The Power of Transportation | Origins: The Journey of Humankind

less than 1m read

·Nov 11, 2024

[music playing] [motor revving]

JASON SILVA: What does it take to power a global civilization to connect billions of people across continents? It takes the power of transportation. From the beginning, speed and strength were paramount in the hunt, on the battlefield, for holding together far-flung empires. We sought new forms of power, harnessing the forces of nature to drive us forward—the horse, the wheel, steam power, jet engine. Every new innovation powered our next great leap.

Transportation has become our exoskeleton allowing us to transcend our biology. [music playing] Faster than sound, farther than the moon, our inventions give us a level of power we never imagined. With our machines we carved through solid rock, tunneled beneath the sea floor, connecting the world, mixing distant cultures. Freedom of movement has given us freedom of mind.

The flow of people and materials exposes us to new ideas and new understanding. This is the story of how transportation turned society inside out, how engines and animals powered the rise of civilization, and how the innovations that drive humanity forward made us modern. This is "Origins."

Kayaking Alaska’s Newly Discovered River Canyon | Best Job Ever

Phishing attacks | Internet safety | Khan Academy

View All

Knock Knock, You’re Busted | Drugs, Inc.

In a Queensland suburb, cops are raiding a suspected dealer’s home. The suspect alerted police. They know he could be flushing vital evidence, or worse, setting up a trap. They go in hard, but not hard enough. The front door has been specially reinforced.…

Melissande's Ultimatum | Barkskins

[humming] MELISSANDE: You were gone a long time. Yes, I stopped to watch a bird. A bird. A cunning black bird. It was going after a woodchuck. And after, where did you go? If you wish, I will fetch Rene Sel down from his work so you can ask him, or perh…

How I started selling private jets!

People always ask me all the time, “How did you get started selling private jets?” I used to work in this nightclub restaurant almost every night, and this one gentleman who used to come in had a jet on his tie pin. I would ask him, “Why would you have a …

Expected value of a binomial variable | Random variables | AP Statistics | Khan Academy

So I’ve got a binomial variable ( x ) and I’m going to describe it in very general terms. It is the number of successes after ( n ) trials, where the probability of success for each trial is ( p ). This is a reasonable way to describe really any binomial …

Buffer capacity | Buffers, titrations, and solubility equilibria | Chemistry | Khan Academy

Let’s talk about buffer capacity. Buffer capacity is a property of a buffer, and it tells you how much acid or base you can add before the pH starts changing. Basically, as your buffer capacity goes up (which I’m going to abbreviate as BC), you can add m…

Homeroom with Sal & Superintendent Austin Beutner - Wednesday, September 30

Hi everyone! Sal Khan here from Khan Academy. Welcome to our homeroom live stream. I’m very excited about today’s guest, Superintendent Austin Buettner from Los Angeles Unified School District. So already, start thinking about some questions you might ha…

The Power of Transportation | Origins: The Journey of Humankind

More Articles