人类大历史（2013）

Big History S01E17

Part 4 March 29, 2021, 2:04 p.m.

475 million years ago, plants begin to spread across the land...
将地球变成一个拥有充足食物和居所的
transforming the Earth into a world of lush forests...
郁郁葱葱的森林
with abundant food and shelter.
有些植物进化成了树木
Some plants evolve into trees that,
它们和由流星带来的金属一起
along with metals brought by meteors...
为将来的文明社会提供了发展基础
will become key building blocks of civilization.
为了躲避海洋中的残杀
To escape the carnage in the seas...
有些生物爬到了陆地上
some creatures crawl onto land as well.
一开始它们不得不回到
At first they're forced to return to the
海里进行繁殖
salty seas to reproduce.
但后来它们发现了
But then they discover a way to bring
一种解决方法
a bit of the ocean with them.
蛋
The egg.
当我们来到陆地上
When we started crawling onto the land...
鸟类爬行动物等生物
certain creatures figured out...
发现可以利用蛋来繁殖
birds, reptiles... that they could lay eggs...
蛋有一层坚硬的外壳
that have a nice hard shell that
能够将盐水保存在
kind of keeps the salt water contained...
这个小小的空间里
in a small space for them.
蛋是一个很重要的发展
The egg is a critical development.
它使得那些将继续进化并变得复杂的动物
It allows animals to move permanently onto land...
能够永久的居住在陆地上
animals that will continue to evolve and grow more complex.
但现在人类大历史要告诉你
But now big history reveals a fundamental secret
一个适用于世间万物的规律
that governs all life on the planet.
越是复杂的生物越是脆弱
The more complex you are, the more fragile you become.
有些简单的细菌即使被冷冻
Some simple bacteria can survive being frozen...
煮沸挤压或弄干也能存活
boiled, crushed or dried out.
但像我们这样复杂的生物却不行
Complicated animals like us cannot.
所以当地球经历极端气候变化
So when the Earth is shaken by a drastic change in climate...
或是火山爆发
or volcanoes poison the air...
或是巨型陨石撞击
or a giant meteor strikes...
生命都将遭受终极威胁
life faces the ultimate threat...
灭绝
extinction.
自从复杂生物出现以来大灭绝发生了五次
Five times since complex animals appear...
超过50%的生命消失
more than 50 percent of all life is wiped away.
但是灾变引起的环境变化
But these catastrophes clean the slate
也给新物种的诞生创造了条件
for new creatures to evolve and fill the void.
没有它们
Without them,
人类大历史未来的关键时刻永远不会到来
big history's future thresholds could never occur.
每次灭绝
A good way to put it is that
都好比一次洗牌
every extinction does reshuffle the deck.
你拿出所有的牌
You just take all of the playing cards,
把它们放回去重新混合
put 'em back, mix it up...
再去拿新的牌
and deal yourself a new hand.
其中一次灭绝事件
One catastrophic reshuffling...
结束了恐龙1.65亿年的统治
ends the 165-million-year reign of the dinosaurs...
6500万年前当巨大的陨石砸向地球
when a huge asteroid plunges into Earth 65 million years ago.
气温骤降植物不再生长
Temperatures plunge, plants don't grow.
地球历史上的一个伟大的时代终于结束
A great era in Earth's history has come to a fiery end...
哺乳动物的时代即将到来
clearing the way for the age of mammals.
人类的时代
The age of us.
不过大部分人不知道的是
But what most people don't know...
这一切
is that it almost...
差点没有发生
didn't happen.
人类大历史向您揭示30亿年间
Big history reveals
一系列可能性极小的事件
how a series of rare and unlikely connections...
是如何将地球
across three billion years...
变成我们现在生存的家园
make Earth a thriving planet.
但我们人类的出现需要什么条件
But what does it take for the planet to make us?
作为人类到底意味着什么
And what exactly does it mean to be human?
这些都得从灭绝恐龙并为人类出现
It all starts with a lucky break that kills the dinosaurs...
开辟了道路的一个幸运事件说起
and clears the way for the ultimate rise of mankind.
恐龙灭绝后一些小的哺乳动物开始出现
With the dinosaurs gone, tiny mammals begin to take their place.
人类就是从那些哺乳动物进化出来的
Humans are ultimately evolved, descended from these mammals.
如果6500万年前没有陨石撞击地球
If there had been no asteroid collision 65 million years ago...
人类还会存在吗
would the human species even exist?
也许不会
Probably not.
但就像我们在人类大历史中看到的
But as we've seen with so much big history...
事情可能会变得非常不同
things could have been very different.
如果那颗陨石
If that asteroid would have been on a trajectory...
早五分钟或晚五分钟出现
five minutes earlier or five minutes later,
它可能不会击中地球
it would have missed the Earth...
那样的话恐龙也许仍会统治着地球
and the dinosaurs would probably still rule the Earth.
但事实是生命开启了新的篇章
Instead, life begins a new chapter.
5000万年前
Fifty million years ago,
一种新的植物...草开始蔓延
the spread of a new plant...
并吸引哺乳动物们走出森林
grass... draws mammals out of the forest.
在接下来的4500万年间
Over the next 45 million years...
马的祖先开始变得更大更强更快
the ancestors of horses grow larger, stronger and faster.
绵羊山羊和牛的祖先野牛
Sheep, goats and aurochs-
开始进化出来
the ancestors of cows- evolve.
人类将会利用它们作为食物和工具
Mankind will use them for food and power...
来建设文明社会
to build civilizations.
但首先在
But first, on the
400万年前的非洲大草原上
savannas of Africa, more than four million years ago...
一些灵长动物迈出了进化为人类的第一步
some primates take the first steps toward becoming human.
我们离开了树木草长得很高
We left the trees, and the grass was really tall.
我们的视线得越过它
We had to see over it.
利用后肢来行走让我们能
And walking on our hind feet allowed us to
抱住婴儿拿住工具
hold babies and tools...
去捕猎也解放了我们的双手和指头
and hunt and free up our hands and our opposable thumbs.
既然我们不再需要利用关节来行走
Since we no longer need to walk using our knuckles,
或是在树之间摇摆
or swing from trees...
我们的肩膀和手腕进化到
our shoulders and wrists evolve to
能做一些特殊的事
do something unique in nature...
准确说是投掷
throw accurately...
这使得捕猎变得更容易
making it easier to hunt and kill for meat.
放眼看看大自然中大家都是怎么捕猎的
Look at the natural world. How do you kill something?
几乎所有的都是通过
Almost always you kill something
靠近猎物来完成
by getting up close and personal.
用你的爪子用你的牙齿
You do it with your claws. You do it with your teeth.
现在看看你的爪子和你的牙齿
Now look at your claws. Look at your teeth.
你真的想要用
Do you really want to get up close
那差劲的牙齿和爪子
and personal and try to kill something...
去靠近猎物并猎杀它们吗
with these pathetic teeth, these pathetic claws?
我不这么认为
I don't think so.
手臂上的变化也导致了
This change in our arms leads to an arms race...
arm有手臂或武器两种意思
改变人类历史的军备竞赛
that will define human history.
我们能够做到其他物种
We can cause death at a distance...
无法做到的远距离伤害
in ways that no other species can.
地球上有成千上万的物种是食肉的
There are thousands of species on Earth that eat meat...
但只有人类会对其进行烹饪
but only one that cooks it.
早期人类利用火和工具将肉变得更易消化
Early man uses fire and tools to make meat easier to digest...
这是一个改变人类机理的行为
a behavior that changes our biology.
如果你食肉你会得到高度集中的能量
If you eat meat, you get highly concentrated energy...
但它很难被吸收和咀嚼
but it's hard to digest and chew.
如果你对它先进行烹煮这就像在预先消化它
Now if you cook it, that's like predigesting it.
这意味着我们的内脏可以更小点儿
That would mean that the gut can get smaller.
如果我们的内脏变小
If the gut gets smaller,
就能有多余的能量来供给其它的器官
there's energy available for another organ to grow...
比如大脑
such as the brain.
所以这也许是个对大脑
So this may be a very neat explanation
快速成长的很好的解释
for the very rapid growth in brains.
人类的大脑并不是地球上最大的
The human brain is not the largest on Earth...
但相对来说它是最强大的
but pound for pound, it's the most powerful...
它能一生能处理
able to process one quadrillion
超过千的五次方个信息
pieces of information in a lifetime...
这比任何其他生物都要多
more than any other living creature.
非洲大草原上的生活
So life on the African savanna transforms
改变了我们的身体和大脑
our bodies and our brains...