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."

Ask me anything with Sal Khan: April 16 | Homeroom with Sal

This Is How Old You Are | Brain Games

View All

Climate 101: Deforestation | National Geographic

[Narrator] Forests cover about 30% of the planet. And the ecosystems they create play an essential role in supporting life on earth. But deforestation is clearing earth’s forest on a massive scale. And at the current rate of destruction, the world’s rainf…

For this week's National Financial Awareness Day...

Man, bro, let me tell you what had went down, and I was two beds away from getting bro whole Barbershop, bro. Yeah, oh my mama, bro, peanut gonna call my phone talking about I just got paid. I looked at the phone, “You just got paid? What, man? What the d…

Genetic Engineering and Diseases – Gene Drive & Malaria

What if you could use genetic engineering to stop humanity’s most dangerous predator, the deadliest animal on the planet responsible for the death of billions, the mighty mosquito? Along with other diseases, it plays host to malaria, one of the cruelest p…

Identifying individuals, variables and categorical variables in a data set | Khan Academy

We’re told that millions of Americans rely on caffeine to get them up in the morning, which is true. Although, if I drink caffeine in the morning, I’m very sensitive; I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. Here’s nutritional data on some popular drinks at…

The vowel-shift irregular verb | The parts of speech | Grammar | Khan Academy

Hello grammarians! We’re talking about vowel shifting in irregular verbs, which is gonna sound a little weird, but bear with me. To review what a vowel is super quick, a vowel is any sound that your mouth can make while your tongue isn’t touching your li…

The Two Einsteins: Behind the Scenes | Genius

[music playing] RON HOWARD: We began thinking about how we would tell the story of Albert Einstein, and Geoffrey Rush instantly was at the top of our list. GIGI PRITZGER: The thing that has been so gratifying to watch in Geoffrey’s performance of Einste…

The Power of Transportation | Origins: The Journey of Humankind

More Articles