1
00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:08,400
An imperial advisor who foretold the end
of a dynasty.

2
00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:14,040
A trance -like state of mind attained by
a mysterious oracle.

3
00:00:14,620 --> 00:00:20,820
And an entire organization founded on
the ability to predict the future.

4
00:00:21,780 --> 00:00:26,020
There's something about human nature
that compels us to want to know what the

5
00:00:26,020 --> 00:00:27,020
future will bring.

6
00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:32,800
We use predictions all the time when it
comes to weather or traffic or even the

7
00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:33,800
stock market.

8
00:00:34,150 --> 00:00:38,510
Well, most predictions are simply a best
guess based on experience.

9
00:00:39,630 --> 00:00:45,570
There are those among us who have the
ability to see the future in vivid

10
00:00:47,530 --> 00:00:54,090
Who are these mystics who possess the
power of prediction? And just how do

11
00:00:54,090 --> 00:01:00,030
tap into an unseeable realm to capture
details beyond our reach?

12
00:01:00,270 --> 00:01:04,840
And is the ability to see the future, A
special gift?

13
00:01:05,900 --> 00:01:08,720
Or something we all are capable of?

14
00:01:09,220 --> 00:01:12,620
Well, that is what we'll try and find
out.

15
00:01:26,900 --> 00:01:31,000
In our modern world, it might be
tempting to assume that prophecy

16
00:01:31,710 --> 00:01:38,350
is merely an antiquated fantasy from the
past that has no relevance today.

17
00:01:38,810 --> 00:01:45,290
But the surprising truth is that
millions of people still rely on

18
00:01:45,290 --> 00:01:51,150
readers, and fortune tellers of all
kinds for guidance about the future.

19
00:01:52,550 --> 00:01:58,030
People want to know about the future.
Our hopes get projected into prophecies,

20
00:01:58,030 --> 00:01:59,570
the things that might get better.

21
00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:04,780
Our fears get projected into prophecies,
the things that might go bad.

22
00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:11,000
And various writers and mystics attempt
to tell us what is coming.

23
00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:13,920
Sometimes they get it right.

24
00:02:15,380 --> 00:02:20,900
Predictions continue to garner attention
today because human nature tends to go

25
00:02:20,900 --> 00:02:23,920
in the direction of something that it
considers beneficial.

26
00:02:25,070 --> 00:02:31,550
And so when we speak of prognostication
or peering into the future, we at least

27
00:02:31,550 --> 00:02:34,850
have to give credence to the possibility
that prophecy works.

28
00:02:36,990 --> 00:02:41,730
Is it possible that some people do in
fact have the ability to peer into the

29
00:02:41,730 --> 00:02:42,730
future?

30
00:02:44,090 --> 00:02:49,210
Well, for thousands of years humanity
has turned to so -called prophets for

31
00:02:49,210 --> 00:02:51,450
information about what the future holds.

32
00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:56,980
So perhaps a close examination of some
ancient clairvoyance and their bold

33
00:02:56,980 --> 00:03:02,920
predictions will shed light on the
mysterious power of prophecy.

34
00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:09,700
Zhejiang Province, China.

35
00:03:10,820 --> 00:03:16,080
Deep in this remote mountainous region
lies a small village called Nantian

36
00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:17,120
Township.

37
00:03:18,670 --> 00:03:23,610
In the center of this community, there
is a commemorative square within which

38
00:03:23,610 --> 00:03:30,010
stands a 15 -foot tall statue dedicated
to an ancient prophet named

39
00:03:30,010 --> 00:03:31,790
Liu Bowen.

40
00:03:34,030 --> 00:03:39,290
Liu Bowen is one of the most well -known
figures in all of Chinese history.

41
00:03:40,530 --> 00:03:44,450
He's born in 1311. He died in 1375.

42
00:03:46,090 --> 00:03:52,730
He was a close advisor of the emperor of
the Ming dynasty, or the whole emperor.

43
00:03:52,890 --> 00:03:58,950
In the surviving letters that we have,
the emperor repeatedly and explicitly

44
00:03:58,950 --> 00:04:04,350
refers to Liu Bowen's ability to see the
future.

45
00:04:05,610 --> 00:04:10,650
On account of Liu Bowen's access to this
untapped knowledge about the future,

46
00:04:10,690 --> 00:04:12,510
the emperor was able to...

47
00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:18,620
predict where enemy troops were, when
they would strike, and he was able to

48
00:04:18,620 --> 00:04:20,720
defend or attack them successfully.

49
00:04:21,579 --> 00:04:27,460
Very famously, there's a story that says
he helped the Ming emperor secure the

50
00:04:27,460 --> 00:04:33,320
throne and overthrow the Mongols who
ruled over China previously for a few

51
00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:34,320
hundred years.

52
00:04:34,780 --> 00:04:40,660
So Liu Bowen was a very useful advisor,
and he's seen as a kind of a cultural

53
00:04:40,660 --> 00:04:42,020
hero nowadays in China.

54
00:04:43,630 --> 00:04:47,710
Liu Bowen made thousands of predictions
related to Chinese affairs of state.

55
00:04:48,050 --> 00:04:52,310
But his most famous prophecy was of an
event that took place not during his

56
00:04:52,310 --> 00:04:57,930
lifetime, but rather more than 500 years
after his death.

57
00:05:02,330 --> 00:05:03,330
1911.

58
00:05:04,030 --> 00:05:07,990
All across China, uprisings occur
against the Qing Dynasty.

59
00:05:08,930 --> 00:05:12,010
The revolution culminates in the
abdication.

60
00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:17,220
of the child emperor Puyi and the end of
the Chinese monarchy.

61
00:05:18,740 --> 00:05:22,760
This is one of the most important events
in all of Chinese history because it's

62
00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:29,600
the end of a dynastic system that had
been in play since at least 221

63
00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:30,600
B .C.

64
00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:36,280
So we're talking about 2 ,000 years of
history that end.

65
00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:41,740
And the Obolwan is credited with having
seen this, having seen the revolution.

66
00:05:42,380 --> 00:05:43,380
In the 20th century.

67
00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:49,760
For some, the idea that a man who lived
in the 1300s could successfully predict

68
00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:55,920
the overthrow of the last emperor of
China in 1911 might sound impossible.

69
00:05:56,780 --> 00:06:03,640
But many Chinese people believe that Liu
Bowen did, in fact, do just that.

70
00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:10,180
And as evidence, they point to a cryptic
poem Bowen wrote that is called The

71
00:06:10,180 --> 00:06:11,180
Song.

72
00:06:12,969 --> 00:06:19,250
One of the most important parts of the
song is it has a line about one of the

73
00:06:19,250 --> 00:06:22,770
last emperors dying prematurely in his
palace.

74
00:06:23,230 --> 00:06:28,050
And this actually occurred. The
penultimate emperor died as a result of

75
00:06:28,050 --> 00:06:31,690
probably poisoning at a relatively young
age in the palace.

76
00:06:32,710 --> 00:06:36,230
And it happened only a number of years
before the revolution.

77
00:06:37,390 --> 00:06:41,530
Following this description of the
emperor's premature death, there is a

78
00:06:41,530 --> 00:06:44,070
about the appearance of a golden dragon.

79
00:06:45,130 --> 00:06:51,990
Now, the term golden dragon in the
Chinese culture refers to a ruler who is

80
00:06:51,990 --> 00:06:58,630
adored by his people. And this is indeed
what happened when Sun Yat -sen came to

81
00:06:58,630 --> 00:07:03,950
power as the first provisional president
of the Republic of China following the

82
00:07:03,950 --> 00:07:04,950
revolution.

83
00:07:06,030 --> 00:07:09,890
He was the savior and father of the
Chinese nation.

84
00:07:12,190 --> 00:07:15,870
Because of its parallels with the events
of the 1911 revolution,

85
00:07:16,610 --> 00:07:22,870
the ancient song of Sao Binh is
considered an authentic prophecy in

86
00:07:22,870 --> 00:07:23,870
culture.

87
00:07:24,390 --> 00:07:30,070
And in fact, many people believe that
Liu Bowen's predictions continue to have

88
00:07:30,070 --> 00:07:31,070
relevance today.

89
00:07:32,590 --> 00:07:37,350
You can go online, social media,
YouTube, et cetera, et cetera. And there

90
00:07:37,350 --> 00:07:42,330
lengthy, detailed discussions of newborn
ones' prophecies and how they might

91
00:07:42,330 --> 00:07:49,090
match current events. People read
current events in light of those

92
00:07:49,390 --> 00:07:53,850
And he's credited now with having
foreseen coronavirus.

93
00:07:55,290 --> 00:08:00,610
The prophecy describes a massive plague
that will...

94
00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:04,020
ravage China and the rest of the world.

95
00:08:04,300 --> 00:08:10,600
It mentions that the brunt of this
plague will occur in the year of the pig

96
00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:15,820
the year of the rat, and this
corresponds to 2019 and 2020.

97
00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:18,580
The details are incredibly precise.

98
00:08:19,380 --> 00:08:25,940
People revisited Yoboan's prophecies,
and they see this reference to the

99
00:08:25,940 --> 00:08:27,280
eruption of an epidemic.

100
00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:32,960
And this seems to provide answers, to
provide some sense of order, offer

101
00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:33,960
guidance and clarity.

102
00:08:34,340 --> 00:08:37,360
He did foresee this, just as he's
foreseen other things.

103
00:08:39,260 --> 00:08:44,300
Liu Bo 'an's predictions about the
future of Chinese dynastic history took

104
00:08:44,300 --> 00:08:45,900
hundreds of years to come to fruition.

105
00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:50,740
But if you were looking for more timely
advice thousands of years ago...

106
00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:56,600
There was actually a place where people
of all types could go to consult

107
00:08:56,600 --> 00:08:59,260
directly with the gods.

108
00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:06,120
Delphi, Greece.

109
00:09:06,820 --> 00:09:11,680
Here on the slopes of Mount Parnassus
lies the ruins of several holy

110
00:09:11,680 --> 00:09:13,960
that were constructed by the ancient
Greeks.

111
00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:18,480
The most famous of these structures is
the Temple of Apollo.

112
00:09:20,270 --> 00:09:24,350
Built in the 5th century BC, the Temple
of Apollo was the site of a sacred

113
00:09:24,350 --> 00:09:30,650
ceremony in which farmers, merchants,
and even kings would come to hear

114
00:09:30,650 --> 00:09:35,990
prophecies about their future from a
high priestess who was known as the

115
00:09:35,990 --> 00:09:37,170
of Delphi.

116
00:09:39,010 --> 00:09:42,990
The Oracle of Delphi is a unique
individual in the past.

117
00:09:43,730 --> 00:09:49,550
This is a woman who, through her
prophecy, was able to see the future.

118
00:09:50,599 --> 00:09:55,920
and people are coming to her and
expecting to get information that helps

119
00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:56,920
their actions.

120
00:09:57,800 --> 00:10:02,140
So the Oracle at Delphi was one of the
most powerful women in ancient Greece.

121
00:10:03,100 --> 00:10:09,240
Inside the Temple of Apollo, the Oracle
was seated on a high tripod and would be

122
00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:13,900
open for consultations, and people would
come from all over the world.

123
00:10:15,340 --> 00:10:17,260
So kings would come.

124
00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:22,420
Farmers would come if they wanted to
know about the next harvest. Everybody

125
00:10:22,420 --> 00:10:27,640
in the ancient world to Delphi with a
life -changing question, and she could

126
00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:30,640
then prophesy, give you a sign, what's
the right way to go.

127
00:10:31,340 --> 00:10:35,780
Her magical power to channel the
prophetic gods was at your service.

128
00:10:36,300 --> 00:10:41,580
The Oracle of Delphi reportedly
predicted numerous important events in

129
00:10:41,580 --> 00:10:46,520
ancient world, including the rise of
Alexander the Great and the death.

130
00:10:47,070 --> 00:10:48,450
of the Roman Emperor Nero.

131
00:10:50,190 --> 00:10:55,470
Many historians believe a clue to her
powers of prophecy can be found in the

132
00:10:55,470 --> 00:10:59,190
writings of an ancient Greek historian
named Plutarch.

133
00:11:01,330 --> 00:11:04,890
Plutarch wrote three long pieces about
Delphi.

134
00:11:05,990 --> 00:11:12,190
And Plutarch described how when the
Oracle is in the trance, the ecstasy of

135
00:11:12,190 --> 00:11:18,300
prophecy, this breath came up from
Mother Earth and Plutarch also said it

136
00:11:18,300 --> 00:11:20,440
smelled sweet like perfume.

137
00:11:21,900 --> 00:11:27,300
And when Mother Earth is breathing at
Delphi, the Delphic Oracle goes into an

138
00:11:27,300 --> 00:11:30,700
altered state, and she becomes like a
ventriloquist dummy.

139
00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:37,660
But the ventriloquist is the wisdom of
Mother Earth spoken through the Delphic

140
00:11:37,660 --> 00:11:38,660
Oracle in Greece.

141
00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:43,660
What was the mysterious breath from
Mother Earth that gave the Oracle her

142
00:11:43,660 --> 00:11:44,660
prophetic power?

143
00:11:46,250 --> 00:11:52,750
Well, in 2003, a team led by
archaeologist Dr. John Hale uncovered

144
00:11:52,750 --> 00:11:59,370
which suggests that the answer to this
ancient riddle does, in fact, lie

145
00:11:59,370 --> 00:12:00,930
in the Earth itself.

146
00:12:02,690 --> 00:12:06,570
The Temple of Apollo had been built
around a subterranean cliff.

147
00:12:07,550 --> 00:12:13,070
We wanted to collect some rock to see
if, by any chance, that big geological

148
00:12:13,070 --> 00:12:17,570
fault. that runs under the temple,
released intoxicating gases that the

149
00:12:17,570 --> 00:12:19,150
got into her altered state from.

150
00:12:20,230 --> 00:12:26,050
So we took our rock samples, we had them
analyzed in the labs, and they showed a

151
00:12:26,050 --> 00:12:32,930
cocktail of light hydrocarbon gases,
methane, ethane, and

152
00:12:32,930 --> 00:12:34,390
ethylene.

153
00:12:35,530 --> 00:12:41,250
Ethylene is what puts the sweet smell in
every flower and the grapes you

154
00:12:41,250 --> 00:12:42,250
harvest.

155
00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:45,960
in living things that smell sweet, and
it is one of the most instantly

156
00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:48,780
intoxicating gases known to humanity.

157
00:12:49,660 --> 00:12:51,340
It's the ethylene that does it.

158
00:12:52,620 --> 00:12:58,240
The woman is seated on that tripod
directly above the class, and as the

159
00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:02,080
come up and she inhales them, these
sweet -smelling gases, with the first

160
00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:06,040
she would be in an altered state,
because it could go straight through her

161
00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:07,940
passages and into her brain.

162
00:13:09,550 --> 00:13:14,130
The Oracle of Delphi may have been in a
state of intoxication that would give

163
00:13:14,130 --> 00:13:16,170
visions to the prophetess.

164
00:13:16,890 --> 00:13:23,890
Psychedelic substances bring about a
relaxation of inhibitions, and there

165
00:13:23,890 --> 00:13:29,050
are experiments that have been done that
have raised tantalizing questions about

166
00:13:29,050 --> 00:13:32,990
the possibility of precognition using
what we would call narcotics today.

167
00:13:34,630 --> 00:13:41,170
Did inhaling gas that rose out of the
earth, Allow the Oracle of Delphi to see

168
00:13:41,170 --> 00:13:42,170
the future?

169
00:13:42,330 --> 00:13:44,130
It's a fascinating possibility.

170
00:13:46,110 --> 00:13:52,010
And in fact, for thousands of years,
priests, prophets, and shamans from all

171
00:13:52,010 --> 00:13:58,390
over the world have used exotic
substances to unlock prophetic

172
00:14:00,230 --> 00:14:04,990
One of the best known examples is a
curious drink called ayahuasca.

173
00:14:08,110 --> 00:14:13,550
Ayahuasca is a brewed concoction made
amongst a number of Amazonian tribes and

174
00:14:13,550 --> 00:14:15,730
contains a number of different kinds of
plants.

175
00:14:17,250 --> 00:14:22,950
Ayahuasca has been purported to elicit
feelings of flying, and shamans use

176
00:14:22,950 --> 00:14:28,890
ayahuasca to have an ability to see the
future or to be able to make prophecy.

177
00:14:30,550 --> 00:14:36,130
Ayahuasca is often ingested in religious
ceremonies in the Amazon basin.

178
00:14:37,130 --> 00:14:43,670
and used as a sacred ceremonial
substance or

179
00:14:43,670 --> 00:14:44,670
sacrament.

180
00:14:45,230 --> 00:14:52,030
It is said to release the mind into a
deeper, realer state of being, of

181
00:14:52,130 --> 00:14:57,650
to help somebody glean information that
they might be closed off from under

182
00:14:57,650 --> 00:15:02,010
normal circumstances in an effort to
foretell the future.

183
00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:07,080
The fact that ancient cultures around
the world used mind -altering substances

184
00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:11,040
to enable prophecy raises a fascinating
question.

185
00:15:12,340 --> 00:15:18,500
Did these concoctions actually help our
ancestors see the future as people have

186
00:15:18,500 --> 00:15:19,640
believed for centuries?

187
00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:26,400
Anytime you're playing with intoxicants,
and your brain especially is being

188
00:15:26,400 --> 00:15:29,880
affected, you can't always be sure of
what's going to happen.

189
00:15:31,110 --> 00:15:37,950
Delphi shows us an example of a culture
in which when they say there was

190
00:15:37,950 --> 00:15:42,910
an external force coming up out of the
rock that triggered the transit, we can

191
00:15:42,910 --> 00:15:47,550
back that up with the geology to show
people, take these ancient accounts

192
00:15:47,550 --> 00:15:48,550
seriously.

193
00:15:50,430 --> 00:15:54,350
We'll never know if the power of the
prediction witnessed in the Oracle of

194
00:15:54,350 --> 00:16:00,150
Delphi was merely fume -induced fantasy
or the actual ability to see the future.

195
00:16:01,380 --> 00:16:07,420
What can we learn about the secrets of
the past by examining the abilities of

196
00:16:07,420 --> 00:16:09,020
modern -day prophets?

197
00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:16,080
Eastleigh, England, September 2015.

198
00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:22,140
Craig Hamilton Parker, an English
psychic and medium, posts a series of

199
00:16:22,140 --> 00:16:23,280
prophecies on this website.

200
00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:27,280
Some of them quite ominous and even
oddly disturbing.

201
00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:32,000
I've been a psychic medium all my life,
in touch with the spirit world, and

202
00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:33,180
sometimes make predictions.

203
00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:39,360
And in 2015, I decided to put some
predictions on my website. I said that

204
00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:40,900
there'd be a massive earthquake in
Japan.

205
00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:47,020
I wrote that Brexit would happen. At the
time, everybody was saying it's never

206
00:16:47,020 --> 00:16:49,660
going to happen, everybody's going to
vote to remain, there's no chance.

207
00:16:50,180 --> 00:16:54,200
I saw a terrorist attack in Nice in my
vision, and I put those in my

208
00:16:54,200 --> 00:16:55,200
predictions.

209
00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:57,740
Sometimes I don't like telling the
future.

210
00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:04,880
Within a year, the predictions Craig
made came surprisingly, and in some

211
00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:06,740
frighteningly true.

212
00:17:08,099 --> 00:17:14,099
On April 16th, 2016, Kumamoto, Japan was
shaken by a 7 .0 magnitude earthquake.

213
00:17:15,339 --> 00:17:18,599
50 people were killed and more than 3
,000 people injured.

214
00:17:19,470 --> 00:17:24,349
And then, on June 23rd, over half of
Great Britain voted to approve Brexit

215
00:17:24,349 --> 00:17:25,849
leave the European Union.

216
00:17:26,910 --> 00:17:32,390
Finally, on July 14th, a 19 -ton truck
driven by a terrorist plowed through a

217
00:17:32,390 --> 00:17:37,170
crowded market in Nice, France, killing
86 people and injuring over 400.

218
00:17:38,430 --> 00:17:42,690
Of course, not all of Craig's prophecies
ended up happening. For instance, he

219
00:17:42,690 --> 00:17:47,010
predicted that a gas attack would take
place in a European city, but there was

220
00:17:47,010 --> 00:17:48,530
no such attack in Europe that year.

221
00:17:49,310 --> 00:17:53,990
But the fact that he got three out of
four predictions right led many to

222
00:17:53,990 --> 00:17:59,210
that his uncanny ability to see the
future couldn't have been a mere fluke.

223
00:18:00,490 --> 00:18:04,590
The natural question that people have
is, where does the prediction come from?

224
00:18:04,710 --> 00:18:08,050
Where is the so -called psychic getting
this information from?

225
00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:12,460
The first explanation we go to is that
it's some sort of psychosis. But that

226
00:18:12,460 --> 00:18:15,800
doesn't really hold up, because you
can't turn crazy on and off.

227
00:18:16,020 --> 00:18:19,220
And the fact is, if you meet most of
these folk, and I've met plenty of them,

228
00:18:19,300 --> 00:18:22,140
they're perfectly ordinary, everyday,
functioning people.

229
00:18:23,460 --> 00:18:27,820
According to Craig, his ability to see
events before they happen is one he was

230
00:18:27,820 --> 00:18:28,820
born with.

231
00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:34,620
Since childhood, he surprised his family
with what he called flashes of the

232
00:18:34,620 --> 00:18:39,920
future. glimpses of things that hadn't
yet come to pass, but often did.

233
00:18:41,020 --> 00:18:45,480
And in his early 20s, he decided to make
a journey to India, where he studied

234
00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:50,400
the writings of ancient oracles and
honed his raw talent.

235
00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:55,260
So I became very interested in this idea
that there's an ancient tradition that

236
00:18:55,260 --> 00:19:00,420
goes back right through time, over many,
many centuries, maybe back tens of

237
00:19:00,420 --> 00:19:01,420
thousands of years.

238
00:19:01,900 --> 00:19:06,140
For me, seeing the future is a bit like
a dream experience in many respects.

239
00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:13,440
I use an old technique from India called
Tretkaka, which I look into a candle,

240
00:19:13,580 --> 00:19:18,880
basically. You go into a sort of a state
of gazing and then move the image of

241
00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:22,640
that candle into the middle of what we
call the third eye. And you'll see it as

242
00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:26,660
an afterimage on the back of the eye,
where all these visions will appear.

243
00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:31,060
I see things, things I know, things I
don't know.

244
00:19:31,770 --> 00:19:36,670
It's like the universe knows better than
I do. It gave me this information, and

245
00:19:36,670 --> 00:19:38,370
it's kind of my duty to put it out
there.

246
00:19:39,190 --> 00:19:44,510
In the fall of 2016, another of Craig's
prophecies, this time about the U .S.

247
00:19:44,510 --> 00:19:46,730
presidential election, came to pass.

248
00:19:47,110 --> 00:19:52,070
I kept getting glimpses of this strange
character, you know, and I thought, who

249
00:19:52,070 --> 00:19:53,070
on earth is this?

250
00:19:53,790 --> 00:19:57,670
And then suddenly Trump announces
himself in the primary.

251
00:19:58,050 --> 00:20:02,250
And then I knew that's what I'd been
seeing. That was this strange figure

252
00:20:02,250 --> 00:20:07,170
kept coming into my meditations and
interrupting my thoughts.

253
00:20:08,250 --> 00:20:12,350
Clearly, for me, Trump was going to be
president, even though everybody at the

254
00:20:12,350 --> 00:20:15,350
time was saying he don't stand a chance
of ever being president.

255
00:20:15,590 --> 00:20:17,830
But the unconscious seemed to know
better.

256
00:20:20,270 --> 00:20:24,330
But how is Craig actually getting these
messages about the future?

257
00:20:24,550 --> 00:20:27,550
Are they really coming from his
unconscious mind?

258
00:20:28,230 --> 00:20:32,070
Precognition is the scientific term for
things like premonition.

259
00:20:32,730 --> 00:20:37,530
And it's getting accurate information
about a future event that you didn't

260
00:20:37,530 --> 00:20:38,530
cause.

261
00:20:38,670 --> 00:20:44,610
We think that the brain, no matter how
complicated and nonlinear it is, is

262
00:20:44,610 --> 00:20:47,750
something that could be reduced down to
the laws of physics.

263
00:20:48,540 --> 00:20:51,420
Now, that doesn't mean that the brain
can't imagine the future.

264
00:20:51,780 --> 00:20:58,580
We are genetically hardwired to have
premonitions. We can't stop it.

265
00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:00,500
It's part of our makeup.

266
00:21:01,340 --> 00:21:08,040
The feeling of premonitions might be an
example of how our memories orient us

267
00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:09,040
toward the future.

268
00:21:10,590 --> 00:21:15,690
So current thinking among memory
researchers is that our memories are not

269
00:21:15,690 --> 00:21:21,690
to us so much for their ability to
enable us to recollect the past as they

270
00:21:21,690 --> 00:21:25,750
useful to us for enabling us to navigate
and predict the future.

271
00:21:26,250 --> 00:21:31,230
And from that perspective, the idea that
deja vu, which might result from a

272
00:21:31,230 --> 00:21:35,530
memory process, might be accompanied by
feelings of premonition fits that.

273
00:21:38,070 --> 00:21:39,450
If somebody has.

274
00:21:40,090 --> 00:21:42,810
an authentic, intuitive, or insightful
gift.

275
00:21:43,250 --> 00:21:45,470
And I do think such things exist.

276
00:21:45,990 --> 00:21:51,770
I think it's a kind of ESP in which
certain individuals are able to glean

277
00:21:51,770 --> 00:21:57,550
information in anomalous ways, in ways
that go beyond our ordinary five senses.

278
00:21:58,350 --> 00:22:04,790
The Internet, TV talk shows, and the
bestseller list are full of prophets and

279
00:22:04,790 --> 00:22:08,670
pronosticators claiming to be able to
divine the future.

280
00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:13,680
And in a number of these cases, they
really seem to be able to do it.

281
00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:20,920
If it's true that there are such things
as real psychics, then where exactly

282
00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:26,080
does their incredible gift come from,
and how can we better understand it?

283
00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:31,000
According to some researchers, the
explanation doesn't lie in the distant

284
00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:34,560
future, but rather the ancient past.

285
00:22:36,420 --> 00:22:38,620
The Bible makes it very clear.

286
00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:44,400
that biblical prophets were not
arbitrary individuals, men or women, who

287
00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:48,680
just as if minding their own business
and then God chose them.

288
00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:50,720
It wasn't like that at all.

289
00:22:51,120 --> 00:22:57,000
It was an internal experience that the
Bible calls a dream or a vision.

290
00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:03,960
If you do not learn how to understand
dreams, you will never understand their

291
00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:04,960
message.

292
00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:12,380
It is very clearly said in the Bible
that prophets had to go to school

293
00:23:12,380 --> 00:23:19,160
to learn how to experience and interpret
the

294
00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:22,100
spiritual message, which we call
prophecy.

295
00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:29,200
And biblical teachings of prophecy were
not limited to those

296
00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:31,220
of the religious world.

297
00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:33,560
Many people...

298
00:23:33,980 --> 00:23:37,260
have been trained in these techniques,
and we don't even realize it.

299
00:23:39,360 --> 00:23:41,100
Trained to see the future?

300
00:23:42,260 --> 00:23:48,280
Could such a far -fetched but also
tantalizing notion actually be possible?

301
00:23:49,020 --> 00:23:54,120
I think our generation is on the
precipice of a great question about the

302
00:23:54,120 --> 00:23:58,100
-physical abilities of the mind. I don't
know that we'll answer it, but I think

303
00:23:58,100 --> 00:24:03,300
it is coming more and more into focus
that materialism just doesn't cover all

304
00:24:03,300 --> 00:24:08,740
the basis of life anymore, and that the
mind has capacities, including extra

305
00:24:08,740 --> 00:24:13,080
-physical capacities, that are
measurable, that are present, and that

306
00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:14,080
beginning to understand.

307
00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:19,180
It's a natural part of the human
condition to make predictions.

308
00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:24,900
And couldn't it be that maybe our
predictive ability is far greater than

309
00:24:24,900 --> 00:24:29,860
ever imagined? That maybe every one of
us somehow has a way of seeing into the

310
00:24:29,860 --> 00:24:33,420
fabric of time? We just have to trust
that ability.

311
00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:39,940
If each of us could learn how to predict
the future, would we accept our fate or

312
00:24:39,940 --> 00:24:41,000
fight to change it?

313
00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:46,340
Are people who have the power of
prophecy chosen, like the Bible

314
00:24:46,820 --> 00:24:52,680
Or is there a hidden capability each one
of us has that simply needs to be

315
00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:53,680
unlocked?

316
00:24:54,540 --> 00:24:59,880
For a young man in Selma, Alabama, it
was the ability to receive remarkable

317
00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:06,800
information while in a deep trance that
would make him world famous and earn him

318
00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:09,480
the name, the sleeping prophet.

319
00:25:12,620 --> 00:25:13,920
Selma, Alabama.

320
00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:21,500
In this small city at 21 Broad Street
stands what looks like an ordinary brick

321
00:25:21,500 --> 00:25:22,500
building.

322
00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:29,440
But curiously, a historic marker plaque
explains that this was once the home of

323
00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:31,920
an extraordinary man named Edgar Cayce.

324
00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:37,920
In the 1920s, people from all over the
country came to Selma to visit Cayce and

325
00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:40,340
seek information about the future.

326
00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:43,900
from the man known as the Sleeping
Prophet.

327
00:25:45,580 --> 00:25:51,960
Edgar Cayce was a man born in the
agricultural south in the late

328
00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:58,900
1870s, but as he grew older, he detected
in himself the ability

329
00:25:58,900 --> 00:26:05,480
to enter into a sleep -like trance state
and be able to perform

330
00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:11,220
what were considered medically
clairvoyant readings of subjects.

331
00:26:11,580 --> 00:26:17,880
He was said to have the ability to
diagnose and prescribe cures for

332
00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:19,060
bodily ailments.

333
00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:24,960
In his writings, Edgar Cayce described
the process

334
00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:28,280
as accessing information.

335
00:26:30,060 --> 00:26:33,720
And he would read that information.

336
00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:36,360
Speak it in trance.

337
00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:44,700
Edgar believed that disabilities were a
gift, but that it wasn't a power

338
00:26:44,700 --> 00:26:46,240
of his own.

339
00:26:46,540 --> 00:26:48,600
He was channeling a higher power.

340
00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:55,860
Casey comes at the time when there was a
strong interest in fortune tellings of

341
00:26:55,860 --> 00:26:56,860
all kinds.

342
00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:01,680
For one thing, there were tea rooms in
which you could sell tea.

343
00:27:02,300 --> 00:27:06,400
And someone could look at the tea
leaves, usually a fortune teller.

344
00:27:07,060 --> 00:27:11,120
But on the other hand, Edgar Cayce is a
little different.

345
00:27:11,500 --> 00:27:18,460
The level of prophecy, the predictions
he's making, are way beyond anything

346
00:27:18,460 --> 00:27:19,820
happens in a gypsy tea room.

347
00:27:21,500 --> 00:27:25,680
At first, it was just local people
coming for these consultations. But

348
00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:27,760
gradually, over time, his fame spread.

349
00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:30,940
And Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla.

350
00:27:31,660 --> 00:27:36,640
Woodrow Wilson asked his advice about
what might be coming up.

351
00:27:37,940 --> 00:27:43,720
Edgar Cayce had a series of readings we
call the World Affairs Readings in

352
00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:50,600
which he actually predicted the crash of
the New York Stock Exchange

353
00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:52,940
in 1929.

354
00:27:54,140 --> 00:28:00,600
He also described the Asian involvement
in the European War, World War II.

355
00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:08,420
Another fascinating aspect of Edgar
Cayce's readings is that he foresaw and

356
00:28:08,420 --> 00:28:14,960
talked about the Dead Sea Scrolls long
before they were discovered in 1947.

357
00:28:15,300 --> 00:28:20,820
He was talking about it in the 30s and
40s. And so Edgar Cayce had a great deal

358
00:28:20,820 --> 00:28:23,300
of success with his psychic readings.

359
00:28:24,540 --> 00:28:29,640
Edgar Cayce is considered by many to be
the best documented prophet of the 20th

360
00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:30,640
century.

361
00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:35,280
Unlike most of his contemporaries, Cayce
was widely believed to be not a showman

362
00:28:35,280 --> 00:28:40,040
or an entertainer, but rather a genuine
clairvoyant.

363
00:28:42,820 --> 00:28:47,800
But just where was this information he
prophesied coming from?

364
00:28:49,100 --> 00:28:55,800
Cayce's method to perform acts of
clairvoyance was to glean

365
00:28:55,800 --> 00:29:01,620
information from what he called the
source, or what he at other times

366
00:29:01,620 --> 00:29:03,340
to as the Akashic Records.

367
00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:10,740
The concept of Akasha extends back to
ancient Vedic culture.

368
00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:18,260
And according to Hindu tradition, it was
like an ethereal hall

369
00:29:18,260 --> 00:29:22,500
of records in which all events that ever
occurred were imprinted.

370
00:29:22,760 --> 00:29:26,940
And Edgar Cayce said that this was the
record book that he was using.

371
00:29:27,340 --> 00:29:30,060
to gain access to extrasensory
information.

372
00:29:34,140 --> 00:29:40,020
Was Edgar Cayce somehow able to tap into
a universal source of knowledge that

373
00:29:40,020 --> 00:29:42,120
existed outside of his own mind?

374
00:29:42,700 --> 00:29:44,760
For now, the answer is unclear.

375
00:29:45,940 --> 00:29:52,480
But people continue to read Edgar
Cayce's predictions in hopes of

376
00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:55,520
more prophecies that actually came true.

377
00:29:56,140 --> 00:30:01,920
Edgar Cayce's readings first started
being recorded systematically in 1923,

378
00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:08,820
and there are 14 ,308 surviving
readings,

379
00:30:08,980 --> 00:30:15,860
and there are thousands of readings that
have never been fully explored.

380
00:30:16,220 --> 00:30:22,440
There is a vast amount that could be
studied that might have information

381
00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:23,440
the future.

382
00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:26,120
And it's fascinating to theorize about.

383
00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:29,560
But

384
00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:44,240
what

385
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:49,500
if this ability to see the future could
be put to the test by an institution set

386
00:30:49,500 --> 00:30:52,540
up to rigorously study this phenomenon?

387
00:30:53,660 --> 00:31:00,120
It just so happens that such a place
exists, and it's called the British

388
00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:02,300
Premonitions Bureau.

389
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:11,360
South Wales, United Kingdom, October
21st, 1966.

390
00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:17,560
News organizations broadcast a series of
horrific images that stunned viewers

391
00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:18,600
across the country.

392
00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:26,700
A tidal wave of mud and shale has
swallowed the small coal -mining town of

393
00:31:26,700 --> 00:31:28,920
Aberfan in its entirety.

394
00:31:30,580 --> 00:31:36,920
Of the 144 people killed by the
landslide, 116 are schoolchildren.

395
00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:42,200
And for this tight -knit community, many
of whom have lived in Aberfan for

396
00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:43,200
generations,

397
00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:45,360
the loss is devastating.

398
00:31:47,630 --> 00:31:53,070
One of the first people to respond to
the disaster is psychiatrist John

399
00:31:55,570 --> 00:31:59,670
Initially, he arrives to offer
consultation to the survivors.

400
00:32:00,490 --> 00:32:04,870
So when he gets there, he's interviewing
parents that had lost children.

401
00:32:05,510 --> 00:32:11,450
He was really surprised to hear that
there were premonitions before it

402
00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:17,400
One boy drew a picture of people masked
on the hillside digging into it, and he

403
00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:18,600
wrote underneath the end.

404
00:32:20,420 --> 00:32:25,880
Also, there was a young girl who told
her mom about a dream where she said

405
00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:29,940
was this black mask over the school, and
she couldn't get in.

406
00:32:30,940 --> 00:32:34,340
Both of these children later went to
school and died.

407
00:32:37,230 --> 00:32:42,530
Barker begins to wonder whether these
premonitions could be used as a sort of

408
00:32:42,530 --> 00:32:47,270
early warning system that might prevent
future disasters.

409
00:32:48,290 --> 00:32:53,550
So he asked Peter Fairley, who ran the
science desk at the national newspaper,

410
00:32:53,830 --> 00:32:59,190
the London Evening Standard, to consider
setting up a program to collate

411
00:32:59,190 --> 00:33:00,390
people's premonitions.

412
00:33:02,510 --> 00:33:09,180
Fairley not only agreed, But he set up
an entire bureau to act as a focal

413
00:33:09,180 --> 00:33:10,180
point.

414
00:33:10,580 --> 00:33:15,640
Starting in January 1967, the bureau
commences operations.

415
00:33:16,560 --> 00:33:22,100
Reports come in, and the bureau's staff,
they devise an 11 -point system,

416
00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:23,680
looking for patterns.

417
00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:30,600
Five points for unusualness, five points
for accuracy, and one point for timing.

418
00:33:31,580 --> 00:33:34,140
The British Premonitions Bureau.

419
00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:39,680
as it would come to be called, collected
469 predictions in its first year.

420
00:33:41,780 --> 00:33:44,740
Unsurprisingly, many never came true.

421
00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:52,800
But those submitted by two individuals,
Alan Hensher and Lorna Middleton, stood

422
00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:53,860
out from the crowd.

423
00:33:54,360 --> 00:34:00,240
Alan Hensher and Lorna Middleton made
headlines in March 1967.

424
00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:07,360
when they both predicted a train
accident just days before a passenger

425
00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:10,120
derailed, killing 49 people.

426
00:34:10,980 --> 00:34:16,520
Hensher also had a premonition about a
fatal plane crash, predicting the number

427
00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:17,900
of people who would die.

428
00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:21,260
That kind of accuracy is staggering.

429
00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:27,159
For John Barker, the notion that Hensher
and Middleton's predictions might allow

430
00:34:27,159 --> 00:34:29,719
him to warn people of disasters ahead of
time.

431
00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:31,739
It was an exciting one.

432
00:34:32,739 --> 00:34:36,159
For the next year, he sent hundreds of
what he believed to be credible

433
00:34:36,159 --> 00:34:39,560
predictions to the editors of the London
Evening Standard.

434
00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:47,920
But in the summer of 1968, there was one
deadly premonition that he chose to

435
00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:48,920
ignore.

436
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:52,260
One that was shared by both Hensher and
Middleton.

437
00:34:52,820 --> 00:34:55,239
And it involved John Barker himself.

438
00:34:55,980 --> 00:34:59,600
Around one in the morning, Hensher calls
Barker.

439
00:35:00,730 --> 00:35:05,730
He's in a panic. He's got a terrible
premonition. He says, do you have a dark

440
00:35:05,730 --> 00:35:06,730
car?

441
00:35:07,030 --> 00:35:12,410
Barker says yes. And he tells Barker,
you have to be careful. Be very, very

442
00:35:12,410 --> 00:35:13,410
careful.

443
00:35:14,290 --> 00:35:16,770
Then Barker asks him, what? Am I in
danger?

444
00:35:18,370 --> 00:35:19,370
Hensher says yes.

445
00:35:21,770 --> 00:35:24,010
Barker wrote a memo the next day.

446
00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:29,420
explaining that Hencher could only
explain that the dark car was somehow

447
00:35:29,420 --> 00:35:33,420
connected to Barca and a potentially
deadly outcome.

448
00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:38,740
It all seemed pretty vague, and perhaps
that wouldn't have worried Barca so much

449
00:35:38,740 --> 00:35:43,040
were it not for the fact that there was
another warning from his other

450
00:35:43,040 --> 00:35:45,080
superstar, Lorna Middlepool.

451
00:35:47,720 --> 00:35:53,160
On August 18, 1968, less than two years
after he had opened his Bureau of

452
00:35:53,160 --> 00:35:57,440
Premonitions, John Barker was suddenly
rushed to the hospital.

453
00:35:58,460 --> 00:36:02,380
Barker died of a sudden brain
hemorrhage, age 44.

454
00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:07,040
The British Premonitions Bureau closed
down shortly thereafter.

455
00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:13,840
As for the dark car, there are many who
are convinced that the answer is simple.

456
00:36:14,300 --> 00:36:19,780
It was the funeral hearse that conveyed
John Barker's body to its final resting

457
00:36:19,780 --> 00:36:20,780
place.

458
00:36:20,860 --> 00:36:25,760
It raises the question, was Barker's own
death just a coincidence?

459
00:36:26,220 --> 00:36:28,140
Was it self -fulfilling prophecy?

460
00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:34,400
Or like the rest of the Bureau's
predictions, was fate simply too

461
00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:35,400
stopped?

462
00:36:39,060 --> 00:36:40,520
Paris, France.

463
00:36:41,900 --> 00:36:46,960
In the heart of the city stands the
Louvre, one of the most renowned museums

464
00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:47,960
the world.

465
00:36:48,480 --> 00:36:52,940
Of the hundreds of thousands of artworks
contained in its prestigious galleries,

466
00:36:53,180 --> 00:36:59,680
the biggest attraction is the Mona Lisa,
which draws roughly 10 million visitors

467
00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:00,680
every year.

468
00:37:01,200 --> 00:37:05,860
The Mona Lisa is one of the many
important paintings created by

469
00:37:05,860 --> 00:37:08,860
Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci.

470
00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:15,640
But curiously, da Vinci was much more
than just a painter. He was also a

471
00:37:15,640 --> 00:37:19,800
who envisioned futuristic technologies.

472
00:37:21,540 --> 00:37:26,760
Leonardo da Vinci is widely regarded as
the quintessential Renaissance man

473
00:37:26,760 --> 00:37:28,440
because he did it all.

474
00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:35,640
He was an artist, he was a gifted
engineer, and he was

475
00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:37,120
also a great craftsman.

476
00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:42,480
So he had a wide array of skills
combined with a brilliant mind.

477
00:37:43,700 --> 00:37:49,060
When we think of da Vinci, we often
think about his sketches of amazing

478
00:37:49,060 --> 00:37:55,280
machines. And he compiled this vast
collection of sketches in his notebooks.

479
00:37:55,940 --> 00:38:00,660
He was designing fortifications, port
facilities,

480
00:38:01,400 --> 00:38:06,760
canals, catapults, and tanks.

481
00:38:07,570 --> 00:38:12,550
These sketches would be completely at
home in the notebook of an engineering

482
00:38:12,550 --> 00:38:13,550
student today.

483
00:38:14,670 --> 00:38:18,130
Leonardo certainly had an amazing
imagination.

484
00:38:19,030 --> 00:38:25,990
But one has to say that Leonardo's ideas
were too advanced for his time in the

485
00:38:25,990 --> 00:38:31,250
sense that he was stymied by the lack of
the right materials in the period.

486
00:38:32,230 --> 00:38:37,080
However... The fact that very few of the
things Leonardo depicted actually were

487
00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:40,180
done shouldn't really blind us to his
genius.

488
00:38:41,820 --> 00:38:46,560
While most of da Vinci's concepts were
too advanced to be built in the 15th

489
00:38:46,560 --> 00:38:52,460
century, incredibly, some traces of his
actual achievements can be seen today.

490
00:38:53,020 --> 00:38:59,720
In Milan, a canal system designed by da
Vinci has been preserved, and a military

491
00:38:59,720 --> 00:39:01,620
stronghold he constructed in
Switzerland.

492
00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:09,100
Still stands But of all the futuristic
machines envisioned

493
00:39:09,100 --> 00:39:15,260
by Leonardo da Vinci His most famous
designs were in pursuit of a stream of

494
00:39:15,260 --> 00:39:21,640
flight For decades modern historians
have wondered did da Vinci actually

495
00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:26,820
discover the secret to soaring through
the sky centuries before the invention

496
00:39:26,820 --> 00:39:27,820
the airplane

497
00:39:28,590 --> 00:39:31,810
Leonardo's understanding of flight was
certainly a lot deeper than many of his

498
00:39:31,810 --> 00:39:37,870
contemporaries. He was one of the first
people to study actual bird motion, try

499
00:39:37,870 --> 00:39:40,610
to figure out how birds flew under their
own power.

500
00:39:41,650 --> 00:39:46,750
If you look at Leonardo's flying
machines, the first machines that he

501
00:39:46,750 --> 00:39:51,390
in his notebooks are, in fact,
ornithopter designs, very much like

502
00:39:51,390 --> 00:39:53,710
they flap their wings to generate the
lift for flying.

503
00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:58,040
And then he progressed on to designs
which were much more like gliders.

504
00:40:01,260 --> 00:40:05,940
One of the really fascinating things
about da Vinci's efforts, if he was very

505
00:40:05,940 --> 00:40:10,520
creative in thinking about how humans
might spin things or turn things, one of

506
00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:12,640
the designs he had was an aerial screw.

507
00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:18,540
And it's a particular structure, like a
propeller, to provide lift and have

508
00:40:18,540 --> 00:40:19,540
something fly.

509
00:40:20,750 --> 00:40:25,510
Leonardo da Vinci's principle of a
single screw turning a propeller to

510
00:40:25,510 --> 00:40:29,570
lift is strikingly similar to the
mechanics behind the modern helicopter.

511
00:40:30,450 --> 00:40:34,470
And over the years, engineers have been
inspired to bring da Vinci's visionary

512
00:40:34,470 --> 00:40:38,050
designs to life through real world
experimentation.

513
00:40:39,830 --> 00:40:41,570
In 1976,

514
00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:47,720
The Gossamer Condor was flown, and it
was the first human -powered flying

515
00:40:47,720 --> 00:40:52,500
machine with one person operating this
propeller -driven glider, essentially.

516
00:40:53,420 --> 00:40:57,440
It was the first attempt at what
Leonardo was trying to make.

517
00:40:59,500 --> 00:41:04,280
A crew at the University of Maryland
used Leonardo's design for the aerial

518
00:41:04,280 --> 00:41:05,280
screw.

519
00:41:06,920 --> 00:41:11,020
the quadcopter design worked. The air
screws actually did provide enough lift

520
00:41:11,020 --> 00:41:15,440
lift the quadcopter up, and so there is
some promise for a design like that.

521
00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:19,360
So Leonardo, even today, does inspire
people in their designs.

522
00:41:20,080 --> 00:41:25,500
Was Leonardo da Vinci simply a genius
who was ahead of his time, or were his

523
00:41:25,500 --> 00:41:28,780
inventions the result of an ability to
see the future?

524
00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:34,400
Whatever the case may be, there's no
question that the unique capability to

525
00:41:34,400 --> 00:41:38,970
perceive what is yet to come, has
influenced the world as we know it for

526
00:41:38,970 --> 00:41:39,970
thousands of years.

527
00:41:40,490 --> 00:41:46,670
Whether it's called clairvoyance,
mysticism, or prophecy, perhaps one day

528
00:41:46,670 --> 00:41:52,790
will all be able to access our psychic
potential and practice the power of

529
00:41:52,790 --> 00:41:57,310
prediction. But for now, what the future
holds remains

530
00:41:57,310 --> 00:41:59,930
unexplained.