Our Fight Against Death | Origins: The Journey of Humankind

less than 1m read

·Nov 11, 2024

Humanity's struggle against death has been our most enduring fight. History has given us one weapon in this existential battle: we fight back with medicine. Tens of thousands of years ago, our ancestors scavenged the natural world for remedies. Imagine the incredible leaps of faith we had to take in an effort to ease the pain, mend the broken, and revive the sick.

Medicine was a dark art, full of false starts and false gods. But when we struck upon some form of relief, it swept like wildfire through humankind. We built on every success until medicine became a form of science. That's when we discovered the real killers within us: microscopic armies hidden within our bodies, waging war on our species for thousands of years.

Medicine is our great weapon to fight back against invisible, unthinkable death. [Applause] From superstition to science, medicine has become one of humanity's most powerful tools. And with each new challenge, we may stumble, but we find a way to get stronger and smarter to beat back fatal diseases and extend our lifespans. We even crack open our genetic code.

This is the story of how our fight against death has determined our fate, how it became the driving force of our evolution, how our tireless pursuit of medicine has made us modern, and even made us superhuman. This is origins. [Music]

The Biggest Mistake 20-29 Year Olds Make

Iraq Explained -- ISIS, Syria and War

View All

How Do You Make a Skateboard Out of Trash? | Short Film Showcase

My name is Mac Primo. I’m an artist, director, stuff maker. I was contacted by the World Wildlife Fund; it’s here for Earth Hour. They asked 15 artists from around the world to take stuff that already exists, repurpose it, give it a new life. That’s prett…

Sam Altman's Whale AMA

The best thing from I learned from program is how to start a startup. I think it’s one of the biggest superpowers in the world today. Before I met Paul, I thought it was impossible. Now I think it’s really hard, but still possible. I hope to teach other p…

World War I: Homefront | Period 7: 1890-1945 | AP US History | Khan Academy

In 1917, the United States entered World War One on the side of the Allies. After several years of neutrality, Woodrow Wilson, who was serving as president of the United States at the time, even campaigned for re-election on the slogan “He kept us out of …

Khan Academy Needs Your Help This Back to School

Hi everyone, Sal Khan here from Khan Academy. I just want to remind everyone that, as we’re going through what’s clearly a very difficult time, especially, well, in the world generally, but especially in education, the entire team here at Khan Academy is…

A Brief History of Dogs | National Geographic

Long before we raised livestock and grew crops, humans lived side by side with dogs. It’s widely accepted among scientists that dogs are descendants of wolves. In fact, their DNA is virtually identical. But how exactly did a fierce wild animal become our …

Shifting absolute value graphs | Mathematics II | High School Math | Khan Academy

This right over here is the graph of y is equal to absolute value of x, which you might be familiar with. If you take x is equal to -2, the absolute value of that is going to be two. Negative -1, absolute value is one. Zero, absolute value is zero. One, a…

Our Fight Against Death | Origins: The Journey of Humankind

More Articles