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♪ ♪

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TYSON: If an
extraterrestrial scouting party
were to survey Earth,

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what would they make of us?

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Who are we?

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Are we as a species
capable of fundamental change?

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Or is there
something in our DNA
that will determine our fate?

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[groaning and moaning].

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[speaking in native language].

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TYSON: Do the dead hands of
forgotten ancestors impel us

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in some direction
beyond our control?

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Can we free our children from
the demons that torment us and

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haunt our species?

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Can we be trusted
with our own future?

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Since the civilization
of Ancient Persia,

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and probably even before,
we've wondered if there's

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something about human nature
that contains the seeds of
our destruction.

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[theme music plays].

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♪ ♪

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♪ ♪

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TYSON: If there are
places on Earth that
are sacred to our species,

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surely this
must be one of them.

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The earliest site we
know of where fire was
tamed for human needs.

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More than a
million years ago, here,

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in what is today known as
Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa,

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our ancestors gathered
and first kindled the hearth
of human culture.

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Every human being alive
today on Earth is a member

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of the species Homo sapiens.

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The so-called "wise ones."

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And our forbearers here
tonight are Homo erectus,

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"those who stood up."

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They're not yet us, but
we carry them within us.

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We don't know much about them.

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We think they took
care of each other when
they became old or ill.

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We know they were
skilled toolmakers.

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It was around fires
such as this one that we
began to cook our food.

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To tell each other stories.

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And to create a shared
learned identity with our kin.

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Had life and humans first
evolved only hundreds or even

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thousands of years ago, we
might know most of what's

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important about our
past and how we came
to be the way we are.

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But instead, our
species is hundreds of
thousands of years old.

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Homo erectus,a
couple of million.

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Primates, tens of millions.

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Mammals, more than 200 million.

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And life, about
four billion years old.

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All but a few of our ancestors
are wholly unknown to us,

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and we sift through the Earth
to find the bits of ash and

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animal bone that are
the only surviving
evidence of our humanity.

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We only began living
with a future in mind,

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consciously leaving a detailed
record of who we were and what

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we believed around
5,000 years ago.

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And yet, one thing remained
constant from Homo erectus to

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the greatness of
Ancient Persia.

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Our fascination with fire.

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And this was true
here at Persepolis,

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a magnificent complex built
by the Persian emperors of the

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sixth century BCE,

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when Persia was the
only superpower on Earth.

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These great kings worshipped
a God named Ahura Mazda,

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whose origins in
time are lost to us.

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His prophet was Zoroaster.

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Every Zoroastrian temple
was consecrated to fire.

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It played the central
role in Zoroastrian worship,

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symbolizing both the purity
of their God and the light

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of the illuminated mind.

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Tending an eternal flame
through the centuries was one

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of the few ritual obligations
of the Zoroastrians.

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They chose this first
truly human achievement,

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the domestication of fire,

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as the focal point
of their worship.

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The God Ahura
Mazda didn't ask much.

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He didn't want your
ritual sacrifices,

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he didn't want your money.

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All he asked of human
beings was good thoughts,

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good words and good deeds.

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But for some reason,
most people couldn't fulfil

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these simple requests.

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Often they had bad
thoughts and said evil things,

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and some of them committed
crimes that were evil.

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Why?

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It was all because of
Ahura Mazda's polar opposite,

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Angra Mainyu.

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This is where the
devil was born.

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From his short horns,
to his hooves,

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Zoroastrianism was the
dominant religion from Greece

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to India for 1,000 years.

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No wonder they were so
influential on the religions

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that came after.

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For the Zoroastrians,
all the evil in the world,

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the crimes
committed by humans,

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as well as the catastrophes of
natural disasters and disease,

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were the results of Angra
Mainyu's unceasing mischief.

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Their God, Ahura Mazda,

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looked to human beings to
help him defeat the devil.

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Any person by their actions
could tip the scales of the

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whole future of the universe
in either the direction of
good or evil.

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In this prescientific world,

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when evil reared its ugly head,

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what better way to understand
it than demonic possession?

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[barking]

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This is not a story
of good and evil,

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of the struggle
between a God and a demon.

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It's actually just a story
of a predator and its prey.

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In this case, the predator
is microscopic and it's been

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incubating in its victim.

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Diseased microbes can
be formidable predators.

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Not only attacking
and eventually killing,

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but also taking
over their hosts.

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Changing their behavior
to spread their
microorganisms to other hosts.

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We're in the
bloodstream of that poor,

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unlucky dog, who,
through no fault of his own,

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just because of a chance
encounter with a rabid bat,

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now finds himself
the main character in a
zombie horror story.

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Those bullets are
the rabies virus.

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On being injected into the
bloodstream of this placid,

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people-loving dog, they
head to the dog's brain,

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right to the limbic system,

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where the control
buttons for rage reside.

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By attacking the nerve cells,

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the rabies virus
is converting the poor animal

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into a marauding, snarling,

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vicious predator without
loyalties or love for anyone.

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[baby crying].

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Rabid animals can be fearless.

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Now that the limbic
system has been conquered,

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another detachment of rabies
viruses are dispatched to the

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saliva manufacturing
machinery in the dog's throat.

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Their assignment is to
put it into overdrive,

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while paralyzing the
nerves for swallowing.

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This maximizes the chances
for the infected saliva

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to leave the dog and
invade the next target.

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But how is such a degree
of tactical coordination

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possible by a virus?

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How can a virus know which
part of another creature's

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brain is the seat of anger?

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We ourselves didn't figure
that out until very recently.

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This is the power of evolution
by natural selection.

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Given enough time,
a random mutation,

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no matter how
highly specialized...

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Say, a virus' ability to
paralyze a victim's throat,

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will take hold.

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If it enhances the
virus' chance of survival,

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it will be passed on.

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All it needs in every
generation is a victim to

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carry the disease.

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Keeping that
wicked flame alive.

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The transformation from
the family guardian to the

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ferocious wild-eyed
demon is complete.

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The dog is furious,
although he has no idea why.

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[speaking in native language].

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A helpless pawn of
the viruses within him,

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he can't resist the
impulse to attack.

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If the attack is successful,

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the viruses in the
dog's saliva will enter the

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bloodstream of the
victim through the
lesion or laceration.

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And then, they'll set about
taking over this new victim.

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The rabies virus is a
brilliant manipulator.

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It knows its victims and
how to pull their strings.

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It coordinates its attack,
circumventing defenses,

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infiltrating, outflanking,
accomplishing a coup d'état

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within its prey and turning
the most gentle among us into

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the most violent.

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We are at the mercy
of unseen forces.

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Viruses, microbes,
hormones, our very own DNA.

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Where does the programming
end and free will begin...

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[buzz]

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If it ever does at all?

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TYSON: Do honeybees
have free will?

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When a honeybee dies, it
releases a special chemical.

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It's a death pheromone that
has a characteristic odor,

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signaling its fellow bees
to remove it from the hive.

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The death
pheromone is oleic acid.

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What happens if a perfectly
healthy bee is dabbed with a

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drop of oleic acid?

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Then, no matter how
hearty it might be,

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it's carried,
kicking and screaming,

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out of the hive by
oblivious pallbearers.

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Do the bees understand the
danger of infection from corpses

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decomposing in the hive?

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Are they aware of the
connection between
death and oleic acid?

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Do they have any
idea what death is?

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Do we?

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In the tens of millions
of years of collective bee

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experience, there's never been
a way that a bee could give

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off oleic acid
other than by dying.

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So, for bees,
there's no ambiguity here.

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Scent of oleic acid
always means dead bee.

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There's been no reason for
evolution to develop a greater

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sense of nuance about it.

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Elaborate, contemplative
machinery is unnecessary to

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assess the situation.

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Bee perceptions are
adequate for bee needs.

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Something similar
is true for moths.

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This poor guy has no
idea what the problem is.

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There have been moths
for 190 million years,

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and clear glass windows
for only about 1,000.

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No wonder there isn't
a voice in the moth's
brain that tells it:

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if you keep
bumping into something,

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even if you can't see it, you
should try to fly around it.

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Until very recently on
nature's time scale,

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there were no penalties
for moths without any
such inner voice.

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Moths evolved in a world
without glass windows.

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What then are we to
conclude when we find similar,

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very simple behavioral
programs unsupervised by any

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apparent central
executive control in so-called

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"higher animals"?

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When a goose egg
rolls out of the nest,

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does the mother goose who
has been incubating her eggs

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for weeks understand the
importance of retrieving one
that has rolled away?

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Can she tell if
one is missing?

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In fact, she will
retrieve almost anything
placed near the nest.

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Including ping pong
balls and beer bottles.

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The value of this behavior
for goose genes is clear.

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She understands something,
but by our standards,

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not very much.

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00:14:39,313 --> 00:14:42,098
Does a beetle
have any emotions?

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Any consciousness?

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Or is it only a subtle
robot made of organic matter?

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A carbon-based automaton
packed with sensors and
actuators,

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programs and subroutines,
all ultimately manufactured

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according to its
DNA instructions?

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00:14:59,724 --> 00:15:02,205
We might be willing to grant
the proposition that insects

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or even geese are
mindless machines.

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But what about us?

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What, if anything, do
the other animals think?

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What might they have
to say to us if we
could only communicate?

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When we observe
them carefully,

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don't we find evidence of
spontaneous decision-making?

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When we consider the genetic
kinship of all life on Earth,

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is it plausible that humans
have immortal souls and all

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other animals do not?

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In nature, the goose's egg
retrieval program is adequate.

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But when the goslings hatch,
and especially just before

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they're ready to
leave the nest,

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the mother is delicately
attuned to the nuances of

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their sounds,
looks and smells.

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She has learned
about her chicks.

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Now she knows her own very
well and would not confuse

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them with an alien object, or
even someone else's goslings,

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however similar they may
seem to a human observer.

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Consider our friend
the beetle again.

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It can see, walk,
run, smell, taste,

243
00:16:14,756 --> 00:16:18,412
fly, mate, eat,
excrete and lay eggs.

244
00:16:19,456 --> 00:16:23,243
It has internal programs for
accomplishing these functions

245
00:16:23,591 --> 00:16:26,986
contained in a brain with a
mass of only a milligram,

246
00:16:27,682 --> 00:16:29,205
and specialized,

247
00:16:29,379 --> 00:16:32,295
dedicated organs for
carrying the programs out.

248
00:16:32,687 --> 00:16:34,602
But is that all?

249
00:16:34,776 --> 00:16:36,560
Is there anyone in charge?

250
00:16:36,734 --> 00:16:38,388
Anyone inside?

251
00:16:38,562 --> 00:16:41,435
Anyone controlling
all these functions?

252
00:16:41,609 --> 00:16:44,394
And what do we mean,
by "anyone"?

253
00:16:44,568 --> 00:16:47,702
Or is the beetle just
the sum of its functions
and nothing else,

254
00:16:48,398 --> 00:16:52,533
with no executive authority,
no insect soul?

255
00:16:54,578 --> 00:16:56,537
A stowaway.

256
00:17:03,196 --> 00:17:05,285
See how it's
triangulating on me,

257
00:17:05,459 --> 00:17:07,330
trying to get a
sense of this immense,

258
00:17:07,504 --> 00:17:10,203
looming three-dimensional
monster before it?

259
00:17:10,594 --> 00:17:13,380
The fly strides along,
unconcernedly,

260
00:17:13,554 --> 00:17:17,166
until you lift a
rolled newspaper and
it quickly buzzes off.

261
00:17:18,646 --> 00:17:21,344
We know this behavior is
wired into the fly's neurons.

262
00:17:22,302 --> 00:17:24,826
[buzz]

263
00:17:26,828 --> 00:17:29,222
Some scientists get
nervous if you ask about the

264
00:17:29,396 --> 00:17:31,528
consciousness of a housefly.

265
00:17:32,747 --> 00:17:36,011
On the inside,
within its tiny brain,

266
00:17:36,185 --> 00:17:38,622
does it have no
perception of making choices?

267
00:17:40,798 --> 00:17:43,279
No awareness of
its own existence?

268
00:17:43,627 --> 00:17:46,239
Not a milligram's worth
of self-consciousness?

269
00:17:46,587 --> 00:17:49,198
Not a hint of
hope for the future?

270
00:17:49,372 --> 00:17:53,072
Not even a little satisfaction
at a day's work well done?

271
00:17:55,509 --> 00:17:58,816
If its brain is one
millionth the mass of ours,

272
00:17:59,513 --> 00:18:02,298
shall we deny it one
millionth of our feelings

273
00:18:02,472 --> 00:18:04,431
and our thoughts?

274
00:18:04,605 --> 00:18:07,782
And if, after carefully
weighing such matters,

275
00:18:07,956 --> 00:18:11,438
we insist it is
still only a robot,

276
00:18:11,612 --> 00:18:16,182
how sure are we that
this judgment doesn't
apply to us as well?

277
00:18:22,536 --> 00:18:25,234
What is distinctly human?

278
00:18:25,408 --> 00:18:29,108
Is there anything
that's ours alone?

279
00:18:39,901 --> 00:18:42,686
TYSON: Would our imaginary
extraterrestrial observer

280
00:18:42,860 --> 00:18:47,430
think that there's anything we
do that distinguishes us from

281
00:18:47,604 --> 00:18:50,303
every other
living thing on Earth?

282
00:18:51,217 --> 00:18:53,697
Something that all
or almost all of us,

283
00:18:53,871 --> 00:18:55,612
of every culture
throughout history,

284
00:18:55,786 --> 00:18:57,875
have done and still do?

285
00:18:58,049 --> 00:19:01,314
Something that no
other animal does?

286
00:19:04,012 --> 00:19:07,102
Plato was one of the
earliest commentators to define

287
00:19:07,276 --> 00:19:08,669
what is human.

288
00:19:08,843 --> 00:19:11,802
He declared, "Man is
a featherless biped."

289
00:19:13,108 --> 00:19:16,590
When news of
Plato's definition reached
the philosopher Diogenes,

290
00:19:17,286 --> 00:19:20,420
he brought a plucked
chicken to Plato's academy,

291
00:19:20,768 --> 00:19:24,337
asking the
assembled scholars
to salute Plato's man.

292
00:19:24,902 --> 00:19:26,687
[laughter]

293
00:19:26,861 --> 00:19:28,602
Plato's protégé, Aristotle,

294
00:19:28,776 --> 00:19:30,169
took another crack at it.

295
00:19:30,343 --> 00:19:33,172
He said, "Man is
a social animal.

296
00:19:33,346 --> 00:19:35,913
Man is a political animal."

297
00:19:38,394 --> 00:19:39,961
But ants,

298
00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:47,273
bees and termites

299
00:19:48,839 --> 00:19:53,540
have much better
organized and much more stable
social structures than we have.

300
00:19:55,455 --> 00:19:59,546
The 16th century
French philosopher
Michel de Montaigne wrote,

301
00:20:00,460 --> 00:20:05,204
"As to fidelity,
there is no animal in the
world so treacherous as man."

302
00:20:06,770 --> 00:20:09,599
But he never dated a firefly.

303
00:20:10,731 --> 00:20:14,256
You know how fireflies blink
on and off to attract a female?

304
00:20:18,652 --> 00:20:22,133
Well, some males sabotage
their fellow fireflies come-on

305
00:20:22,308 --> 00:20:23,918
by adding their own blinks.

306
00:20:24,484 --> 00:20:26,877
It's like hacking a friend's
romantic message to his

307
00:20:27,051 --> 00:20:29,619
girlfriend and
turning it into an insult.

308
00:20:31,795 --> 00:20:34,581
The female gets turned off
and the saboteur now has his

309
00:20:34,755 --> 00:20:36,452
chance with her.

310
00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:38,715
Man, that's cold.

311
00:20:41,370 --> 00:20:44,330
Adam Smith, the 18th
century Scottish philosopher,

312
00:20:44,504 --> 00:20:46,680
wrote in his classic
justification of free

313
00:20:46,854 --> 00:20:50,423
enterprise capitalism that
the propensity to barter,

314
00:20:50,597 --> 00:20:53,252
to exchange one
thing for another,

315
00:20:53,426 --> 00:20:55,993
is to be found in no
other race of animals.

316
00:20:57,125 --> 00:20:59,475
Is this true?

317
00:21:00,171 --> 00:21:05,002
Chimpanzees are fond
of trade and understand
the idea very well.

318
00:21:06,569 --> 00:21:09,442
Food for sex, a
back rub for sex,

319
00:21:10,660 --> 00:21:12,662
betrayal of the
leader for sex,

320
00:21:13,837 --> 00:21:16,362
"spare my baby's life"
for sex.

321
00:21:17,580 --> 00:21:19,582
Virtually anything for sex.

322
00:21:22,585 --> 00:21:25,632
Okay, but we're the only
species that makes art, right?

323
00:21:26,589 --> 00:21:30,593
Except this work of art
was created by a bowerbird.

324
00:21:41,778 --> 00:21:44,390
As was this one.

325
00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:48,350
And this one.

326
00:21:49,395 --> 00:21:51,832
We're the only species that
parents their young through

327
00:21:52,006 --> 00:21:54,400
adolescence into adulthood.

328
00:21:54,922 --> 00:21:56,271
Wrong again.

329
00:21:56,445 --> 00:21:59,622
The elephants parent at
least as long as we do.

330
00:22:02,582 --> 00:22:05,802
All right, well, we're the
only species that enslaves and

331
00:22:05,976 --> 00:22:09,458
exploits other animals,
keeping them in captivity.

332
00:22:17,031 --> 00:22:21,383
Tell that to this
poor cockroach
of the African savanna.

333
00:22:21,557 --> 00:22:24,691
An emerald wasp is stalking
it to drug and enslave

334
00:22:24,865 --> 00:22:27,041
it in its basement.

335
00:22:29,609 --> 00:22:32,438
The wasp administers a venom
which robs the cockroach of

336
00:22:32,612 --> 00:22:35,049
its will to escape.

337
00:22:39,836 --> 00:22:41,708
Turn on the lights,
and this is one roach that

338
00:22:41,882 --> 00:22:44,058
won't scurry away.

339
00:22:48,497 --> 00:22:52,066
Now the wasp drags
the roach to her lair,

340
00:23:01,684 --> 00:23:06,385
depositing a single egg
on the roach's body...

341
00:23:10,650 --> 00:23:15,045
before boarding up the entrance
with rocks and pieces of wood.

342
00:23:20,181 --> 00:23:24,620
The idea is to keep the roach
alive as long as possible so

343
00:23:24,794 --> 00:23:27,797
that its organs
will remain fresh.

344
00:23:31,148 --> 00:23:34,064
The wasp's offspring will
bore into the roach's body and

345
00:23:34,238 --> 00:23:36,153
feast upon it.

346
00:23:36,327 --> 00:23:37,720
When it's full grown,

347
00:23:37,894 --> 00:23:40,593
it will tunnel out
of the roach's grave.

348
00:23:44,684 --> 00:23:47,861
Yeah, but what about
using tools, technology?

349
00:24:17,325 --> 00:24:19,545
Kissing?

350
00:24:39,695 --> 00:24:45,614
♪ ♪

351
00:24:58,105 --> 00:25:00,324
Could it be that after all,

352
00:25:00,499 --> 00:25:06,679
our species' only
real distinction is our
neurotic need to feel special?

353
00:25:19,779 --> 00:25:21,737
Remember this place?

354
00:25:21,911 --> 00:25:24,914
It's the memorial to
the broken branches
of the tree of life.

355
00:25:25,611 --> 00:25:28,570
It's mostly filled with the
casualties of environmental

356
00:25:28,744 --> 00:25:32,748
catastrophe and competition
that happened long before
we ever got here,

357
00:25:35,795 --> 00:25:38,754
but there is a corridor
that we built ourselves.

358
00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:52,115
What lies beyond are all
those species we ourselves

359
00:25:52,289 --> 00:25:54,988
have rendered extinct.

360
00:25:55,162 --> 00:25:58,600
Could there be some connection
to that widespread delusion of

361
00:25:58,774 --> 00:26:00,907
our separateness from
the rest of nature?

362
00:26:02,343 --> 00:26:05,955
A sharp distinction
between humans and animals is

363
00:26:06,129 --> 00:26:09,393
essential if we are to
bend them to our will,

364
00:26:09,698 --> 00:26:11,831
make them work
for us, wear them,

365
00:26:12,005 --> 00:26:16,183
eat them, experiment on them,
wipe them out entirely without

366
00:26:16,662 --> 00:26:21,362
any disquieting
tinges of guilt or regret.

367
00:26:34,114 --> 00:26:36,682
[thunder]

368
00:26:41,817 --> 00:26:45,168
But we all know that this
carelessness is starting to

369
00:26:45,342 --> 00:26:47,257
catch up with us.

370
00:27:00,053 --> 00:27:05,014
Are we automata, robots,
our destiny written in our

371
00:27:05,188 --> 00:27:07,626
DNA with no
possibility of escape?

372
00:27:10,716 --> 00:27:13,719
Is DNA destiny?

373
00:27:14,763 --> 00:27:20,987
And if it is, does it have the
power to write epic tales of
heroism and saintliness?

374
00:27:34,217 --> 00:27:40,354
♪ ♪

375
00:27:52,975 --> 00:27:54,890
TYSON: Okay, just
for argument's sake,

376
00:27:55,064 --> 00:27:56,892
suppose we're nothing
more than the sum total

377
00:27:57,066 --> 00:27:59,112
of our genetic inheritance.

378
00:27:59,286 --> 00:28:01,244
That's not as
bad as it sounds.

379
00:28:01,592 --> 00:28:04,726
There are passages in
our DNA that are every bit

380
00:28:04,900 --> 00:28:08,208
as heroic as anything ever
written in any epic saga.

381
00:28:20,394 --> 00:28:24,224
[growl]

382
00:28:29,490 --> 00:28:32,972
The mother is stotting,
deliberately putting her own

383
00:28:33,146 --> 00:28:37,411
life in danger to alert the
herd and buy time for them...

384
00:28:59,868 --> 00:29:03,829
so that her offspring and the
rest of the herd can get away.

385
00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:07,963
If this isn't
heroism, what is?

386
00:29:08,311 --> 00:29:12,272
And yet, this act of valor
is encoded in the Thomson's
gazelle's programming.

387
00:29:13,142 --> 00:29:15,318
Does that make it
any less brave?

388
00:29:15,492 --> 00:29:19,061
She risks being eaten in
order to save her kin.

389
00:29:19,496 --> 00:29:22,021
And that's the key.

390
00:29:22,369 --> 00:29:25,328
Kin selection is that genetic
impulse for self-sacrifice

391
00:29:25,502 --> 00:29:29,158
prevalent throughout
the kingdoms of life, even us.

392
00:29:30,943 --> 00:29:32,727
Skeptical?

393
00:29:32,901 --> 00:29:35,121
Then do this thought
experiment with me.

394
00:29:38,037 --> 00:29:40,866
Imagine trying to
sleep soundly at night,

395
00:29:41,040 --> 00:29:43,216
knowing that your
children are starving,

396
00:29:43,390 --> 00:29:46,045
homeless or gravely ill.

397
00:29:46,219 --> 00:29:49,526
For almost all of us,
this would be unthinkable,

398
00:29:49,875 --> 00:29:54,357
but 16,000 children die each
day of easily preventable

399
00:29:54,531 --> 00:29:56,969
hunger, neglect, or disease.

400
00:29:58,100 --> 00:30:02,322
Children continue to
die as we sleep well
and watch this show.

401
00:30:04,193 --> 00:30:06,021
They're far away.

402
00:30:06,195 --> 00:30:08,458
They're not
directly related to us.

403
00:30:09,198 --> 00:30:11,418
Now tell me you don't
believe in the reality

404
00:30:11,592 --> 00:30:13,550
of kin selection.

405
00:30:13,724 --> 00:30:17,250
We will die to protect
the carriers of our DNA and

406
00:30:17,424 --> 00:30:21,080
turn away from the
suffering of those who don't.

407
00:30:21,384 --> 00:30:24,910
Kin selection can inspire
us to die saving a brother,

408
00:30:25,084 --> 00:30:28,261
but it's also the drive
exploited by the demagogue

409
00:30:28,435 --> 00:30:30,959
and the supremacist.

410
00:30:31,133 --> 00:30:33,483
The "us" against "them."

411
00:30:39,315 --> 00:30:40,926
Another thought experiment:

412
00:30:41,100 --> 00:30:42,884
Imagine you're making
the first approach to a

413
00:30:43,058 --> 00:30:45,104
newly discovered planet.

414
00:30:45,278 --> 00:30:48,063
You've used various techniques
to ascertain that this world

415
00:30:48,237 --> 00:30:50,457
supports an astonishing
variety of life-forms.

416
00:30:51,632 --> 00:30:54,940
You want to make contact, but
not with their version of a

417
00:30:55,114 --> 00:30:57,464
scorpion, cobra, or
great white shark.

418
00:30:59,814 --> 00:31:03,426
You want to find
the life-form that's
most likely to respond gently,

419
00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:05,907
with empathy and intelligence.

420
00:31:08,605 --> 00:31:11,130
These macaque monkeys
are members of what might

421
00:31:11,304 --> 00:31:13,959
be the most
compassionate species on earth.

422
00:31:14,524 --> 00:31:17,266
This was demonstrated in a
ghastly series of experiments

423
00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:19,355
conducted in the 1960s.

424
00:31:20,139 --> 00:31:24,012
15 macaques were fed only if
they were willing to pull a

425
00:31:24,186 --> 00:31:27,624
chain and electrically shock
an unrelated macaque whose

426
00:31:27,798 --> 00:31:30,236
agony was in plain view
through a one-way mirror.

427
00:31:31,324 --> 00:31:34,588
If they refused to
shock another macaque,
they starved.

428
00:31:36,459 --> 00:31:37,983
After learning the ropes,

429
00:31:38,157 --> 00:31:40,724
the monkeys frequently
refused to pull the chain.

430
00:31:41,029 --> 00:31:44,293
In one experiment, only a
small percentage would do so,

431
00:31:44,467 --> 00:31:47,514
while more than two-thirds
preferred to go hungry.

432
00:31:47,818 --> 00:31:50,517
One macaque went without
food for nearly two weeks

433
00:31:50,691 --> 00:31:53,302
rather than hurt its fellows.

434
00:31:53,476 --> 00:31:55,914
Here's the part
that really gets me.

435
00:31:56,088 --> 00:31:58,438
Macaques who had themselves
been shocked in previous

436
00:31:58,612 --> 00:32:02,050
experiments were even less
willing to pull the chain.

437
00:32:04,357 --> 00:32:07,012
The relative social status
or gender of the macaques had

438
00:32:07,186 --> 00:32:10,015
little bearing on their
reluctance to hurt others.

439
00:32:10,711 --> 00:32:14,889
These experiments permit us
to glimpse in non-humans a

440
00:32:15,063 --> 00:32:18,327
saintly willingness
to make sacrifices in
order to save others,

441
00:32:19,633 --> 00:32:23,115
even those
who are not close kin.

442
00:32:24,986 --> 00:32:27,554
The heartless selfishness
of the rabies virus,

443
00:32:27,728 --> 00:32:30,513
and the transcendent
empathy of the macaques,

444
00:32:30,687 --> 00:32:33,168
are the extreme
ends of a continuum,

445
00:32:33,342 --> 00:32:35,954
one that we,
ourselves, are on.

446
00:32:38,086 --> 00:32:40,915
It was the evolution of
successively larger brains

447
00:32:41,089 --> 00:32:44,092
through the generations of
our ancestors that transformed

448
00:32:44,266 --> 00:32:48,053
human childbirth into an
excruciating experience.

449
00:32:49,054 --> 00:32:51,882
[speaking in native language]

450
00:32:52,405 --> 00:32:54,755
TYSON: Feeling,
in mammals at least,

451
00:32:54,929 --> 00:32:56,931
is mainly controlled by lower,

452
00:32:57,105 --> 00:32:59,020
more ancient parts
of the brain...

453
00:32:59,325 --> 00:33:01,109
And thinking, by the higher,

454
00:33:01,283 --> 00:33:03,590
more recently
evolved outer layers.

455
00:33:06,201 --> 00:33:09,204
A rudimentary ability to
think was superimposed on

456
00:33:09,378 --> 00:33:12,120
the preexisting
programmed behaviors.

457
00:33:15,645 --> 00:33:19,432
This is the evolutionary
baggage we carry with us into

458
00:33:19,606 --> 00:33:21,912
the schoolyard,
into the marriage,

459
00:33:22,522 --> 00:33:25,438
into the voting booth,
into the lynch mob,

460
00:33:26,787 --> 00:33:29,094
and onto the battlefield.

461
00:33:29,616 --> 00:33:32,445
So, what does that
tell us about our future?

462
00:33:32,967 --> 00:33:36,971
Will it be nothing more than
a series of dreary repetitions,

463
00:33:37,145 --> 00:33:39,365
with no escape
for our children?

464
00:33:42,542 --> 00:33:45,458
I know a story
that gives me hope.

465
00:33:45,806 --> 00:33:49,331
It's the saga of a life
that means we can change.

466
00:33:49,505 --> 00:33:51,594
From this distance in time,

467
00:33:51,768 --> 00:33:54,336
it's hard to know
how much of it is true.

468
00:33:54,945 --> 00:33:57,948
It happened a couple
of thousand years ago,

469
00:33:58,123 --> 00:34:00,168
which is a long time to us,

470
00:34:00,342 --> 00:34:03,954
but only about five seconds
ago on the Cosmic Calendar.

471
00:34:06,218 --> 00:34:07,958
The Cosmic Calendar

472
00:34:08,133 --> 00:34:11,266
compresses all of
time into a single year.

473
00:34:11,527 --> 00:34:13,573
I know no better way of
wrapping our heads around the

474
00:34:13,747 --> 00:34:15,879
fact that we are
still very young,

475
00:34:16,054 --> 00:34:18,317
very new to the universe.

476
00:34:18,621 --> 00:34:21,363
January first is the big bang,

477
00:34:21,885 --> 00:34:26,107
and midnight on December 31
on our cosmic year is this
very second.

478
00:34:28,544 --> 00:34:33,201
All of cosmic evolution,
nearly 14 billion years,

479
00:34:33,375 --> 00:34:35,421
compressed into a
single earth year.

480
00:34:39,294 --> 00:34:42,254
Only five Cosmic
Calendar seconds ago,

481
00:34:42,819 --> 00:34:45,344
which represents
about 2,200 years,

482
00:34:46,388 --> 00:34:49,174
much of the world was in
the grip of absolute rulers.

483
00:34:50,610 --> 00:34:53,613
Their armies rampaged
across the planet, bringing

484
00:34:53,787 --> 00:34:57,399
torture, rape, murder,

485
00:34:58,618 --> 00:35:01,229
and mass enslavement
wherever they went.

486
00:35:03,927 --> 00:35:08,106
A young man came
out of an obscure
backwater called Macedonia and,

487
00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:09,977
in less than a decade,

488
00:35:10,151 --> 00:35:12,980
carved out an empire that
stretched from the Adriatic to

489
00:35:13,154 --> 00:35:15,504
beyond the
Indus river in India.

490
00:35:17,506 --> 00:35:19,987
Along the way,
Alexander the Great crushed

491
00:35:20,161 --> 00:35:22,511
the implacable Persian army.

492
00:35:24,209 --> 00:35:26,036
And at about the same time,

493
00:35:26,211 --> 00:35:29,257
King Chandragupta conquered
all of northern India.

494
00:35:30,258 --> 00:35:34,132
His son, Bindusara, assumed
the throne after his death.

495
00:35:39,833 --> 00:35:42,444
As Bindusara's own
death approached,

496
00:35:42,618 --> 00:35:46,666
he intended to bequeath
his empire to a favored heir.

497
00:35:47,232 --> 00:35:50,148
And legend has it
that another son,

498
00:35:50,322 --> 00:35:52,628
one who had been
rejected by Bindusara,

499
00:35:52,802 --> 00:35:56,415
was so ruthless in his quest
for power that he murdered

500
00:35:56,589 --> 00:35:59,505
every one of his
99 half-brothers.

501
00:36:01,594 --> 00:36:03,639
[screaming].

502
00:36:03,813 --> 00:36:05,989
Dressed in the finery
that only an emperor
was entitled to wear,

503
00:36:06,164 --> 00:36:09,297
the hated son stood
before his dying father
and declared contemptuously,

504
00:36:11,169 --> 00:36:13,693
"I am your successor now!"

505
00:36:16,826 --> 00:36:20,090
This was Ashoka...

506
00:36:20,265 --> 00:36:22,441
And he was just getting started.

507
00:36:30,536 --> 00:36:34,453
TYSON:
In the 2nd century BCE,
the Indian emperor Ashoka

508
00:36:34,931 --> 00:36:39,501
initiated a reign of terror
known for its new heights of
sadism and cruelty.

509
00:36:41,590 --> 00:36:44,637
When Ashoka's ministers balked
at his command to cut down all

510
00:36:44,811 --> 00:36:47,770
the fruit trees
surrounding his palace,

511
00:36:47,944 --> 00:36:51,600
Ashoka said, "Fine, we'll
cut off your heads instead."

512
00:36:56,475 --> 00:36:58,390
[screaming].

513
00:36:59,129 --> 00:37:01,480
His fiendishness
knew no bounds.

514
00:37:01,654 --> 00:37:04,613
Ashoka built a
magnificent palace for
his unsuspecting victims.

515
00:37:06,833 --> 00:37:09,792
They did not know until it was
too late that deep inside the

516
00:37:09,966 --> 00:37:13,666
palace were torture rooms
designed to inflict the five

517
00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:16,190
most painful ways to die.

518
00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:20,455
It came to be known
as Ashoka's Hell.

519
00:37:22,501 --> 00:37:25,373
But that was not
Ashoka's greatest atrocity.

520
00:37:25,852 --> 00:37:28,333
He now set out to complete
the conquest of India that his

521
00:37:28,507 --> 00:37:31,684
grandfather had begun.

522
00:37:31,858 --> 00:37:33,773
The nation of
Kalinga, to the south,

523
00:37:33,947 --> 00:37:36,689
knew no peace could be
made with such a madman.

524
00:37:36,863 --> 00:37:39,213
They courageously stood
their ground as Ashoka's army

525
00:37:39,387 --> 00:37:41,433
besieged the city.

526
00:37:41,607 --> 00:37:43,391
When they could bear no more,

527
00:37:43,565 --> 00:37:45,828
Ashoka sent his
troops in for the kill.

528
00:37:47,352 --> 00:37:49,876
[screaming].

529
00:37:52,444 --> 00:37:54,489
[grunting].

530
00:38:00,060 --> 00:38:02,584
As Ashoka
surveyed his triumph,

531
00:38:02,758 --> 00:38:04,847
there was one who
dared to approach him.

532
00:38:17,773 --> 00:38:21,386
MONK: Mighty king, you,
who are so powerful you can

533
00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:24,432
take hundreds of thousands
of lives at your whim.

534
00:38:25,999 --> 00:38:28,567
Show me how
powerful you really are,

535
00:38:28,741 --> 00:38:32,222
give back but one
life to this dead child.

536
00:38:37,924 --> 00:38:40,579
TYSON: Who was this
fearless beggar who dared

537
00:38:40,753 --> 00:38:43,930
to confront Ashoka
with his crimes?

538
00:38:44,278 --> 00:38:47,368
His exact
identity is lost to us,

539
00:38:47,542 --> 00:38:50,632
but we do know that he
was a disciple of Buddha,

540
00:38:50,806 --> 00:38:52,895
then a little known
philosopher who had lived

541
00:38:53,069 --> 00:38:56,421
almost 200 years before.

542
00:38:56,595 --> 00:38:58,423
Buddha preached nonviolence,

543
00:38:58,597 --> 00:39:01,295
awareness and compassion.

544
00:39:01,469 --> 00:39:04,124
His followers renounced
wealth to wander the earth

545
00:39:04,298 --> 00:39:07,301
spreading Buddha's
teachings by their example.

546
00:39:07,823 --> 00:39:10,478
This monk was one of them.

547
00:39:10,652 --> 00:39:12,611
And with his
courage and wisdom,

548
00:39:12,785 --> 00:39:15,483
he found the heart
in a heartless man.

549
00:39:17,137 --> 00:39:19,792
Ashoka was never the same.

550
00:39:22,534 --> 00:39:24,492
TYSON: He erected this pillar,

551
00:39:24,666 --> 00:39:27,756
one of many, on the
site of his greatest crime.

552
00:39:27,930 --> 00:39:32,544
Engraved on it was one of
the first edicts of Ashoka.

553
00:39:32,718 --> 00:39:34,676
ASHOKA: All are my children.

554
00:39:34,850 --> 00:39:38,288
I desire for my own children
their welfare and happiness,

555
00:39:38,463 --> 00:39:41,553
and this I desire for all.

556
00:39:48,690 --> 00:39:50,649
TYSON: It wasn't that
Ashoka was violating the

557
00:39:50,823 --> 00:39:52,825
laws of kin selection.

558
00:39:52,999 --> 00:39:55,828
It was that his definition
of who was kin to him had

559
00:39:56,002 --> 00:39:59,309
expanded to include everyone.

560
00:39:59,832 --> 00:40:01,790
He banned the rituals
of animal sacrifice and

561
00:40:01,964 --> 00:40:03,792
hunting for sport.

562
00:40:03,966 --> 00:40:06,360
He established veterinary
hospitals throughout India,

563
00:40:06,534 --> 00:40:09,494
and he counselled his citizens
to be kind to animals.

564
00:40:16,109 --> 00:40:19,286
Ashoka saw to it that wells
were dug to bring water to the

565
00:40:19,460 --> 00:40:21,114
towns and villages.

566
00:40:21,288 --> 00:40:23,551
He planted trees and built
shelters along the roads of

567
00:40:23,725 --> 00:40:26,989
India so that the traveler
would always feel welcome and

568
00:40:27,163 --> 00:40:30,950
animals would have
the mercy of shade.

569
00:40:32,430 --> 00:40:34,562
Ashoka signed peace
treaties with the small

570
00:40:34,736 --> 00:40:37,913
neighboring countries that had
once trembled at the mention
of his name.

571
00:40:38,218 --> 00:40:40,873
He would govern India
for another 30 years,

572
00:40:41,047 --> 00:40:43,876
and he used that time to
build schools, universities,

573
00:40:44,050 --> 00:40:46,922
hospitals, even hospices.

574
00:40:47,270 --> 00:40:49,838
He introduced the education
of women and saw no reason why

575
00:40:50,012 --> 00:40:52,754
they could not be
ordained as monks.

576
00:40:53,102 --> 00:40:56,062
He instituted free health
care for all and made sure

577
00:40:56,236 --> 00:40:59,935
that the medicines of the time
were available to everyone.

578
00:41:05,027 --> 00:41:08,117
He decreed that all
religions be honored equally.

579
00:41:08,291 --> 00:41:10,729
He ordered judicial review
of those wrongfully imprisoned

580
00:41:10,903 --> 00:41:12,818
or harshly treated.

581
00:41:12,992 --> 00:41:15,864
The temples and
palaces of Ashoka's reign,

582
00:41:16,038 --> 00:41:18,780
and most of the pillars he
erected throughout India,

583
00:41:18,954 --> 00:41:21,740
were destroyed by generations
of religious fanatics,

584
00:41:22,262 --> 00:41:25,744
outraged by what they considered
to be his godlessness.

585
00:41:30,009 --> 00:41:33,403
But despite their best efforts,
his legacy lives on.

586
00:41:34,317 --> 00:41:36,319
Buddhism became one
of the world's most

587
00:41:36,494 --> 00:41:38,626
influential religious
philosophies.

588
00:41:40,802 --> 00:41:43,675
Ashoka's edicts were
carved in stone in Aramaic,

589
00:41:44,893 --> 00:41:46,721
the language of Jesus,

590
00:41:46,895 --> 00:41:50,420
a couple of hundred years
before his birth.

591
00:41:53,598 --> 00:41:55,164
[echoing].

592
00:41:55,338 --> 00:41:57,123
Ashoka sent Buddhist
emissaries to the Middle East

593
00:41:57,297 --> 00:42:00,866
to teach, compassion,
mercy, humility,

594
00:42:01,040 --> 00:42:03,477
and the love of peace.

595
00:42:04,043 --> 00:42:06,132
Hear that?

596
00:42:06,306 --> 00:42:09,483
This is one of the few
temples of Ashoka that
survived the vandals,

597
00:42:10,310 --> 00:42:13,139
a cave in the
hills of Barabar in India.

598
00:42:13,618 --> 00:42:16,316
It's famous for its echo.

599
00:42:16,490 --> 00:42:19,885
The sound waves of my voice
ricochet off the walls until

600
00:42:20,059 --> 00:42:23,018
they're completely absorbed
by the surfaces of objects,

601
00:42:23,845 --> 00:42:27,806
and there's
nothing left at all.

602
00:42:32,811 --> 00:42:34,769
But Ashoka's
dream is different.

603
00:42:36,162 --> 00:42:40,601
Its echo grows louder
and louder with time.

604
00:42:53,527 --> 00:42:56,748
[baby crying].

605
00:43:04,973 --> 00:43:08,020
Who are we?

606
00:43:08,847 --> 00:43:11,197
You tell me.

607
00:43:49,888 --> 00:43:51,803
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