人类大历史（2013）

Big History S01E15

Part 1 March 29, 2021, 2:04 p.m.

神秘的图样代表了世界上最著名的货币
Cryptic images mark the world's most famous currency.
但是美元还有其他隐藏谜团
But the dollar has other mysteries-
联♥系♥了四大洲上的其他国家
hidden links that connect countries on four continents...
他们的货币和符号♥
their dollars and a symbol that
代表了世界的财富
signifies wealth around the world.
这是一个亿万年前产生的秘密
Its a secret born billions of years ago...
这个秘密
and revealed...
由人类大历史揭示
on big history.
历史的发展可以看成一条时间线
We think of history as a timeline...
由一系列事件组成
a series of events
延伸到几千年前
stretching a few thousand years into the past.
是时候大胆想象下了
It's time to think bigger.
抛开时间线想象一张永无穷尽相连的网络
Instead of a line, imagine a web of infinite connections...
在数亿年间都相互影响
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-
我们的宇宙我们的星球
our universe, our planet...
还有我们自身
and us.
我们所知道的历史即更加深邃
History as we know it is about to get big.
金子就是荣耀
Gold gets all the glory.
它是神的金属
It's the metal of the gods.
传统历史告诉我们
And as traditional history tells us...
它是百万人争抢的宝物
it's a prize that millions have rushed to claim.
但是当我们追寻金子的时候
But while we go for the gold,
第一不总是最好的
first isn't always best.
大历史揭示第二位金属的力量
Big history reveals the power of our second-place metal.
银更闪亮
Silver is shinier...
更硬
harder...
比金强度高
and stronger than gold.
银也有一种不凡的特性
And silver has an unusual property-
杀菌消毒
it kills germs.
当美国家庭穿越荒地的时候
When American families were crossing the wilderness...
他们常常会买♥♥一个闪亮的银币
they often invested in one good silver coin...
然后将它放入牛奶罐中
which they would plop into their milk jug...
这就可以防止牛奶腐♥败♥
and that actually prevented the milk from spoiling...
在他们穿越荒地的旅程中保持保鲜
on their journey through the wilderness.
银能做到的事情很多
Silver can do so much.
但是金则更加值钱
But gold has always been more valuable...
因为它更稀有
because it's so much harder to find.
地球上的银比金要多十倍
There's over 10 times more silver on Earth than gold.
为什么银要比金数量多
Why is there more silver than gold?
大历史将眼光投向星空
Big history looks to the stars.
这颗比我们的太阳质量还要大几倍的恒星
This star, several times more massive than our sun...
是一个元素工厂
is an element factory.
在这恒星中重力和热量相撞重构了原子
Inside the star, gravity and heat crush and restructure atoms...
形成了元素包括铝和铁那样的金属
forming elements, including metals like aluminum and iron...
它们散入了宇宙
that will spread out into the cosmos...
当恒星坍缩爆♥炸♥成超新星时
when the star collapses and explodes as a supernova.
超新星的能量又改变了更多的原子
The supernova's energy transforms more atoms.
在这过程中所有其他的元素
In this process, all of these other elements are cooked
形成了很多金属
up, if you like...
包括银
including silver.
但是超新星产生不了金
But supernovas don't make gold.
这些可以
These do.
两个超新星的残骸
The ruins of two supernovas-
每一个都是地球密度的50万倍
each half a million times more dense than the Earth.
它们叫做中子星
They're called neutron stars.
当它们对撞的时候
And when they collide...
它们所发出的能量比
they release more energy than
太阳一生散发的能量都大
our sun releases in its lifetime...
创造出了比银更重的元素包括金
creating elements heavier than silver, including gold.
但是这些对撞是罕见的
But these collisions are rare.
超新星则要多得多
There are far more supernovas...
这就是为什么银比金多
which is why there's more silver than gold...
不论是在宇宙中还是在地球上
in the universe and on Earth.
大量的热能促进了银在宇宙的形成
Intense heat helps create silver in the cosmos...
并且将银和其他金属引向地球周围
and steers silver and other metals around the Earth.
地下火山沿着超热的岩浆通道
Underground volcanoes spread them through the crust...
将它们在地壳中分散
along a highway of superheated lava.
这种融化过程和其他反应
That melting process, amongst other things...
将不同的矿物聚集在一起
tends to concentrate different minerals together.
银的岩脉出现了
Veins of silver appear.
当然接下来它们就在人类社会中起了巨大作用
And, of course, then it plays a huge role in human society.
所以就像银金属的矿床
So deposits of metals like silver...
在火山活动频繁的地区出现
appear in places where there's been high volcanic activity-
从太平洋火山带
from the Pacific Ring of Fire...
到地中海
to the Mediterranean.
大历史将宇宙的化学原理
Big history connects the chemistry of the cosmos...
和地质学以及将要链接世界的贵金属相连
to geology and the precious metal that will unite the world.
现在是古希腊被入侵的前夜
We are now in ancient Greece on the eve of an epic invasion.
波斯人在攻来
Persia is on the march.
这是最强大的古代帝国
It's the mightiest ancient empire...
军队和海军的数量前所未见
with the largest army and navy the world has ever seen.
希腊人将无法与之匹敌
The Greeks will be no match-..
这是一支拥有超过1200船只的侵略部队
For an invasion force of over 1,200 ships...
如果没有秘密武器希腊必败
without a secret weapon.
三年前当波斯人做战争准备时
Three years earlier, as the Persians prepare for war...
希腊人发现了一个宝藏
the Greeks discover a buried treasure.
历史上排名第二的金属将要展现威力
History's second-ranked metal is about to make a power play.
世上最早的钱币是金制成的
The world's first coins are made of gold.
但是金子太稀有了供不应求
But gold is so rare, the supply can't keep up with demand.
银就是解决方案
Silver is the solution.
金是重要的资源
Gold is a strategic resource.
但是银比金普遍
But silver is more common than gold,
所以在流通中更常见
so you can have it in circulation more.
银币成了地中海地区的流通货币
Silver becomes the currency of choice in the Mediterranean.
这对于希腊人是好消息
And that's good news for the Greeks.
他们在挖银矿这是一种珍贵的货币
They were mining for silver, which was a valuable currency...
他们找到了非常丰富的矿藏
and they hit a particularly rich vein of it.
希腊在火山活动带上
Greece sits on a hot spot of volcanic activity.
希腊附近的劳里厄姆矿
The mines of Laurium near Athens...
比古代世界任何地方都有更多的银
contain more silver than anywhere else in the ancient world.
希腊人将它们制成钱币
The Greeks mint it into coins...
雇佣劳工
to pay men...
制♥造♥战舰
to build warships...
对抗波斯人并且赢得胜利
to face the Persians and win.
胜利意味着希腊文明的存活
Victory means that Greek ideas survive.
西方的民♥主♥被一座银矿拯救了
So, basically, western democracy was saved by a silver mine.
这些银使得古典希腊的文明
These loads of silver allowed classical Greek civilization...
传递了很多伟大的
to pass many of the
思想和哲学到古罗马
great ideas and philosophies onto the Roman world...
最终是欧洲世界
and eventually onto Europe.
所以银使得希腊文明即使在今天
So silver effectively allowed Greek civilization to
也处于西方文明的核心
become embedded at the heart of western civilization even today.
这是大历史带来的认知
And this is the sort of perspective that big history can bring.
银是拯救民♥主♥的未被歌♥颂的英雄
Silver is the unsung hero that saves democracy-
第二位的金属带来了第一位的影响
the second-place metal with first-class impact...
解密了一个伟大的秘密
that decodes a powerful secret...
隐藏着世界最有名的货币中
hidden in the most famous money in the world.
大历史用科学改变我们看世界的角度
Big history uses science to change the way we see the world.
它揭示了银是世界第二的金属
It reveals that silver's second-place rank among metals...
连接到恒星爆♥炸♥元素诞生之时
links to the birth of the elements in exploding stars.
超新星制♥造♥出了大量的银
Supernovas that create so much silver...
它没有金珍贵
we consider it less valuable than gold
却更为重要
but more useful for everyday money.
宇宙的联♥系♥隐含在美元中
A cosmic connection that's encoded in the U. S. dollar.
传统历史猜测这些神秘符号♥的意义
Traditional history speculates about these mysterious symbols.
开着全知眼的奇怪金字塔
The strange pyramid with the all-seeing eye.
但大历史联♥系♥地质学
But big history links to geology...
来解释美元的来历
to reveal the origins of the dollar.
在欧洲中部的峡谷