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."

Thomas Hunt Morgan and fruit flies

Startup Investor School Day 1 Live Stream

View All

Bargaining for Boards | Yukon River Run

Well, we’re hoping to make 10, 12,000 after we sell all this stuff today. Then we’ll give that up; we’ll all have money to work on. Got all this lumber and the logs and all our gear. I think we’ll do good selling our stuff right here. Is the smartest thi…

The Problem With Science Communication

On December 1st, 2022, the journal “Nature” published a cover story about a holographic wormhole. It was purportedly created inside a quantum computer to probe the intersection of quantum mechanics and gravity. The story kicked off a frenzy of tweets and …

Why You’ll Regret Buying A Home In 2023

What’s up, guys? It’s Graham here. So given what’s happening in the housing market and the sudden decline across pretty much everything, I felt like it would be appropriate to address everyone’s concerns, share my thoughts about what’s going on, and expla…

Harmonic Functions

Hello everyone. So, here I’d like to talk about harmonic functions. Now, harmonic functions are a very special kind of multivariable function, um, and they’re defined in terms of the Laplacian, which I’ve been talking about in the last few videos. So, th…

Macaroni Penguins Swim, Surf, and Dodge Seals to Survive – Ep. 2 | Wildlife: Resurrection Island

Imagine having to surf to get home. Then imagine doing it after swimming 300 miles in the roughest ocean on the planet. Not to mention the seals waiting for their chance to rip your little head off. This is just a single day in the extraordinary life of t…

The FED Just Crashed The Market | Major Changes Explained*

What’s up guys, it’s Graham here. So, as of a few hours ago, the Federal Reserve just raised their benchmark interest rates by another 75 basis points, which means as of today we are now sitting at the highest interest rates that we’ve seen since 2008. Th…

The Power of Transportation | Origins: The Journey of Humankind

More Articles