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."

Why The Middle Class Is Financially Ruined - AGAIN

The Crux Episode 3 | Full Episode | National Geographic

View All

Choosing The Right Crypto Investment For My Portfolio | Anthony Pompliano

[Music] I see you go on CNBC a few times and, uh, getting some, uh, verbal tussles. You know, back in the day you and I used to have some verbal tussles, which I just want to remind people of. But, uh, recently you’ve been asked about the vaccine mandates…

New Technologies: Making Wildlife Cinematography More Accessible | National Geographic

[Music] I always wanted to go and explore far away in empty places. From very early on, I just wanted to travel and discover places that weren’t impacted by humans. We have got on 1.6 inside the heart. After several years as an Antarctic ecologist, I had…

How Scientists and Citizens Are Protecting Ancient Ruins in Peru | National Geographic

(Slow guitar music) In Peru, it is very common that archaeological sites are surrounded by local communities, villages, towns, where people live usually in the most traditional ways. Pachacamac is a huge archaeological site south of Lima. Around it, we ha…

5 Habits That Made Me $30,000/month By 22

I went from making seven dollars per hour at the restaurant to earning multiple six figures in only two and a half years from the YouTube businesses I’ve built. Growing up, unfortunately, I didn’t receive much financial education, and as everyone knows, s…

Animal communication

Let’s talk a little bit about animal communication. In general, communication is one party giving information to another party somehow. It doesn’t even have to be one to one; it could be one person giving or one animal—if we’re talking about animal commun…

Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think

What’s going on is that founders are just, they’re embarrassed about the state of their own product. They’ve come from companies that have mature, polished products, and they compare their launch to like an Apple launch. If Apple fumbles a launch, the wor…

The Power of Transportation | Origins: The Journey of Humankind

More Articles