- 2 days ago
Join us on this thought-provoking journey of insight and speculation as we contemplate the future and unravel the secrets of our past.
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00:00At some point in its long and very interesting history, our dear planet Earth was sort of snoozing, just doing
00:07its planetary thing, spinning around the sun, and then, bam, life starts getting fancy.
00:14Plants and animals start strutting their stuff, showing off their complexity.
00:18Fast forward a bit, about 65 million years ago to be exact, and a cosmic disaster strikes, or at least
00:27that's what we presume.
00:28An asteroid probably smashed into Earth, wiping out the dinosaurs and other big animals.
00:34We can't pinpoint specifics about the asteroid, but we do know that it was extremely large and it crashed into
00:41our precious planet, creating a dusty mess that settled everywhere.
00:46You can still find remnants of that dust layer in sedimentary rocks today.
00:51If you dig beneath it, you'll uncover a whole bunch of fossils.
00:54Mammals, these prehistoric creatures were living it up before the asteroid crashed the party.
00:59Think of it as the planet going on a cleaning spree, leaving a bunch of empty spaces waiting to be
01:05filled.
01:06And guess who took the opportunity?
01:09Mammals!
01:10These furry little critters were the ones to rise to fame.
01:13But why is it that this disaster became such a great opportunity for mammals?
01:19It's pretty simple, actually.
01:21With no big bullies around, they grew, multiplied, and had a population expanse.
01:26All kinds of mammals joined to fill in the blanks.
01:29Primates, rodents, basically.
01:31The whole furry gang.
01:34We're talking about placental mammals, marsupials, and even egg-laying mammals, adding some serious variety to the mix.
01:40We like to think of primates as our closest relatives here on Earth.
01:44What's their story?
01:46Well, around 63 million years ago, just a couple of million years after the dinosaur's final dance,
01:53the primates decided it was time for a family reunion.
01:57They split into two groups.
01:59The dry-nosed primates, who became the cool monkeys and apes we know today,
02:03and the wet-nosed primates, who went off to become lemurs and aye-eyes, hey-hays.
02:10The fun didn't stop there.
02:12About 58 million years ago, the dry-nosed primates began their own little mission.
02:18One special guest called the Tarsier, Tars-i-ur, arrived on the scene,
02:24featuring big eyes that were perfect for late-night shenanigans.
02:28This Tarsier took a different path from its primate relatives,
02:32embracing its unique niche and evolving separately.
02:35To this day, the Tarsier is the only primate that feeds exclusively on meat.
02:40These little guys have a taste for insects, small birds, rodents, and even lizards.
02:45But that's not all that makes them unique.
02:48Their eyes are twice the size of their brains.
02:51Also, their heads can do a full 180-degree spin, just like an owl.
02:57Because of their features, the Tarsiers are the true kings and queens of the night.
03:02With their superpower of ultrasonic tracking, they can spot their prey instantly.
03:08Plus, their legs and feet are like springs ready to launch them into action.
03:14They've got this special ankle bone called the Tarsus, which gives them those epic leaping skills.
03:20Hence the name, if you were wondering.
03:23But let's leave these little critters to rest and get back to our story, shall we?
03:29About 55 million years ago, the Earth cranked up the heat, literally.
03:34This sudden hot pod was a bit too much for many deep ocean dwellers and plants to handle, and they
03:40bid their farewells.
03:41But hey, every goodbye is an opportunity for something new, right?
03:45The oceanic mammals known as cetaceans, cetaceans, saw their chance and took it.
03:51They splashed into those empty niches, becoming the rulers of the sea.
03:56In this category of creatures, you can find the blue whale and the dolphin.
04:00A special primate guest made an appearance around 47 million years ago.
04:05Scientists now affectionately call the fossil of such a creature, Ida.
04:10This little wonder caused quite a stir.
04:13Initially hailed as the missing link in human evolution.
04:17But here's the hilarious part.
04:19It turned out Ida was not one of us dry-nosed primates, but a cheeky wet-nosed one.
04:25Moving forward to 40 million years ago.
04:28This is when another big event happened in the primate world.
04:32The New World monkeys, our distant cousins, decided to take a different path and branch off from our lineage of
04:40Old World monkeys.
04:43They packed their bags and set off to conquer South America, where they're still living it up today.
04:50What's the difference between the two, you might ask?
04:55Well, one crucial thing that sets them apart is the fact that the Old World monkeys had nostrils that pointed
05:01downwards.
05:02Around 25 million years ago, another troop of apes entered the scene.
05:07And these guys had something special.
05:09The lack of a tail.
05:12These unique creatures would go on to become our closest relatives.
05:15We're talking apes and great apes.
05:17The cool gang who share a whole lot of genetic similarities with us.
05:21The first ape to break free from the monkey madness was the gibbon.
05:26About 18 million years ago is when this little acrobat swung into the picture.
05:32A few million years later, the great apes made their grand entrance too.
05:38Orangutans were the pioneers, venturing into the wilds of Southern Asia.
05:42We're getting closer and closer to the present.
05:45It was 7 million years ago when the great apes took a major fork in the evolutionary road.
05:49One path led to our ancestors, the future Homo sapiens.
05:55And the other path led to chimpanzees and bonobos.
05:58These two primate branches remained united for a few million years before finally going their separate ways.
06:045.6 million years ago, a game-changing ape, called Ardipithecus, made its way into our evolutionary history.
06:13It had a special talent, bipedalism.
06:17That's right, this was one of the first apes to walk on two feet, probably making its primate buddies raise
06:22an eyebrow or two.
06:24The real showstoppers, however, arrived around 4 million years ago.
06:28The Australopithecus crew.
06:30These were the earliest members of the Hominina Home-I-Nina sub-tribe.
06:35Our tribe.
06:36What made them so special?
06:38Oh, well, probably the fact that they brought some serious tools to the game.
06:42Stone tools, to be precise.
06:44It seems that at some point in their evolution, these clever primates started using stones to make their lives easier.
06:52Now, here comes a crucial turning point in our story.
06:56About two million years ago, our ancestors faced a food shortage.
07:01Survival of the fittest was the name of the game, and two strategies emerged.
07:06Group one went for stronger jaws, allowing them to chomp on tough foods like nuts.
07:11Group two had a different idea.
07:12They opted for weaker jaws, but bigger brains.
07:15They wanted access to a wider range of food options.
07:20Obviously, the bigger-brained group took the prize.
07:23And here's where our gang comes into play.
07:26Around 2.5 million years ago,
07:28A type of primate, also known as handyman, made its mark on history.
07:34These clever beings had larger brains, and knew how to put those neurons to good use.
07:40About 1.9 million years ago, a new star emerged, Homo erectus.
07:46These creatures not only walked upright, but also had brains that were almost twice the size of the handymans.
07:53They took the world by surprise, becoming the first of our direct ancestors to venture out of the African continent.
08:00They even knew how to tame fire.
08:03Approximately 700,000 years ago, the world witnessed a culinary revolution.
08:08The earliest evidence of cooking appeared.
08:10And around 500,000 years ago, our ancestors decided it was time to become a bit more fashionable,
08:18donning the first evidence of clothing.
08:21Our very own species came to be just 300,000 years ago.
08:25Told you we were late to the party.
08:27But the world was never the same after the appearance of Homo sapiens,
08:32the anatomically modern humans.
08:36Alongside our other relatives, we emerged,
08:39ready to conquer the world with our innovative minds and complex societies.
08:43The exact path of our evolution remains a bit of a mystery.
08:48But what we do know for sure,
08:50is that Neanderthals joined the party around at some point too.
08:54As Homo sapiens flourished, so did our capacity for language.
08:59Modern speech is believed to have emerged almost hand in hand with our species.
09:04We started expressing ourselves, sharing stories, and shaping the world with our words.
09:10So, there you have it.
09:12It took 13.8 billion years of cosmic history for humans to make their entrance.
09:18Think about it.
09:1999.998% of the time since the Big Bang,
09:24we weren't even around.
09:27Our species, Homo sapiens,
09:30is the toddler of the Earth's family,
09:32existing for just the tiniest fraction of the universe's timeline.
09:37Yet, in this blink of an eye,
09:40we've managed to unravel the entire story that led to our existence.
09:44The story won't end with us.
09:46It's an ongoing saga, still being written with every passing moment.
09:49What do you mean by saying that there will be a little device in your pocket,
09:53with all the knowledge of the world?
09:55People will be able to communicate with one another from any place on the globe at any time.
10:01And many machines will get artificial intelligence?
10:04Sorry, my friend, I can't believe this.
10:06It all sounds like a fairy tale.
10:09Perhaps that's how people from 1923 would have reacted
10:12if someone had told them how technology would change in a hundred years.
10:16But how would we react if somebody from the future
10:19went back in time and told us about 21-23?
10:23We don't need a time traveler to find this out
10:26because modern scientists can already predict
10:28how technology will develop in the next few decades.
10:31So let's start with the most essential thing.
10:34Medicine.
10:35Research, diagnostics, treatment methods,
10:38all these will develop quickly.
10:40Doctors and chemists of the future will be doing their job along with AI assistants.
10:44They will be able to diagnose and treat diseases much faster and more efficiently.
10:48There will be nanotechnology that can cure severe health problems without surgery.
10:53Imagine millions of tiny robots getting into your body to handle all your problems.
10:59But along with this, new dangerous bacteria may appear
11:02in the world that will be difficult to cure.
11:04Nature and evolution always keep a balance.
11:07On the one hand, our medicine will defeat bad microorganisms.
11:11But on the other hand, it will only make them stronger.
11:15People will get huge health upgrades.
11:17It's possible that we will be able to defeat aging in a few decades.
11:21Living for 200, 300, 500 years, all this can become a reality.
11:25Some people living today will probably regain their youth in the next hundred years.
11:30Pharmaceutical companies will create tools to improve memory and mindfulness.
11:34The most powerful machine in the world, that is our brain, will become even stronger.
11:40Muscle and fat-burning tonics can turn a dream into reality.
11:44Imagine a device that trains your muscles while you sit on the couch
11:47and watch dinosaurs running in your yard through the window.
11:50Only it's not a window, but a TV that gives 20K image quality indistinguishable from reality.
11:58Integrating technology into human anatomy will completely change the appearance of people.
12:02How about digital tattoos or lenses with infrared vision that can change your eye color?
12:06Flash drives in your brain to store all the information from a video tutorial.
12:10Metal bones and super strong muscles.
12:14Energy.
12:14We may completely switch from lithium to solar batteries in the next hundred years.
12:19Imagine thousands of large satellites with solar panels flying around the planet
12:23and providing Earth with unlimited energy.
12:25We will also be able to get a lot of energy from wind and water,
12:28and all this will allow us to make discoveries faster and more efficiently.
12:33With the help of light energy, we will study the universe much better
12:36and possibly find extraterrestrial life.
12:39A research project called Breakthrough Starshot is already in development.
12:44Scientists and engineers are creating ultra-fast nanocrafts powered by light.
12:49These are tiny robotic probes that have various research tools and communication systems.
12:54Thanks to their size and speed,
12:56they will be able to reach the neighboring Alpha Centauri star system in 20 years.
13:01Modern spaceships will reach this point only in 76,000 years.
13:05Nanocrafts will allow us to study exoplanets not through telescopes but from up close.
13:10We will be able to see videos of these new worlds, explore their atmosphere,
13:14and find living organisms.
13:16If they are there, of course.
13:17But most importantly, we will understand which of these worlds are ideal for humanity.
13:23By that time, the colonization of planets will not be new to us because,
13:27within a hundred years, we will surely send the first people to Mars.
13:30We will study its atmosphere, find sources of fresh water, build houses, and create a transport system.
13:37We will start bringing more and more products from Earth to the Red Planet
13:40and develop the economy between settlements on Mars.
13:43People will live in small communes under large domes where they can breathe without a space suit.
13:49The development of extraterrestrial technologies will significantly improve our economy
13:53and create many new jobs.
13:56Maybe we will find some valuable material on Mars and start spending billions of dollars to mine it.
14:01Our gadgets and laptops will become powerful computing machines thanks to quantum computers.
14:07It will likely be the most profound revolution in the world of technology,
14:11even more marvelous than the invention of the Internet.
14:14The Internet is just a huge platform where we share information and knowledge with each other.
14:19But the quantum computer will give us more.
14:22It will be able to do things that the most powerful supercomputers today can't even come close to.
14:28Calculations for space travel, genetics, chemistry, and physics.
14:32Currently, people are building large farms to mine Bitcoin.
14:36One quantum computer may be able to do this a thousand times faster.
14:40Combining quantum technologies and artificial intelligence will contribute to the technological singularity.
14:46This is a level of development when the speed of technological invention accelerates
14:50and progress becomes uncontrollable.
14:54People live for several thousand years using the same technologies.
14:58And then, in the last hundred plus years, everything changed.
15:01Thanks to electricity, the internal combustion engine, penicillin, and other discoveries,
15:06we could create antibiotics, cars, the Internet, cameras, video games, and thousands of other things.
15:11And all this in a very short period?
15:14In a sense, this was also a technological singularity.
15:18So, quantum computers and artificial intelligence will be the next booster,
15:23like the Industrial Revolution before,
15:25thanks to which the world will begin to change every day.
15:28Virtual reality glasses will become archaic in the future.
15:31People will wear transparent lenses with a digital interface or install chips in their brains.
15:36Scientists will be able to recreate the DNA of dinosaurs and mammoths.
15:40There may be technologies for recording dreams.
15:43Predicting the development of progress after a technological singularity is quite difficult.
15:48The human brain may not adapt to these rapid changes, which can lead to serious mental problems.
15:54Today, spending many hours watching short videos on social networks puts a lot of pressure on the brain.
16:00What will happen next when virtual reality becomes as real as ours?
16:04A simulation of the perfect world will draw many users away from real life.
16:08Our perception of the world works thanks to the brain, which processes signals through our senses.
16:15For example, music enters our ears, where the eardrum receives sound waves,
16:20then transmits them through a special channel in the form of a signal.
16:24And then, these signals reach the brain, which turns them into the sounds of music.
16:29Now imagine that these waves can be sent to the brain simply by stimulating its neurons with an electric current.
16:36You will hear music that doesn't really exist.
16:39So in the future, virtual reality headsets may appear.
16:43They will stimulate millions of brain neurons responsible not only for sounds, but also for smells, touch, and vision.
16:50There will be no difference between real life and virtual life for you.
16:54Let's hope that people will venture out from there to at least drive flying cars.
16:59In the future, they will be as ordinary as modern vehicles.
17:02You will be able to travel long distances with the help of the Hyperloop trains moving inside vacuum tubes at
17:07the speed of sound.
17:08Going on vacation to space stations or Mars will be as cheap as traveling to another country today.
17:14Thanks to the growing competition and lowering prices, cool technologies will be available to everyone.
17:21Remember how it was with cars in the 20th century?
17:24Only the richest had them.
17:26But after a few decades, ordinary people with average incomes started buying beautiful vehicles.
17:32Even if you can't buy a flying machine in the future, you'll be able to take a ride in a
17:37sky taxi.
17:38People will have to study constantly to keep up with the technologies.
17:42Not everyone will withstand this stress.
17:45Artificial intelligence will render millions of people around the world jobless.
17:49But in the end, all this will benefit us because there's no progress and development without overcoming difficulties.
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