人类大历史（2013）

世界正陷入战争
The world is at war...
纳粹统治着海域
and the Nazis rule the seas...
借助人文科学中最强大的力量
with one of humanity's greatest powers-
一种可以赢得战争的秘密密♥码♥
a secret code that can win wars.
但同时它能揭露宇宙的秘密吗
But can it also reveal the mysteries of the universe?
答案就隐藏在人类大历史中
It's a cipher with a key hidden in big history.
历史的发展可以看成一条时间线
We think of history as a time line-
由一系列事件组成延伸到几千年前
a series of events stretching a few thousand years into the past.
是时候大胆想象下了
It's time to think bigger.
抛开时间线
Instead of a line...
想象一张用无穷尽相连的网络 在数亿年间都相互影响
imagine a web of infinite connections interacting over billions of years...
共同创造出我们熟知的万物
linked together to create everything we've ever known-
宇宙 星球 和我们自身
our universe, our planet... and us.
我们所知的历史将变得更加深邃
History as we know it is about to get big.
二战开始后两年
Two years into the Second World War...
纳粹正准备发送一条击沉英国舰船的命令
the Nazis prepare an order to sink a British ship...
然而英国情报机构可以 拦截到德国的无线电消息
but British intelligence can intercept German radio transmissions...
于是纳粹使用一台复杂的机器
so the Nazis use a sophisticated machine...
将他们的消息转变成了几乎不可能被破解的代码
to turn their messages into an almost uncrackable code.
它被称作 ''谜团''
It's called Enigma.
通过运用回转轴和插头
By using a series of rotors and a series of plugs...
每个字母被转变成另一个完全随机的字母
each letter was turned into a completely random letter.
''谜团'' 使用置乱算法
Enigma uses a scrambling algorithm...
来把一个单词 比如德语中的tag 转换为day
to convert a word like tag- German for “day”-
单词就变成了看起来毫无意义的字符串
into a seemingly meaningless string of letters.
即使拥有 ''谜团'' 机器 如果没有对应的解码器
With the Enigma machine, it would be random-completely random-
在你向 ''谜团'' 输入收到的信息后
if you did not have the accompanying code key...
得到的只会是随机的乱码
to enter in your Enigma machine after you receive the message.
Enigma拥有1.59x10 种变化方式
Enigma has 159 quintillion variations.
20
纳粹的密♥码♥
The Nazi code...
似乎不可战胜
seems invincible.
传统历史告诉我们
Traditional history tells us...
在战争中 密♥码♥是胜利或失败的关键
that in war, codes can be the keys to victory or defeat.
然而大历史与生物学相联♥系♥
But big history connects to our biology...
来揭示一种编码和解码的高级能力
to reveal how an advanced ability to make and break codes...
是怎么样让人类与众不同的
sets humans apart.
所有动物都会对信息进行编码和解码
All animals code and decode messages.
简单的例子如捕食者警告 危险和逃跑
Simple things like a predator warning. Danger. Run away.
以及愤怒 保持距离的信♥号♥♥
Angry. Stay Clear.
但是人类的交流不一样
But human communication is different.
我们的大脑更加复杂
Our brains are more complex...
所以我们建造了一个符号♥的世界
so we build a world of symbols...
我们周围的一切都是需要破解的代码
where everything around us is a code to crack.
绿灯表示通行
This green light means “go.”
这些数字表示价格
These numbers mean expensive.
这些表示你准时到了
And these mean you're on schedule.
我们不断地创造新的密♥码♥和新的破译方法
We constantly create new codes and new ways to decipher them.
你其实在用密♥码♥思考
You're actually thinking in code.
你的大脑正在想
Your brain is figuring out...
我该怎么把那个单词 那个气味 那个想法联♥系♥起来
what am I going to associate with that word, with that smell, with that thought...
这成为天生的能力
and that becomes hardwired.
但是如果我们的大脑是用来编码和解码的
But if our brains are programmed to code and decode...
仍存在一个疑问
a mystery remains-
我们是怎么成为天生的解码者的
how did we become nature's code breakers?
历史的车轮倒转回6亿年前
Big history connects back 600 million years...
见识一下地球上第一个中♥央♥处理器
to earth's first computer processor.
这只史前蠕虫的大脑拥有一种新的细胞组合方式
This prehistoric worm's brain has a new combination of cells...
这让它能比其他动物解码更多信息
that lets it decode more information than other animals...
甚至从经验中学习
and even learn from experience.
随着时间推移 这种细胞簇发生变异
And over time, this cluster of cells mutates...
并发展成为
and evolves to become...
我们的大脑皮层
our cerebral cortex.
在这里 160亿神经元储存着记忆
Here, 16 billion neurons store memory...
控制语言
control language...
并解码这个世界
and decode the world.
神经细胞和灰质的连接
The connections between nerve cells and what we call "gray matter"...
让人类大脑独一无二的强大
make the human brain uniquely powerful...
人一生中可以处理一万亿条信息
able to process one quadrillion pieces of information in a lifetime-
信息被分享时甚至会更加强大
information that's even more powerful when we share it.
大脑皮层是我们的语言中心
The cerebral cortex is our language center.
在这里 我们创造出了
Here, we create a code...
用于交流思想的声音代码
that communicates thoughts with sound-
或者说语言代码
the code of speech.
然而交流一个单一的思维
But communicating a single thought...
要动用大脑中至少五个区域
takes at least five different regions of the brain...
如此复杂的神经网络连接
connecting simultaneously in a network so complex...
让我们不仅能描述事物 还能为未来做计划
it lets us not only describe things, but plan for future possibilities.
我们可以分♥析♥事情的条件
We can talk about conditional events.
如果这件事发生 那么另一件事就不会发生
If this thing happens, then this other thing will not happen.
如果这件事发生 你该这样做
If this thing happens, you should do this.
正是这个了不起的技能让人类脱颖而出
it becomes this remarkable tool that really separates humans...
使人类历史发展驶向一条与地球上其他物种
and sends human history off on a very different trajectory...
完全不同的轨道
to that of all the other species on our planet.
可是语言也暴露了人类记忆力的极限
But speech also reveals the limits of human memory.
世界上几大主要文明 在某些方面
All the world's major civilizations, at some point...
都面临着在大脑中 需要记住太多信息的问题
confronted the problem of there being too much information to keep it in your head.
现在 信息的承载过于繁重
Now, the information load got so heavy...
他们必须发展出能永久记录信息的方法
that they had to develop permanent ways for recording information.
大历史将生物学
Big history connects our biology...
与人类革命性的一步联♥系♥起来
to a transformative leap for mankind.
这是公元前3200年
It's 3200 B.C...
这位美索不达米亚的抄写员是率先使用文字
and this scribe in Mesopotamia is one of the first to use writing...
将语言代码转换为图像的人之一
to translate the code of speech into images.
文字是人类创造的终极秘密代码
Writing is the ultimate secret code that was developed by humans.
早期的书写似乎总是从简单的图案开始
Early writing seems to have always started with simple pictures.
但是很快得到进化且具有象征性
But very soon they evolve and become symbolic.
现代的字母隐藏在这古老的遗产中
Modern alphabets conceal this ancient legacy.
古埃及人用象形文字书写
The ancient Egyptians write in hieroglyphics.
这是他们代表水的符号♥
This is their symbol for water.
埃及人与腓尼基人贸易
The Egyptians trade with the Phoenicians...
后者接受了这个符号♥并称之为MEM
who adapt the symbol and call it mem-
这条波浪线进化了上千年
a wavy line that evolves over thousands of years...
成为了字母M
into the letter “M.”
书写改变了文明
Writing transforms civilization.
它增加了我们可以代代相传的知识
It increases the knowledge we can share across the generations.
它也是将信息隐藏于秘密代码中的工具
And it's also a tool for concealing information in secret codes...
被人们在战争时期使用
that men use in times of war.
那么人脑是如何破解
So how can the human brain crack a code...
同样由人脑创造的代码呢
that the human brain makes?
通过一个并非人类的破译者
With a code breaker that isn't human.
大历史是一个观察世界的新方法
Big history is a new way to see the world.
它揭示了我们的大脑是自然界最顶尖的破译者
It reveals that our brain is nature's top code breaker-
是一台复杂的 活生生的电脑
a complex living computer...
能建造复杂的机器
that can build sophisticated machines...
来分享或隐藏重要的信息
to share or conceal vital information.
大历史回溯到战争中的世界
Big history links back to a world at war...
在这里 密♥码♥决定着未来
and the code that sparks the future.
在英国的解码总部
At Britain's decryption headquarters...
9000个解码者使用两台缴获的德制 ''谜团'' 机器
9,000 code breakers use two captured German Enigma machines...
来完成他们的顶级秘密任务
in their top secret mission-
破译纳粹那无法破解的军事密♥码♥
to crack the Nazis' uncrackable military code.
他们寻找重复的模块 可能有关于一些常见的短语
They look for repeating patterns that might correspond to common phrases...
比如 希♥特♥勒♥万岁
like “Heil Hitler”...
或纳粹高级官员的名字
or names of high-ranking Nazi officers.
这是传统的解码策略
It's a classic code-breaking strategy.
大历史将解码技术的一项突破
Big history connects a breakthrough in code breaking...
与考古学的一项突破联♥系♥起来
to a breakthrough in archeology.
罗塞塔石碑解锁了一个古代的秘密
The Rosetta stone unlocks an ancient secret.
这个2200岁的石碑用希腊文 埃及文字
This 2,200-year-old tablet features the same message...