- 1 year ago
From life-saving innovations to world-changing policies, some decisions altered the course of humanity forever. Join us as we explore the pivotal moments that shaped our world for the better! These brilliant choices range from scientific breakthroughs to diplomatic triumphs that averted disaster and revolutionized how we live.
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00:01Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the 30 greatest calls,
00:06pivots, and power moves that changed the world for the better.
00:09He had seen at first hand the consequences of bacterial infection.
00:15Number 30. The creation of the World Health Organization.
00:19In the wake of World War II, world leaders made a shocking call to work together to keep people
00:24alive. Enter the World Health Organization in 1948.
00:28Over the decades, WHO teams have crossed continents to promote cross-border health cooperation.
00:35The WHO was a big bet on international cooperation that stuck through the Cold War and beyond.
00:41Formed by a treaty signed by 61 countries, the WHO took on a bold mission.
00:46Stop disease, promote health, and raise life expectancy everywhere. Since then,
00:51it's helped wipe out smallpox, fight malaria, crush polio, and lead global responses to Ebola
00:57and COVID-19.
00:58WHO activated its incident management protocols the next day, on January 1st, and then,
01:05along with embedded scientists from other governments, WHO began the work, which continues
01:10to this day, analyzing the data and seeking additional information.
01:15Does it sometimes get caught up in red tape? Sadly, yes.
01:19But the fact that nearly every country agreed to share knowledge and fight disease together?
01:23That is quietly one of the best collective choices in human history.
01:27Solutions for a healthy world. For everyone, everywhere.
01:31Number 29. Ashoka the Great Converts to Buddhism.
01:35Emperor Ashoka had just won one of the bloodiest wars in ancient Indian history.
01:39It was around 260 BCE that he conquered Kalinga, witnessing the death of more than 100,000 people.
01:46Overwhelmed by the suffering and pain he had caused, he chose to reject violence and embrace Buddhism.
01:54What followed was one of the most radical pivots in world history.
01:57Almost overnight, Ashoka transformed from a ruthless conqueror into a benevolent ruler.
02:02He championed religious tolerance, animal welfare, and non-violence.
02:06His new beliefs sparked a dramatic transformation across one of the largest empires on Earth.
02:11His edicts, carved in stone, spread messages of morality and became pillars of Buddhist ethical thought.
02:17He spread peace instead of fear.
02:26Number 28. The Green Revolution.
02:29By the mid-20th century, parts of the world were on the brink of mass starvation.
02:34Then came an agricultural miracle.
02:36Starting in the 1940s, and partly funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, scientists tried a new way to produce more food.
02:43Spearheaded by scientists like Norman Borlaug, the Green Revolution introduced high-yield crops, synthetic fertilizers, and modern farming techniques to developing countries.
02:52India was one place where the Green Revolution really took off.
02:56In the 1960s, better living conditions and high birth rates helped the Indian population grow rapidly.
03:02Food production doubled, even tripled in the world's hungriest regions.
03:06The results were staggering.
03:08More than a billion lives may have been saved from starvation.
03:11Of course, it wasn't perfect.
03:13The methods increased dependence on chemicals, drained water supplies, and led to rising air and soil pollution.
03:19Some critics saw it as a short-term fix.
03:21Still, when it comes to feeding the planet, this was one of the most impactful decisions ever made.
03:26Will new innovations help us?
03:29And will existing political arrangements make it possible to address these problems on a large scale?
03:36Only time will tell.
03:38Number 27.
03:39Handwashing.
03:41Sometimes the smartest decisions are also the simplest.
03:44In terms of lives saved, soap and water might be history's most effective power couple.
03:49In medicine in particular, it's very surprising that there was so much resistance to the idea of handwashing.
03:56The push for routine handwashing in medical settings didn't fully take hold until the late 19th century, despite doctors like Ignaz Zemmelweis screaming about it decades earlier.
04:06Once it caught on, infection rates in hospitals and homes plummeted.
04:10Today, it's a basic hygiene step taught to toddlers, but it's also a frontline defense against deadly diseases.
04:17Wash your hands and make sure that everyone who touches you, including your doctor, cleanses their hands too.
04:22From the great influenza pandemic to COVID-19, handwashing has easily kept billions alive.
04:28It's not flashy.
04:29It doesn't come with a Nobel Prize.
04:31But as far as decisions go, scrubbing up is one of humanity's cleanest wins.
04:36And washing saves lives.
04:39Number 26.
04:40The Marshall Plan.
04:41After World War II, Europe was in ruins.
04:44Its cities were bombed into rubble, its people starving, and its economies on life support.
04:48The U.S. could have turned its back and left Europe to its own fate.
04:52Instead, in 1948, they launched the Marshall Plan to send over $13 billion to help Western Europe rebuild.
04:59If we are to be successful in our quest for peace in a decent world, we will be constantly in need of their strong cooperation.
05:09It wasn't charity, but a strategy to stabilize America's allies, contain communism, and prevent another global conflict.
05:16The plan funded food, fuel, factories, and hope.
05:20Within four years, Europe's economy was booming, and the Cold War's ideological lines had ossified.
05:25The Marshall Plan was foreign aid with teeth, and one of the most successful investments in peace and prosperity ever made.
05:32The time of action is at hand.
05:35Number 25.
05:36The Montreal Protocol.
05:38In the 1980s, scientists discovered a terrifying hole in the ozone layer.
05:42It was expanding fast, threatening to cook humanity like a microwave.
05:46It was such a shocking revelation.
05:49Over half the ozone layer destroyed above Antarctica in a decade.
05:54The culprit was CFCs, chemicals found in everything from hairspray to refrigerators.
05:59In 1987, 46 nations signed the Montreal Protocol, agreeing to phase out ozone-destroying substances.
06:06Here's the wild part.
06:07It worked.
06:08The protocol has been called the most successful environmental regulation ever.
06:12In the decades since, the ozone layer has slowly healed.
06:16It has made more progress than any other environmental convention in the world.
06:21Millions of skin cancer cases have been prevented.
06:24It even helped slow climate change, as CFCs are also potent greenhouse gases.
06:29For all the gridlock on global issues today, this proved that when humanity acts quickly and together,
06:34science-backed decisions really can save the planet.
06:37There's only one herd.
06:39We have only one herd to protect.
06:41We cannot lose this one.
06:43Number 24.
06:44Women's suffrage.
06:45For much of democracy's history, half the population was locked out of national decisions.
06:50But in the early 20th century, something changed.
06:53On March 3rd, 1913, protesters parted for the woman in white.
06:59Dressed in a flowing cape and sitting astride a white horse, the activist, Inez Milholland,
07:04was hard to miss.
07:06She was riding at the helm of the women's suffrage parade, the first mass protest for a woman's
07:11right to vote on a national scale.
07:12A daisy chain of nations began extending voting rights to women.
07:16It started with New Zealand in 1893 and rippled across the globe throughout the 20th century.
07:22The end of World War II brought liberation to many European and Asian countries.
07:27And with that, enfranchisement of women.
07:29This wasn't just symbolic.
07:31Studies suggest that when women gained political power, economies grew stronger.
07:35Women's votes led to smarter investments in health, education, and family welfare.
07:40Women's rights are a proven boost to human capital and long-term GDP.
07:45But the fight is far from over.
07:47In many places, women still face disenfranchisement, repression, and legal inequality.
07:52The right to vote was an historic breakthrough, but it was only a first step.
07:56We better go outside.
07:57There'll be reporters here anyway.
08:01How's my hair?
08:05Red.
08:09Number 23.
08:10The Edict of Milan.
08:11We tend to think of religious tolerance as a modern idea dreamed up by Enlightenment philosophers
08:16and democracies.
08:17But nearly 2,000 years ago, ancient Rome beat them to it.
08:21I agree that the edicts against the Christians are harsh, but they bring these things on themselves.
08:26I've seen it.
08:26In the year 313, Emperors Constantine and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan.
08:32In it, they declared that all religions were legal and protected under imperial law.
08:37It was a revolutionary move.
08:39Christians could now worship freely, own property, and build churches without fear of persecution.
08:44Thanks to your edicts, they have come out into the open.
08:46The edict reshaped the Roman Empire, and differing faith became an accepted personal choice.
08:52The edict did not end all sectarian strife, but it planted the first real legal seed of religious pluralism.
08:58The sign of the cross.
09:00I will not force you, any of you, to accept it as your faith.
09:07Only those must stay at my side who will fight for the right of every man to live in freedom.
09:14Without tyranny, intolerance, or persecution.
09:18Number 22, harnessing electricity.
09:21Today, electricity is a part of nearly every aspect of modern life.
09:25It's easy to forget just how wild it is that humanity found a way to bottle lightning, then wired up the entire planet.
09:32The sheer power of the electricity which flew from the jar was greater than any seen before.
09:39In the late 19th century, minds like Edison, Tesla, and Westinghouse turned a scientific curiosity into a global power grid.
09:46They built plants, laid lines, and lit up cities.
09:50Homes, factories, and hospitals were transformed almost overnight, and civilization entered a new era.
09:55Now it was possible to broadcast and detect the actual sound of a human voice or music.
10:04Electricity-fueled industrial growth, saved lives, and connected the world.
10:09Of course, the system ran on fossil fuels, sparking devastating environmental consequences.
10:14But the decision to electrify the planet utterly transformed humanity.
10:18Our ideas, they are what we leave behind.
10:25And only they are what can push us forward.
10:27Number 21, abolishing slavery.
10:30The great moral stain of slavery has existed in many forms throughout history.
10:34I opened my eyes, and I was here.
10:39Emperor Ashoka of India was the first to ban the legal trade of humans for servitude.
10:43Other forms of slavery were abolished through the centuries,
10:46until the movement was spurred by the Enlightenment era of the late 18th and 19th centuries.
10:51He wanted to make clear to everybody that he, Lincoln, understood that the war
10:58had been a war to free the slaves, and not just a war to save the Union.
11:04Today, slavery should just be history, but it's not.
11:07Modern slavery in the form of forced labor, human trafficking, and bonded marriage
11:11entraps nearly 50 million people.
11:14It grosses hundreds of billions annually.
11:16Ending legal slavery was a seismic moral victory, but it's only been abolished on paper.
11:21It still exists, hidden in plain sight.
11:24And we are calling on the G20 to center the eradication of modern slavery in their negotiations
11:28later this year.
11:29Number 20, Gutenberg's printing press.
11:32When it comes to widespread literacy rates,
11:34German inventor Johannes Gutenberg is an important figure.
11:38Born in the Holy Roman Empire, Gutenberg is credited with inventing the movable type
11:42style printing press in the early 15th century.
11:44This effectively killed the likes of manuscript and block printing, as Gutenberg's invention
11:49spread through the world and brought about the so-called printing revolution.
11:52This early period was actually quite revolutionary.
11:57There were things changing all the time.
11:59It took off rather like the internet.
12:00Thanks to the readily available and easy-to-use machine, things like books, pamphlets, and newspapers
12:06became commonplace, allowing information to spread freely through global societies.
12:11Furthermore, literacy rates among adults rapidly expanded.
12:14Basically, the modern world would look a lot different if Gutenberg hadn't been around
12:19to refine the printing press.
12:20Not since Johann Gutenberg's invention of the printing press, which changed forever the
12:26landscape of man's destiny, has one book reached so many and achieved so much.
12:32Number 19, Tim Berners-Lee and the Internet.
12:35All right, maybe a case could be made that the internet was not a good invention.
12:38We're ranking girls.
12:42You mean other students?
12:44Yeah.
12:44You think this is such a good idea?
12:46But putting things into perspective, it brought about a lot of positive changes and undeniably
12:51altered the world.
12:52The internet was devised by an English computer scientist named Tim Berners-Lee, who developed
12:57the World Wide Web in 1989.
13:00The early internet was private and used between shared institutions, including Berners-Lee's own
13:05CERN.
13:06However, it didn't stay private for long.
13:08All you need is a computer and a regular phone line.
13:11They send you the software and give you 10 free hours to check it out.
13:14After just a few years of tinkering, the source code was released to the public on April 30th,
13:191993, making the internet free and accessible to all.
13:23By the 2020s, it had connected billions of people.
13:27It's astounding how much change can occur in just 30 years.
13:30Number 18, the Louisiana Purchase.
13:33The history of the United States is complex, filled with treaties, land purchases, wars
13:39and all sorts of different countries.
13:41Once upon a time, Middle America, or Louisiana, was owned by France.
13:45Then it went to Spain.
13:46Then it went back to France when Napoleon traded it for Tuscany.
13:49But Napoleon eventually shrugged at the prospect of owning land in North America.
13:53And besides, he had a massive war to fund in Europe.
13:56Enter Thomas Jefferson, who really wanted New Orleans for its strategic location on the
14:01Mississippi.
14:02Through his treasury minister, François Barbet-Marbois, Napoleon offered not only New Orleans,
14:07but the entirety of Louisiana.
14:09Jefferson couldn't believe the bargain and swiftly agreed.
14:12I'll take it!
14:13Effectively doubling the size of the United States.
14:16Napoleon says, you give us 15 million and we'll give you the entire parcel doubling the
14:23United States.
14:24Number 17, the creation of metal.
14:27Look around you right now.
14:28Chances are that you can see something made out of metal.
14:31Well, you can thank our distant ancestors for that.
14:33I got new legs.
14:35Custom made.
14:37Titanium alloy.
14:39Humans have been using metal since pre-history, with copper and meteoric iron being favorites.
14:45But it wasn't until we made bronze that things really took off.
14:48An alloy of copper and tin, it brought about the Bronze Age and swiftly altered human history.
14:53Beginning in about 3300 BCE, the Bronze Age introduced rapid technological advancement
14:58owing to the sturdiness of the alloy, which was far stronger than straight copper.
15:03Metal working became commonplace, which in turn led to enormous revolutions in tool and
15:07weapon production.
15:09And that's to say nothing of the massive changes to economics, art, and agriculture.
15:14Can I try one?
15:15Help yourself!
15:21Help yourself!
15:24Number 16, forming the United Nations.
15:27World War II had just decimated the globe, and the world had had enough.
15:31The League of Nations, which was established back in 1920, clearly didn't work.
15:36So we needed a new international organization to help keep the peace.
15:39Enter the Dumbarton Oaks Conference, which took place throughout the latter half of 1944.
15:44To call for a vote on the approval of the Charter of the United Nations.
15:51Held between the US, the UK, the Soviet Union, and China, it formulated the idea of the United
15:57Nations, which was officially established in 1945.
16:01Its reception and success have been mixed, but it did one thing that it set out to do,
16:06and that was to prevent future world wars.
16:08A powerful security council having final military authority.
16:13A general assembly representing all member nations.
16:16Who's to say what would have happened had the United Nations not been established?
16:20Number 15, Ford's Mass Production.
16:23Born in 1863, Henry Ford's farmer parents couldn't imagine what their son would do for
16:28the world.
16:29No, they literally couldn't imagine it, as mass production was little known at the time.
16:33Young Ford immediately took to cars, and created the Ford Motor Company in 1903 at the
16:38age of 40.
16:38Said company revolutionized mass production and manufacturing, with his iconic assembly
16:43line changing the world of business forever.
16:46His innovative techniques became commonplace and continue to be used to this day.
16:50They also allowed for the rapid production of cheaper goods, and therefore cheaper cars.
16:59Suffice it to say, cheap cars have been a monumental factor in the 20th century's rapid technological
17:04development.
17:06Number 14, the Roman and Phonetic Alphabets.
17:09Humans first started writing around 3500 BCE.
17:12This script is called cuneiform, and it was used in southern Mesopotamia to document the
17:17likes of contracts, finances, and law.
17:19And there you have the tablet inside.
17:21Yes.
17:22But gee, that's very destructive.
17:24Just, I mean, that's an artifact in itself.
17:25It is.
17:26It is.
17:27So you only then have half an artifact.
17:30Yeah, nothing very fun, but hey, it only changed the world.
17:33Writing then went through many changes, including the Phoenician Alphabet of the Mediterranean.
17:38Created in about 1050 BC, this eventually morphed into the Euboean Alphabet, which morphed into
17:44the Old Italic, which finally gave rise to the Latin alphabet used by the ancient Romans.
17:49But in the Latin alphabet, Jehovah begins with an I.
17:55J.
17:58And they pretty much perfected it.
18:00We still use the Romans' letters to this day.
18:03And in 1888, they were standardized by the International Phonetic Association to create
18:08the International Phonetic Alphabet.
18:10According to alphabetical order, you're A, B, C, D, E, F, G.
18:17Number 13.
18:18The Human Genome Project.
18:20Beginning in 1990, the world got together and decided,
18:23all right, let's figure this whole DNA thing out.
18:25A DNA strand like me is a blueprint for building a living thing.
18:30Called the Human Genome Project, it was a massive undertaking in which scientists from around
18:35the world hoped to identify, map, and sequence our genes.
18:39And, well, they did.
18:40Importantly, we found protein evidence for two-thirds of genes for which no protein had
18:47ever been identified.
18:49But this was no small undertaking.
18:51It cost billions of dollars, was performed in 20 universities across the world, and took
18:5613 years to complete, lasting from 1990 to 2003.
19:00He was working on the Human Genome Project.
19:03Are you familiar with that?
19:04Yeah.
19:04The mapping of all human genes.
19:06Maybe the most ambitious scientific endeavor in the history of mankind.
19:11But all that money and hard work paid off, as they pretty much nailed what they set out
19:15to do.
19:15Mapping 92% of the human genome, they found all 25,000 genes, learned to read the code,
19:22and identified problem genes, which in turn created more effective medicine.
19:26The fruits of the Human Genome Project and the incredible progress that's been made in
19:31genomics in the last 12 years since the end of the Genome Project, and actually changing
19:36how we practice medicine.
19:37Number 12.
19:38Newton's Apple
19:39There are many misconceptions regarding the legendary Isaac Newton apple story.
19:44For one thing, Newton did not discover gravity.
19:47He already knew it existed, as did many big thinkers before him.
19:50Rather, Newton was studying universal gravitation, or more broadly, the idea that gravity is
19:56responsible for a moon's orbit.
19:58Newton's real genius was not to just stop with the apple, but to ask the question, is
20:04the same force that causes the apple to fall here on Earth, also responsible for the movement
20:08of much bigger things out there in the cosmos?
20:11Furthermore, an apple did not fall on Newton's head.
20:14Rather, he was visiting his family farm in Lincolnshire when he went for a walk through
20:18the garden and observed an apple falling from its tree.
20:21Newton suggested that the apple falls because of a force of attraction that naturally exists
20:27between the apple and the Earth.
20:30It was the strike of inspirational lightning that he needed, and it allowed him to formulate
20:35the three laws of motion and his revolutionary theories on universal gravitation.
20:39And to think, he could have just ignored it.
20:41That Isaac Newton fellow was right.
20:44He was obviously a clever boy.
20:46Number 11.
20:47Farming and the Agricultural Revolution
20:49For many, many years, humans simply wandered from place to place, living off the land and
20:54desperately hoping that it provided.
20:56For 90% of human history, this is how we lived.
20:59And it sucked.
21:01It is such a lovely silk down here!
21:03But about 10,000 years ago, we had the brilliant idea to begin the practice of agriculture.
21:08This practice started independently in many parts of the world.
21:11China domesticated rice and beans, Mesopotamia sheep, South America potatoes, New Guinea sugarcane,
21:18Mesoamerica maize, and Eurasia boars and pigs.
21:21With this wild idea, humanity transitioned from active hunter-gatherers to more sedentary civilizations,
21:27allowing us a much safer and more prosperous future.
21:31After a while, I won't be so pretty.
21:34But this land will be.
21:36Number 10.
21:37Assaulting the beach on D-Day
21:39When it came time for the Normandy landings of 1944, it was pretty much do or die for
21:45the Allied forces.
21:46In any direction you went, there would be enemy.
21:49You knew it.
21:50And that was all part of what you accepted.
21:54Germany had successfully occupied France in June 1940, and it remained under their control
21:59for four years.
22:00What the hell do we do now, sir?
22:02The Allies, hoping to liberate Europe from Nazi control, launched Operation Neptune and
22:08stormed the beaches of Normandy.
22:10This required extensive planning, an entire deception called Operation Bodyguard, and studying
22:16the phases of the moon to determine the best possible time of attack.
22:19They even delayed the operation by 24 hours, as the weather on June 5th was not ideal and
22:25could have led to disaster.
22:26It was one genius decision after another, and the Allied victory precipitated the end of
22:32World War II.
22:33Number 9.
22:34The Magna Carta
22:35Medieval Latin for Great Charter.
22:37The Magna Carta was first created in 1215 by the Archbishop of Canterbury and signed by
22:42King John of England.
22:43At the time, a group of barons was rebelling against the king's rule.
22:47The laws of this land enslave people to its king.
22:53A king who demands loyalty but offers nothing in return.
22:58To stifle the political dissatisfaction, King John agreed to sign a charter of rights, most
23:03of them concerning the feudal power of the monarchy.
23:05The Magna Carta was extensively used in the 17th century against the divine right of kings,
23:10which basically meant that a monarch lived outside the law and could do whatever he
23:14wanted.
23:15The Magna Carta put an end to that absolute power.
23:17It also served as the basis for the United States Constitution, effectively giving rise
23:22to modern democracy and constitutional law.
23:25Split one shot latte with whip.
23:28These coffee orders, the Magna Carta was less complicated.
23:31Number 8.
23:32Rush and the Mosquitoes
23:33And speaking about the United States Constitution, let's talk about founding father Benjamin Rush.
23:38Rush was of paramount importance during the Philadelphia Yellow Fever epidemic of 1793,
23:43in which 5,000 of the city's 50,000 residents died.
23:47While most of the citizens fled the city, Rush stayed behind to study the disease.
23:51At the time, no one knew that mosquitoes were responsible.
23:54They turned yellow, and that relates to the release of bile from an inflamed liver.
24:00In fact, Rush believed that it was caused by garbage and, quote,
24:04some damaged coffee.
24:05However, he also wrote that mosquitoes were, quote,
24:08uncommonly numerous during the epidemic, a fact that was noticed by Cuban doctor Carlos
24:13Finlay nearly 100 years later.
24:15Finlay became the first person to deduce that yellow fever came from mosquitoes,
24:20and he directly credited Rush for the idea.
24:23Number 7.
24:24Inventing the wheel
24:24It's not very glamorous, but the wheel is arguably the greatest invention in human history.
24:30And I've got the greatest hunk of news since the invention of the wheel.
24:33Heck, we're still using them, aren't we?
24:35No one really knows who invented the wheel, although it's often credited to Mesopotamia.
24:39The modern wheel, that is, a circular piece of wood with a hole for an axle,
24:44is usually traced to the Copper Age, around 3500 BCE.
24:48The Ljubljana Marsh's wheel, found in modern-day Slovenia,
24:51is the oldest known wheel ever discovered, being about 5,000 years old.
24:55Someone along the way slapped some wheels on a cart,
24:58and with that, the entire future of trade, agriculture, and transportation
25:02was laid out in stark and promising detail.
25:05I'm not going anywhere without wheels.
25:07Number 6.
25:10Mikhail Gorbachev takes down the Berlin Wall
25:12It's amazing how much history was packed into the 20th century.
25:16Heck, even how much history was packed into the latter half of it.
25:19Construction of the Berlin Wall began in 1961,
25:22symbolizing the Cold War and the fierce political divide in Europe.
25:25The wall itself ran through Berlin,
25:28dividing west from east and containing the east's communist citizens.
25:32They remained trapped for over two decades,
25:34until the east German government allowed its citizens to cross in 1989.
25:41This historic event not only symbolized the end of the Cold War and communism,
25:46it led to the entire dissolution of the Soviet Union just a few years later.
25:50They've been pouring through the world non-stop, delirious with joy.
25:54For his role in tearing down the wall,
25:57Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
26:01If there is someone who sleeps for eight weeks,
26:07and you told him what happened here,
26:09he thinks you are crazy.
26:11Number 5.
26:11Jenner's Smallpox Vaccine
26:13Edward Jenner changed the course of human history
26:16when he invented the world's first vaccine.
26:18Smallpox was a devastating disease in Jenner's time,
26:21killing up to 10% of the global population.
26:24But Jenner theorized that the pus from cowpox provided immunity to the far deadlier smallpox.
26:30Jenner procured some cowpox pus and inoculated his gardener's 8-year-old son, James Phipps.
26:35This was a huge risk, but the test worked,
26:38and Phipps was successfully vaccinated against smallpox.
26:41Jenner later published his findings,
26:43leading to the eradication of smallpox in the introduction of vaccines.
26:47Years later,
26:48Jonas Salk would prove a similar hero when he refused to patent the polio vaccine.
26:52Just 25 years later,
26:54it was completely eradicated in the United States.
26:57And now, like millions of boys and girls across the nation,
27:01David, too, is protected against paralytic polio.
27:04Number 4.
27:05Washington's Third Term
27:07On April 30th, 1789,
27:09founding father George Washington made history
27:11and became the first president of the United States.
27:14He ran for two terms,
27:15finally leaving office on March 4th, 1797.
27:18But unlike today,
27:20this leave of office was not mandatory.
27:23Rather, it was Washington's idea.
27:24Washington recognized that sometimes you get more power by giving it up
27:28than by trying to hold on to every last piece of it.
27:32For one thing,
27:32he feared the executive and unchecked rule of a monarchy.
27:35He also loved the idea of a peaceful transfer of power
27:38and was inspired by ancient Rome,
27:41especially the story of Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus
27:43and how he relinquished his own power as statesman.
27:46Plus, he was just really tired.
27:49Running a country is hard, you know.
27:51This is hard.
27:53By stepping down,
27:54Washington set a democratic precedent that is still in use today.
27:58And how does he further that power?
28:00By showing that he doesn't crave power.
28:03Number 3.
28:03Alexander Fleming leaves out a Petri dish
28:06One of the greatest advancements of the 20th century
28:08was completely fortuitous.
28:10Sometimes we catch a break.
28:12Scottish microbiologist Alexander Fleming
28:14worked in London's St. Mary's Hospital,
28:15studying the bacteria Staphylococcus.
28:18One day,
28:19he left Staphylococci on a Petri dish
28:21and left for vacation.
28:22When he returned,
28:23the dish was full of mold.
28:25Yet the Staphylococci around the mold
28:26had been curiously destroyed.
28:28This mold was penicillium,
28:30and it was actively killing bacteria.
28:32Upon further tests,
28:34Fleming discovered its antibacterial properties
28:36and introduced the world to antibiotics.
28:39Good thing he didn't throw out that dish.
28:41As he famously said,
28:42You need to have networks of people
28:50with different skills,
28:51different fields of expertise
28:52coming together to solve a problem.
28:54And in fact,
28:54that's exactly what happens
28:56in the history of penicillin.
28:58Number 2.
28:58Khrushchev turns the ships around.
29:00Nikita Khrushchev was in office
29:01during the famous Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962,
29:04when American forces discovered
29:06Soviet missile facilities in nearby Cuba.
29:08Our official estimate at this time
29:11is that this missile system
29:12is the SS-4 Sandal.
29:15We do not believe that the missiles
29:17are as yet operational.
29:19Tensions mounted
29:20as the world escalated closer
29:22toward nuclear war.
29:23Luckily,
29:24it ended in one of the world's
29:25greatest diplomatic victories.
29:27The United States agreed
29:28not to invade Cuba
29:30and to remove their nuclear missiles
29:32from Turkey.
29:33In exchange,
29:34Khrushchev ordered the removal
29:35of his warheads from Cuba.
29:36While the decision humiliated Khrushchev
29:39and led to his political downfall,
29:40it was arguably the smartest decision
29:42ever made in human history.
29:44Without it,
29:45we could all be living
29:46in a nuclear wasteland.
29:48Stanislav Petrov would save the world
29:50in a similar manner in 1983,
29:52when he refused to retaliate
29:53against a false alarm.
29:55And then I made my decision.
29:58I would not trust the computer.
30:00I picked up the telephone handset,
30:02spoke to my superiors,
30:04and reported that the alarm was false.
30:07Before we continue,
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30:23Number 1.
30:24Harnessing Fire
30:25We don't know who
30:26was the first person
30:27to start a fire,
30:28but they deserve
30:28a posthumous medal or something.
30:30Basically,
30:39we are where we are today,
30:41not just as a global society,
30:43but as a species,
30:44because someone decided
30:45to harness fire.
30:46Look what I have created!
30:49I have made fire!
30:51I have made fire!
30:55The use of fire
30:56long predates Homo sapiens,
30:58with the earliest evidence of it
30:59dating back about 2 million years.
31:01To put that into perspective,
31:03Homo sapiens have only been around
31:04for about 300,000 years.
31:07The use of fire allowed
31:08for all sorts
31:09of technological advances,
31:10making tools,
31:11warding off predators,
31:12and cooking food
31:13being a few major ones.
31:15We learned that fire
31:16was not to be feared,
31:17but utilized.
31:18And with that decision,
31:20the course of human history
31:21was forever changed.
31:22What do you think
31:23was the best decision in history?
31:25Let us know in the comments.
31:26This was a discovery
31:28of enormous significance.
31:30that is true.
31:35I hope you mentioned
31:35today,
31:36this is the best decision
31:39when you see morn program
31:39of the world
31:39and ofców's
31:40or even in your life.
31:42Let us know in the comments
31:43how to improve your health
31:44and what your health
31:44and what our health
31:45can be taken.
31:46I hope for people
31:46in the comments
31:47I hope you don't see
31:48as well as well.
31:49– You're the best decision
31:52or that you don't see
31:53here.
31:54If you don't see
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