474
00:28:25,703 --> 00:28:27,971
This is one of the things
in life we protect most
477
00:28:27,972 --> 00:28:30,907
against being changed
when knowledge changes us.
478
00:28:30,908 --> 00:28:33,810
We protect it by turning it into a ritual.
479
00:28:43,587 --> 00:28:45,555
When you get married or buried,
481
00:28:45,556 --> 00:28:49,126
get christened or anything else
too important to play by ear,
482
00:28:49,127 --> 00:28:51,428
the event is turned into a kind of play
483
00:28:51,429 --> 00:28:54,231
where everybody gets a role
they act out.
484
00:28:54,232 --> 00:28:55,565
It's a kind of public agreement
485
00:28:55,566 --> 00:28:58,568
to stick to the general rules
about whatever it is.
486
00:28:58,569 --> 00:29:02,272
The people doing it
are effectively saying,
487
00:29:02,273 --> 00:29:04,974
"no matter what else may change,
we won't rock the boat.
488
00:29:04,975 --> 00:29:06,443
"We're not maverick.
489
00:29:06,444 --> 00:29:08,345
you can trust us."
490
00:29:08,346 --> 00:29:10,547
Expressions of approval follow.
491
00:29:29,300 --> 00:29:32,435
Most of these ritual ways
of answering a social need
494
00:29:32,436 --> 00:29:35,238
that we got from the past look like it.
495
00:29:35,239 --> 00:29:37,407
They include some thing
from an ancient rite,
496
00:29:37,408 --> 00:29:40,176
in this case, the old symbol of fertility,
497
00:29:40,177 --> 00:29:41,178
the ring.
498
00:29:41,179 --> 00:29:42,412
And then it's all done
499
00:29:42,413 --> 00:29:45,649
in the presence
of a supernatural being, a god.
500
00:29:45,650 --> 00:29:47,583
So the agreement is also made
501
00:29:47,584 --> 00:29:50,353
under what was once a real
threat of heavenly retribution
502
00:29:50,354 --> 00:29:52,688
if you broke your promise later on.
503
00:29:52,689 --> 00:29:56,726
Some things, this ritual says,
must be permanent.
504
00:30:13,377 --> 00:30:16,246
Rituals, if you like,
permit change to happen,
507
00:30:16,247 --> 00:30:19,248
like the change in the status
of the two people involved here.
508
00:30:19,249 --> 00:30:21,951
But it's change strictly by the book,
509
00:30:21,952 --> 00:30:26,189
ceremonial, formal, nerve-racking.
510
00:30:28,125 --> 00:30:30,293
"Phew", is usually the feeling
at this point.
511
00:30:30,294 --> 00:30:31,961
Well, a ritual wouldn't be
much of a ritual
512
00:30:31,962 --> 00:30:34,030
if you didn't feel you'd been
put through the wringer,
513
00:30:34,031 --> 00:30:35,131
would it?
514
00:30:35,132 --> 00:30:37,233
So now it's official in every sense.
515
00:30:37,234 --> 00:30:40,102
The new order of things--
two are now one--
516
00:30:40,103 --> 00:30:41,538
gets public recognition,
517
00:30:41,539 --> 00:30:44,608
and for just a few minutes,
limited disorder is permitted.
518
00:30:48,813 --> 00:30:51,114
Mind you, most of the rituals in life
519
00:30:51,115 --> 00:30:52,581
don't involve a booze up.
520
00:30:52,582 --> 00:30:53,983
In most cases,
521
00:30:53,984 --> 00:30:56,753
if something becomes common
enough to turn into a ritual
522
00:30:56,754 --> 00:31:00,189
and then starts to involve
really large numbers of people,
523
00:31:00,190 --> 00:31:02,425
that's when the ritual becomes
something else.
524
00:31:11,168 --> 00:31:12,368
It becomes widespread enough
525
00:31:12,369 --> 00:31:15,271
to affect that general agreement
we all share.
526
00:31:15,272 --> 00:31:18,008
So that's when the
responsibility for running it
527
00:31:18,009 --> 00:31:21,911
goes out of your hands
528
00:31:21,912 --> 00:31:24,714
to be taken over
by the institutions set up
529
00:31:24,715 --> 00:31:28,284
to run the rituals that matter
on a regular basis
530
00:31:28,285 --> 00:31:32,088
so that people can have clear
rules and regulations to follow
531
00:31:32,089 --> 00:31:35,090
if they decide to get up
to that particular ritual.
532
00:31:35,091 --> 00:31:38,795
The institutions take the admin
out of daily life
533
00:31:38,796 --> 00:31:40,463
and run it for you:
534
00:31:40,464 --> 00:31:44,467
banking, government, sewage,
tax collecting.
535
00:31:44,468 --> 00:31:47,637
Or if you break the rules
and regulations,
536
00:31:47,638 --> 00:31:51,140
one institution can take you
out of daily life:
537
00:31:51,141 --> 00:31:52,775
this one.
538
00:32:07,291 --> 00:32:09,492
In every community, the law,
539
00:32:09,493 --> 00:32:11,127
whether it's dressed up like this
540
00:32:11,128 --> 00:32:14,497
or the village elders telling
you what the local custom is,
541
00:32:14,498 --> 00:32:18,567
the law is all those rules
I was on about earlier.
542
00:32:28,645 --> 00:32:31,213
This may be double dutch to you,
but you get the point.
545
00:32:35,819 --> 00:32:39,055
I suppose what institutions
like this do most of all
547
00:32:39,056 --> 00:32:40,657
is the dirty work.
548
00:32:40,658 --> 00:32:42,958
While they're putting 'em away
here in the law court,
549
00:32:42,959 --> 00:32:45,128
for instance, that leaves us free
550
00:32:45,129 --> 00:32:48,030
to get on with making money,
having a career,
551
00:32:48,031 --> 00:32:50,266
and avoiding
the social responsibility stuff
552
00:32:50,267 --> 00:32:52,369
these people have to deal with.
553
00:32:52,370 --> 00:32:55,238
And after a few centuries
of this buck passing,
554
00:32:55,239 --> 00:32:57,740
the institutions get big and powerful
555
00:32:57,741 --> 00:33:00,176
and reach into
everybody's life so much,
556
00:33:00,177 --> 00:33:02,045
they become hard to alter
557
00:33:02,046 --> 00:33:05,014
and virtually impossible to get rid of.
558
00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:25,401
The name of the game here
560
00:33:25,402 --> 00:33:28,371
and in all the institutions
that run your life
561
00:33:28,372 --> 00:33:30,206
is keeping order,
562
00:33:30,207 --> 00:33:33,376
because if the institutions
didn't do that,
563
00:33:33,377 --> 00:33:35,211
it would be the end of
civilization as we know it,
564
00:33:35,212 --> 00:33:36,812
wouldn't it?
565
00:33:36,813 --> 00:33:40,716
So the institutions
are usually old-fashioned,
566
00:33:40,717 --> 00:33:42,918
don't like change.
567
00:33:42,919 --> 00:33:46,021
Well, we all like to know
where we stand, don't we?
568
00:33:46,022 --> 00:33:47,457
I mean, you wouldn't want this place
569
00:33:47,458 --> 00:33:50,125
to make up the rules
as it went along, would you?
570
00:34:17,788 --> 00:34:20,990
The extreme way to protect
yourself against change
573
00:34:20,991 --> 00:34:24,260
and keep total order
in the face of awkward questions
574
00:34:24,261 --> 00:34:26,396
is to do it the way they do it
in eastern communities,
575
00:34:26,397 --> 00:34:29,699
where, say, buddhism is a way of life.
576
00:34:29,700 --> 00:34:32,168
In that case, you're not
bothered by questions
577
00:34:32,169 --> 00:34:33,769
because you're not looking
for answers.
578
00:34:33,770 --> 00:34:37,306
Basically, all the answers
a buddhist needs
579
00:34:37,307 --> 00:34:39,274
were found over 2,000 years ago.
580
00:34:39,275 --> 00:34:42,044
Their explanation
of the universe is set
581
00:34:42,045 --> 00:34:44,747
in theological concrete,
and in any case,
582
00:34:44,748 --> 00:34:47,150
it's a universe that doesn't change,
583
00:34:47,151 --> 00:34:49,619
so there's no need
to go looking for change in it.
584
00:35:14,711 --> 00:35:17,179
The reason this culture
is not like ours
585
00:35:17,180 --> 00:35:21,384
is because, like us,
they are what they know.
586
00:35:21,385 --> 00:35:25,287
But since what they know
doesn't change, they don't.
587
00:35:25,288 --> 00:35:27,656
The symbols and monuments
that surround them
588
00:35:27,657 --> 00:35:29,658
are a part of their daily living.
589
00:35:30,894 --> 00:35:32,595
To our way of looking at it,
590
00:35:32,596 --> 00:35:35,598
they don't live with bits
of the past affecting them;
591
00:35:35,599 --> 00:35:37,800
they live in the past.
592
00:35:49,246 --> 00:35:50,546
The nepalese way of life
593
00:35:50,547 --> 00:35:53,782
reflects their lack of interest in novelty.
594
00:35:53,783 --> 00:35:56,486
They don't change
not because they're backward
595
00:35:56,487 --> 00:35:58,521
but because they don't want to.
596
00:35:58,522 --> 00:36:00,656
We, on the other hand, do.
597
00:36:00,657 --> 00:36:02,858
And that gives us a problem.
598
00:36:11,368 --> 00:36:15,738
In spite of the way institutions
can act like a safety barrier
599
00:36:15,739 --> 00:36:17,573
against the effects of change,
600
00:36:17,574 --> 00:36:19,875
because of the way
we've made asking questions
601
00:36:19,876 --> 00:36:21,243
one of our institutions,
602
00:36:21,244 --> 00:36:25,648
we do something that
doesn't appear to make sense.
603
00:36:25,649 --> 00:36:28,051
Where other societies do things,
604
00:36:28,052 --> 00:36:31,621
organize themselves
to keep things the way they are,
605
00:36:31,622 --> 00:36:35,658
we, because of our rationalist
beginnings back in Greece,
606
00:36:35,659 --> 00:36:39,762
create places like this
to do exactly the opposite,
607
00:36:39,763 --> 00:36:42,165
to make waves, to rock the boat,
608
00:36:42,166 --> 00:36:46,602
to ask questions knowing that
the answers will change things.
609
00:36:46,603 --> 00:36:49,004
It's a scientific research lab.
610
00:36:49,005 --> 00:36:50,239
Through this inverter,
611
00:36:50,240 --> 00:36:52,942
which has to drive the signal up
612
00:36:52,943 --> 00:36:55,978
through about 5,000 microns of metal
613
00:36:55,979 --> 00:36:58,881
and about 2,000 of poly.
614
00:36:58,882 --> 00:37:00,816
Right here we had to get a cal-com.
615
00:37:00,817 --> 00:37:02,485
Difference between
the modus simulation
616
00:37:02,486 --> 00:37:03,486
and the advice.
617
00:37:03,487 --> 00:37:04,920
Modus isn't quite as accurate.
618
00:37:04,921 --> 00:37:06,989
It will not latch this data in time.
619
00:37:06,990 --> 00:37:08,491
In places like this,
620
00:37:08,492 --> 00:37:11,427
we've institutionalized
the business of change itself.
621
00:37:20,203 --> 00:37:21,738
And as for the other institutions,
622
00:37:21,739 --> 00:37:23,605
this kind has taken root
623
00:37:23,606 --> 00:37:26,642
ever since science first started
affecting our daily lives.
624
00:37:28,879 --> 00:37:31,447
Today the mysterious world
of the research lab
625
00:37:31,448 --> 00:37:34,016
comes up with
so many answers so fast
626
00:37:34,017 --> 00:37:37,619
that only a few insiders know
what the question was.
627
00:37:39,657 --> 00:37:42,558
If, as I said earlier,
we are what we know,
628
00:37:42,559 --> 00:37:44,660
then this particular kind of institution
629
00:37:44,661 --> 00:37:47,996
spends its working hours
finding ways to make things
630
00:37:47,997 --> 00:37:50,266
that will sooner or later
change what we are,
631
00:37:50,267 --> 00:37:52,534
our view.
632
00:37:58,241 --> 00:38:02,010
Once, it took decades,
even centuries for us to change.
633
00:38:02,011 --> 00:38:04,913
Now it could happen
with every new discovery.
634
00:38:08,585 --> 00:38:12,154
But these places aren't just
here to design fancy new gizmos.
635
00:38:12,155 --> 00:38:15,091
These semi-independent
scientific communities
636
00:38:15,092 --> 00:38:16,725
spend as much of their effort involved
637
00:38:16,726 --> 00:38:19,329
in the kind of abstract
theoretical thinking
638
00:38:19,330 --> 00:38:21,364
that may never have an application.
639
00:38:21,365 --> 00:38:23,532
But you never know.
640
00:38:25,669 --> 00:38:29,772
What they produce is ultimately
approved by us or not
641
00:38:29,773 --> 00:38:31,674
when it gets onto the market.
642
00:38:31,675 --> 00:38:33,476
If what they make doesn't sell,
643
00:38:33,477 --> 00:38:35,578
then the kind of change
it would have brought
644
00:38:35,579 --> 00:38:37,647
wasn't the kind of change we wanted.
645
00:38:37,648 --> 00:38:40,483
The problem is, we often
don't know what they produce
646
00:38:40,484 --> 00:38:42,685
because it's not the kind
of thing you'd know about
647
00:38:42,686 --> 00:38:45,254
unless you read scientific magazines.
648
00:38:49,192 --> 00:38:50,325
As often as not,
649
00:38:50,326 --> 00:38:52,061
the product changes
the way we do things
650
00:38:52,062 --> 00:38:55,297
rather than the things themselves.
651
00:38:55,298 --> 00:38:58,300
They modify the world around us.
652
00:38:58,301 --> 00:38:59,969
Like you still go on using lifts;
653
00:38:59,970 --> 00:39:01,436
they just work differently.
654
00:39:01,437 --> 00:39:02,872
The buildings still go up;
655
00:39:02,873 --> 00:39:04,006
they're just built
656
00:39:04,007 --> 00:39:07,542
with different construction techniques.
657
00:39:09,780 --> 00:39:11,280
The phone looks just the same,
658
00:39:11,281 --> 00:39:14,384
only it does more things
for you than it did before.
659
00:39:15,452 --> 00:39:17,019
Thanks to research labs like this,
660
00:39:17,020 --> 00:39:20,889
that kind of change happens
every day, everywhere.
661
00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:32,101
Time to wake up.
665
00:39:48,485 --> 00:39:51,020
The point about all this
technological pizzazz
668
00:39:51,021 --> 00:39:52,955
isn't the gee-whiz high-tech stuff.
669
00:39:52,956 --> 00:39:55,591
It's the secondary effects of using it.
670
00:39:55,592 --> 00:39:57,727
Take, say, what this chip could do
671
00:39:57,728 --> 00:39:59,762
to change the pattern of work.
672
00:39:59,763 --> 00:40:02,064
With this,
you could have telecommuting.
673
00:40:02,065 --> 00:40:03,933
That's where you work at home
from a screen,
674
00:40:03,934 --> 00:40:05,768
and you never go into the office.
675
00:40:05,769 --> 00:40:08,337
Great, no more rush hour.
676
00:40:08,338 --> 00:40:10,907
But what does that do to the
public transportation system
677
00:40:10,908 --> 00:40:12,775
and the taxes it uses
678
00:40:12,776 --> 00:40:15,677
or to the car manufacturers
and their workers' jobs
679
00:40:15,678 --> 00:40:18,347
and the rest of the economy
that depends on their output
680
00:40:18,348 --> 00:40:20,616
or to the concept of the city itself
681
00:40:20,617 --> 00:40:23,418
with its support systems
and businesses
682
00:40:23,419 --> 00:40:24,987
or to the downtown property values
683
00:40:24,988 --> 00:40:27,622
where maybe your
pension fund's invested
684
00:40:27,623 --> 00:40:29,792
not to speak of working at home
day in, day out
685
00:40:29,793 --> 00:40:32,128
and what that might do
to a marriage?
686
00:40:32,129 --> 00:40:36,031
And what do you get out of work
when it's only you?
687
00:40:36,032 --> 00:40:38,400
What would be the effect of isolating
688
00:40:38,401 --> 00:40:40,603
and fragmenting
the community like that
689
00:40:40,604 --> 00:40:44,941
from just one application
of this microchip?
690
00:40:47,310 --> 00:40:50,679
And every innovation
modifies life like that,
691
00:40:50,680 --> 00:40:53,482
and our culture's been doing it
for 1,000 years.
692
00:40:53,483 --> 00:40:56,585
That's the way we are, and it shows.
693
00:40:56,586 --> 00:41:00,223
Look at any western city,
and you'll see a culture
694
00:41:00,224 --> 00:41:03,359
trying to come to terms
with constant change.
695
00:41:09,099 --> 00:41:12,034
Look at the detail of your hometown
697
00:41:12,035 --> 00:41:13,269
or this place,
698
00:41:13,270 --> 00:41:16,205
and you see the way
people saw things in the past
699
00:41:16,206 --> 00:41:19,608
and how different
their views were to ours.
700
00:41:19,609 --> 00:41:21,577
You can still see those attitudes
701
00:41:21,578 --> 00:41:23,679
because of what
they left behind them.
702
00:41:25,615 --> 00:41:27,750
Some of those past views
lasted long enough
704
00:41:27,751 --> 00:41:29,484
and were so certain of themselves
705
00:41:29,485 --> 00:41:31,687
that they left behind
really major bits of evidence
706
00:41:31,688 --> 00:41:33,188
of what they thought was important.
707
00:41:37,995 --> 00:41:39,561
Look at this for instance.
709
00:41:39,562 --> 00:41:44,233
19th-century San Francisco
built churches
710
00:41:44,234 --> 00:41:46,168
and believed in heroes.
711
00:41:46,169 --> 00:41:49,638
How many statues do we build
to honor great men today?
712
00:41:49,639 --> 00:41:51,541
And look at the public buildings
of the period,
713
00:41:51,542 --> 00:41:53,809
almost imperial.
714
00:41:53,810 --> 00:41:56,278
And they obviously didn't think
things were going to change much
715
00:41:56,279 --> 00:41:58,380
or they wouldn't have built like this,
716
00:41:58,381 --> 00:42:00,249
for a view that obviously thought
717
00:42:00,250 --> 00:42:03,285
it would last as long
as the Greeks did.
718
00:42:03,286 --> 00:42:05,854
Today power lies with the quick fix,
719
00:42:05,855 --> 00:42:08,391
with the marketplace, and big business.
720
00:42:08,392 --> 00:42:10,926
And where once
a home was a house,
721
00:42:10,927 --> 00:42:13,663
today it's a box in a skyscraper.
722
00:42:13,664 --> 00:42:17,232
We've gone from this way
of looking at things to this
723
00:42:17,233 --> 00:42:19,201
in a generation.
724
00:42:58,608 --> 00:43:00,810
Now people work at night
727
00:43:00,811 --> 00:43:05,013
because somewhere else
on the planet, it's not night.
728
00:43:05,014 --> 00:43:06,482
Train 238, Central.
729
00:43:06,483 --> 00:43:07,483
That's a 10-4.
730
00:43:07,484 --> 00:43:08,584
Your route is coming up.
731
00:43:08,585 --> 00:43:11,087
I'm receiving the-- the train now.
732
00:43:11,088 --> 00:43:13,022
Richmond train currently at Coliseum.
733
00:43:13,023 --> 00:43:14,924
The public transit system exists
734
00:43:14,925 --> 00:43:17,660
to deliver millions of people
to their work every day
735
00:43:17,661 --> 00:43:20,128
like an extension
of the production line process
736
00:43:20,129 --> 00:43:21,964
that runs the modern world
737
00:43:21,965 --> 00:43:23,531
and that everybody has to fit into
738
00:43:23,532 --> 00:43:26,167
and that changed the meaning
of work 200 years ago
739
00:43:26,168 --> 00:43:27,903
when it first happened.
740
00:43:27,904 --> 00:43:30,806
Life, now, is working
to buy this year's model
741
00:43:30,807 --> 00:43:33,809
because last year's is last year's.
742
00:43:33,810 --> 00:43:37,313
KFRC
743
00:43:37,314 --> 00:43:38,714
Good morning and welcome
744
00:43:38,715 --> 00:43:40,516
to the absolute ultimate
radio program.
745
00:43:40,517 --> 00:43:43,652
And everywhere, freeways,
expressways, throughways,
746
00:43:43,653 --> 00:43:46,889
all to make it easier for
everybody to go places faster
747
00:43:46,890 --> 00:43:51,394
and in greater comfort than they
were able to only yesterday.
748
00:43:51,395 --> 00:43:53,329
KFRC
749
00:43:53,330 --> 00:43:55,931
We live caught between
more and more change
750
00:43:55,932 --> 00:43:59,168
and less and less time to adapt to it.
751
00:43:59,169 --> 00:44:02,004
We believe in the right of
the individual to do his thing.
752
00:44:02,005 --> 00:44:03,238
But at the same time,
753
00:44:03,239 --> 00:44:07,376
we change what that thing is
all the time.
754
00:44:11,214 --> 00:44:14,517
So this is what questioning
has brought us.
756
00:44:14,518 --> 00:44:16,084
If we are what we know,
757
00:44:16,085 --> 00:44:18,153
then what we are
in the modern West
758
00:44:18,154 --> 00:44:20,856
is unsure about how long it will be
759
00:44:20,857 --> 00:44:24,426
before what we know is out of date.
760
00:44:32,302 --> 00:44:34,803
You can see
how a culture reveals itself
761
00:44:34,804 --> 00:44:36,372
by what it does.
762
00:44:36,373 --> 00:44:39,775
All that evidence about ours
down there,
763
00:44:39,776 --> 00:44:41,677
you can read it like a book.
764
00:44:41,678 --> 00:44:43,345
And in our case,
the message you get
765
00:44:43,346 --> 00:44:47,249
is that the only constant
in life is change,
766
00:44:47,250 --> 00:44:49,685
not just in the physical shape
of the world around,
767
00:44:49,686 --> 00:44:54,423
in standards, attitudes, ethics,
values, morals,
768
00:44:54,424 --> 00:44:56,191
all shifting.
769
00:44:56,192 --> 00:44:57,759
The inevitable end product
770
00:44:57,760 --> 00:45:01,463
of that greek rationalism
I talked about earlier
771
00:45:01,464 --> 00:45:02,798
is all around you.
772
00:45:02,799 --> 00:45:04,933
It's our world of here today
and gone tomorrow.
773
00:45:14,143 --> 00:45:15,578
I said at the beginning
774
00:45:15,579 --> 00:45:19,248
all cultures think their view
is worth defending to the death.
775
00:45:19,249 --> 00:45:23,252
But we more than most are split
between yesterday and tomorrow,
776
00:45:23,253 --> 00:45:26,856
defending a way of life that is,
by definition,
777
00:45:26,857 --> 00:45:28,590
a question mark.
778
00:46:04,560 --> 00:46:07,629
So here we are,
committed by our greek origins
782
00:46:07,630 --> 00:46:10,766
to a life of asking questions
that provide answers
783
00:46:10,767 --> 00:46:13,202
that turn out to create more questions
784
00:46:13,203 --> 00:46:15,370
and no end in sight.
785
00:46:15,371 --> 00:46:18,440
And as our amazing abilities
grow more amazing,
786
00:46:18,441 --> 00:46:19,975
the more questions we ask,
787
00:46:19,976 --> 00:46:21,276
we're reaching the stage
788
00:46:21,277 --> 00:46:23,512
where it's not a matter
of what novelty of change
789
00:46:23,513 --> 00:46:25,214
the future will bring next
790
00:46:25,215 --> 00:46:29,451
but what kind of future we care
to invent, make happen.
791
00:46:29,452 --> 00:46:32,321
We can make deserts bloom
or make deserts,
792
00:46:32,322 --> 00:46:35,624
move mountains, maybe create life,
793
00:46:35,625 --> 00:46:38,994
all because
we can't leave things alone.
794
00:46:47,537 --> 00:46:50,005
But why do we go on
asking questions?
795
00:46:50,006 --> 00:46:53,008
If the only point has ever been
to find the right answer,
796
00:46:53,009 --> 00:46:54,910
to explain all this lot,
797
00:46:54,911 --> 00:46:57,179
what was wrong with the one
the Greeks found?
798
00:46:57,180 --> 00:47:00,015
Why didn't we stick
with their view of the universe
799
00:47:00,016 --> 00:47:01,116
or any of the other views
800
00:47:01,117 --> 00:47:02,651
that have come along
since the Greeks?
801
00:47:02,652 --> 00:47:05,221
Why didn't we stick with one of them?
802
00:47:05,222 --> 00:47:07,355
Well, in a sense, we did.
803
00:47:07,356 --> 00:47:11,894
Part of the way we view things now
does come from the past.
804
00:47:11,895 --> 00:47:14,763
Many of the institutions
and attitudes we have
805
00:47:14,764 --> 00:47:16,231
originated in the past,
806
00:47:16,232 --> 00:47:19,134
born of different answers
to different questions
807
00:47:19,135 --> 00:47:22,070
in different times
with different problems.
808
00:47:22,071 --> 00:47:25,007
But they continue to exist,
still operate,
809
00:47:25,008 --> 00:47:27,042
modified but basically the same,
810
00:47:27,043 --> 00:47:31,346
still affecting us like living fossils.
811
00:47:31,347 --> 00:47:33,916
Even in a world
of constant change like ours,
812
00:47:33,917 --> 00:47:36,351
many of those systems that control,
813
00:47:36,352 --> 00:47:38,020
organize our view of things
814
00:47:38,021 --> 00:47:41,924
and the way we do what we do
are outdated.
815
00:47:41,925 --> 00:47:44,026
So why do we keep them?
816
00:47:46,396 --> 00:47:49,431
Well, that's also what this
series is going to look at:
817
00:47:49,432 --> 00:47:51,066
the changes in knowledge
818
00:47:51,067 --> 00:47:53,636
that brought them into existence
in the first place,
819
00:47:53,637 --> 00:47:55,638
the problems
they were designed to solve,
820
00:47:55,639 --> 00:47:59,041
and the way they made us
what we are today.
821
00:47:59,042 --> 00:48:01,476
It was the earliest
of those changes in the past,
822
00:48:01,477 --> 00:48:02,610
the one that gave birth
823
00:48:02,611 --> 00:48:04,646
to one of the most powerful institutions
824
00:48:04,647 --> 00:48:06,015
in the modern world,
825
00:48:06,016 --> 00:48:09,885
that I want to look at first
in the next program,
826
00:48:09,886 --> 00:48:12,487
because the knowledge
generated then
827
00:48:12,488 --> 00:48:15,257
gave us the idea
basic to life ever since:
828
00:48:15,258 --> 00:48:17,660
that we could shape the future.
829
00:48:17,661 --> 00:48:21,163
That change
I'm talking about happened, oh,
830
00:48:21,164 --> 00:48:25,801
900 years ago in Spain
almost by accident.
831
00:48:25,802 --> 00:48:27,035
And funnily enough,
832
00:48:27,036 --> 00:48:28,670
given the fact
that it made us all think
833
00:48:28,671 --> 00:48:30,906
that we could shape the future--
834
00:48:30,907 --> 00:48:33,408
and I'll leave you with this
thought till next time--
835
00:48:33,409 --> 00:48:37,145
it actually involved people
looking in crystal balls.