人类大历史（2013）

Big History S01E17

Part 7 March 29, 2021, 2:04 p.m.

温度也趋于平稳
the temperature tends to remain about the same...
又有持续的降雨
the rainfall tends to be pretty consistent.
这意味着不论你在某个地方种任何东西
That means that whatever you were growing in one place
它都有可能转移
will probably transfer.
这里是历史上最繁忙的陆地贸易线路
Here, the busiest land trade routes in history...
这条线把新技术从一个地方传入另一个地方
carry new technology from one place to another...
把每个人圈入一个巨大的网中
connecting everyone in a vast Web that enriches civilizations...
从而把中国文明传入欧洲
from China to Europe.
在世界的另一边
On the other side of the World...
美洲大♥陆♥是南北走向的
the American continents are oriented in a north-south direction
所以农作物生长在北美
so crops grown in North America...
而很少有存活在气候不同的南部的
rarely survive in the different climates of the south.
北美的巨大山系
And North America's great mountain systems-
阿帕拉契山脉位于东边
the Appalachians in the east...
落基山脉和寒拉斯位于西部
and the Rockies and Sierras in the West-
这样就以南北向阻隔了大♥陆♥
split the continent
阻碍了迁徙和贸易
With north-south barriers that obstruct migration and trade.
通过观察地质
By looking to geology...
人类大历史揭示了美国文明
big history reveals
为何难以
Why it's harder for civilizations
和外界交换想法
in the Americas to exchange ideas.
但还有另一个障碍
But there's another obstacle
把当今世界和旧世界区分开来
that sets the New World apart from the old.
人类不再驯养大型动物
There are no large animals to domesticate
作为食物和运输工具了
for food or transportation.
像缺少马匹这样的小事情
A small thing like the lack of horses
却可能对文明有巨大的影响
can have a big impact on civilization.
大多数运输工具还是靠人类搬运工
Most transportation is still by human porters.
这可能会限制这些地区
That may have limited the possibilities...
商业贸易和交易的可能性
for commerce, trade and exchange in those areas.
骑在马上
On a horse,
你可以从 "A" 地到 "B" 地
you can get from point "A" to point "B"-
就算相距百里外也相对简单
and they're a hundred miles apart- relatively easily.
这不是什么难事
That's not a huge deal.
但是对人来说单靠跑步是个很大的问题
For people, you know, running, that's a very, very big deal.
所以把旧史和科学♥联♥♥系♥起来
So by connecting traditional history to science...
人类大历史揭示了
big history reveals
为何新世界大西洋地区的帝国会
Why New World empires lagged behind those across the Atlantic...
在规模和技术上相对落后
in size and technology.
旧世界的大洲和山脉的排列
The Old World alignment of continents and mountains...
和它对像马和骆驼等动物的接触
and access to animals like horses and camels...
创造了适当的条件
create conditions that are just right.
它们从世界各地把我们联♥系♥在一起
They link us across thousands of miles...
就像突触在一个人类互通的认知大脑中
like synapses in a vast interconnected brain of human knowledge
放大人类独有的积累技能
amplifying the uniquely human skill of accumulating
并且分享信息
and sharing information-
在人类大历史阶段上被叫做集体学习
the big history threshold called collective learning.
所有哪怕在全球一个小地方的想法
So an idea that starts in one small part of the globe...
也可能改变世界
has the chance to change the World.
有些新点子可能是爆♥炸♥性的
Some new ideas can be explosive.
公元八百五十年
850 A. D.
中国人解密了火♥药♥的化学成分
The Chinese unlock the chemistry of Gunpowder...
在三百年之内
and it spreads across the continent all the Way to Europe
这个消息就一路传到了欧洲
in just 300 years.
1450年
And in 1450,
当一个叫约翰尼斯·谷登堡的德国铁匠
When a German blacksmith named Johannes Gutenberg...
研发出一种先进的机械印刷
develops a radically improved method of mechanical printing...
这是5000年来自书写发明之后
it becomes the greatest boost to collective learning...
推动集体学习的最伟大的发明
since the invention of Writing 5, 000 years before.
印刷推动了平民教育
Printing encouraged mass education.
平民教育又促进了更多想法的交流
Mass education encouraged more exchanges of ideas...
继而推动技术创新的发展
and made the development of new technological innovations...
也许欧洲地区会比世界其他地方
perhaps slightly easier in Europe
容易做到一些
than in other parts of the world.
技术推到了屏障
Technology tears down barriers.
在一千年的发现和发明之后
So after millennia of discovery and invention...
人类终于决定征服地球最大的难题
We 're finally ready to conquer Earth's greatest divide-
海洋
the oceans.
一万五千年以来
For 15, 000 years,
海洋把人们分散在独♥立♥的空间
the oceans separate humanity into isolated zones-
美洲
the Americas...
非洲和亚欧大♥陆♥
Africa and Eurasia...
大洋洲
Australia-
每个地区都各自建立不同的世界
Where We develop in different Worlds,
没有关注到其他地方
each unaware of the others.
但是技术开辟了
But technology ushers in a new age
使原来的自然隔阂变成 "高速公路" 的
Where nature's most formidable barrier...
新时期
becomes a highway.
欧洲人带着人类大历史上幸运的机会
Europeans cross the Atlantic for the first time...
第一次横渡大西洋
equipped With a series of big history's lucky breaks.
他们用马枪火
They Will dominate the Americas using horses...
和一些可怕的秘密武器--
guns...
疾病
and a terrible secret Weapon-
占领了美洲大♥陆♥
disease.
欧洲人带来了
The Europeans bring microbes to
美洲人没有免疫力的细菌
Which the Americans have no immunity.
在哥伦布时期的一百年
Within a hundred years of Columbus,
百分之九十的美国人都死了
up to 90% of them Will die.
欧洲人最终征服了这片大♥陆♥
It's a definitive conquest.
但是在掌控海洋之后
But by mastering the ocean,
欧洲探险家也把世界连成了一个整体
European explorers unite the World.
人类开始进行
Mankind trades
新农作物动物和类似金银的财物交易
new crops, animals and resources like gold and silver...
世界进入史无前例的全球化交易阶段
in an unprecedented global exchange.
上一次世界进行
The last time in the planet's history...
大规模生物交换的时候
when there was a biological exchange over the whole globe...
是在两亿五千万年前
was 250 million years ago...
那时候所有的大♥陆♥都在盘♥古♥大♥陆♥上
when all the continents were gathered together in Pangaea.
但这次不是地质情况而是通过人类
But this time it's caused not by geology but by human beings.
通过一种特定的物种使货物流向全世界
By one particular species that's moved goods all around the world
我们的纪录片已经带我们领略了
Our epic story has taken us
7个全球跨越性时刻
around the globe through seven thresholds.
那么人类历史上第八个
But What is the eighth
也是最后一个突破是什么呢
and final threshold in big history?
是什么把所有的联♥系♥在一起
And What secret connects them all?
1500年
By the year 1500...
当人类突破了海洋障碍
mankind is breaking the ocean barrier.
这些新的液体高速公路
And these new liquid highways
突出了人类的特殊性
amplify the very thing that makes man so special-
人类有分享和传播知识的能力
the sharing and spreading of knowledge.
在人类大历史上叫做 "集体学习"
What big historians call collective learning.
我认为自1500年全球化开始
I think globalization from 1500...
集体学习的速度开始发生了改变
is a sort of gear shift in the speed of collective learning.
这是第一个万维网
This is the first World Wide Web.
但网络很慢
But the network is slow.
信息想法发明
Information, ideas, inventions...
差不多只和马奔跑的速度一样快
can only spread as fast as a horse can run...
或者船航行的速度
or a ship can sail.
环游世界要花费超过一年的时间
To circle the globe takes over a year.
但渐渐的这些都开始改变
But soon it all begins to change.
通过显示跨越时间空间的联♥系♥
By revealing connections across space and time...
人类大历史展示了人们如何凭借一部创新机器
big history shows how mankind Will cross another portal...
进入新入口
thanks to a revolutionary machine.
为了制♥造♥这样的机器
To create this machine,
人类大历史将陨石上买♥♥来的金属
big history connects metals brought by meteors...
像煤块之类古代植物的衍生物
ancient plants reincarnated as coal...
以及水的最重要的属性--
and the almost magical property of Water
变化多端的形态变化连接到了一起
as it shape-shifts into a new form.
那创新机器到底是什么呢
That revolutionary machine?
蒸汽机
The steam engine.