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."

The Probability of Human Existence Is Infinitesimally Small

Introduction to infinite limits | Limits and continuity | AP Calculus AB | Khan Academy

View All

Regrouping to add 1-digit number | Addition and subtraction | 1st grade | Khan Academy

So, we have the number 35. The 3 is in the tens place, so it represents 30 or 3 tens—one 10, two groups of 10, three groups of 10. And then the 5 is in the ones place, so it represents five ones. We see them right over here—one, two, three, four, five. N…

Car insurance basics | Insurance | Financial Literacy | Khan Academy

So cars are something that usually involves some type of insurance. One, cars are a pretty expensive asset that many of us own. The other issue is cars are driving around pretty fast, and they can actually cause a lot of damage to property or to people. …

Howard Marks: 50 Years of Investing Wisdom in 50 Minutes (Priceless Lecture)

Well, Cain said it best of anybody. He said, “Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.” MH and some… so somebody who bets that a market which is irrational is going to… a market is too high, we say that’s irrational. Somebody who …

Make Bold Guesses and Weed Out the Failures

Going even further, it’s not just science. When we look at innovation and technology and building, for example, everything that Thomas Edison did and Nikola Tesla did, these were from trial and error, which is creative guesses and trying things out. If y…

Gov Of The Gaps (Mirror)

We’re getting a lot of disease in our town lately, and we don’t know how to stop it. Does anyone have any ideas? “Yes, I have an idea.” “Mr. Scientist, go ahead.” “Yes, I have this theory. You see, that disease is caused by teeny tiny little life forms…

How I Bought This House For $0

I’m very proud to say that this property right here was free. It cost me zero dollars. I was able to buy an income-generating property here in Los Angeles for nothing, and I think it’s at this point that people are supposed to comment, “It’s free real est…

The Power of Transportation | Origins: The Journey of Humankind

More Articles