人类大历史（2013）

Big History S01E01

Part 2 March 29, 2021, 2:01 p.m.

The Water is teeming With elements and minerals...
其中包括35‰的盐
including 35parts per thousand of salt.
在这个化学池中
In this chemical bath...
生命奇迹般的出现了
life mysteriously appears.
通过地球几亿年的演变
For billions of years in the history of the Earth...
都还只存在单细胞生物
there were only single-celled organisms...
它们是那时海洋的主要生物
and they lived predominantly in the oceans.
生命又进化了几亿年
Life evolves over billions of years.
尽管大♥陆♥逐渐浮现出来
But even as continents emerge...
生命也还是停留在海洋里
life stays in the ocean,
依靠水和盐生存
clinging to Water and salt.
一些动物想实践
Some animals experiment.
它们踏了迈向陆地的第一步
They take their first steps on land...
但还是需要咸水繁衍生殖
but return to the salt Water to reproduce.
陆地生存的关键是什么呢
The key to surviving on land?
那就是随身携带海水
Bring the salty ocean Water With them.
要怎么带呢
The solution?
用蛋
The egg.
当我们开始在陆地上爬行时
When we started crawling onto the land...
肯定有鸟类爬行类
certain creatures figured out-birds, reptiles-
因为它们能下蛋
that they could lay eggs...
它有着漂亮坚硬的外壳
that have a nice, hard shell...
那也算是
that kind of keeps the salt water
把咸水保存在很小空间的办法
contained in a small space for them.
乃至今天的哺乳类
And even mammals today-
你也可以想象有着羊膜囊的子♥宫♥
you can think about the womb with the amniotic sac...
也算是胎儿生存的小海洋
as sort of a little ocean that the fetus can live in.
所有生命都源自咸水
So all life emerged from salt Water.
所有的生物都需要渴求着
All creatures need it, crave it-
没有它会很快死去
and quickly die Without it.
如果你思考人类大历史的来龙去脉
If you think about that in big history context...
没有盐的话
we would not even maybe have life at all
生命甚至都不会存在
were it not for salt.
所以盐在历史上有着重大影响
That's one reason for salt's oversized impact on history.
是生命本身的关键
It's a key to life itself.
细胞需要盐才活动
Cells need salt to function.
细菌需要我们需要
Bacteria need it, we need it.
所有生物体都需要盐
All organisms need salt.
盐链接着我们身体里的物质
It's a link We carry in our own bodies.
我们眼泪和汗水能同样的反映出
Our tears and sweat reflect the same salt content...
古海洋里的含盐度
as in the ancient ocean.
盐离子支配着我们的思想
And salt rules our minds.
钠离子帮助传输脑细胞间的信♥号♥♥
Sodium helps transmit signals between our brain cells.
我们真实的想法由盐产生
Our actual thoughts are made of salt.
在你大脑内真实的脑神经活动
The actual cerebral activity inside of your brain...
其实是很多的钠和钾离子
is just a bunch of sodium and potassium ions...
在细胞内外游动产生的
going in and out, in and out of cells.
我们的意识本身也由盐产生
Our consciousness itself is made out of salt.
但盐如此重要
But if salt is so vital...
小到造一个蛋来保存
that We build structures as small as the egg...
大到修建运河得到它
and as large as a canal to get it...
以及其它神秘的方法
another mystery remains.
身体通过饥饿告诉我们
Our bodies tell us We need food...
需要食物
through hunger.
我们口渴就需要喝水
We know We need Water through thirst.
那要怎么知道我们需要盐
How do We know When We need salt?
我们的身体会传达出需要盐的渴望
What our body did is sort of give us cravings for salt...
然后我们就上瘾了
and we sort of got addicted to it.
你可能不会那样想你自己
You may not specifically think to yourself...
"我想吃盐" 但你渴望着
"I crave salt," but you crave...
那种从食物中获得盐的味觉
that taste sensation that salt gives food.
你可以把这种叫做 "盐感"
You could call this craving our "salt sense. "
进化中也有相应的这一部分
There's an evolutionary component to this as well.
有些把盐叫做"原始的上瘾"
Some call salt "the primal addiction."
这些也算是人类大历史
These are the sort of connections
向我们展示的一种相互联♥系♥
that big history shows us very well, I think.
根据最近的研究我们嗜盐的本性
According to recent research, our addiction to salt...
可能也是对其它东西上瘾的根本
might be the root of all addictions.
所以可能是对烟草上瘾
So, it could be that a craving for tobacco
或者酒精或者其它什么
or alcohol or something...
真是生物学上必要的成瘾
is just an unfortunate side effect...
引发的一个不幸的副作用
of these biologically necessary addictions.
人类大历史揭露我们嗜盐的本性
Big history reveals that our salt addiction...
是其它出乎意料关系中的关键
is the key to some unexpected connections.
[ 中文 ]
公元前200年
200 B.C.
超过百万的劳工
More than one million laborers...
修建世界上最长的防御工事
are building the longest defensive fortification in the World-
长城
the Great Wall.
全部完工它将延展超过3000英里
When complete, it Will stretch more than 3, 000 miles...
横穿中国北部边境
across China's northern border.
这是项大工程
It is a massive undertaking...
对于皇帝也有一个大问题
and the emperor has an enormous problem-
怎么付工钱
how to pay for it.
谋士给了一个聪明的解决办法
His advisers propose a clever solution.
盐税
Tax salt.
尚书们向国家建议
The economists are saying to the government...
"我们要垄断盐"
"We need to monopolize salt.
"你需要控制住盐
You need to take control of salt
因为它至关重要"
because this is incredibly valuable."
税收让盐变得昂贵
Taxes make salt expensive...
而盐带来民愤
and salt addicts angry.
但人们需要盐
But the people need salt.
而皇帝得到了长城
And the emperor gets his Wall.
但盐税也会适得其反
But a salt tax can backfire.
1930年的印度
In India in 1930...
圣雄甘地游♥行♥抗♥议♥英国的盐税
Where Mahatma Gandhi's march against the British salt tax...
最终导致独♥立♥战争
ultimately leads to independence.
1789年的法国
In France in 1789...
压榨性的盐税
Where a crushing tax on salt
引导着人们达到容忍♥临界点
pushes the people to their breaking point.
一个地方的不满注入到其它地方
And this discontent feeds into other discontents...
至少它要为法国大革命的爆发负部分责任
and is at least partly responsible for the outbreak of the French Revolution.
盐这种简单的东西
The simple stuff of salt...
调动着历史上复杂的民众力量
sets in motion the complex forces of history.
但它是如何影响到从法老死亡
But how does it affect everything from the death of pharaohs...
到文明的起源
to the birth of civilization?
秘密尽在盐的力量里
The secret is in the superpower of salt.
我们见证过盐引起的城市崛起
We've seen that salt led to the rise of cities...
和帝国的坠落
- and the fall of kings.
它也是生命本身的关键
And it is the key to life itself.
小晶体蕴含着大力量
A tiny crystal With a giant impact.
因为盐有它的超能力
Because salt has a superpower.
公元前1213年埃及
Egypt, 1213 B.C.
法老拉美西斯去世
Pharaoh Ramses has died.
如果祭司不能在腐化前保存好尸体
If priests can't preserve his body before rot sets in...
法老的灵魂就不能去往轮回
his soul Won't make it to the afterlife.
盐就是他们所需要的
And salt is how they do it.
埃及人通常用一种天然碳酸钠盐
The Egyptians used a type of salt called natron...
来保存人类尸体
to preserve the human body.
这可能是人类历史上制♥造♥的
It's probably the most effective preservative
最有效的防腐剂
ever made in human history.
想起来就有趣
It's a funny thing to think about...
但如果你看他们如何
but if you look at there are recipes-
制♥造♥木乃伊的方法这也是
how they made mummies, and it's...
和你保鲜时用的方法十分相似
very much the same recipe as how you preserve a fish.
把内脏取出用盐腌制他们
You remove the entrails and you pack them with salt.
做成人体腌肉
It's a human codfish.
为什么盐能够保存东西
Why does salt preserve things?
因为盐有高于水的超级力量
Because salt has a superpower over Water.
人类大历史放大了盐在微观世界的作用
Big history zooms in to the microscopic World of salt.