人类大历史（2013）

Big History S01E10

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

Big history connects back to a disaster
在意大利海岸发生的灾难
unfolding off the coast of Italy.
科斯塔康科迪亚号♥
The massive,
一艘将近七千英尺长的邮轮
almost' 7, 000 foot long cruise ship, Costa Concordia...
不幸的触礁
has struck a rock...
极有可能倾覆在大海里
and is threatening to topple into the sea.
女士们先生们请注意
Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.
现场已得到控制请保持冷静
The situation is under control. Please remain calm.
乘客们涌向救生艇
The passengers head for the lifeboats.
林恩·凯琳和其他乘客一样
Passengers like Lynn Kaelin.
害怕自己会死去
Fearing for her life...
林恩想给远在五千英里外西雅图的丈夫
Lynn wants to reach out to her husband,
打个电♥话♥
5000 miles a way in Seattle...
跟他说声再见
to say good-bye-
要做到这一点她的声音就必须借助波
To do this, her voice will have to ride a wave...
这又使她和宇宙的诞生
that links her back to the birth of the universe...
和100年前的另一海难有所联♥系♥
and to another shipwreck 100 years earlier.
人类的声带负责发声
Human vocal cords produce sound...
他们将分子微粒散发到四周的空气中
by disturbing the molecules in the air around them.
正前方有冰山
Iceberg straight ahead!
分子群以易于分辨的构造振动
The molecules begin to vibrate in a distinct pattern
这被称为声波
known as a sound wave.
所有引擎都关掉
Engine, full stop.
人的声音最远能传到六百英尺外
The farthest a human voice can travel is about 600 feet...
这是声波传输的最大范围
before the sound wave runs out of energy.
如果我们想要实现更远距离的通讯
If we want to communicate over longer distances...
声音则需要搭个顺风车
our voices have to hitch a ride...
让另一种波载一程
on another type of wave...
这种波依赖于一种与宇宙一样历史久远的能量
that relies on a force almost as old the universe.
人类大历史携手天体物理学
Big history brings in astrophysics
将我们带回时间开始的时候
to connect us back to the beginning of time.
宇宙大爆♥炸♥
The big bang-
宇宙中存在的所有物质和能量
The birth of all the matter and energy
的诞生
that will ever exist in the universe...
主导其运行的能量
and the forces that govern how it all works.
自然的能量我们知道
The forces of nature, we know now...
将它们区分并独♥立♥开来
began to distinguish themselves and separate out.
这一过程带来的其中一种能量是
One of the forces that resulted from that process-
是电磁
is electromagnetism.
电磁为声音的传播提供了渠道
Electromagnetism gives sound a way to travel...
这个渠道比跳跃的空气分子更为强大
that's more powerful than air molecules bumping into each other.
这就是无线电波
Radio waves.
这些电波的传输
These waves are transmitted...
靠的是电和磁场的振动
by the vibration of electric and magnetic fields.
有别于简单的声波
And unlike the simple sound wave...
无线电波可以传播的更远
radio waves can travel vast distances.
美国国家航♥空♥航♥天♥局的旅行者一号♥飞船
NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft
能将无线电波从太阳系的边缘地带
can send radio transmissions to Earth...
传到地球
from the very edge of the solar system...
这个距离达120亿英里长
12 billion miles away.
所以手提电♥话♥延伸了我们声音发出的声波
So a cell phone extends the reach of the sound waves
的可传输范围
our voices make...
它将声波转化成无线电波
by convening them into radio waves
使之在空气中传输
and transmitting them through the atmosphere.
但是无线电波有一个问题
But there's a problem with radio waves.
如果太多人同时使用手♥机♥
If too many people want to use them at the same time,
传输中的信息会交错重叠
messages get crossed.
在即将沉没的科斯塔康科迪亚号♥上
Onboard the sinking Costa Concordia...
虽然上千人在同一时间打电♥话♥
although thousands of calls are being made at the same time...
但是每个人的电♥话♥都能正常工作
just about everyone's call gets through.
这是怎么做到的呢
How is this possible?
人类大历史告诉我们
Big history reveals...
这和一百年前的另一悲剧有关
it's because of another disaster that happens 100 years earlier.
来人啊救命
Help, somebody!
泰坦尼克号♥要沉没了
The Titanic is sinking.
幸运的是船上有无线电台
Luckily, there's a wireless radio on board.
操作员发出求救信♥号♥♥
The operator taps out urgent SOS messages...
信♥号♥♥通过无线电波传到了北美洲东岸
that travel on radio waves to the east coast of North America.
业余的电台操作员接收到了求救信♥号♥♥
Amateur radio operators pick up the messages...
迅速地通过广播传送这则惊人的消息
and quickly crowd the airwaves to spread the shocking news.
但是因为无线电波缺乏管理
But because radio waves are unregulated...
没有具体的规则规定谁用哪个频率
there are no rules to govern who can use which frequency.
它对所有人都开放
It becomes a free-for-all.
因此大家的无线电波都挤在一起
Everybody's jamming everybody else.
无线信♥号♥♥四处游荡
The wireless signals are flying everywhere.
人们无法识别信息内容
You can't make head nor tail of any of the messages.
无线电通讯如此的混乱
The radio communications are so chaotic...
以至于一些新闻报道说所有乘客均获救
that some newspapers report everyone is rescued.
泰坦尼克号♥的悲剧突出的若干问题
One of the things that the Titanic disaster
其中一个便是
brought to the forefront...
作为一种技术无线电通讯发展势头过猛
was that wireless, as a technology, was growing too big.
已经形成了无秩序状态
There was anarchy out there.
为了从这次海难吸取教训
In direct response to the Titanic disaster...
国会将无线电通信频谱划分为
congress divides the wireless communication spectrum
井井有条的线路
into organized lanes.
这就形成了我们今天用的
This allowed for lanes of communication in the air...
空中传输渠道
that we use today.
其他地区纷纷效仿
The rest of the world follows suit...
清理了无线电波的传输通道
clearing the way for radio waves...
这使无线电成为我们通讯的主要方式
to soon dominate the way we communicate.
人类大历史揭示了一种古老的力量
Big history has shown how an ancient force...
是如何与1912年的海难一起
coupled with a shipwreck in 1912...
从而使现代手♥机♥通讯成为可能
makes modern cell phone calls possible...
并让2012年一名海难的幸存者
and allows the survivor of a shipwreck in 2012...
可以与身处地球另一端的丈夫通话
to talk to her husband on the other side of the globe.
她说自己正在救生艇上
She said she was dangling off the side of the ship there
颠簸着
in the lifeboat.
她说 ''我要死了''
She says, uh, ''I'm gonna die''
我安慰她
And I says,
''不会的你不会死的不会的''
''No, you're not. No''
现在地球上有如此多的手♥机♥
Today there are so many cell phones on Earth...
我们把它看成理所当然的东西
that we take them for granted.
可手♥机♥之所以能用归功于一个深埋地下
But cell phones only work because of a rare, ancient secret...
少见的远古秘密
buried deep beneath the earth.
人类大历史为我们看世界提供了新视角
Big history is a new way of looking at the world.
它揭示了手♥机♥是如何成为
It reveals how the cell phone is a time machine...
反映人脑进化的时光机的
that reflects how our brains evolve...
同时也把人类和几十亿年前的事件联♥系♥起来
and connects us to events billions of years in the past.
你的口袋里
You hold the history of the universe...
有着宇宙的历史和地球的力量
and the power of the planet... in your pocket.
每部手♥机♥就是一次世界地质环游
Each cell phone is like a geological world tour.
中♥央♥处理器的硅产自中国
The silicon in the central processor comes from China.
塑料电路板是由原油做的
The plastic circuit board is made from crude oil...
而原油产自像沙特阿♥拉♥伯之类的国家
from places like Saudi Arabia.
可充电电池里的钴则是从刚果开采的
The cobalt in the rechargeable battery is mined in the Congo.
电路使用的铜丝产自智利
The copper used for circuitry is found in Chile.
这些原料要经数十亿年
Raw materials that require billions of years of processing...
才能从地球内部和海洋里生成
by the Earth... and seas.
你手里拿的手♥机♥
That phone you are holding...
不仅仅是人类科技进步的产物
is a product of not just human technological evolution.
你更握着构成地球的材料
You are holding the building blocks of this planet in your hand.
在众多构建材料中
One of these building blocks...
有一样东西可以将这种手♥机♥
means the difference between phones that look like this...
和这种手♥机♥区分开来
and ones that look like this.
钽是一种强有力的金属
A powerful metal called tantalum.
我们说的这种非凡的材料指的就是钽
Tantalum is this remarkable material.
这种金属很稀有
It's rare, but it's crucial...
但在我们今天很多技术中都起着关键作用
in so much of the technology that we're using today.
它可以让我们把组件做得很小
It allows us to make extremely small components...
同时还能容纳大量能量
that can handle large amounts of energy.
钽是现代手♥机♥的关键部件