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Can we know the universe?
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Are our brains capable of
comprehending the cosmos in
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all of its complexity
and splendor?
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We don't yet know the answer
to that question because our
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brain remains
almost as much of a mystery
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00:00:20,300 --> 00:00:22,300
as the universe itself.
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We think that the number of
processing units in your brain
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is roughly equal to all the
stars in 1,000 galaxies.
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At least 100 trillion.
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And it's possible that the
real number of processing units
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is ten times larger.
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We're inside a brain.
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It's in the grip of a Category
5 hurricane of chemical and
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electrical forces.
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The storm came without warning,
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spreading chaos and heartache
far beyond its path...
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But it also provided the first
clues to the nature of this
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little cosmos.
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We are traveling 2,500
years back in time to the island
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of Kos in the Aegean Sea.
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This is the story
of a giant leap in the
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history of thought.
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It was here that one of
the most powerful spells
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ever to cloud the
mind was first broken.
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Imagine you are
the loving parents of a
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precious only child.
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The boy is given to
moments of brilliance,
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which charm and
impress your friends.
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But there's something wrong...
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A storm is brewing
inside his head...
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Peleus! Peleus!
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This was medicine
2,500 years ago in Greece.
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The idea that the ritual
appeasement of one of the gods
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could bring about the cure
for an epileptic seizure was
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magical thinking.
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When the Greeks and people of
other cultures performed their rituals,
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some of the afflicted recovered,
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due to the finite
course of the illness,
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or to their own immune systems.
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But to the patients
and their loved ones,
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it meant that the gods
had been appeased.
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And when the patient died?
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That just meant the
gods were so angry,
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nothing could be done.
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This way of thinking was a by-product of
that great human strength, and weakness,
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called pattern recognition.
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In this case, false
pattern recognition.
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The belief that epilepsy was
caused by the anger of the
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gods was the confusion of
correlation with causation,
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and the wishful
thinking that prevails when
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people feel powerless.
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That's not to say that the
ancient Greeks didn't have
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remedies, plants and minerals,
they used as medicines.
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But for a disease as
mysterious as epilepsy,
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they could only light
their incense and pray.
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They didn't even know it had
anything to do with the brain.
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And then came Hippocrates.
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Hippocrates rejected the
notion that angry gods were
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the cause of disease and injury.
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He wrote: "The physician must
investigate the entire patient,
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his diet and his environment...
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The best physician
is the one who is able
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to prevent illness.
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Nothing happens
without a natural cause."
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For this alone,
he could be called the Father of Medicine.
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He is credited with codifying
an ethos for doctors.
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The oath ascribed to him in
the 3rd century BCE is still
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taken today by those who
would practice medicine.
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And it was Hippocrates
who was among the first
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to declare the brain to
be the seat of consciousness.
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It's hard to believe,
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but this was once
a revolutionary concept.
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The prevailing wisdom
being that we actually
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thought with our hearts.
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And it may have been
here where he made one of
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the great prophecies
in the history of science.
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Hippocrates understood that
he and his contemporaries
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called epilepsy
"the sacred disease"
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because they didn't
understand its physical cause.
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He wrote, "When we do,
we will no longer think it divine."
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That little boy wasn't cursed.
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There was a physical
malfunction inside his brain.
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As long as we searched for
it in the whim of the gods,
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we had no hope of helping
him, or ourselves.
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Yet thousands of years passed,
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00:06:15,060 --> 00:06:17,230
and the brain
remained a mystery.
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00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:22,030
Between 420 BCE and
the 19th century,
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our understanding of the
cosmos grew by leaps and bounds.
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We discovered
the speed of light,
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00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:30,460
the laws of gravity,
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00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:33,960
and we learned that our Sun
is part of a greater galaxy
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of stars and yet, 2,300
years after Hippocrates,
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we still knew virtually
nothing about the part of
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ourselves that made it possible
to make these discoveries:
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our brains.
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It could be said that
we actually knew less.
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00:06:50,860 --> 00:06:52,860
The study of the brain
had become stuck in a
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pseudoscientific dead-end
called "phrenology,"
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which held that from the
shape of a person's skull,
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you could deduce
their intelligence and
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trustworthiness.
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A frenzy of
head-measuring ensued.
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A gift for languages
resided above the cheekbone,
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and marital fidelity
located behind the ears.
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And not surprisingly,
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European phrenologists
discovered that their
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00:07:18,330 --> 00:07:20,830
particular heads
represented the universal
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standard of cerebral excellence.
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The first real insight
regarding the connection
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between the mind and the
brain was made in France in 1861.
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And here again, epilepsy
played a critical role...
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The Bicêtre psychiatric
hospital was state-of-the-art
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in Paris back then.
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In the previous century,
it had been the first to
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introduce humane practices in
the treatment of the insane
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and the mentally disabled.
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And among the doctors there,
surgeon Paul Broca was
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especially admired for
his enlightened treatment
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of his patients.
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Tan...
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The patient's
name was Louis Leborgne.
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Tan...
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But everyone
called him "Tan" after the
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only syllable that he had
uttered since he was 30.
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He was now 51.
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Tan had been having epileptic
seizures since childhood,
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but he was committed to
Bicêtre because he had lost
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all powers of speech except
for being able to say "tan."
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Now, poor Tan lay dying.
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His right side had
become paralyzed,
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and gangrene had set in.
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Prior to Tan's medical crisis,
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Broca had been speculating
that specific regions
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of the brain might
be responsible for
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the powers of speech and memory.
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00:09:02,130 --> 00:09:04,530
Broca wanted to know
everything he possibly could
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about the dying patient
in expectation of what a
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00:09:07,130 --> 00:09:08,860
post-mortem might reveal.
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We do not know if Tan's epilepsy
caused the damage to his brain,
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or whether an unreported
childhood injury
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caused his epilepsy and
later loss of speech.
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Tan...
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But because of Tan's fate,
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Paul Broca was able to connect,
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for the very first time,
a part of the human brain,
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in this case the region
that was damaged,
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and its specialized function:
the ability to use language.
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His reward...
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that part of our brain
has been known ever since
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as "Broca's area."
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Paul Broca's own
brain ended up in a jar
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like this one in a
back storage room of the
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anthropological
museum he directed,
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with shelf upon shelf of the
brains of mass murderers and
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other master criminals,
as well as congenital
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abnormalities that seemed to
fascinate the public of the
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19th century.
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Broca was a humanist.
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00:10:32,230 --> 00:10:34,500
He concluded that there were
deep connections in brain
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physiology between
non-human primates and us.
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He founded a society of
freethinkers in his youth,
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and believed passionately
in the importance
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of unobstructed inquiry.
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He lived his life in
pursuit of that aim.
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But he, too, was partly
blinded by the prejudices that
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permeated his society.
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He thought men mentally
superior to women,
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and whites superior
to everyone else.
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00:11:04,100 --> 00:11:08,060
His falling short of humanist
ideals shows that even someone
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as committed to the
free pursuit of knowledge
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as Broca could still be
deceived by endemic bigotry.
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Society corrupts the best of us.
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It's a little unfair,
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I think, to criticize
a person for not sharing
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the enlightenment
of a later age,
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but it is also profoundly
saddening that such prejudices
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were so pervasive.
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The question raises nagging
uncertainties about which of
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the assumptions of our
own age will be considered
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unforgivable by the next...
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Broca established for the
first time that there were
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physical correlations
between anatomy and function,
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but what of the crackling
energy of consciousness?
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What of the stuff that
dreams are made of?
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Can't put them in a jar...
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When the ancient
Egyptians looked up at night,
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they saw the underbody of Nut,
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Goddess of the Milky Way.
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When they closed their
eyes and began to dream,
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they believed they were
transiting to the afterlife.
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And so, dreaming was
ritualized into a form of
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worship, a means to learn
what their future held,
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or to send a message to the
gods, as they slumbered.
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The faithful would
make a pilgrimage to
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a temple to dream.
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To prepare themselves,
they would withdraw to a
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place of isolation,
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00:13:05,460 --> 00:13:08,560
and fast to cleanse
their mind and body.
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A prayer might be written
to a particular god...
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and burned.
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00:13:28,460 --> 00:13:31,100
It was hoped that its smoke
would convey the contents to
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the underworld.
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00:13:39,800 --> 00:13:43,200
If we could only materialize
and decipher the dreaming that
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00:13:43,330 --> 00:13:46,300
went on at the Temple
of Dendera so long ago.
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And what of your
dream just last night?
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00:13:50,430 --> 00:13:53,400
The ancient Egyptians were
mystified by the boundary that
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00:13:53,530 --> 00:13:56,000
separates our waking
and sleeping life.
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They believed that we were
actually transported to
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another physical realm,
and that dreams had
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a material reality.
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How else to explain the
stunning detail of a
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particularly vivid dream?
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00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:13,760
More than 1,000 years after
the last dreamers awakened at
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00:14:13,900 --> 00:14:17,700
Dendera, there was a scientist
who believed that conscious
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00:14:17,830 --> 00:14:20,830
and unconscious thoughts
do have a material reality,
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00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:23,700
that dreams were
actually physical phenomena
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00:14:23,830 --> 00:14:26,660
that could be recorded.
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00:14:28,700 --> 00:14:31,430
And he found a way to do it.
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00:14:31,730 --> 00:14:36,060
In a place of broken minds
and shattered dreams...
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This is the
Manicomio di Collegno,
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00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:50,000
in Turin, Italy.
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00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:53,230
Built as a monastery
in the 17th century,
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00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:56,600
it had become a psychiatric
hospital by 1850.
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00:14:56,730 --> 00:15:00,930
It was abandoned decades ago,
but it still reverberates with
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00:15:01,060 --> 00:15:04,030
centuries of human
suffering and loneliness.
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00:15:05,730 --> 00:15:08,360
It was here that
Angelo Mosso came to perform
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00:15:08,500 --> 00:15:10,860
experiments on
dreams and thoughts.
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00:15:12,130 --> 00:15:14,560
Mosso was a child of
the working class who
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00:15:14,700 --> 00:15:17,260
boot-strapped himself
into becoming a scientist.
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00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:19,460
His primary research had been in
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00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:21,960
pharmacology and physiology.
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00:15:22,100 --> 00:15:24,930
And it was all focused
on making life better
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00:15:25,060 --> 00:15:26,900
for the working poor.
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00:15:27,700 --> 00:15:31,200
He viewed science as a means
to improve labor conditions.
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00:15:33,300 --> 00:15:36,830
In a time when people were
literally worked to death,
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00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:39,330
without recourse or
legal protection,
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00:15:39,460 --> 00:15:42,330
Mosso designed and
built an ergograph,
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00:15:42,460 --> 00:15:45,160
or "fatigue recorder," so
that he could demonstrate
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00:15:45,300 --> 00:15:48,260
experimentally what the
relentless stress of hard
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00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:50,860
labor did to the
human body and mind.
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00:15:52,030 --> 00:15:55,830
To Mosso, exhaustion was both
a physical and emotional state,
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00:15:57,100 --> 00:15:59,660
not a sign of human
weakness or a character flaw.
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00:16:00,630 --> 00:16:02,700
And it was your body's
way of telling you to stop
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00:16:02,830 --> 00:16:05,060
what you were doing
to avoid injury.
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00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:09,700
Mosso reasoned that fatigue
had an evolutionary advantage,
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00:16:09,830 --> 00:16:11,130
much like fear.
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00:16:29,060 --> 00:16:32,560
To demonstrate this, Mosso
began thinking about designing
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00:16:32,700 --> 00:16:35,960
an apparatus that could
record the body's blood flow.
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00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:01,330
The table that Mosso's
assistant floated on was
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00:17:01,460 --> 00:17:04,630
exquisitely balanced, and was
all attached to a rotating
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00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:08,160
drum with a stylus that
recorded the blood flow.
252
00:17:24,060 --> 00:17:26,860
It was the beginning
of medical imaging,
253
00:17:27,330 --> 00:17:30,300
a tool that had
never existed before.
254
00:17:33,900 --> 00:17:36,330
But if the actions of the
heart could be recorded,
255
00:17:36,460 --> 00:17:38,600
what about the brain?
256
00:17:38,730 --> 00:17:41,930
How could you transcribe the
brain's delicate murmurings
257
00:17:42,060 --> 00:17:45,200
when they were housed
in a protective skull?
258
00:17:45,660 --> 00:17:48,730
There was no way to do that
without harming a patient...
259
00:17:48,860 --> 00:17:50,330
Or was there?
260
00:17:54,130 --> 00:17:56,530
When he was not
even two years old,
261
00:17:56,660 --> 00:17:59,260
Giovanni Thron fell
from a great height.
262
00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:02,730
His skull had been so badly
shattered it was necessary to
263
00:18:02,860 --> 00:18:05,500
remove some of the pieces.
264
00:18:05,930 --> 00:18:08,460
As a result of the blow,
he began to have frequent
265
00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:11,200
and violent epileptic seizures.
266
00:18:11,930 --> 00:18:13,900
Fearing that they
might be contagious,
267
00:18:14,030 --> 00:18:16,360
his parents abandoned
him at the mental hospital
268
00:18:16,500 --> 00:18:18,930
in Turin by the
time he was five.
269
00:18:19,660 --> 00:18:22,960
And there he languished
for six years.
270
00:18:23,930 --> 00:18:27,160
The catastrophic injury that
had ruined Giovanni's life had
271
00:18:27,300 --> 00:18:29,760
left a doorway to his brain.
272
00:18:30,130 --> 00:18:33,460
Mosso designed and built the
machine so sensitive it could
273
00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:36,260
register the blood
coursing through his brain.
274
00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:39,460
But Giovanni was so agitated
during his waking hours,
275
00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:42,400
Mosso could only study
him while he slept.
276
00:18:43,060 --> 00:18:45,660
Mosso needed Giovanni
to be perfectly still in
277
00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:48,300
order to record the faint
signature of his thoughts.
278
00:18:50,630 --> 00:18:54,200
When I saw
Giovanni in February, 1877,
279
00:18:54,330 --> 00:18:57,060
he had a large opening in
the skull covered with skin.
280
00:18:58,530 --> 00:19:00,760
The terrible fall
had forever arrested
281
00:19:00,900 --> 00:19:03,000
his intellectual development.
282
00:19:03,530 --> 00:19:05,360
It was a saddening circumstance,
283
00:19:05,500 --> 00:19:09,000
that in the midst of the
ruin of his mind, one single,
284
00:19:09,130 --> 00:19:13,800
higher idea had remained,
a remnant of his earlier
285
00:19:14,230 --> 00:19:18,160
intellectual life, a motto
which he constantly repeated:
286
00:19:20,660 --> 00:19:24,900
'I want to go to school.'
It was one of the most
287
00:19:25,030 --> 00:19:29,730
interesting sights to observe
in the stillness of night,
288
00:19:29,860 --> 00:19:32,200
what was going on in his brain,
289
00:19:32,330 --> 00:19:34,460
when there was no external
cause to disturb this
290
00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:37,500
mysterious life of sleep.
291
00:19:37,630 --> 00:19:40,900
The brain-pulse remained for
10 or 20 minutes quite regular
292
00:19:41,030 --> 00:19:42,360
and very weak...
293
00:19:42,500 --> 00:19:47,030
and then began suddenly,
without any apparent cause to
294
00:19:47,160 --> 00:19:50,430
swell and beat more vigorously.
295
00:19:51,660 --> 00:19:53,730
The dreams, perhaps,
296
00:19:53,860 --> 00:19:56,800
come to cheer the repose
of the unhappy boy?
297
00:19:57,230 --> 00:19:59,930
That the face of his mother
and the recollections of his
298
00:20:00,060 --> 00:20:03,360
early childhood glow
bright in his memory?
299
00:20:04,060 --> 00:20:06,500
Lighting up the darkness
of his intelligence,
300
00:20:06,630 --> 00:20:10,200
and make his brain
pulsate with excitement?
301
00:20:10,330 --> 00:20:13,100
Or was it an unconscious
agitation of matter,
302
00:20:13,230 --> 00:20:18,060
like the ebb and flow of an
unknown and solitary sea?
303
00:20:30,030 --> 00:20:33,930
On that snowy night,
Angelo Mosso gave the brain
304
00:20:34,060 --> 00:20:37,160
its first pen to write with.
305
00:20:37,500 --> 00:20:39,530
He had invented neuroimaging,
306
00:20:39,660 --> 00:20:41,300
and showed that even in sleep,
307
00:20:41,430 --> 00:20:43,900
the brain is pulsing, throbbing,
308
00:20:44,030 --> 00:20:46,860
flashing with the complex
business of life...
309
00:20:47,260 --> 00:20:50,860
dreaming, remembering,
figuring things out.
310
00:20:52,300 --> 00:20:55,260
Our thoughts, visions,
fantasies and our dreams,
311
00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:58,100
do have a material reality.
312
00:20:59,430 --> 00:21:02,000
Three months after
the night of dreams,
313
00:21:02,130 --> 00:21:05,760
Giovanni died of anemia.
314
00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:10,230
He was not yet 12.
315
00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:23,000
Angelo Mosso's breakthrough
in pioneering the field of
316
00:21:23,130 --> 00:21:26,300
neuroscience inspired
another man to take Mosso's
317
00:21:26,430 --> 00:21:29,000
work one giant step further.
318
00:21:29,900 --> 00:21:33,600
He wanted to demonstrate
that psychic powers are real.
319
00:21:34,500 --> 00:21:37,700
It all happened because
of a freak accident...
320
00:21:42,930 --> 00:21:46,460
Hans Berger dreamed of
becoming an astronomer,
321
00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:49,760
but it was too hard,
and so in 1892,
322
00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:52,930
he enlisted in the German army.
323
00:22:06,930 --> 00:22:09,730
Berger was shaken by
his brush with death,
324
00:22:09,860 --> 00:22:11,900
but something happened
that night that shocked
325
00:22:12,030 --> 00:22:14,000
him even more...
326
00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:19,860
A telegram had arrived
from his father,
327
00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:22,030
a cold and distant man
who had never sent him
328
00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:24,400
a telegram before.
329
00:22:24,530 --> 00:22:27,500
Berger's older sister had
become panic-stricken with the
330
00:22:27,630 --> 00:22:30,030
certainty that something
terrible had happened
331
00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:32,230
to her little brother.
332
00:22:32,360 --> 00:22:34,560
Was it possible,
Berger wondered,
333
00:22:34,700 --> 00:22:38,000
that in the moment that he
realized he was going to die,
334
00:22:38,130 --> 00:22:40,960
his brain had somehow
telepathically delivered a
335
00:22:41,100 --> 00:22:44,500
message to the person he
was closest to, his sister?
336
00:22:46,430 --> 00:22:48,660
Berger became a physician
and a professor at
337
00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:50,960
the University of Jena.
338
00:22:51,360 --> 00:22:54,200
By day, he worked with his
students and colleagues,
339
00:22:54,330 --> 00:22:56,800
who found him to be
awkwardly formal,
340
00:22:56,930 --> 00:22:58,900
and scientifically
unadventurous.
341
00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:02,330
But by night, he went to a
secret laboratory where he
342
00:23:02,460 --> 00:23:04,560
conducted experiments
on the brain's activity.
343
00:23:10,830 --> 00:23:14,100
Berger believed that this was
his best chance of proving
344
00:23:14,230 --> 00:23:17,330
that psychic energy was real.
345
00:23:18,530 --> 00:23:20,760
He feared that if anyone
were to discover his real
346
00:23:20,900 --> 00:23:24,460
scientific objective, he'd be
laughed out of the profession.
347
00:23:33,860 --> 00:23:36,900
He kept his secret for 20 years.
348
00:23:41,230 --> 00:23:43,560
Berger's
electroencephalograph made it
349
00:23:43,700 --> 00:23:46,600
possible to interpret the
signals that the brain sends,
350
00:23:46,730 --> 00:23:49,760
and to diagnose many
neurological diseases,
351
00:23:49,900 --> 00:23:52,060
including epilepsy.
352
00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:54,960
He never did find any
evidence for psychic energy,
353
00:23:55,100 --> 00:23:57,560
or telepathic communication.
354
00:23:57,700 --> 00:24:00,030
Berger sunk into
a deep depression,
355
00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:03,500
and hanged himself in his
secret laboratory in 1941.
356
00:24:06,500 --> 00:24:10,530
The EEG is still in use today,
although we now have far more
357
00:24:10,660 --> 00:24:13,900
accurate ways of seeing and
recording what the brain does,
358
00:24:14,260 --> 00:24:17,060
and we even have the ability
to decrypt the electrochemical
359
00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:19,600
language of thought.
360
00:24:19,860 --> 00:24:23,330
Exactly 100 years after
Angelo Mosso first recorded
361
00:24:23,460 --> 00:24:25,800
the electrical whispers
of Giovanni's dreams,
362
00:24:27,100 --> 00:24:30,030
the brain waves of a woman
newly fallen in love,
363
00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:33,260
were included in the
Voyager Interstellar Message,
364
00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:35,800
destined to sail the Milky Way
365
00:24:35,930 --> 00:24:38,730
for a billion years or more.
366
00:24:39,660 --> 00:24:42,560
From horse-drawn carriage
to interstellar craft,
367
00:24:42,700 --> 00:24:44,530
in just a 100 years.
368
00:24:44,660 --> 00:24:47,630
From telegrams to sending our
thoughts hand-delivered to one
369
00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:49,400
another at the speed of light,
370
00:24:49,530 --> 00:24:52,930
and our deepest feelings
to a billion years from now.
371
00:24:53,700 --> 00:24:56,100
How did we make that leap?
372
00:24:56,230 --> 00:24:57,860
And why us?
373
00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:01,700
Of all the billions of species
that have ever lived on Earth,
374
00:25:01,830 --> 00:25:04,000
why us and no other?
375
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:41,800
Primates who descended
from the African savannah have
376
00:25:41,930 --> 00:25:45,130
sent their robot emissaries
to explore the red deserts of
377
00:25:45,260 --> 00:25:48,230
Mars, and ring that
world with satellites.
378
00:25:51,260 --> 00:25:54,100
We've only been at this
since the mid-20th century,
379
00:25:54,230 --> 00:25:57,060
not even a lifetime,
yet look at how far beyond
380
00:25:57,200 --> 00:25:59,260
our little world
our robots have ventured.
381
00:26:00,730 --> 00:26:02,660
One of our craft, Voyager 1,
382
00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:04,860
has broken free of the Sun,
383
00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:08,300
and now sails the deep
ocean of interstellar space.
384
00:26:10,260 --> 00:26:12,030
And every one
of those odysseys of
385
00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:14,500
discovery began here.
386
00:26:16,530 --> 00:26:18,700
It's easy to see why the
seat of all these mythic
387
00:26:18,830 --> 00:26:21,000
achievements would
itself seem beyond our
388
00:26:21,130 --> 00:26:23,260
ability to understand.
389
00:26:23,830 --> 00:26:26,060
It's hard to believe that
our minds are made of
390
00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:29,760
the same matter as our
stomachs and our feet.
391
00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:34,460
Consciousness
seems supernatural.
392
00:26:34,860 --> 00:26:37,030
Identity, awe...
393
00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:40,760
Skepticism, imagination, love.
394
00:26:41,830 --> 00:26:44,130
How do you assemble
transcendence from the
395
00:26:44,260 --> 00:26:46,660
periodic table of the elements?
396
00:26:53,430 --> 00:26:55,400
We are at the bottom of the sea,
397
00:26:55,530 --> 00:26:57,660
off the coast of Chile and Peru.
398
00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:01,400
This is perhaps the largest
living organism on Earth.
399
00:27:01,730 --> 00:27:05,560
It's a community of microbes
that is the size of a country...
400
00:27:05,860 --> 00:27:07,560
Greece.
401
00:27:07,700 --> 00:27:11,000
But there's something even more
amazing about it than its immensity.
402
00:27:12,630 --> 00:27:17,460
The ancient ancestors of these
colonies represent an early step in
403
00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:20,130
the development of brains.
404
00:27:20,260 --> 00:27:23,660
When the microbes living at the
center of this vast mat get hungry,
405
00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:26,400
they dispatch
electrochemical messages to
406
00:27:26,530 --> 00:27:28,260
their fellow citizens
at the outer-edge.
407
00:27:30,630 --> 00:27:33,830
These communiqués travel
through passages called ion channels.
408
00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:38,930
A message goes out on amber
waves of potassium from
409
00:27:39,060 --> 00:27:41,260
"Sparta to Athens" saying,
410
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:44,500
"Hey, guys, stop
hogging all the food!"
411
00:27:44,630 --> 00:27:46,930
And the residents of the
mat's outer edge respond
412
00:27:47,060 --> 00:27:49,530
by reducing their
intake of nutrients.
413
00:27:50,930 --> 00:27:53,600
It's possible that their
ancient ancestors evolved
414
00:27:53,730 --> 00:27:56,760
cells called neurons
that specialized in
415
00:27:56,900 --> 00:27:58,630
this kind of messaging.
416
00:28:00,360 --> 00:28:02,960
Neurons are the basic unit
of nervous systems in almost
417
00:28:03,100 --> 00:28:06,560
every life form in the
animal kingdom, including us.
418
00:28:07,630 --> 00:28:11,060
And they vary very little
in nature, if at all,
419
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:12,730
from species to species,
420
00:28:12,860 --> 00:28:15,160
but vary dramatically in number.
421
00:28:15,300 --> 00:28:17,860
In fact, we now
think that epilepsy,
422
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,330
that so-called "sacred disease,"
423
00:28:20,460 --> 00:28:24,260
is a misfiring in the brain
of our own ion channels.
424
00:28:26,930 --> 00:28:30,230
Think of it: A microbial
mat and Isaac Newton,
425
00:28:30,360 --> 00:28:33,000
separated by hundreds of
millions of years of evolution,
426
00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:36,500
but sharing the same
basic currency of thought.
427
00:28:38,030 --> 00:28:40,700
The messaging system
pioneered by the microbes
428
00:28:40,830 --> 00:28:42,500
some four billion years ago,
429
00:28:42,630 --> 00:28:44,760
is still inside us.
430
00:28:45,060 --> 00:28:48,460
No one looking at a microbial
mat three billion years ago
431
00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:51,600
could have predicted that
the one-celled organisms
432
00:28:51,730 --> 00:28:54,600
of life on Earth would
evolve into you.
433
00:28:56,430 --> 00:28:59,130
That's what happens when
living things and environments
434
00:28:59,260 --> 00:29:01,800
interact over the eons.
435
00:29:01,930 --> 00:29:04,660
New forms and ways
of being alive and aware
436
00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:07,060
come into existence.
437
00:29:07,430 --> 00:29:10,460
When the whole becomes
greater than the sum of its parts,
438
00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:13,000
it's called emergence.
439
00:29:19,860 --> 00:29:21,900
See the thing that looks
like a shred of a ruffle
440
00:29:22,030 --> 00:29:24,500
from a gaudy dress?
441
00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:26,700
You might think
it's kind of silly.
442
00:29:26,830 --> 00:29:29,060
But, you would be so wrong.
443
00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:32,930
Long, long ago, some
600 million years ago,
444
00:29:33,060 --> 00:29:35,830
life first evolved something
new to planet Earth,
445
00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:38,730
a command center that
could perceive and react
446
00:29:38,860 --> 00:29:41,060
to its environment...
447
00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:42,630
a brain.
448
00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:45,860
Now, life inched
closer to the stars.
449
00:29:46,130 --> 00:29:48,760
We think it first
happened inside a flatworm...
450
00:29:48,900 --> 00:29:52,160
this little guy's ancestor,
the first animal hunter.
451
00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:56,460
A brain was just what
a hunter would need to
452
00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:59,560
seek out and plan
a strategy for attack.
453
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:02,700
Binocular vision allowed
the flatworm to perceive the
454
00:30:02,830 --> 00:30:06,660
dimension of depth more sharply
and objects with greater clarity,
455
00:30:07,860 --> 00:30:10,400
all the better to
triangulate on prey.
456
00:30:11,100 --> 00:30:15,000
The flatworm brain had a pair of
dense nerve clusters called "ganglia."
457
00:30:16,500 --> 00:30:18,130
Cords extended from them,
458
00:30:18,260 --> 00:30:20,430
carrying instructions and
sensations to the rest of its
459
00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:23,830
body via some 8,000 neurons.
460
00:30:24,500 --> 00:30:27,160
Not many compared with the
life forms that would come later,
461
00:30:27,300 --> 00:30:29,230
but a momentous beginning.
462
00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:31,600
Flatworms have something
called auricles on the sides
463
00:30:31,730 --> 00:30:34,060
of their heads where
their ears should be,
464
00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:36,060
but they're actually noses.
465
00:30:36,930 --> 00:30:39,600
We may not look much alike,
but we have a lot in common.
466
00:30:41,230 --> 00:30:43,630
We share the same chemicals
that control our nervous systems,
467
00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:46,630
called "neurotransmitters."
468
00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:49,400
We get addicted
to the same drugs.
469
00:30:49,530 --> 00:30:51,960
Flatworms can learn.
470
00:30:52,100 --> 00:30:54,100
They process information
about their environment
471
00:30:54,230 --> 00:30:56,100
and act accordingly.
472
00:30:56,230 --> 00:30:58,830
We think they're nature's
first animals to have a front,
473
00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:00,530
a back and a head,
474
00:31:00,660 --> 00:31:03,030
a blueprint that
remains state of the art,
475
00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:05,500
600 million years later.
476
00:31:06,500 --> 00:31:09,930
And they were the true
pioneers in the deepest sense
477
00:31:10,060 --> 00:31:11,330
of that word.
478
00:31:11,460 --> 00:31:13,200
Unlike any life
form before them,
479
00:31:13,330 --> 00:31:15,930
they developed the habit of
venturing into the unknown
480
00:31:16,060 --> 00:31:18,800
territory in search
of what they craved.
481
00:31:20,230 --> 00:31:22,900
Okay, flatworms are cool,
but there's a big difference
482
00:31:23,030 --> 00:31:25,460
between a flatworm
brain and ours.
483
00:31:27,060 --> 00:31:29,330
How did we get
from there to here?
484
00:31:29,460 --> 00:31:31,630
We don't yet know.
485
00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:34,560
That's mainly because
brains tend to be squishy.
486
00:31:34,700 --> 00:31:37,630
They don't leave distinct
imprints in the fossil record.
487
00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:40,260
But the brain preserves
its evolutionary past...
488
00:31:41,830 --> 00:31:43,300
Why?
489
00:31:43,430 --> 00:31:47,230
Because our brains are a
little like New York City...
490
00:32:11,460 --> 00:32:15,160
Most of the world's great
cities have grown haphazardly,
491
00:32:15,300 --> 00:32:16,330
little by little,
492
00:32:16,460 --> 00:32:18,700
in response to the
needs of the moment;
493
00:32:18,830 --> 00:32:20,730
very rarely is
a city planned for
494
00:32:20,860 --> 00:32:22,630
the remote future.
495
00:32:23,330 --> 00:32:24,460
In New York City,
496
00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:26,200
many of the streets
date all the way back
497
00:32:26,330 --> 00:32:28,330
to the 17th century...
498
00:32:28,460 --> 00:32:30,430
the stock exchange
to the 18th...
499
00:32:31,660 --> 00:32:33,600
the waterworks and
the electrical power system
500
00:32:33,730 --> 00:32:36,130
to the 19th century.
501
00:32:36,260 --> 00:32:38,800
And the communications
bandwidth to the 20th.
502
00:32:46,530 --> 00:32:50,560
A city is like a brain: it
develops from a small center
503
00:32:51,900 --> 00:32:54,130
and slowly grows and changes,
504
00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:57,330
leaving many old
parts still functioning.
505
00:32:58,830 --> 00:33:01,760
New York can't afford to
suspend its water supply,
506
00:33:01,900 --> 00:33:03,400
or its transportation system,
507
00:33:03,530 --> 00:33:05,770
while they're being replaced
by something more efficient.
508
00:33:06,860 --> 00:33:09,460
Changes have to
happen piecemeal.
509
00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:13,830
And that's how it
is for the brain.
510
00:33:15,430 --> 00:33:18,130
There is no way for evolution
to rip out the ancient
511
00:33:18,260 --> 00:33:21,400
interior of the brain because
of its imperfections and
512
00:33:21,530 --> 00:33:24,730
replace it with something
of more modern manufacture.
513
00:33:25,830 --> 00:33:29,430
The brain and the city both
must function continuously
514
00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:31,700
during the renovation.
515
00:33:32,030 --> 00:33:34,600
That's why our limbic
system is surrounded by
516
00:33:34,730 --> 00:33:36,100
the cerebral cortex.
517
00:33:36,230 --> 00:33:39,630
The old part is in charge of
too many vital mechanisms for
518
00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:42,200
it to be replaced altogether.
519
00:33:42,330 --> 00:33:44,530
So, it's sometimes
counterproductive.
520
00:33:44,660 --> 00:33:47,300
But that's a necessary
consequence of evolution.
521
00:33:48,530 --> 00:33:51,960
The city is a gift of
the cerebral cortex.
522
00:33:56,300 --> 00:33:59,000
But the brain's language is
not encoded in the DNA of
523
00:33:59,130 --> 00:34:03,830
genes because the vocabulary
of life is too small.
524
00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:06,830
Our brains need a
language with 10,000 times
525
00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:08,800
as many words.
526
00:34:08,930 --> 00:34:11,200
The information content
of the human brain expressed
527
00:34:11,330 --> 00:34:15,360
in bits is probably comparable
to the total number of connections
528
00:34:15,500 --> 00:34:16,960
among the neurons...
529
00:34:17,100 --> 00:34:20,560
about a thousand trillion bits.
530
00:34:23,430 --> 00:34:26,460
If all the contents of your
brain were transcribed into
531
00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:30,660
written language, it would
amount to vastly more books
532
00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:34,030
than are contained in the
largest libraries on earth.
533
00:34:34,160 --> 00:34:37,430
The equivalent of more
than four billion books
534
00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:39,860
are inside your head.
535
00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:44,960
The brain is a very big
place in a very small space.
536
00:34:49,230 --> 00:34:51,960
It's written in those
neurons pioneered by
537
00:34:52,100 --> 00:34:54,830
the undersea microbial mats.
538
00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:58,700
These are tiny electrochemical
switching elements,
539
00:34:58,830 --> 00:35:01,860
typically a few hundredths
of a millimeter across.
540
00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:05,260
Each of us has
86 billion neurons,
541
00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:08,500
comparable to the number of
stars in the Milky Way galaxy.
542
00:35:09,300 --> 00:35:12,430
The neurons and their
parts, axons, dendrites,
543
00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:15,500
synapses and the cell
bodies themselves make up
544
00:35:15,630 --> 00:35:17,800
a network in the brain.
545
00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:20,200
Many neurons have
thousands of connections
546
00:35:20,330 --> 00:35:22,130
with their neighbors.
547
00:35:22,260 --> 00:35:26,960
Dendrites, those pathways sent out by
neurons to connect with other neurons,
548
00:35:27,100 --> 00:35:29,760
extend these nerve
cells to synapses until
549
00:35:29,900 --> 00:35:32,900
they create a full-blown
network of consciousness.
550
00:35:52,100 --> 00:35:56,300
The neurochemistry of the
brain is astonishingly busy,
551
00:35:56,700 --> 00:35:59,330
the circuitry of a machine
more wonderful than any
552
00:35:59,460 --> 00:36:01,730
devised by humans.
553
00:36:01,860 --> 00:36:04,930
Your brain functions are
due to those 100 trillion
554
00:36:05,060 --> 00:36:08,100
neural connections
that make you, you.
555
00:36:08,860 --> 00:36:11,530
Your deepest feelings
of love and awe...
556
00:36:11,660 --> 00:36:14,430
those moments when we
glimpse the grandeur of nature,
557
00:36:14,560 --> 00:36:17,400
and all the elegant
architecture of consciousness...
558
00:36:17,860 --> 00:36:21,360
are made possible by
those connections.
559
00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:24,430
This is the
essence of emergence:
560
00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:27,230
tiny units of matter
operating collectively
561
00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:28,730
to become something much more
562
00:36:28,860 --> 00:36:30,500
than themselves,
563
00:36:30,630 --> 00:36:33,100
to enable the cosmos
to know itself.
564
00:36:34,730 --> 00:36:38,130
But there's a vision of emergence
that takes it even higher.
565
00:36:38,260 --> 00:36:40,600
Can we know the universe?
566
00:36:41,300 --> 00:36:44,360
And will it ever
come to know us?
567
00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:06,900
Can we know the universe?
568
00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:10,200
All those galaxies, solar
systems, numberless worlds,
569
00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:14,030
moons, comets, beings,
and their dreams...
570
00:37:14,900 --> 00:37:18,360
everything that ever
was, is, or will be?
571
00:37:25,860 --> 00:37:29,060
Can we know the universe?
572
00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:33,000
I'm not sure we can even
know a grain of salt.
573
00:37:33,130 --> 00:37:36,060
Consider one microgram
of table salt,
574
00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:38,900
a speck just barely large
enough for someone with keen
575
00:37:39,030 --> 00:37:41,900
eyesight to see
without a microscope.
576
00:37:42,430 --> 00:37:45,830
In that grain of salt there
are about 10 to the power 16
577
00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:47,900
sodium and chlorine atoms.
578
00:37:48,730 --> 00:37:49,930
What does that mean?
579
00:37:50,060 --> 00:37:54,000
It means that there are 10
million billion atoms in this
580
00:37:54,130 --> 00:37:56,700
and every other
single grain of salt.
581
00:37:57,300 --> 00:37:59,660
To know the grain
of salt deeply,
582
00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:02,000
requires us to know at
least the three-dimensional
583
00:38:02,130 --> 00:38:04,060
positions of each
of these atoms.
584
00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:06,260
In fact, there's much
more to be known...
585
00:38:07,030 --> 00:38:10,330
for example, the nature of
the forces between the atoms.
586
00:38:10,930 --> 00:38:12,660
But okay, let's try
to keep it simple,
587
00:38:12,800 --> 00:38:14,560
we'll leave that aside.
588
00:38:14,700 --> 00:38:18,430
Is the number of all the
positions more or less than
589
00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:21,030
the number of things
which the brain can know?
590
00:38:21,960 --> 00:38:24,500
How much can the brain know?
591
00:38:24,830 --> 00:38:27,230
If you do the calculation,
with all the neurons and their
592
00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:29,630
dendrites, axons, synapses...
593
00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:32,330
we can know 100 trillion things.
594
00:38:33,630 --> 00:38:37,060
But this is only 1%
of the number of atoms in
595
00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:38,960
our grain of salt.
596
00:38:39,100 --> 00:38:41,960
So in this sense, the
universe is unmanageable,
597
00:38:42,630 --> 00:38:45,500
astonishingly immune
to any human attempt
598
00:38:45,630 --> 00:38:47,230
at full knowledge.
599
00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:50,530
We cannot, at this level,
fully know a grain of salt,
600
00:38:50,660 --> 00:38:52,600
much less the universe.
601
00:38:52,730 --> 00:38:54,430
But let's look a
little more deeply at our
602
00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:56,730
microgram of salt.
603
00:38:57,260 --> 00:38:59,300
Salt happens to be
a crystal in which,
604
00:38:59,430 --> 00:39:02,230
except for defects in the
structure of its lattice,
605
00:39:02,360 --> 00:39:04,960
the position of
every sodium and chlorine
606
00:39:05,100 --> 00:39:06,830
atom is predetermined.
607
00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:09,900
If we shrink ourselves into
this crystalline world,
608
00:39:10,030 --> 00:39:14,030
we would see rank upon rank
of atoms in an ordered array,
609
00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:16,530
a regularly
alternating structure...
610
00:39:16,660 --> 00:39:19,260
sodium, chlorine,
sodium, chlorine...
611
00:39:20,260 --> 00:39:23,100
specifying the sheet of
atoms we are flying through,
612
00:39:23,230 --> 00:39:25,760
and all the sheets
above us and below us.
613
00:39:27,300 --> 00:39:30,730
An absolutely pure grain of
salt could have the position
614
00:39:30,860 --> 00:39:33,160
of every atom specified
by something like
615
00:39:33,300 --> 00:39:35,460
ten bits of information.
616
00:39:35,600 --> 00:39:38,130
This wouldn't strain our
brain's carrying capacity.
617
00:39:38,260 --> 00:39:41,230
We'd still have plenty
of room for other stuff.
618
00:39:41,360 --> 00:39:44,760
Now, imagine a universe with
natural laws that govern its
619
00:39:44,900 --> 00:39:48,530
behavior to the same degree
of regularity that's true
620
00:39:48,660 --> 00:39:50,700
for a grain of salt.
621
00:39:50,830 --> 00:39:53,360
That universe would be knowable.
622
00:39:53,500 --> 00:39:55,900
Even if it had many
complicated laws,
623
00:39:56,030 --> 00:39:59,260
we'd still have a shot
at knowing that cosmos.
624
00:40:12,330 --> 00:40:14,730
It wouldn't matter if the
reality of that universe
625
00:40:14,860 --> 00:40:17,160
exceeded the
information-carrying capacity
626
00:40:17,300 --> 00:40:19,230
of one of our brains.
627
00:40:19,360 --> 00:40:21,900
We'd just go outside our
bodies and build a computer to
628
00:40:22,030 --> 00:40:24,600
store the surplus information.
629
00:40:25,060 --> 00:40:27,160
And we'd still, in some sense,
630
00:40:27,300 --> 00:40:29,430
know the universe.
631
00:40:29,830 --> 00:40:32,930
Now, imagine a universe
with no such laws,
632
00:40:33,530 --> 00:40:36,260
one that behaves in a
completely unpredictable fashion.
633
00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:40,330
That universe would contain
something like 10 to the 80th
634
00:40:40,460 --> 00:40:42,730
elementary particles.
635
00:40:43,100 --> 00:40:46,360
The inhabitants would find
everyday experience a muddled
636
00:40:46,500 --> 00:40:50,630
jumble of events with no
predictability, no regularity.
637
00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:54,930
And if they ever came to exist,
638
00:40:55,060 --> 00:40:57,400
they would be in grave peril.
639
00:41:03,530 --> 00:41:07,460
Lucky for us, we live in a
universe with important parts
640
00:41:07,600 --> 00:41:09,500
that are knowable.
641
00:41:09,630 --> 00:41:11,930
The universe belongs
to those who,
642
00:41:12,060 --> 00:41:15,000
at least to some degree,
have figured it out.
643
00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:19,230
It's an astonishing fact
that there are laws of nature,
644
00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:20,900
rules that summarize...
645
00:41:21,030 --> 00:41:23,700
not just qualitatively
but quantitatively,
646
00:41:23,830 --> 00:41:26,560
how the cosmos works.
647
00:41:26,700 --> 00:41:30,600
But what about the
cosmos inside each of us...
648
00:41:30,730 --> 00:41:34,030
That unknown and solitary sea?
649
00:41:34,630 --> 00:41:36,960
There are something
like 100 trillion...
650
00:41:37,100 --> 00:41:40,900
that is, one-hundred thousand
billion connections
651
00:41:41,360 --> 00:41:43,430
in your cerebral cortex.
652
00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:46,960
That's 100 times as many
connections inside you as all
653
00:41:47,100 --> 00:41:49,900
the galaxies of the
visible universe.
654
00:41:50,660 --> 00:41:52,930
We're just at
the beginning of a great
655
00:41:53,060 --> 00:41:55,230
journey of exploration.
656
00:41:55,360 --> 00:41:58,900
Just as biologists succeeded
in mapping the human genome,
657
00:41:59,330 --> 00:42:02,260
neuroscientists are
attempting to map something
658
00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:06,130
far more complex and unique
to each and every one of us.
659
00:42:07,130 --> 00:42:09,800
It's called our connectome.
660
00:42:14,330 --> 00:42:17,760
If we could truly know
another person's connectome,
661
00:42:17,900 --> 00:42:21,460
the singular wiring diagram
of all their memories,
662
00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:24,060
thoughts, fears, dreams...
663
00:42:25,600 --> 00:42:27,660
How would we treat each other?
664
00:42:27,800 --> 00:42:30,430
Could we heal the brain
of its countless torments,
665
00:42:31,300 --> 00:42:34,260
and free all the
Giovanni's of the world?
666
00:42:35,330 --> 00:42:39,600
Could we send one of our
connectomes on a future interstellar probe,
667
00:42:40,130 --> 00:42:41,830
or ever hope to
receive one from the
668
00:42:41,960 --> 00:42:45,100
being of another world?
669
00:42:57,730 --> 00:43:01,800
Would that be the ultimate
realization of emergence...
670
00:43:02,500 --> 00:43:07,700
a cosmos interconnected
by thoughts and dreams?
671
00:43:10,700 --> 00:43:12,260
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