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00:09:13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1nYtX-NUsc

Résumé

TLDRThe video reflects on the duality of human existence in the 21st century, where significant advancements coexist with profound challenges. It traces humanity's evolutionary journey from early hominins to modern civilization, emphasizing our capacity for storytelling and progress. Despite the darkness of current issues like poverty and environmental degradation, the video presents an optimistic view of the future, suggesting that by changing our narrative, we can harness our potential to create a better world. It encourages viewers to recognize their role in shaping a future that minimizes suffering and inspires the best in humanity.

A retenir

  • 🌍 Life in the 21st century is a mix of progress and struggle.
  • 🧬 Humanity's journey began 6 million years ago with early hominins.
  • 📖 We are storytelling beings, shaping our reality through narratives.
  • 🌱 Our ancestors faced hardships but sought to improve their lives.
  • 🔧 Technological advancements have transformed our world dramatically.
  • 🌿 We have the potential to heal the planet and restore balance.
  • 💡 The future holds possibilities for eliminating poverty and disease.
  • ⏳ Progress may be slow, but history shows we can achieve great things.
  • 🌈 A shift in mindset can lead to a better world for all.
  • 🤝 We each have a role in creating a world with less suffering.

Chronologie

  • 00:00:00 - 00:09:13

    The 21st century presents a paradox of prosperity and struggle, with many living well while others face extreme poverty and daily hardships. This disconnection leads to feelings of hopelessness, but storytelling can provide a different perspective on our existence. The narrative begins 14 billion years ago with the birth of the universe, evolving from chaos to complexity, leading to the emergence of life on Earth. Life has continually adapted and thrived despite challenges, culminating in the rise of humans around 200,000 years ago. Our ancestors, driven by a desire for improvement, developed tools and knowledge, paving the way for civilization and technological advancements. Despite our progress, human nature remains rooted in survival instincts, leading to ongoing struggles and conflicts. However, we possess the potential to create a better world by reimagining our narrative and embracing our capabilities. While challenges persist, history shows that humanity can achieve remarkable progress, and by thinking long-term, we can address issues like poverty and climate change, ultimately striving for a world with minimal suffering and greater fulfillment.

Carte mentale

Vidéo Q&R

  • What is the main theme of the video?

    The video discusses the paradox of human existence, showcasing both our advancements and the struggles we face.

  • How does the video describe the state of the world today?

    It describes the world as a place of both great achievement and significant challenges, including poverty and environmental issues.

  • What historical perspective does the video provide?

    It traces humanity's evolution from early hominins to modern civilization, emphasizing our capacity for storytelling and progress.

  • What potential does the video suggest humanity has?

    The video suggests that humanity has the potential to create a better world, addressing issues like poverty and climate change.

  • What does the video say about human nature?

    It discusses how human nature is shaped by survival instincts and the challenges of the past, which still influence our behavior today.

  • What optimistic view does the video present about the future?

    It posits that if we change our narrative, we can achieve significant advancements and create a more equitable and sustainable world.

  • How does the video relate to storytelling?

    It emphasizes that humans are storytelling beings, and the narratives we choose can shape our reality and future.

  • What historical comparisons does the video make?

    It compares our current situation to past transformative moments in history, like the advent of agriculture.

  • What challenges does the video acknowledge?

    It acknowledges that progress will be difficult, with setbacks and the need to confront our inherent nature.

  • What is the call to action in the video?

    The video encourages viewers to recognize their potential to contribute to a better world.

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Sous-titres
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  • 00:00:00
    Being a human in the 21st century often feels  frustrating. We are clearly at the high point
  • 00:00:05
    of our species – never have so many of us lived so well, been so healthy and well off. At the same time life is
  • 00:00:12
    incredibly hard – more than 15 thousand children  died yesterday, 700 million people live in extreme
  • 00:00:18
    poverty, even within rich societies there is loads  of unfairness and daily struggle. We are divided,
  • 00:00:24
    unable to solve our problems while creating  new ones, destroying our world in the process.
  • 00:00:30
    In many ways the vibe is that we live  in dark times. It is so easy to feel
  • 00:00:34
    disconnected and powerless in the face of  problems too big to solve. And so the state
  • 00:00:40
    of the world fills many of us with doom,  hopelessness and sadness. We feel it too.
  • 00:00:46
    It is one of the most pervasive stories of  our time and there is a lot of truth to it.
  • 00:00:50
    But as Terry Pratchett said, we are the  storytelling ape, we think in narratives
  • 00:00:55
    and live in a network of stories that make up  our world. So without minimising the darkness,
  • 00:01:01
    we want to add a story that we find  helpful for dealing with the world.
  • 00:01:05
    This is subjective and not a science  video, so you don’t need to buy into it.
  • 00:01:10
    Our story begins with the  first moment that ever was.
  • 00:01:13
    14 billion years ago time and space began from  some kind of state of pure energy. From this
  • 00:01:19
    very first moment the universe grew  and evolved. Things that were one
  • 00:01:24
    became many. Energy turned into forces and  particles, out of chaos emerged the laws of
  • 00:01:30
    nature. From these ingredients stars arose,  gigantic engines, turning simple stuff into
  • 00:01:35
    complex stuff only to die violently  and spread the new complexity around.
  • 00:01:41
    Out of this more complex stuff,  new stars and more worlds emerged,
  • 00:01:45
    repeating the cycle until most of the simple  stuff was used up and most stars that will
  • 00:01:49
    ever be born had been born. And then, on one  planet, where the conditions were just right,
  • 00:01:55
    dead particles and molecules combined to make  another jump in complexity. Maybe the laws that
  • 00:02:00
    govern everything were destined to make life  happen. Maybe it was just a cosmic dice throw.
  • 00:02:06
    But life, now the most complex thing in existence,  wasted no time and spread to even the tiniest
  • 00:02:11
    corners. For billions of years cells held on,  fighting against the elements and each other,
  • 00:02:17
    evolving in the process. Until one day they came  together and made another jump in complexity,
  • 00:02:22
    to plants, animals and fungi. First  in the oceans, then on the land.
  • 00:02:28
    Earth was now the stage of something grand,  a complexity acceleration machine going at
  • 00:02:33
    full speed. Millions of new species emerged and  vanished. Life was beaten down over and over,
  • 00:02:39
    but every time it came back stronger. Resettling  niches filled with corpses of the ones that came
  • 00:02:45
    before. Most of these beings are hidden in  time forever, we only know their faint echoes.
  • 00:02:50
    Until a few million years ago an animal  looked at the night sky. It looked at its
  • 00:02:55
    hands. It saw its reflection in a puddle. And it  realised it existed. That it was alive. Here and
  • 00:03:02
    now. You probably had such a moment as a small  child, mundane and majestic at the same time.
  • 00:03:09
    This is where the human story begins, about  six million years ago, with the hominins.
  • 00:03:14
    Still just another animal among many others.  They split into many families and lineages
  • 00:03:19
    evolving further or disappearing again. But for  some reason their evolutionary niche enabled
  • 00:03:25
    their brains to grow and they learned more about  this strange world. They prayed to the stars,
  • 00:03:31
    they tamed fire and turned stones into tools.  They celebrated and cried together. Life was
  • 00:03:38
    hard and brutally short but together they  endured – probably by telling themselves
  • 00:03:43
    stories about the world. For almost 250,000  generations they built a biological foundation.
  • 00:03:50
    And then, at some point 200,000  years or about 10,000 generations
  • 00:03:55
    ago they became us. Humanity had arrived.
  • 00:03:59
    Our ancestors did not waste any time.  Their world was still hard and unforgiving,
  • 00:04:03
    but out of pure stubbornness they did not  accept that. They wanted their lives to be
  • 00:04:08
    better. So they made better tools and learned to  preserve their knowledge beyond death. Progress
  • 00:04:13
    started slow. And then suddenly they (or better WE) made the planet our own. Agriculture and
  • 00:04:20
    the first villages and temples snowballed  into civilization. Kingdoms and empires,
  • 00:04:24
    technology, writing, astronomy, medicine,  philosophy. A hot second later, science,
  • 00:04:29
    industrialization, the modern world,  the information age where we are today.
  • 00:04:35
    Earth is truly ours now.
  • 00:04:37
    We changed it in ways unfathomable a few  short generations ago. We turned the land
  • 00:04:42
    into fields worked by millions of machines,  built thousands of gigantic jungles made of
  • 00:04:47
    sand and metal. We split the atom and travelled  to other worlds. Everything is different today.
  • 00:04:53
    Except us of course. We humans have  not changed. We were molded by a
  • 00:04:58
    cold and unforgiving world, where  we needed to be hard and brutal
  • 00:05:02
    to survive. We are all still bound to  our nature that made us so successful.
  • 00:05:07
    We still tell stories, are hungry  for food, greedy for resources,
  • 00:05:11
    desperate to be accepted by our peers. We are  scared by the dangers that lurk in the dark,
  • 00:05:16
    imagined and real ones. We are still brutal to  each other and the animals we hold power over.
  • 00:05:22
    We are still territorial and possessive,  we fear losing what we have, and we fear
  • 00:05:27
    change. We downplay the damage we cause and  ignore the people in need outside our tribes.
  • 00:05:33
    Humans are not nice and if we look at our  history, how could we expect ourselves to
  • 00:05:38
    be? In nature we see great beauty but  also endless violence and struggle,
  • 00:05:43
    devoid of morals or kindness. We are an instinct  driven apex predator that survived in an uncaring
  • 00:05:49
    world, only now we have coal plants,  nuclear weapons and social media.
  • 00:05:54
    This would be hard to handle for any animal,
  • 00:05:56
    so it makes sense that we continue to follow  the impulses so deeply ingrained in us. But
  • 00:06:00
    this is only because we have not yet caught up  with the mind numbing gift we have been handed.
  • 00:06:05
    The real tragedy of humanity today is that  we are these amazingly powerful beings that
  • 00:06:10
    have not awoken to their potential. We are  trapped in the present and the mindset of a
  • 00:06:15
    scarce world. But aside from the physical  limits of the universe there is nothing
  • 00:06:19
    stopping us from creating a literal paradise  for ourselves. This seems so daft, but it is
  • 00:06:25
    true. If we dare to tell ourselves a different  story about who we are and who we could be.
  • 00:06:32
    Humans throughout history felt like  they would witness the apocalypse and
  • 00:06:35
    this feels especially true today, but you are  probably not living in the end times. There is
  • 00:06:40
    a solid chance that humanity will persist  for thousands, maybe millions of years.
  • 00:06:46
    If this might be the very start of our history,
  • 00:06:49
    what can we dream of achieving? Just like our  very first ancestors six million years ago,
  • 00:06:54
    we may be the ancestors of another 250,000  generations of people. But while the hominins
  • 00:07:00
    found themselves powerless in a world they  had to adapt to, our starting conditions
  • 00:07:04
    could not be more different. It’s like we got  handed a save file of a game where others put
  • 00:07:09
    in millions of hours of work – and where we can  decide what game we want to play in the future.
  • 00:07:15
    The world is still horrible. And it  is also the best world that has ever
  • 00:07:19
    existed. And we can make it so much better.
  • 00:07:23
    An optimistic person living in the year 1924  would not believe the progress we have made
  • 00:07:28
    in just a century. How much we reduced  poverty, how many diseases we cured,
  • 00:07:32
    how much free time we have, what kind of luxuries  are ordinary to us, what technological wonders
  • 00:07:38
    we take for granted, how few of us die  in war, how many live in a democracy.
  • 00:07:43
    And today we might very well be gearing up for  a jump like our ancestors 10,000 years ago,
  • 00:07:48
    when agriculture changed everything for  everybody. From AI possibly transforming
  • 00:07:53
    the information age, to biotechnology enabling  us to manipulate the language of life itself,
  • 00:07:58
    to new sustainable ways of  harvesting the energy we crave.
  • 00:08:02
    If we start thinking in decades and centuries,  it is perfectly reasonable that we will solve
  • 00:08:06
    our problems. We can eliminate poverty, maybe all  material needs. Defeat all diseases, maybe even
  • 00:08:13
    death itself. We have the potential to restore  balance to the climate and heal the planet again.
  • 00:08:19
    We may be able to adapt to the information  age and make lasting peace. None of this is
  • 00:08:24
    guaranteed and it will be hard and full of  failure and setbacks. Some things will get
  • 00:08:29
    worse before they get better. We will run  up against our nature over and over again.
  • 00:08:34
    But if we manage to clean up our act  we could create a world better than we
  • 00:08:38
    dare hope for. You get to do that. You get  to live in a world that is deeply flawed
  • 00:08:43
    but also the best it ever was. And you  get the opportunity to make it better.
  • 00:08:49
    A world with the smallest amount of  suffering possible, that fits our nature and
  • 00:08:54
    inspires us to be the best version of ourselves.
Tags
  • humanity
  • evolution
  • storytelling
  • optimism
  • future
  • challenges
  • progress
  • nature
  • civilization
  • potential