人类大历史（2013）

Big History S01E04

Part 2 March 29, 2021, 2:02 p.m.

it's too cold for anything to grow
只有无尽的杂草
except endless grass.
食草动物比如牛和马在这里长势很好
Grazing animals, like cattle and horses, thrive here.
人们习惯了
People adapt.
他们成为了放牧人
They become herders.
世界上第一只骑兵队
And the world's first horsemen-
擅长袭击与掠夺
experts at raiding and plundering.
马背上的战士文化
Horse-based warrior cultures
是最好的生存方式
are going to be the optimal mode of existence.
由于寒冷的原因
Created by the cold
这些战士都来自北方那里匮乏的资源环境
these fighters from the frozen north where resources are scarce
使得他们与南方富有的邻居作战
will wage war against their rich neighbors to the south.
这是全世界都在重复的模式
It's a pattern repeated around the world.
寒冷环境下人们变成了凶猛的游牧战士
Where it's cold, people become fierce nomadic warriors.
温暖环境下人们建成了巨大的人类文明
Where it's warm, people build vast civilizations.
然后寒冷地区那些马背上的战士
Then the warriors of the cold charge in on horseback
竭尽所能
to take what they can.
从中国长城成群的部落
From the tribes that swarm over China's great wall
到毁灭罗马帝国的哥特人和汪达尔人
to the Goths and Vandals who destroyed the Roman Empire
再到征服大部分已知世界的蒙古人
to the Mongols who conquer most of the known worldx7f
由寒冷地区人们创造的史诗
An epic raid by people of the cold
持续了5000年
that lasts 5,000 years.
以人类大历史的视角来看我们看到这种分隔
From the perspective of big history, we see this division
将会是人类历史上的一种关键动态
will be sort of a critical dynamic in human history.
寒冷有这种作用于我们的力量
Cold has such a power over us
因为人类并非为了极端而生
because humans are not designed for extremes.
我们必须适应不然就得死
We must adapt or die.
但是如果人们知道如何控制寒冷又会怎样
But what' if man could figure out how to control cold?
美国商人弗雷德里克·都铎
An American businessman, Frederic Tudor
就是第一个吃螃蟹的人
is one of the first to try.
他有一个疯狂的创业想法
He had a crazy entrepreneurial idea
把一月份英格兰冰冻池塘切成大块
which was to cut large blocks of frozen New England ponds in January
把它以冰的形式卖♥♥给热带地区
and sell them to the tropics as a form of ice.
都铎试着解决一个古老的问题
Tudor is trying to solve an ancient problem.
在地球富含氧气的大气中
In Earth's oxygen-rich atmosphere
生火很容易
it's easy to create fire.
很久很久的一百万年以前
As far back as a million years ago
我们的祖先就知道如何利用便携式的热量
our ancestors learned how to harness portable heat.
但是如何控制冷气却是更为棘手
But it's trickier to master cold.
这是宇宙的定律
It's a law of the universe
热量喜欢由高温向低温的地方传递
that heat likes to flow from hot to cold.
所以与把冷变热相比把热的东西变凉
So it's easier to warm up something cold
是更为容易的
than to cool something hot.
冰是寒冷的集♥合♥体
Ice is concentrated cold
是可能的解决方案
and a possible solution
但不可能哪里都存在
but it can't exist everywhere
因为为了给事物降温冰会融化
because in order to cool things down, ice has to melt.
所以当你把一块冰扑通放在饮料中时
So when you plop an ice cube into a drink
并不是它自身的冷使饮料变凉
it's not that it's radiating coldness out into the drink to keep it cold.
为了融化
What it's actually doing is drawing energy
实际上它把能量从
away from the liquid around it
周围的液体中聚集起来
in order to melt.
人类大历史将冰块融化的物理现象
Big history connects the physics of melting ice
与地球的工作方式结合起来
to the way the Earth works.
冬季北半球的四分之一都以冰的形式存在着
Ice forms across nearly a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere during winter.
这大多数的冰都是难以接近的
Most of that ice is inaccessible.
它们在山顶
sitting atop mountains
或存在于遥远北方的冰川
or locked in glaciers in the remote far north.
今天的整个世界来看
Across the world today
地球拥有五十亿年历史地球上的七十亿人
five billion of the planet's seven billion people
都生活在很少或根本没有冰的地带
live in areas where ice forms rarely or not at all.
所以为了能真正搞定寒冷
So to truly harness cold
我们需要把冰从它自然形成的地方
we have to move ice from where it occurs naturally
移到它没法形成的地方
to where it doesn't
并且防止它融化过快
and keep it from melting too fastx7f
这正是弗雷德里克·都铎发现的方法
which is exactly what Frederic Tudor figures out how to do.
他用船把大量的冰从距离波士顿2000英里
He ships a load of ice 2,000 miles
的地方运到马提尼克的热带岛屿
from Boston to the tropical island of Martinique.
历史上第一次人们通过把冷变得便携
For the first time in history, man controls the cold
来控制它
by making it portable.
他想到了在船的货舱中把冰沫包装起来的新方法
He figured out new ways to pack the ice in sawdust in the ship's holds
然后在顶层铺上好几层稻草放一些苹果作为成本
and then put layers of straw and apples on top to defray the costs.
最后以极大的利润卖♥♥掉冰块
Eventually he was able to sell it at an astronomical profit.
现在世界不再会被
Now the world will no longer be divided
冰冷地带和需要冰冷的地带隔离
between places that have cold and places that need it.
在海洋和大♥陆♥中传播寒冷
The simple act of spreading cold across oceans
的简单方式
and continents
将重塑地球生命
will remake life on planet Earth.
人类大历史揭露寒冷
Big history has revealed that cold
在我们身体以及文明中
had a hidden power over our bodies
都有一种隐藏的力量
and our civilization.
只要我们采取控制将寒冷变得容易携带
But once we take control over cold by making it portable
他就可以存在于任何地方
cold can be anywhere
改变任何事物
and it changes everything.
寒冷开启了一场革命关于我们如何生活
Cold begins to ignite a revolution in how we live
在哪里建造我们的城市
and where we build our cities.
有了冰柜货车
With ice-cooled freight cars
你可以在陆地上运输寒冷的力量
you can transport the power of cold overland
横跨大♥陆♥运送新鲜食物
and ship fresh food across a continent.
主要工业的兴起完全建立于寒冷
Major industries rise up built entirely on cold.
可是一旦人们迷上了它
But once people are hooked on itx7f
他们就会面临一个问题如果冰无法在温暖的冬天形成怎么办
they have a problem if ice doesn't form in warm winters.
所以就引发了创新
So that spurs innovationx7f
用电冰箱和空调代替冰块
replacing ice with electric refrigeration and air conditioning
让我们的城市上升到天际
that let our cities rise to the skies
让我们的沙漠发展成为大城市
and our deserts bloom into metropolises.
但正如它形成了人类文明
But as much as it has shaped civilizationx7f
关于寒冷的人类大历史也形成了我们的整个宇宙
the big history of cold has also shaped our entire universe.
137亿年前
13.7 billion years ago
大爆♥炸♥是在宇宙中出现过的最热的东西
the big bang is the hottest thing that ever happens in the cosmos.
但正是寒冷把那最初的能量
But it's cold that turns that primal energy
转换成了原子星星行星的宇宙
into a universe of atoms, stars and planets.
正是在大爆♥炸♥之后事物变得难以置信的热起来
Right after the big bang, things were incredibly hot
非常之热以至于我们今天所知道的非常原子并不存在
so hot that the very atoms that we know today didn't exist.
他们会因为太热而自动解体
They would have just disintegrated because it was too warm out.
所以确实这是一个伴随着时间流逝的冷却过程
So, really, it was a process of cooling down over time
这过程赋予了我们现在拥有的宇宙
that gave us the universe we had.
在某种程度来说宇宙的故事
And in a sense the story of the universe
就是冷却的故事
is the story of cooling down.
数亿年之后
Billions of years later
当我们的太阳系形成之时
when our own solar system takes shape
地球还是窄带形式
Earth forms in a narrow band
完美的寒冷水平使得液态水得以存在
where the perfect level of coldness allows liquid water to exist-
这是生命的先决条件
the prerequisite for life.
所以寒冷的想法本身
So the idea of coldness itselfx7f
就运行在人类大历史中
runs right across big history
从宇宙本身的创建到星星的出现
from the creation of the universe itself to the creation of stars
再到地球本身的创造
to the creation of the Earth itself
都恰恰为了我们而出现在适度的寒冷之时
which appeared in just the right degree of coldness for us.
但是创造物理宇宙本身的寒冷
But the cold that created the physical universe
最终会把它带向终结
will ultimately bring it to an end.
因为同样
Because the same physics
使融化的冰块从一杯水中获取热量的物理现象
that cause a melting ice cube to draw heat from a glass of water
到处存在
exist everywhere.
恒星与星系会慢慢消逝变成寒冷的空虚空间
Stars and galaxies will slowly dissipate into the cold emptiness of space.
最终星星消失
Eventually, stars die
温度下降
temperatures drop
原子扩散
atoms spread out.
在某种意义上人类大历史的故事就是在大爆♥炸♥中
In a sense, the story of big history is the story of starting extremely hot
开始的极度炎热的故事
in the big bang
继而缓慢的走向极度严寒