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Ever looked around at the limitless
majesty of creation and wondered?

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Wondered what all these forests,
valleys, mountains and puddles are

3
00:00:24,540 --> 00:00:25,540
actually for?

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00:00:26,020 --> 00:00:30,220
Wondered how many buildings were knocked
down to make way for them and who

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00:00:30,220 --> 00:00:31,380
granted the planning permission?

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00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:36,460
Wondered about all the incredible yet
musky animals we share our planet with?

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What's up with them?

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From pointless ants to long-necked horse
monsters.

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From repugnant wombats to beautiful
elephants.

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What do the creatures want?

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And why do they refuse to tell us?

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And then, of course, there's us.

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Humanic kind.

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Have you ever wondered how we got here?

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Wondered where we're going?

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Wondered about the biggest mystery of
all? What is the meaning of life?

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Well, I haven't. But others have.

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For thousands of years, thinkers,
artists, authors, and my Aunt Carol have

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struggled to define humankind's purpose.

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Is life's meaning a riddle that even can
be answered?

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And if so, should we listen or cover our
ears to avoid spoilers?

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In this landmark documentary special,
I'll travel the globe to walk in slow

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motion through picturesque locations,
get up close to some of the most

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significant molecules in existence, and
meet a variety of academics, experts and

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professional mammals to ask some of the
most significant questions you can say

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with a mouse.

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Hello, who are you?

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I'm Brian Cox, Professor of Particle
Physics at the University of Manchester.

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Can I call you Brian or do you prefer
Cox?

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So join me, Philomena Conk, as I uncover
the point of it all.

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This is Conk Online!

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Welcome to our universe.

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A limitless expanse peppered with stars,
planets and assorted space muck.

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It's where you live.

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In fact, you're somewhere in this photo.

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But we don't know where, because the
universe is so vast, we simply can't

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make you out, even with your ears.

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Gazing into this infinite tapestry makes
us ask questions, not just about where

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the ceiling's gone, but deep questions
that strike at the very core of our

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arseholes.

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Questions like, how did it get here?

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Who are you?

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I'm Douglas Headley, and I teach the
philosophy of religion at the University

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of Cambridge.

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So, why are we here?

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You mean why human beings exist?

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No, I mean, why are we here in... Is
this near your house or something?

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No. It took me 90 minutes to get here on
the Piccadilly line.

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There are countless theories about how
the universe got here, and the earliest

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one comes from the wacky world of
religion.

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This is the Good Old Testament, the
first century in the Christian cinematic

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universe. Jesus isn't in this one.

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It's mainly about his bad-tempered dad,
a man so mysterious we still only know

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him by his stage name, God.

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I'm going to go straight in at the deep
end.

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Is there a God?

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Yes. Oh, that was quick.

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Great.

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Has anyone proved it?

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No, except to their own satisfaction.

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Does God have a brother called Simon?

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No.

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But they can't prove that either, so he
might have.

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The universe could have been created by
Simon.

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The Old Testament claims God, and or
Simon, created our universe in just

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seven days.

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It sounds like a lot to achieve in such
a short space of time. But unlike us,

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God wasn't constantly interrupted by
iPhone notifications.

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God started by saying, let there be
light, which makes sense because he

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needed to be able to see what he was
doing.

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Then he divided light from dark, like I
do when I'm doing a clothes wash.

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Next, he created the firmament, whatever
that is, and the oceans and the stars.

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For his next trick, God filled the
oceans with water animals, or fish, as

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they're sometimes known, and the heavens
with sky bees, or birds.

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Then he infested the earth with insects,
reptiles, mammals, and whatever category

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of things slugs are.

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And finally...

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For his crowning achievement, he created
perhaps the only thing worth

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celebrating. Oh.

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Here on the planet of Italy is the
Sistine Chapel.

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Inside it is an astonishing collection
of images created by overachieving

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painter-decorator Michael A.N. Gello.

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This artwork took him four years to
complete, ruining a perfectly good

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ceiling in the process.

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But whatever you think of it, what it
depicts... is momentous, the moment God

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created life by jizzing us out of his
hands.

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This image of the most significant
finger-banging history has inspired

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visitors to the Sistine Chapel for many
centuries, and visitors to this replica

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for less time than that.

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It's perhaps the greatest masterpiece in
all of art, but also the most annoying

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to look at. When I gaze up at it, I'm
struck by a sense of wonder, but mainly

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by a crick in my neck.

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When Michelangelo painted the Sistine
Chapel, did he start on the floor and

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then they flipped the building over?

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Or was it always on the ceiling?

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The painting was always on the ceiling.

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It's quite high up, isn't it? Did
Michelangelo use a really long brush or

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did he have really long arms?

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Well, he had to stand up on top of some
scaffolding and bend his head backwards.

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Wouldn't paint drip down into his eyes
when he was doing it? I bet he was

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blinking the whole time. Like that. He
doesn't complain about that, but he must

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have done.

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However he did it, painting the Sistine
Chapel must have been a great upper-body

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workout. How strong were Michelangelo's
arms? Like, if a mad priest had leapt on

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his back while he was painting it, would
he have been able to reach round and

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pull him off?

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Oh, yeah, I think so.

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I think Michelangelo was quite muscular.

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He must have been.

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So he couldn't really yank him off. I
think he could have done, yeah.

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The man God's creating here is called
Adam.

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He's one half of the first celebrity
couple, Adam and Eve, played here by

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actors who happily signed a nudity
waiver.

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Of course, the real Adam and Eve
wouldn't have had tattoos we'd have to

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paint over or intimate piercings.

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We'd have to ask them to take out and
hand to our researcher for safekeeping.

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We've pixelated the offensive parts of
their bodies, a technology that wasn't

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available in Old Testament times, which
is why I can see everything, even though

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I don't really want to.

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Adam and Eve weren't just the first
humans to exist, but the first humans to

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disappoint their dad.

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God had hidden the secret of knowledge
inside a delicious-looking fruit and

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then forbidden them to eat it for some
fucking reason.

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But eat it they did.

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An early example of an apple product
hastening the downfall of humankind.

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This was the original sin, and ever
since, all humans have been considered

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sinful.

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Sinners worry God might punish them, but
what about you?

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Well, I'm a sinner like anybody else.

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No, I mean...

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Should they worry about you punishing
them?

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Uh, no.

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God realized he needed help keeping us
sinful humans in check, and he knew just

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who to call on.

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This is Holy Moses, the most successful
influencer of Old Testament times.

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Very much the Mr.

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Beast of his day.

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One day God invited Moses to the top of
Mount Sinai and handed him a set of

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rules for life carved on stone tablets.

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It was the world's first and heaviest
press release.

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God commanded Moses to spread this
message far and wide, which must have

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been annoying for Moses because he'd
have to carry the tablets back down on

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foot and probably didn't have room in
his rucksack.

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How many Ten Commandments were there?
How many? You just named them ten.

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So there were ten Ten Commandments.

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There weren't 100 commandments. There
were 10 commandments.

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There were 10 commandments.

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Yes. That's it.

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These shouts and shalt nots are a set of
terms and conditions for humankind.

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All Christians had to agree to abide by
them and also accept occasional

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promotional messages from God on
subjects that may interest them.

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How did God manage to boil his terms and
conditions down to just 10 points when

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the iPhone end-user licence agreement is
about 100 pages long?

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Well, it just proves the point that God
is God and so he's a lot more concise

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than we are. Is it a legally binding
contract?

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It is a covenant, which is a covenant of
love between God and God's people. No, I

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meant the iPhone one.

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In a bid to stay in God's good books,
devout followers avoid sinful pleasures,

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like lusting after sloths, during their
lifetimes.

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Not everyone thinks enjoying yourself is
bad. Some people dedicate their lives to

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00:10:05,050 --> 00:10:08,870
hedonism. The sleaziest ism there is,
apart from jism.

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Entire cities have been built for
hedonist pursuits.

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Impressive, opulent cities like Swansea
and Wales.

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And also this place.

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This is Las Vegas, Spanish for the
Vegas.

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With its culture of casinos, strip clubs
and round-the-clock drinking, it's a

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00:10:29,420 --> 00:10:31,620
mecca for people who aren't going to
Mecca.

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Vegas is a shimmering visual metaphor
for human indulgence, according to our

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00:10:36,880 --> 00:10:41,240
director, and too far away and expensive
for us to film in, according to our

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00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:43,040
producer, who lost the argument.

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Given its reputation, Las Vegas is also
known as Sin City, which is short for

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Cincinnati, or would be if that wasn't a
different place altogether.

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Many of the tourists who flock here each
year hope that what happens in Vegas

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00:11:00,790 --> 00:11:02,070
stays in Vegas.

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Maybe that's true, but on the other
hand, God sees everything.

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Even that thing my ex Sean used to do
with his thumb.

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Worse still, God doesn't just know about
the sinful things you've done.

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00:11:14,620 --> 00:11:18,200
He also knows about the sinful things
you're merely thinking of doing.

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God knows everything we're thinking.

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00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:25,620
That's the data privacy nightmare, isn't
it? Is there a way to opt out?

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00:11:26,580 --> 00:11:32,140
Not that I'm aware of. Could you put God
off the scent by only thinking decoy

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thoughts, like only thinking the
opposite of what you actually think?

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Would that work?

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I don't think so.

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00:11:39,980 --> 00:11:40,980
No.

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00:11:41,450 --> 00:11:44,290
Because you're not just dealing with a
God who is omniscient, knows everything,

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you're also dealing with a God who is
omnipotent, is all-powerful.

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00:11:48,130 --> 00:11:51,570
I'll be honest, this relationship with
God throws up a lot of red flags.

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00:11:52,090 --> 00:11:53,750
He's watching us all the time.

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00:11:54,610 --> 00:11:55,710
He sets rules.

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00:11:56,110 --> 00:11:57,370
He's got a terrible temper.

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00:11:58,390 --> 00:11:59,850
He even thinks he's God.

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00:12:00,130 --> 00:12:02,490
Isn't he basically just a toxic
narcissist?

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00:12:03,790 --> 00:12:08,170
If you follow God's rules religiously,
you'll ascend to the kingdom of heaven,

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00:12:08,290 --> 00:12:10,310
which sounds great, although...

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00:12:10,510 --> 00:12:14,310
If you're old when you die, you might
not want to be going up a lot of stairs.

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00:12:16,430 --> 00:12:18,630
In heaven, nobody has to work anymore.

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00:12:18,830 --> 00:12:21,130
The most that will be asked of you is
doing the washing up.

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00:12:21,450 --> 00:12:25,490
But since all earthly appetites will
have been sated, we can only be talking

200
00:12:25,490 --> 00:12:26,490
about the odd mug.

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00:12:27,450 --> 00:12:32,270
The alternative to heaven is hell, a
fiery pit of damnation and eternal

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00:12:32,270 --> 00:12:35,790
torment, which currently only has two
stars on TripAdvisor.

203
00:12:35,990 --> 00:12:38,090
This is quite a spiritual show.

204
00:12:38,630 --> 00:12:40,090
Can I ask about...

205
00:12:40,510 --> 00:12:41,510
Our souls.

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00:12:41,630 --> 00:12:45,870
Do we get judged for the cleanliness of
our souls when we get to heaven?

207
00:12:46,150 --> 00:12:49,410
I think we get judged by how we've acted
in the world.

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00:12:49,710 --> 00:12:53,290
When we look into our souls, what do we
find there?

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00:12:54,830 --> 00:12:58,990
Well, it depends on how far we're
prepared to look into it. How far you

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00:12:58,990 --> 00:12:59,990
look up, yeah.

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00:13:02,050 --> 00:13:06,370
God's unforgiving nature means his
believers try to stay in his good books

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00:13:06,370 --> 00:13:08,670
through a form of organised grovelling.

213
00:13:09,260 --> 00:13:10,260
called worship.

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00:13:48,970 --> 00:13:52,090
Any fine praising God in this way gives
them a purpose in life.

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00:13:52,450 --> 00:13:53,710
Socking up to the boss.

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00:13:55,150 --> 00:13:58,990
If God's up there looking down on us,
why do we kneel when we pray?

217
00:13:59,750 --> 00:14:05,750
Kneeling is the expression of a sense of
awe and holiness.

218
00:14:06,390 --> 00:14:09,830
Yeah, but what's the point in kneeling,
though, all bent over? You know, it's

219
00:14:09,830 --> 00:14:10,830
terrible acoustic.

220
00:14:11,230 --> 00:14:15,050
Wouldn't it be better to stand up and
shout a list of demands up to the sky?

221
00:14:15,370 --> 00:14:17,670
God is not in the sky, literally.

222
00:14:18,070 --> 00:14:20,360
Right. So where is he? Has he got an
address?

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00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:27,280
God is present in all places and

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00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:28,700
all times.

225
00:14:29,100 --> 00:14:30,880
What, even like in cupboards?

226
00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:37,320
Well, you've raised a very important
question here because one

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00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:44,300
way of thinking about the divine
presence is

228
00:14:44,300 --> 00:14:45,820
in terms of his knowledge.

229
00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:53,360
So maybe God is not located in the
cupboard, but he knows about

230
00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:55,980
the state of affairs in the cupboard.

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00:14:56,380 --> 00:14:58,440
Sorry, is he in a cupboard or not?

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00:14:59,020 --> 00:15:03,540
Not everyone believes God is solely
responsible for giving us life. Other

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00:15:03,540 --> 00:15:05,060
origin stories are available.

234
00:15:06,740 --> 00:15:11,060
The man slowly moving towards you is
unshaven Victorian genius Charles

235
00:15:11,060 --> 00:15:14,640
Darwin. One day Darwin rode a beagle to
the Galapagos Islands.

236
00:15:15,390 --> 00:15:20,010
where an exotic tortoise gave him an
idea in the form of a theory. A theory

237
00:15:20,010 --> 00:15:23,110
that human bodies hadn't always been
human bodies.

238
00:15:24,410 --> 00:15:27,770
Why do we say our ancestors came in
apes?

239
00:15:29,190 --> 00:15:31,930
Our ancestors came... In apes.

240
00:15:32,410 --> 00:15:39,310
Ah. They didn't come from apes. Apes and
ourselves came from something else. A

241
00:15:39,310 --> 00:15:44,230
chimp. Sort of, you know, it's not
exactly like a chimp or a... modern ape

242
00:15:44,230 --> 00:15:45,230
or ourselves.

243
00:15:45,390 --> 00:15:47,370
Right. So we didn't come in and chimp?

244
00:15:47,610 --> 00:15:48,610
No.

245
00:15:49,350 --> 00:15:53,930
It's hard to believe we all mutated from
monkey meat unless you consider all life

246
00:15:53,930 --> 00:15:56,110
is basically the same at a microscopic
level.

247
00:15:56,630 --> 00:16:00,530
Lots of things are alive, from tiny
microbes to bigger microbes.

248
00:16:01,710 --> 00:16:06,970
Every life form is made of cells, like a
prison, which is probably why existence

249
00:16:06,970 --> 00:16:08,070
is so depressing.

250
00:16:08,570 --> 00:16:09,870
It's a life sentence.

251
00:16:10,570 --> 00:16:13,470
Just like the sentences I say in this
programme about life.

252
00:16:14,930 --> 00:16:16,910
Are cells worth having?

253
00:16:17,370 --> 00:16:19,230
Well, without cells, we wouldn't be.

254
00:16:19,730 --> 00:16:24,110
We're made up of trillions of cells. We
all came from a single cell.

255
00:16:24,330 --> 00:16:25,990
So they're really important to us.

256
00:16:26,310 --> 00:16:31,010
Are my cells dividing and multiplying
all the time, like even when I'm sitting

257
00:16:31,010 --> 00:16:31,889
here now?

258
00:16:31,890 --> 00:16:36,390
Since you've been sat there, you've had
about a million cell divisions going on

259
00:16:36,390 --> 00:16:37,309
in your body.

260
00:16:37,310 --> 00:16:39,770
No wonder I feel so worn out all the
time.

261
00:16:41,130 --> 00:16:45,730
Cells couldn't multiply without this,
the IKEA Instruction Manual for Life,

262
00:16:45,970 --> 00:16:46,970
DNA.

263
00:16:47,570 --> 00:16:50,690
DNA is tiny yet complex, like Tom
Cruise.

264
00:16:51,130 --> 00:16:55,690
It would take a typist over 50 years to
type out the DNA sequence, which would

265
00:16:55,690 --> 00:16:58,210
be stupid because she could just cut and
paste it and go home.

266
00:16:58,790 --> 00:17:03,570
I call her she because of unconscious
bias, which is in my DNA and not my

267
00:17:03,570 --> 00:17:06,250
fault. Have you heard of DNA?

268
00:17:07,550 --> 00:17:08,550
Yes.

269
00:17:08,849 --> 00:17:10,310
Do we all have DNA?

270
00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:13,900
Or do some of us have D or A, but not
both?

271
00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:16,800
No, it's not D and A.

272
00:17:17,079 --> 00:17:19,900
It's three letters, D-N-A.

273
00:17:20,220 --> 00:17:23,000
Can you tell by looking at me whether I
have DNA?

274
00:17:23,859 --> 00:17:28,500
Well, I know you have DNA because you're
a living organism and all life has DNA.

275
00:17:28,980 --> 00:17:33,900
My mate Paul tried to create a new life
form by inserting his DNA into a

276
00:17:33,900 --> 00:17:38,200
grapefruit, but halfway through the
experiment, the green grass had started

277
00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:39,199
hitting him.

278
00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:46,020
Why is... science so controversial sorry
that that question

279
00:17:46,020 --> 00:17:52,800
didn't follow from your story of the no
it changed yeah one of life's biggest

280
00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:58,980
mysteries is how it's possible for me to
look both like my mother and my father

281
00:17:58,980 --> 00:18:05,820
at the same time even though i've only
got one face is it true the most

282
00:18:05,820 --> 00:18:08,920
important thing we can do as humans is
piss in our jeans

283
00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:11,000
Pass on our genes.

284
00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:14,700
Sorry? Sorry, it's pass on our genes.

285
00:18:15,180 --> 00:18:16,180
Oh, right.

286
00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:22,560
Is it true the most important thing we
can do as a human is pass

287
00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:24,900
on our genes?

288
00:18:25,500 --> 00:18:29,180
Well, I don't know if it's the most
important thing, but it is very

289
00:18:29,180 --> 00:18:35,420
important because what it means is that
you pass on your genes from you to...

290
00:18:35,660 --> 00:18:36,579
Your child.

291
00:18:36,580 --> 00:18:38,600
What if I don't want to pass on any of
mine?

292
00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:42,440
Then you don't have to. Right. How can I
avoid it?

293
00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:45,380
Well, you have to make love.

294
00:18:46,700 --> 00:18:48,640
What, to avoid passing on my genes?

295
00:18:51,820 --> 00:18:56,500
All living things reproduce, which means
all living things procreate.

296
00:18:56,780 --> 00:19:01,480
Dogs, lions, pigs, penguins, monkeys,
shell monsters.

297
00:19:02,030 --> 00:19:05,530
Elephants, horses, David and Victoria
Beckham, and pigs again.

298
00:19:05,770 --> 00:19:10,230
The female reproductive organs are
largely hidden indoors for safekeeping

299
00:19:10,230 --> 00:19:13,350
and are normally only visible behind
some kind of paywall.

300
00:19:13,570 --> 00:19:18,810
By contrast, the male genitals, or Mr
Genitals, live on the outside of the

301
00:19:18,810 --> 00:19:22,410
body, where they can be easily
photographed and DMed to a potential

302
00:19:22,410 --> 00:19:23,570
mate without consent.

303
00:19:24,230 --> 00:19:26,170
So, which bit's the penis?

304
00:19:26,590 --> 00:19:29,270
So, the penis is over here. It's this
bit here.

305
00:19:29,510 --> 00:19:32,440
Right. I'll talk quietly. I don't want
to wake him.

306
00:19:33,120 --> 00:19:37,480
This is a flaccid penis, so for sexual
intercourse, it has to become erect.

307
00:19:37,980 --> 00:19:40,880
So what happens then? What bit goes
where?

308
00:19:41,460 --> 00:19:46,980
So this penis needs to become erect, and
then it will be put into vagina here

309
00:19:46,980 --> 00:19:52,080
during intercourse, and he's going to
ejaculate sperm through his penis and

310
00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:53,080
then into the woman's vagina.

311
00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:55,160
Christ.

312
00:19:55,420 --> 00:19:57,480
I hope nothing like that ever happens to
me.

313
00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:03,140
The disappointingly flavoured soup that
vomits from the penis contains millions

314
00:20:03,140 --> 00:20:07,340
of plucky young tadpoles which swim
their way up through the female pipework

315
00:20:07,340 --> 00:20:12,420
towards an egg and then kamikaze into it
like a tiny 9-11 happening up a lady.

316
00:20:13,060 --> 00:20:18,480
This is where, incredibly, the miracle
of life begins and the precise moment

317
00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:21,500
that a woman's right to choose ends.

318
00:20:23,220 --> 00:20:25,220
Nine months after conception...

319
00:20:25,470 --> 00:20:29,410
The infant painlessly slides through the
lady's front hole and out into the

320
00:20:29,410 --> 00:20:34,690
world. It then slowly mutates from a
baby into an actual human being.

321
00:20:35,170 --> 00:20:37,530
But what exactly is a human being?

322
00:20:38,430 --> 00:20:41,450
What percentage of people have a human
body?

323
00:20:42,570 --> 00:20:44,510
All humans have a human body.

324
00:20:44,850 --> 00:20:46,750
What about people holding a cat?

325
00:20:46,950 --> 00:20:51,730
Have they got a human body and a cat's
body, or does it not work that way?

326
00:20:52,050 --> 00:20:53,690
No, the two are completely separate.

327
00:20:54,220 --> 00:20:56,780
The human is a human and the cat is a
cat.

328
00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:03,400
Human biology has existed almost as long
as humans themselves, if not longer.

329
00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:08,520
It involves a complex arrangement of
skin and meat machines called organs.

330
00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:13,120
Put these organs in a plastic bag and
walk around a shoe shop with them and

331
00:21:13,120 --> 00:21:14,120
you'd be arrested.

332
00:21:14,220 --> 00:21:18,900
But put them in the right order and
you've got a human body, an exquisitely

333
00:21:18,900 --> 00:21:21,660
constructed machine that also farts on
its crest.

334
00:21:23,340 --> 00:21:28,060
Our organs are so gory, some people
can't bear to see images like this. If

335
00:21:28,060 --> 00:21:31,020
you're one of those sensitive viewers,
look away five seconds ago.

336
00:21:32,020 --> 00:21:37,800
Is the correct term for all this awful
or gore, all this stuff?

337
00:21:38,140 --> 00:21:40,200
This is called the intestine.

338
00:21:40,700 --> 00:21:44,120
If you pulled an intestine out, how long
would it be?

339
00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:45,900
It would be many metres.

340
00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:48,400
OK, but why are you pulling it out?

341
00:21:48,860 --> 00:21:51,980
We wouldn't normally pull it out unless
there was a disease process.

342
00:21:52,260 --> 00:21:53,560
Right, so you don't know why it's
happening?

343
00:21:54,500 --> 00:21:58,700
No. All these slimy innards need a
surrounding structure to stop them

344
00:21:58,700 --> 00:22:01,020
slopping onto the floor for passers-by
to slip on.

345
00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:06,600
We wouldn't be upstanding citizens if it
wasn't for this, the human skeleton of

346
00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:07,600
Ghost Train fame.

347
00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:11,460
It's incredible to think that there's
one of these inside some of us.

348
00:22:13,060 --> 00:22:15,860
Did you know only 40% of people have
skeletons?

349
00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:19,740
Where did you get this figure from?

350
00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:24,180
It's true. I saw a video about it. You
only find out if you've got a skeleton

351
00:22:24,180 --> 00:22:25,159
after you die.

352
00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:27,000
Some people are just solid meat.

353
00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:29,220
You know Burt Lancaster, the actor?

354
00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:31,860
He was solid meat, apparently, like a
sausage.

355
00:22:32,860 --> 00:22:39,820
Every human being has a skeleton. That
figure is 100%. Did you know knees are

356
00:22:39,820 --> 00:22:40,659
a con?

357
00:22:40,660 --> 00:22:41,740
Why do you say that?

358
00:22:41,980 --> 00:22:44,700
Apparently, if you walk everywhere
without bending your legs, you can

359
00:22:44,700 --> 00:22:46,320
prolong your life by about eight years.

360
00:22:46,940 --> 00:22:48,500
I went running this morning.

361
00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:52,980
How would I run without bending my
knees? I'm not saying you didn't bend

362
00:22:52,980 --> 00:22:53,739
your knees.

363
00:22:53,740 --> 00:22:58,420
I'm just saying that if you didn't bend
your knees, you could prolong your life

364
00:22:58,420 --> 00:22:59,420
by eight years.

365
00:22:59,660 --> 00:23:02,580
Although it does make stairs a problem,
I'll grant you that.

366
00:23:03,380 --> 00:23:07,940
The most important bit of the human body
is up here, in the driver's compartment

367
00:23:07,940 --> 00:23:08,940
of school.

368
00:23:10,500 --> 00:23:13,560
Imprisoned within every skull is a
creature we've enslaved to do our

369
00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:17,560
thinking for us, a sort of smart
cauliflower known as the brain.

370
00:23:18,660 --> 00:23:20,220
So this is a brain.

371
00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:21,640
This is a brain.

372
00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:24,680
How many of these are in an average
head?

373
00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:26,360
We have one each.

374
00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:28,180
Just the one? Just the one brain.

375
00:23:29,380 --> 00:23:34,200
The brain doesn't just tackle complex
tasks like blinking or making porridge.

376
00:23:34,500 --> 00:23:38,820
It also handles trivial things like our
entire human consciousness.

377
00:23:39,770 --> 00:23:42,290
the origins of which are a complete
mystery.

378
00:23:43,730 --> 00:23:48,330
Does the brain generate the
consciousness, or does the consciousness

379
00:23:48,330 --> 00:23:49,730
operate the brain?

380
00:23:50,630 --> 00:23:54,290
You'll find lots of disagreement about
it. I'm sorry, and I'm supposed to

381
00:23:54,290 --> 00:23:58,870
remind you to keep your answer coherent
for our fuckwitted viewers.

382
00:23:59,330 --> 00:24:01,070
It is a complicated question.

383
00:24:01,270 --> 00:24:04,570
My view is that the brain generates.

384
00:24:05,580 --> 00:24:09,640
But consciousness gives us the ability
to do things that we wouldn't be able to

385
00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:11,220
do if we weren't conscious.

386
00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:12,480
Thank you.

387
00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:19,660
And apparently I wasn't supposed to read
that card aloud, so apologies to you at

388
00:24:19,660 --> 00:24:20,660
home.

389
00:24:21,900 --> 00:24:26,140
All of this leads to a fundamental human
question. Who am I?

390
00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:30,180
Not me, obviously. I'm on the telly, so
people know who I am.

391
00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:31,480
But who are you?

392
00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:32,880
What are you doing here?

393
00:24:33,340 --> 00:24:34,520
Is any of this?

394
00:24:35,070 --> 00:24:36,070
Really happening.

395
00:24:37,150 --> 00:24:42,270
When we have a thought like, if I
picture a windmill, how real is that

396
00:24:42,270 --> 00:24:43,270
windmill?

397
00:24:43,750 --> 00:24:44,750
It's not real.

398
00:24:45,130 --> 00:24:47,450
It's not real? It's in your mind.

399
00:24:47,870 --> 00:24:50,450
Why did I picture a windmill, though? Is
it a clue?

400
00:24:50,890 --> 00:24:53,030
A clue to... Something.

401
00:24:53,370 --> 00:24:55,510
I don't know. Depends what you are
thinking about.

402
00:24:55,750 --> 00:24:57,250
What's inside the windmill?

403
00:24:58,590 --> 00:25:00,790
Depends what you are thinking about.

404
00:25:02,010 --> 00:25:07,660
What if... Someone lives inside the
windmill, and I'm not imagining them,

405
00:25:07,820 --> 00:25:09,120
they're imagining me.

406
00:25:09,660 --> 00:25:14,720
This is a very unusual way to think
about how imagination works.

407
00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:20,720
Imagination is a side effect of having a
mind, and some believe it can be

408
00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:23,660
enhanced with the use of mind-expanding
drugs.

409
00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:30,440
When hippies took mind-expanding drugs,
how much wider do their minds get?

410
00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:32,800
Did their skulls ever pop open?

411
00:25:33,060 --> 00:25:37,320
Their skulls didn't pop open, but it
meant that they were more open to ideas

412
00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:41,780
and philosophies and concepts they might
not have previously considered.

413
00:25:42,120 --> 00:25:48,420
You know, when people talk about opening
the third eye, that's what my mate Paul

414
00:25:48,420 --> 00:25:50,540
calls the hole in the end of his penis.

415
00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:53,260
Why would anyone want to widen that?

416
00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:58,860
The use of psychopathic drugs in the
1960s also led popular figures to

417
00:25:58,860 --> 00:26:01,300
contemplate more spiritual aspects to
human existence.

418
00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:08,600
When the Beatles dropped acid and went
to India, did they actually go or was

419
00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:09,680
that part of the trip?

420
00:26:10,540 --> 00:26:14,560
No, they did actually go to India and
they visited an ashram and they visited

421
00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:18,160
gurus while they were out there. It
changed the stuff they said, didn't it?

422
00:26:18,180 --> 00:26:20,380
They said, all you need is love.

423
00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:24,380
And then George Harrison said, all
things must pass.

424
00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:29,640
Those were spiritual messages, weren't
they? So when Paul said he was simply

425
00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:34,180
having a wonderful Christmas time, was
there a deeper meaning there?

426
00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:38,520
I don't know. There was a deeper message
there, and that was a bit later that

427
00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:40,160
Paul was having a wonderful Christmas
time.

428
00:26:40,500 --> 00:26:45,260
Yeah, my ex, Sean, sang that to me in
bed once during an intimate moment.

429
00:26:45,940 --> 00:26:48,240
Honestly, I went as dry as a cat's
tongue.

430
00:26:49,550 --> 00:26:54,950
Rock stars also popularise meditation as
a way to clear the stresses of modern

431
00:26:54,950 --> 00:26:56,010
life from the mind.

432
00:26:56,290 --> 00:27:00,690
Do you have to sit down to meditate, or
could I do it at the same time as

433
00:27:00,690 --> 00:27:04,770
something else, like driving or
operating heavy machinery?

434
00:27:05,450 --> 00:27:10,410
Some people do, Buddhists, for example,
do walking meditation, so you don't have

435
00:27:10,410 --> 00:27:11,309
to sit down.

436
00:27:11,310 --> 00:27:13,790
Does meditation help our souls relax?

437
00:27:14,750 --> 00:27:18,290
Yes. Meditation does help our souls
relax? Yes.

438
00:27:18,700 --> 00:27:19,700
Yeah.

439
00:27:19,820 --> 00:27:24,220
Let's take a moment to realign ourselves
with our present reality together.

440
00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:28,740
We're going to do a guided meditation
now, so feel free to join in at home.

441
00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:30,780
Close your eyes.

442
00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:33,200
Slow your breathing.

443
00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:36,180
Now, breathe in.

444
00:27:47,100 --> 00:27:48,100
Sorry, breathe out.

445
00:27:51,020 --> 00:27:53,920
Become aware of the rise and fall of
your belly.

446
00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:57,640
Feel the fabric of your clothes on your
skin.

447
00:27:58,360 --> 00:28:00,220
Why is it that particular material?

448
00:28:00,900 --> 00:28:03,640
Was it sewn together by a child in a
sweatshop?

449
00:28:04,420 --> 00:28:06,260
Probably best not to think about that,
actually.

450
00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:09,160
Listen to my voice.

451
00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:12,360
Why does it put a sort of echo effect on
it?

452
00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:15,680
I think it's so that when they show this
footage of me, it sounds like these are

453
00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:17,180
my thoughts echoing in my mind.

454
00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:19,060
Well, we filmed that weeks ago.

455
00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:21,040
Hang on, where am I now?

456
00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:25,660
Hang on, that's me waking up and
standing. That's not meant to happen.

457
00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:28,120
Help! I'm still here!

458
00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:32,440
Oh God, I've got separated from my own
body. They said this might happen. Help!

459
00:28:33,300 --> 00:28:34,300
Help!

460
00:28:41,130 --> 00:28:44,630
Our apologies for that. We had a
duplicate consciousness stuck on the

461
00:28:44,630 --> 00:28:50,110
voiceover track. So we've had it shot
and can shortly rejoin Kunk on Life.

462
00:28:52,450 --> 00:28:55,330
Who's that walking through an awesome
landscape recording a piece to camera?

463
00:28:55,490 --> 00:28:57,050
It's your very own Philomena Kunk.

464
00:28:57,370 --> 00:29:01,090
Featuring a vaguely realistic face,
similar clothing, and a total lack of

465
00:29:01,090 --> 00:29:04,190
mannerisms. But that's not all.
Philomena also sprouts facial hair,

466
00:29:04,330 --> 00:29:06,550
witnesses the crucifixion, and lays
eggs.

467
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:09,720
Pop off her head, tip her over, and
whoops-a-daisy, real blood.

468
00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:11,660
And the fun doesn't end with mopping
that up.

469
00:29:11,900 --> 00:29:15,160
Philomena pilots her very own
spacecraft, the USS Triceratops, with

470
00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:19,380
her intergalactic friends, Captain
Shitbees, Mrs. Benson, and Barnaby Nine.

471
00:29:19,940 --> 00:29:23,120
Together, they tour the galaxy repairing
black holes and mutilating cattle.

472
00:29:23,540 --> 00:29:26,260
Philomena Kunkin Pals, available for all
good retailers.

473
00:29:26,620 --> 00:29:28,600
May contain pine nuts. Side effects
include spontaneous combustion and

474
00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:30,340
melancholy. Terms and conditions
available on our website. Do not feed

475
00:29:30,340 --> 00:29:31,900
after midnight. Remember to hydrate
forever and ever. Amen.

476
00:29:35,980 --> 00:29:37,440
Coming up on Con Con Life.

477
00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:40,460
Meet a man facing oblivion on death row.

478
00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:46,460
I ask a philosopher to probe our souls.
Do philosophers spend a lot of time

479
00:29:46,460 --> 00:29:47,700
thinking about our souls?

480
00:29:49,860 --> 00:29:54,520
And I visit the Large Hadron Collider
for some astro chat with Professor Brian

481
00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:55,520
Cox.

482
00:29:55,740 --> 00:29:56,980
What's a black hole?

483
00:29:57,460 --> 00:29:58,500
A black hole?

484
00:29:58,720 --> 00:29:59,960
Sorry, a hole of colour.

485
00:30:01,020 --> 00:30:04,890
But first, let's... Let's take a
sideways look at the suffocating

486
00:30:04,890 --> 00:30:06,990
inevitability of death.

487
00:30:10,450 --> 00:30:12,430
Death is the great leveller.

488
00:30:13,130 --> 00:30:16,670
In life, you might have been a
billionaire, supermodel, president and

489
00:30:16,670 --> 00:30:20,550
king. But the moment you die, you start
rotting like a sausage in a lay-by.

490
00:30:23,450 --> 00:30:25,690
The big unknown is how you'll die.

491
00:30:25,930 --> 00:30:30,530
You might die falling off a ladder, or a
cliff, or into a lake full of knives.

492
00:30:31,070 --> 00:30:34,670
You could be hit by a car or a bus or a
tractor if you're rustic.

493
00:30:35,190 --> 00:30:38,970
Maybe you're already dead and watching
this from beyond the grave, which would

494
00:30:38,970 --> 00:30:41,090
be a shame because you won't count
towards the rating.

495
00:30:42,570 --> 00:30:45,350
Statistically, which is more common,
athlete's foot or death?

496
00:30:46,130 --> 00:30:51,570
Death is infinitely more common. In
fact, it is guaranteed for all of us.

497
00:30:51,930 --> 00:30:55,510
How soon after death is it safe to
resume your regular day-to-day

498
00:30:55,510 --> 00:30:56,510
activities?

499
00:30:56,830 --> 00:31:00,010
You can't resume your day-to-day
activities.

500
00:31:00,750 --> 00:31:04,730
Once you're dead, how would you? So you
can't do anything? You can't even listen

501
00:31:04,730 --> 00:31:05,730
to a podcast?

502
00:31:05,890 --> 00:31:07,370
You can't listen to anything.

503
00:31:07,750 --> 00:31:13,310
If you played a podcast to a corpse,
would really none of it go in?

504
00:31:14,070 --> 00:31:15,710
Absolutely nothing would go in.

505
00:31:16,470 --> 00:31:20,730
One downside of our big brains is we're
the only creatures who are aware that

506
00:31:20,730 --> 00:31:21,730
death is inevitable.

507
00:31:21,970 --> 00:31:26,370
Although if you line ten dogs in a row
and shot them one by one, the dog on the

508
00:31:26,370 --> 00:31:28,930
end would probably get the gist by about
dog four.

509
00:31:29,930 --> 00:31:34,130
Of course, it's easy to forget about
death until it happens to you, at which

510
00:31:34,130 --> 00:31:35,630
point your brain gets wiped anyway.

511
00:31:35,930 --> 00:31:37,810
It wasn't like that in medieval times.

512
00:31:38,070 --> 00:31:42,530
Back then, thanks to plagues, wars and a
general undercurrent of violence, people

513
00:31:42,530 --> 00:31:44,070
were casually familiar with death.

514
00:31:44,270 --> 00:31:46,970
In fact, they got FOMO when they didn't
die.

515
00:31:47,550 --> 00:31:52,910
And this matey relationship with their
own mortality was reflected up their

516
00:31:52,910 --> 00:31:53,910
heart.

517
00:31:54,850 --> 00:31:57,070
This is Bruegel's Triumph of Death.

518
00:31:57,550 --> 00:32:02,670
which depicts an army of the undead
violently laying waste to humankind in

519
00:32:02,670 --> 00:32:05,490
scenes unlikely to be adapted into a
Pixar movie.

520
00:32:06,950 --> 00:32:09,530
It's terrifying to think that this
actually happened.

521
00:32:09,790 --> 00:32:13,830
Well, lucky Bruegel managed to capture
this image before he too was captured by

522
00:32:13,830 --> 00:32:14,709
the skeletons.

523
00:32:14,710 --> 00:32:19,470
In fact, I'm surprised he could paint at
all. My hands would have been shaking so

524
00:32:19,470 --> 00:32:21,790
much I'd have had my own eye out with a
brush.

525
00:32:24,550 --> 00:32:26,190
What the fuck is this?

526
00:32:27,980 --> 00:32:30,840
Well, it's a scene of imagination.

527
00:32:32,060 --> 00:32:36,900
But it's not a scene that Bruegel would
have actually witnessed.

528
00:32:37,540 --> 00:32:39,660
I mean, but it could happen, couldn't
it?

529
00:32:42,420 --> 00:32:44,060
No, it couldn't happen.

530
00:32:44,620 --> 00:32:47,500
Misinformation is getting
self-sophisticated. It's terrifying.

531
00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:53,960
For years, morbid art like this depicted
an ominous figure dispatching human

532
00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:55,300
souls with a scythe.

533
00:32:56,340 --> 00:32:58,400
That's this man, the Grim Reaper.

534
00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:02,020
Don't worry, I haven't gone mad. It only
looks like there's no one there.

535
00:33:02,340 --> 00:33:06,040
In fact, you won't be able to see the
Grim Reaper at home unless you're going

536
00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:07,940
to die within the next 24 hours.

537
00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:11,980
What happens after death is the subject
of huge debate.

538
00:33:12,620 --> 00:33:17,080
Some think that after you die, you
evolve into a ghost, a sort of low-tech

539
00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:18,820
hologram made of haunted smoke.

540
00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:23,220
Scientists say ghosts don't exist, even
though they've been caught on camera

541
00:33:23,220 --> 00:33:24,220
loads of times.

542
00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:30,340
like in Poltergeist and Poltergeist 2
and the remake of Poltergeist. In fact,

543
00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:33,440
ghosts have been caught on camera more
often than scientists have.

544
00:33:33,700 --> 00:33:35,100
So who's real now?

545
00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:40,300
Shall we move on to more hardcore
scientific stuff?

546
00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:42,780
OK, so ghosts.

547
00:33:43,420 --> 00:33:49,940
When a human body dies, which hole does
the ghost come out of, north or south?

548
00:33:52,910 --> 00:33:57,550
I don't regard ghosts as a hard
scientific subject, I'm afraid.

549
00:33:57,770 --> 00:33:58,770
Let me tell you something.

550
00:33:58,950 --> 00:33:59,990
Don't dismiss it.

551
00:34:00,650 --> 00:34:05,810
In 2021, my Aunt Carol got engaged to a
man called Bob Collins.

552
00:34:06,350 --> 00:34:11,030
But one day, he just vanished and
cleared out a bank account.

553
00:34:11,710 --> 00:34:16,610
And when she looked up the name Bob
Collins, she discovered he'd died in

554
00:34:16,610 --> 00:34:17,610
1958.

555
00:34:18,230 --> 00:34:19,850
He'd been a ghost all along.

556
00:34:21,230 --> 00:34:24,830
Could it not just have been someone
impersonating Bob Collins? No, no, there

557
00:34:24,830 --> 00:34:30,210
were photos of Bob Collins in 1958, and
he looked totally different, which

558
00:34:30,210 --> 00:34:33,810
proves he's disguised himself so she
wouldn't know he was a ghost.

559
00:34:34,710 --> 00:34:36,750
You can't explain it, can you? It's
terrifying.

560
00:34:37,310 --> 00:34:40,389
Isn't the easy answer that he doesn't
look like him because it's a different

561
00:34:40,389 --> 00:34:41,389
person altogether?

562
00:34:44,190 --> 00:34:49,710
No, it's... It's a ghost.

563
00:34:51,020 --> 00:34:55,420
Death, tragedy and suffering have always
been part of human life. Struggling with

564
00:34:55,420 --> 00:34:59,420
lives of ceaseless misery, people began
to wonder whether any kind of God exists

565
00:34:59,420 --> 00:35:00,420
at all.

566
00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:07,380
But for centuries no one dared voice
that suspicion in case God did exist and

567
00:35:07,380 --> 00:35:08,640
smited them shitless.

568
00:35:09,780 --> 00:35:16,080
But that was about to change. It's 1883
and German philosopher Friedrich

569
00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:18,280
Nietzsche is hard at work in his study.

570
00:35:18,990 --> 00:35:20,430
putting his thoughts on paper.

571
00:35:22,410 --> 00:35:24,050
Don't worry, he can't hear me.

572
00:35:24,590 --> 00:35:27,290
He's about to write one of the most
contra...

573
00:35:27,290 --> 00:35:34,790
He's

574
00:35:34,790 --> 00:35:38,330
about to write one of the most
controversial catchphrases in history.

575
00:35:38,910 --> 00:35:42,950
Three little words by the name of God is
dead.

576
00:35:44,050 --> 00:35:46,170
Nietzsche said God is dead, didn't he?

577
00:35:46,470 --> 00:35:48,210
And now he's dead himself.

578
00:35:48,890 --> 00:35:49,808
Whose neck?

579
00:35:49,810 --> 00:35:51,890
Did he name the killer before he died?

580
00:35:53,170 --> 00:35:54,450
Nietzsche. No.

581
00:35:55,250 --> 00:36:01,990
I think he thought that... ..people
should realise that they had constructed

582
00:36:01,990 --> 00:36:07,190
a god that actually wasn't doing them as
much good as they thought and people

583
00:36:07,190 --> 00:36:12,290
need to realise, not perhaps that he was
dead, but that he hadn't existed.

584
00:36:12,710 --> 00:36:14,290
So he's saying that we killed him?

585
00:36:15,830 --> 00:36:16,830
In effect.

586
00:36:17,370 --> 00:36:18,590
But I wasn't even born.

587
00:36:19,050 --> 00:36:20,050
No, yeah.

588
00:36:20,190 --> 00:36:21,610
Nietzsche can fuck off.

589
00:36:23,370 --> 00:36:26,730
Can we be sure God didn't kill himself?

590
00:36:27,510 --> 00:36:29,890
You know, because you never know what
people are going through.

591
00:36:32,110 --> 00:36:33,110
It's possible.

592
00:36:35,050 --> 00:36:39,630
Nietzsche's proclamation that God was
dead caused an intellectual firestorm.

593
00:36:40,270 --> 00:36:44,290
as writers and thinkers debated the
decline of religious authority in an

594
00:36:44,290 --> 00:36:49,350
increasingly secularised world, 107
years before the release of unrelated

595
00:36:49,350 --> 00:36:52,190
Belgian techno anthem, Pump Up The Jam.

596
00:37:07,590 --> 00:37:13,490
Pump up the jam, pump it up, While your
feet are thumping And the jam is pumping

597
00:37:13,490 --> 00:37:18,830
Look ahead, the crowd is jumping Pump it
up a little more Get the party going on

598
00:37:18,830 --> 00:37:22,650
the dance floor See, cause that's where
the party's at And you'll find out if

599
00:37:22,650 --> 00:37:29,630
you do that I want a place to stay Get
your booty on the floor tonight

600
00:37:29,630 --> 00:37:36,550
Make my day I want a place to stay Get
your booty on

601
00:37:36,550 --> 00:37:38,730
the floor tonight Make my day

602
00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:46,540
Make my day, make my day, make my day,
make my day.

603
00:37:53,380 --> 00:37:57,740
But if Nietzsche was right and God is
dead, it means we've got no higher

604
00:37:57,740 --> 00:38:01,420
entities judging our lifestyles, except
the people from the flat upstairs.

605
00:38:02,020 --> 00:38:06,440
It could create a terrifying moral
vacuum in which people feel free to

606
00:38:06,440 --> 00:38:07,560
behave atrociously.

607
00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:12,560
like they did in the entertainment
industry of the 1970s and the 80s and

608
00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:15,700
the 90s, 2000s, 2010s and today.

609
00:38:16,480 --> 00:38:20,520
Luckily, moral guidance was on hand,
thanks to the world of literature.

610
00:38:24,140 --> 00:38:28,140
There were a lot of influential Russian
writers in the 19th century.

611
00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:34,800
Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Turnover
and Pushkin. Who was best?

612
00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:37,500
I like Pushkin.

613
00:38:37,920 --> 00:38:39,960
Yeah? Yeah. What about Turnover?

614
00:38:40,920 --> 00:38:44,440
Turnover is... What did he write?

615
00:38:45,180 --> 00:38:51,840
Oh, I don't know. It seemed a little...
The main influential Russian

616
00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:58,180
writers were Tolstoy, Dostoevsky,
Turgenev, Turnover and Pushkin.

617
00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:01,380
It's all right if you've not heard of
him, it's fine. You shouldn't be

618
00:39:01,380 --> 00:39:03,060
embarrassed. I hadn't heard of him
either.

619
00:39:03,420 --> 00:39:04,500
Yeah, no, no.

620
00:39:05,480 --> 00:39:09,300
This is one of the literary world's
greatest moral thinkers, Russian

621
00:39:09,300 --> 00:39:13,660
novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky, seen here
enjoying himself at a party.

622
00:39:14,100 --> 00:39:18,700
He wrote many books, still not read to
this day, but his most celebrated work,

623
00:39:18,900 --> 00:39:22,600
his absolute tour de France, his
unopened masterpiece Crime and

624
00:39:22,600 --> 00:39:28,000
Punishment. Crime and Punishment
grapples with individual freedom, the

625
00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:30,680
role of authority and the complexities
of morality.

626
00:39:31,020 --> 00:39:32,560
What would you give it out of ten?

627
00:39:34,380 --> 00:39:36,840
I'd give it nine, I think. Nine. Yeah.

628
00:39:38,700 --> 00:39:39,700
Nine.

629
00:39:40,940 --> 00:39:45,060
Punishment hasn't changed much since
Dostoevsky's day, although incredibly,

630
00:39:45,340 --> 00:39:49,580
in some countries, if an offender's
crime was really bad, the authorities

631
00:39:49,580 --> 00:39:53,460
will actually cut their sentence short
by killing them.

632
00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:57,460
Capital punishment forces us to ask
questions like, does it hurt?

633
00:39:57,680 --> 00:39:58,720
Are tickets available?

634
00:39:59,220 --> 00:40:01,600
And what's the view like from seat 6A?

635
00:40:02,140 --> 00:40:04,480
And also other more profound moral
questions.

636
00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:09,480
Why do we say people are facing the
electric chair when they've got their

637
00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:10,480
backs to it?

638
00:40:10,760 --> 00:40:13,840
Well, I think you're taking it too
literally there. What we mean by facing

639
00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:17,060
the electric chair is facing an
inevitable death.

640
00:40:18,740 --> 00:40:20,760
This is Waylon Jackalot IV.

641
00:40:21,200 --> 00:40:26,800
In 2019, he skinned six people alive and
was rewarded with his own Netflix

642
00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:29,560
documentary and a guest spot on Death
Row.

643
00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:33,380
And I'm delighted to say he's joining us
right now.

644
00:40:33,740 --> 00:40:36,440
So, Waylon, you murdered six people.

645
00:40:36,700 --> 00:40:38,340
Where did you get your ideas from?

646
00:40:39,180 --> 00:40:41,240
It's kind of tough for me to dwell on.

647
00:40:41,600 --> 00:40:48,420
All I can say is the Waylon Jackalope
that killed those folks was a different

648
00:40:48,420 --> 00:40:50,280
man to the one you see today.

649
00:40:51,260 --> 00:40:53,080
So it wasn't you? You're innocent.

650
00:40:54,660 --> 00:40:56,300
No, ma'am, I killed them.

651
00:40:56,800 --> 00:40:57,980
Oh, thank God for that.

652
00:40:58,880 --> 00:41:02,960
So, have you been on death row before,
or is this your first time?

653
00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:04,800
First time.

654
00:41:05,140 --> 00:41:06,780
You're facing the electric chair.

655
00:41:07,100 --> 00:41:08,860
Aren't you worried about what's going to
happen?

656
00:41:09,320 --> 00:41:13,320
I've made my peace with the Lord, but
I'm ready to meet him.

657
00:41:13,700 --> 00:41:16,740
Yeah, but aren't you scared it'll hurt?
It's millions of volts.

658
00:41:17,220 --> 00:41:22,920
My mate Paul says your liver fries and
your kidneys pop and your bowels go into

659
00:41:22,920 --> 00:41:26,440
reverse flow and shoot boiling shit up
into your throat, which chokes you.

660
00:41:27,180 --> 00:41:30,100
Apparently, it'd be genuinely more
humane to just pay some of the other

661
00:41:30,100 --> 00:41:32,660
inmates to hold you down and physically
pull your head off.

662
00:41:37,700 --> 00:41:39,860
Anyway, best of luck.

663
00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:46,480
Actually, before you go, could you just
do a quick promo thing for us into that

664
00:41:46,480 --> 00:41:47,480
phone?

665
00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:50,500
Could you say, watch me die on Con Con
Life?

666
00:41:51,100 --> 00:41:52,620
For TikTok, it's only short.

667
00:41:54,720 --> 00:41:55,800
Watch me die.

668
00:41:57,980 --> 00:41:58,980
On life.

669
00:41:59,260 --> 00:42:00,260
On life.

670
00:42:05,220 --> 00:42:07,400
There you go.

671
00:42:07,740 --> 00:42:08,820
Wasn't hard, was it?

672
00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:14,100
Why does the electric chair only do one
person at a time?

673
00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:18,560
Could you have an electric bench that
does about seven in one go?

674
00:42:19,080 --> 00:42:20,080
You probably could.

675
00:42:20,260 --> 00:42:23,920
You definitely shouldn't. Would be
quicker, though, and you can do them in

676
00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:27,290
batteries. It would be quicker, but we'd
have to accept that the death penalty

677
00:42:27,290 --> 00:42:31,190
was a sensible and useful thing to do,
and I don't accept that.

678
00:42:31,770 --> 00:42:35,990
Electrocuting people isn't very
eco-friendly, is it? Could we deem them

679
00:42:35,990 --> 00:42:36,990
to death instead?

680
00:42:37,790 --> 00:42:43,950
I'm sure there are other ways of
administering the death penalty that

681
00:42:43,950 --> 00:42:45,450
might be more eco-friendly.

682
00:42:45,970 --> 00:42:48,210
I think the preference would be to not
do it at all.

683
00:42:48,610 --> 00:42:54,260
In a just and moral society... Is it
better to kill one innocent person than

684
00:42:54,260 --> 00:42:56,060
to save one innocent person?

685
00:42:56,640 --> 00:42:59,700
It's never going to be better to kill an
innocent person, I don't think.

686
00:43:01,620 --> 00:43:05,300
Contemplating weighty, big-bummed
life-and-death dilemmas in a godless

687
00:43:05,300 --> 00:43:10,920
universe opens the door to nihilism and
existentialism, two of the hardest-to

688
00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:12,140
-spell concepts in philosophy.

689
00:43:14,340 --> 00:43:20,320
So nihilism is the view that nothing,
absolutely nothing, matters.

690
00:43:21,180 --> 00:43:24,380
Why don't people mention they're
nihilists on their dating profiles?

691
00:43:24,860 --> 00:43:29,840
I went on a date with a bloke, and 20
minutes in, he said he was a nihilist,

692
00:43:29,860 --> 00:43:34,180
and that because human existence is
futile, there was no point continuing

693
00:43:34,180 --> 00:43:39,840
with the date, and he left, and I had to
pay. Was he a nihilist or just a prick?

694
00:43:40,800 --> 00:43:41,800
Probably both.

695
00:43:42,320 --> 00:43:43,900
Yeah, as I suspected.

696
00:43:47,020 --> 00:43:49,300
Nihilism is the belief that life is
meaningless.

697
00:43:49,950 --> 00:43:52,770
And nothing is worth believing in except
more nihilism.

698
00:43:53,730 --> 00:43:56,390
Existentialism is the same as that, but
using longer words.

699
00:43:57,390 --> 00:44:01,190
Who's the most famous existentialist in
history?

700
00:44:02,170 --> 00:44:04,450
Probably Jean-Paul Sartre.

701
00:44:04,990 --> 00:44:06,990
Right. See, I'd have said it was E.T.

702
00:44:09,350 --> 00:44:13,390
This is the first celebrity
existentialist. Parisian writer Jean

703
00:44:13,390 --> 00:44:14,710
-Paul Sartre and Ringo.

704
00:44:15,420 --> 00:44:18,700
Sartre saw things differently to
everybody else, partly because of his

705
00:44:18,700 --> 00:44:21,580
questioning mindset, but mainly because
of those eyes.

706
00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:26,060
I mean, seriously, you could probably
see the back of his own ears with them,

707
00:44:26,140 --> 00:44:27,640
or write two books at once.

708
00:44:28,320 --> 00:44:32,140
That's why he was such a prolific
author, writing book upon book,

709
00:44:32,200 --> 00:44:36,440
outlining his existentialist theories,
decades before the release of unrelated

710
00:44:36,440 --> 00:44:39,000
Belgian techno-anthem, Pump Up The Jam.

711
00:44:39,900 --> 00:44:41,160
Which you heard earlier.

712
00:44:41,580 --> 00:44:46,050
Someone told me that cats... are a good
example of something that lives like an

713
00:44:46,050 --> 00:44:51,550
existentialist? A good life for an
existentialist, if there is such a

714
00:44:51,550 --> 00:44:58,470
thing, is a matter of creating your own
goals and values and sincerely following

715
00:44:58,470 --> 00:45:03,290
them. For example, my cat reacts to his
environment rather than just being

716
00:45:03,290 --> 00:45:05,230
dragged around by others.

717
00:45:05,490 --> 00:45:08,230
How do you know cats aren't thinking
about their existence?

718
00:45:09,020 --> 00:45:13,620
They might be really anxious and when
they say meow, they're expressing their

719
00:45:13,620 --> 00:45:15,000
own pain like meow.

720
00:45:15,600 --> 00:45:22,480
Well, cats have pain. They don't behave
in a way that seems to suggest a level

721
00:45:22,480 --> 00:45:23,740
of self-consciousness.

722
00:45:23,960 --> 00:45:29,000
Cats lick their own bumholes, don't
they? Are all existentialists supple

723
00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:30,000
enough to do that?

724
00:45:30,360 --> 00:45:31,360
No.

725
00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:38,280
Being overwhelmed with existential angst
is part of being human.

726
00:45:41,390 --> 00:45:45,430
Some of the greatest artists in history
have tried to express the agony of the

727
00:45:45,430 --> 00:45:49,690
human condition, and so have ones who
could only paint as badly as this.

728
00:45:50,610 --> 00:45:55,270
This is Edvard Munch's The Scream, the
first major existentialist statement to

729
00:45:55,270 --> 00:45:56,270
later become an emoji.

730
00:45:56,550 --> 00:45:59,170
What inspired Eddie Munch to paint this?

731
00:45:59,830 --> 00:46:02,830
It was an experience he'd had walking
with his friends.

732
00:46:03,230 --> 00:46:07,070
But I've been on bridges, and you don't
find me painting about it.

733
00:46:07,580 --> 00:46:10,000
How come we can't hear him? Is he on
mute?

734
00:46:10,380 --> 00:46:15,660
No, it's nature that is screaming
loudly, and we all could hear nature

735
00:46:15,660 --> 00:46:16,660
screaming loudly.

736
00:46:16,680 --> 00:46:19,980
So is this one of the few examples of a
silent painting?

737
00:46:20,660 --> 00:46:24,680
All paintings are silent. If Edvard
Munch knew he wouldn't be able to hear

738
00:46:24,680 --> 00:46:29,100
it, why didn't he wait till this bloke's
mouth was closed before painting him?

739
00:46:29,180 --> 00:46:30,180
It's just annoying.

740
00:46:30,500 --> 00:46:33,220
I've noticed he's not moving either. Why
is that?

741
00:46:33,460 --> 00:46:36,480
Because he's rooted to the spot by
the...

742
00:46:36,960 --> 00:46:38,420
Deep emotion, he finds.

743
00:46:38,660 --> 00:46:40,900
So it's a freeze frame of a painting.

744
00:46:41,580 --> 00:46:45,400
It's a freeze frame of a mood.

745
00:46:45,940 --> 00:46:50,020
Drew Barrymore dies at the start of this
painting, doesn't she? Do you know if

746
00:46:50,020 --> 00:46:52,680
they've got Scream 2 in this gallery as
well?

747
00:46:53,140 --> 00:46:54,140
Scream 2?

748
00:46:54,240 --> 00:46:58,460
Yeah. I'm afraid I don't know Scream 2.
But this was based on the film, wasn't

749
00:46:58,460 --> 00:46:59,399
it?

750
00:46:59,400 --> 00:47:01,040
I don't think he'd seen the film.

751
00:47:01,390 --> 00:47:07,470
It's a painting of an experience he'd
had, but not a physical experience, an

752
00:47:07,470 --> 00:47:09,690
emotional and psychological experience.

753
00:47:10,430 --> 00:47:11,870
We paint our souls.

754
00:47:12,610 --> 00:47:14,450
Why do we paint our souls?

755
00:47:15,570 --> 00:47:20,130
The more agonised and miserable the
artwork, the more people like it. A no

756
00:47:20,130 --> 00:47:23,830
-dead agonised artist is bigger than
miserable redhead and own-ear vandal

757
00:47:23,830 --> 00:47:26,070
Vincenzo van Beethoven Goff.

758
00:47:26,990 --> 00:47:31,470
As you can see from this photograph...
Van Gogh actually resembled a painting

759
00:47:31,470 --> 00:47:34,590
in real life, making a career in art
inevitable.

760
00:47:35,730 --> 00:47:41,430
Several of his works, such as Sad
Flowers, Scary Night and Woofie McPoker,

761
00:47:41,570 --> 00:47:43,450
have fetched millions at auction.

762
00:47:43,770 --> 00:47:48,670
£22,500,000 for the last time.

763
00:47:49,770 --> 00:47:54,170
This is one of his most famous works,
Wheatfield with Crows.

764
00:47:54,710 --> 00:47:57,710
At first glance, it's a simple rural
theme.

765
00:47:58,140 --> 00:48:01,460
But look closer and you'll see it's
actually very badly made.

766
00:48:01,780 --> 00:48:03,100
Take these birds.

767
00:48:03,860 --> 00:48:07,880
Apparently they're crows, but it's
impossible to know because there's no

768
00:48:07,880 --> 00:48:12,600
detail at all. Some are big, some are
small, some have more wings than others.

769
00:48:13,420 --> 00:48:18,160
Looking at this, it's hard to believe
Van Gogh had actually even seen a crow

770
00:48:18,160 --> 00:48:21,560
or a wheat field or even held a brush
before.

771
00:48:22,820 --> 00:48:24,140
Look at those strokes.

772
00:48:24,740 --> 00:48:25,740
They're sloppy.

773
00:48:26,380 --> 00:48:28,360
It's like he painted it wearing boxing
gloves.

774
00:48:29,060 --> 00:48:32,600
It's just not good enough. In fact, it's
actively bad.

775
00:48:33,120 --> 00:48:37,540
Van Gogh's life, and by extension our
world, would have been improved if he'd

776
00:48:37,540 --> 00:48:38,780
never painted anything.

777
00:48:39,160 --> 00:48:41,620
Not even a bog door in a home for the
blind.

778
00:48:42,380 --> 00:48:43,660
Anyway, that's my view.

779
00:48:44,060 --> 00:48:45,080
What do you think?

780
00:48:49,240 --> 00:48:52,240
Of course, most people aren't miserable
like Van Gogh.

781
00:48:52,600 --> 00:48:54,020
They're miserable like themselves.

782
00:48:57,640 --> 00:49:01,740
They simply don't have time to channel
their pain into artistic expression

783
00:49:01,740 --> 00:49:06,500
because they're too busy working, and
work is something we all learn to barely

784
00:49:06,500 --> 00:49:07,500
tolerate.

785
00:49:07,800 --> 00:49:11,660
Ever since the earliest caveman went to
work for the first cunt, people have

786
00:49:11,660 --> 00:49:14,740
hated their jobs, partly because those
jobs were awful.

787
00:49:15,680 --> 00:49:20,560
For centuries, most jobs involved manual
labour, like logging heavy coal around

788
00:49:20,560 --> 00:49:23,780
and tilling the fields while someone
sketched you for posterity.

789
00:49:24,350 --> 00:49:28,310
But as our world gets more modern and
full of old plastic and metal and stuff,

790
00:49:28,550 --> 00:49:30,330
the nature of work has changed.

791
00:49:30,670 --> 00:49:35,390
Now jobs are even worse, which
contributes to an ever-growing sense of

792
00:49:35,390 --> 00:49:36,390
hopelessness.

793
00:49:37,130 --> 00:49:42,150
Humans have to work a lot, don't they?
Can work ever be truly rewarding?

794
00:49:43,570 --> 00:49:44,610
Yeah, I think so.

795
00:49:46,710 --> 00:49:48,010
What, even for him?

796
00:49:49,270 --> 00:49:51,330
All he does is hold a thick all day.

797
00:49:51,570 --> 00:49:52,950
There's no way that's rewarding.

798
00:49:53,710 --> 00:49:54,710
Or meaningful.

799
00:49:55,070 --> 00:49:56,390
There's no skill involved.

800
00:49:57,470 --> 00:50:00,850
We wouldn't even need a machine to
replace him, just like a bracket and a

801
00:50:00,850 --> 00:50:01,850
standard do.

802
00:50:02,170 --> 00:50:03,890
Can't be fulfilling in the slightest.

803
00:50:04,390 --> 00:50:07,490
He holds that stick more than he holds
his loved one.

804
00:50:08,450 --> 00:50:12,110
If you think of the things he's missed
out on, just holding that fucking stick

805
00:50:12,110 --> 00:50:13,110
like a slave.

806
00:50:14,210 --> 00:50:15,890
You don't get that time back, you know.

807
00:50:17,930 --> 00:50:18,930
Wasted his life.

808
00:50:25,770 --> 00:50:27,210
Very echoey in here, isn't it?

809
00:50:27,810 --> 00:50:29,010
Phil would have hated that.

810
00:50:30,070 --> 00:50:31,070
Wouldn't he, Ian?

811
00:50:34,390 --> 00:50:35,390
You're next.

812
00:50:36,450 --> 00:50:38,030
Can we have a minute for Atmos, please?

813
00:50:42,910 --> 00:50:46,730
Life itself can sometimes feel like a
horrible burden from which there is no

814
00:50:46,730 --> 00:50:49,470
escape. But luckily, help is at hand.

815
00:50:49,770 --> 00:50:52,770
That's why I've come to leading
streaming platform Streamberry.

816
00:50:53,420 --> 00:50:56,520
Does he either help distract viewers
from the bottomless misery of existence?

817
00:51:00,080 --> 00:51:03,700
Here at Streamberry, we're passionate
about providing our users with

818
00:51:03,700 --> 00:51:08,260
entertainment that speaks to them on a
personal level about their needs, not

819
00:51:08,260 --> 00:51:10,500
just as a consumer, but as a mammal.

820
00:51:11,060 --> 00:51:16,280
We monitor our viewers' emotional state
at all times, and we've discovered most

821
00:51:16,280 --> 00:51:19,400
of them are locked in a state of
existential helplessness.

822
00:51:19,740 --> 00:51:22,280
And I imagine you want to fix that.

823
00:51:22,680 --> 00:51:26,640
Yes, that's why we launched a suite of
programming aimed at viewers who have

824
00:51:26,640 --> 00:51:29,900
given up all hope, which is 116% of
them.

825
00:51:30,340 --> 00:51:34,300
These shows are grouped together into
genre brackets that help despairing

826
00:51:34,300 --> 00:51:38,500
viewers locate content that really
speaks to their mood. We're currently

827
00:51:38,500 --> 00:51:42,280
seeing maximum growth in a category
called standing on a ledge right now.

828
00:51:42,460 --> 00:51:43,460
And what's that?

829
00:51:43,600 --> 00:51:47,720
That's programming aimed at viewers
standing on a ledge right now, usually

830
00:51:47,720 --> 00:51:48,760
watching on their phone.

831
00:51:49,820 --> 00:51:53,460
Naturally, we don't want them to jump.
That would negatively affect engagement.

832
00:51:54,400 --> 00:51:57,600
And what about the little ones? Is there
anything for them?

833
00:51:58,000 --> 00:52:01,940
Yes. Actually, one of our newest
releases is a show aimed at kids,

834
00:52:02,020 --> 00:52:03,340
standing on legend.

835
00:52:03,840 --> 00:52:07,500
Wow. And I think we've got an exclusive
preview of that right now.

836
00:52:20,110 --> 00:52:20,928
Don't jump?

837
00:52:20,930 --> 00:52:21,930
Why not?

838
00:52:22,370 --> 00:52:27,970
Well... Sometimes we all feel like
life's lost its meaning.

839
00:52:28,190 --> 00:52:32,570
But jumping that sidewalk will need
careful cleaning. And more to the point,

840
00:52:32,590 --> 00:52:37,150
you just wouldn't survive. Let me list
you some reasons for staying alive.

841
00:52:37,690 --> 00:52:38,690
Uh, okay.

842
00:52:39,450 --> 00:52:44,750
You'd miss out on nature and all of its
wonder. Like puppies and kittens and

843
00:52:44,750 --> 00:52:49,550
sunshine and thunder. Your parents would
miss you in sorrow. They'd drown if you

844
00:52:49,550 --> 00:52:53,540
glanced. from that legend went flat on
the ground. Uh-huh.

845
00:52:55,240 --> 00:52:59,800
Jumping so final, no chance of revision.

846
00:53:00,340 --> 00:53:04,540
Most people who do jump, regret their
decision.

847
00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:11,700
To leave a great legacy, stay in

848
00:53:11,700 --> 00:53:17,280
the game. It's your beats just leaving a
dent and a stain.

849
00:53:20,040 --> 00:53:25,120
You've convinced me life is worth it. I
don't want to die.

850
00:53:25,660 --> 00:53:27,080
Oh, be careful returning.

851
00:53:27,340 --> 00:53:32,880
You don't want to slip. Oh, well, it's
too late. Bye-bye.

852
00:53:39,220 --> 00:53:43,280
Well, thanks, Jackie. That was really
enlightening. And Streamberry seems

853
00:53:43,280 --> 00:53:46,200
fantastic. Thank you. Thank you. Great.

854
00:53:47,000 --> 00:53:48,820
Brilliant. Thank you.

855
00:53:50,070 --> 00:53:51,070
Yeah.

856
00:53:54,330 --> 00:53:57,870
Diltacom. Will computers recode the
meaning of life?

857
00:53:58,230 --> 00:54:01,490
Will we ever be able to upload our souls
to a computer?

858
00:54:02,410 --> 00:54:09,130
I take a closer look at cloning. If you
clone twins, do you get two copies of

859
00:54:09,130 --> 00:54:11,650
one of them or one copy of both of them?

860
00:54:11,950 --> 00:54:14,870
Brian Cox gives a scientific view of the
firmament.

861
00:54:15,150 --> 00:54:18,270
Isn't it a waste of energy leaving the
stars on at night?

862
00:54:18,630 --> 00:54:23,980
No. But first, time to contemplate our
fate in a pitiless, godless universe.

863
00:54:25,700 --> 00:54:30,680
With God dead and existential despair
all the rage, it seemed humankind was

864
00:54:30,680 --> 00:54:31,940
all alone in the universe.

865
00:54:33,220 --> 00:54:37,620
We were back to square one, staring up
at the night sky and wondering how it

866
00:54:37,620 --> 00:54:42,080
got there. To find out, we'd have to
reopen the biggest cold case of all

867
00:54:42,080 --> 00:54:43,080
time.

868
00:54:48,880 --> 00:54:53,280
The Bible had claimed the universe was
God's creation, but now we knew that

869
00:54:53,280 --> 00:54:56,800
that was a lie, we'd have to come up
with a new implausible theory.

870
00:54:58,880 --> 00:55:05,520
It's October 5th, 1923, and astronomer
Edwin Hubble is about to make an

871
00:55:05,520 --> 00:55:06,520
incredible discovery.

872
00:55:08,280 --> 00:55:12,320
Peering through his telescope, he
becomes the first human to observe a

873
00:55:12,320 --> 00:55:15,180
Cepheid variable star in a galaxy beyond
our own.

874
00:55:16,810 --> 00:55:20,830
Hubble raced home to tell his wife,
Grace, who had loyally supported him

875
00:55:20,830 --> 00:55:21,830
throughout his career.

876
00:55:22,370 --> 00:55:27,010
I've done it, he cried, but in his voice
instead of mine. I've fundamentally

877
00:55:27,010 --> 00:55:29,010
altered our concept of the universe.

878
00:55:29,630 --> 00:55:31,930
Oh, darling, that's wonderful, she
replied.

879
00:55:32,270 --> 00:55:34,770
Her eyes shone with pride, and they
embraced.

880
00:55:35,890 --> 00:55:40,610
As they kissed hungrily, their
excitement gave way to passion, and they

881
00:55:40,610 --> 00:55:43,310
moved to the bedroom, hurriedly shedding
their clothes.

882
00:55:46,570 --> 00:55:48,010
Flesh pressed on flesh.

883
00:55:50,350 --> 00:55:53,490
As they explored each other's bodies
with carnal abandon.

884
00:55:55,050 --> 00:55:59,730
Together they steadily built towards a
crescendo of ecstasy, their faces

885
00:55:59,730 --> 00:56:00,970
contorting with bliss.

886
00:56:19,280 --> 00:56:22,180
And a mutual orgasm shuddered through
their bodies.

887
00:56:25,760 --> 00:56:31,220
There they lay, quietly entwined,
exhausted yet resplendent in the warm

888
00:56:31,220 --> 00:56:32,600
afterglow of their union.

889
00:56:33,640 --> 00:56:36,200
And then Hubble mopped up the damp patch
with his vest.

890
00:56:38,800 --> 00:56:42,960
Hubble's discovery paved the way for a
groundbreaking theory about how our

891
00:56:42,960 --> 00:56:44,100
universe was formed.

892
00:56:44,660 --> 00:56:48,380
A theory that still excites nerds to
this day.

893
00:56:49,070 --> 00:56:51,890
Why do people say the universe came out
of a big bag?

894
00:56:52,950 --> 00:56:54,530
I think you mean Big Bang.

895
00:56:54,890 --> 00:56:56,650
A big bag that went bang?

896
00:56:56,890 --> 00:56:58,790
No, no, just a big bang, no bag.

897
00:56:59,270 --> 00:57:03,550
Has anyone ever claimed responsibility
for the Big Bang?

898
00:57:05,330 --> 00:57:06,390
It just happened.

899
00:57:06,730 --> 00:57:08,730
So we're no nearer finding a culprit.

900
00:57:10,510 --> 00:57:15,110
The Big Bang is a theory, and like all
theories, no one understands it.

901
00:57:15,500 --> 00:57:19,240
And if they come too close to working it
out, they're assassinated by the CIA.

902
00:57:20,100 --> 00:57:23,960
But if it did happen, the Big Bang
filled the universe with matter.

903
00:57:25,260 --> 00:57:26,340
This is an atom.

904
00:57:26,720 --> 00:57:32,000
It's so tiny, you probably can't see it,
even if you're watching in 4K. In fact,

905
00:57:32,000 --> 00:57:35,740
it's so small, chances are I dropped it
before we started filming.

906
00:57:36,360 --> 00:57:41,780
You, me, and everything around us is
made from these, apart from this coat,

907
00:57:41,820 --> 00:57:43,140
which is 100% cashmere.

908
00:57:44,140 --> 00:57:45,740
What's the point of atoms?

909
00:57:46,460 --> 00:57:49,080
You know, do we really need them or
could we just do without?

910
00:57:49,460 --> 00:57:53,720
We do really need them because we are
made of atoms. Everything in the world

911
00:57:53,720 --> 00:57:56,640
is made of atoms. So without them, we
wouldn't be here.

912
00:57:56,980 --> 00:57:58,500
Are eyes made of atoms?

913
00:57:59,260 --> 00:58:05,320
Yeah. Because my mate Paul did ketamine
once and he said he started counting all

914
00:58:05,320 --> 00:58:06,460
the atoms in his eyes.

915
00:58:07,040 --> 00:58:09,760
Then he tried to eat a towel and he
ended up in hospital.

916
00:58:10,240 --> 00:58:12,540
Okay. Are my feet made of atoms?

917
00:58:13,280 --> 00:58:14,280
Yes.

918
00:58:14,420 --> 00:58:20,460
I mean, I could save you the bother
by... Everything you say, all stuff, is

919
00:58:20,460 --> 00:58:21,460
made of atoms.

920
00:58:21,640 --> 00:58:23,300
Are thoughts made of atoms?

921
00:58:23,640 --> 00:58:26,940
Well, no, thoughts are... Well, there
you go, then. OK.

922
00:58:28,340 --> 00:58:33,340
You might think nothing's smaller than
atoms, but as usual, you'd be wrong.

923
00:58:33,900 --> 00:58:37,900
Incredibly, atoms themselves are made of
even smaller subatomic particles.

924
00:58:38,600 --> 00:58:42,760
Scientists have spent literally decades
attempting to explain why these are

925
00:58:42,760 --> 00:58:44,540
interesting, to no avail.

926
00:58:45,540 --> 00:58:50,520
Perhaps that's why deep underground near
Geneva, they built a gigantic machine

927
00:58:50,520 --> 00:58:55,280
called the Large Hadron Collider. It
smashes subatomic particles together,

928
00:58:55,500 --> 00:59:00,300
recreating the conditions of the Big
Bang. And I'm actually walking into it

929
00:59:00,300 --> 00:59:04,800
now, wearing a hard hat, in case a
proton falls on me.

930
00:59:05,140 --> 00:59:06,380
So this is...

931
00:59:06,590 --> 00:59:10,610
This is the actual Large Hadron
Colander. So am I right in thinking that

932
00:59:10,610 --> 00:59:14,270
this might prove the existence of
chakras within the human body?

933
00:59:14,570 --> 00:59:15,570
No.

934
00:59:15,910 --> 00:59:17,530
You're not interested in chakras?

935
00:59:18,350 --> 00:59:20,790
No. In the same way I'm not interested
in ghosts.

936
00:59:21,050 --> 00:59:25,070
But my Aunt Carol, she can sense chakras
in someone's body.

937
00:59:25,290 --> 00:59:26,770
And she doesn't need any machines.

938
00:59:27,830 --> 00:59:32,410
This could explode at any minute,
couldn't it? No. How fast do the protons

939
00:59:32,410 --> 00:59:33,570
in this thing go?

940
00:59:35,720 --> 00:59:39,880
99.999999% the speed of light. Your
sense of smell is faster, isn't it?

941
00:59:40,380 --> 00:59:41,380
No.

942
00:59:41,540 --> 00:59:45,080
Well, how come that when someone's
frying bacon and you walk in the

943
00:59:45,080 --> 00:59:48,540
kitchen, you can smell it straight away
before you've even seen it?

944
00:59:48,760 --> 00:59:50,780
Have you ever tried putting bacon in
here?

945
00:59:53,340 --> 00:59:56,060
No. Yeah, you should try it. You might
make quantum bacon.

946
00:59:56,420 --> 00:59:58,440
Would that make it more interesting? A
little bit.

947
00:59:59,040 --> 01:00:00,840
Why would it be more interesting?

948
01:00:01,080 --> 01:00:03,960
Because what it's trying to do... I'm
trying to help you out here.

949
01:00:04,260 --> 01:00:08,620
I'm trying to make it even slightly more
interesting than it is.

950
01:00:08,940 --> 01:00:13,400
But what it did was it detected a thing
called the Higgs particle.

951
01:00:13,660 --> 01:00:19,660
Without the Higgs particle, you, me and
everything else that we know of in the

952
01:00:19,660 --> 01:00:21,380
universe, none of those things would
exist.

953
01:00:21,840 --> 01:00:26,760
In 2012, the megaboffins at CERN
discovered something incredible.

954
01:00:27,450 --> 01:00:28,590
The Higgs boson.

955
01:00:29,390 --> 01:00:33,550
Because of its significance in
explaining how our universe was made,

956
01:00:33,750 --> 01:00:38,330
the Higgs boson is sometimes referred to
as the God particle, but it could also

957
01:00:38,330 --> 01:00:42,370
be called the Allah particle, because we
can't show you any pictures of it.

958
01:00:43,630 --> 01:00:48,010
No less an authority than the man I just
spoke to claimed it was the biggest

959
01:00:48,010 --> 01:00:49,950
scientific discovery in his lifetime.

960
01:00:50,780 --> 01:00:53,940
I think this is the biggest scientific
discovery in my lifetime.

961
01:00:54,220 --> 01:00:57,740
And that it stood with the great
scientific discoveries of all time.

962
01:00:57,960 --> 01:01:02,000
And it stands with the great scientific
discoveries of all time.

963
01:01:02,280 --> 01:01:04,900
Can the Higgs boson rewind time?

964
01:01:05,380 --> 01:01:06,380
No.

965
01:01:07,460 --> 01:01:09,760
Can it tell when an earthquake's going
to go off?

966
01:01:10,020 --> 01:01:12,840
No. Can it make food spicier?

967
01:01:13,060 --> 01:01:14,060
It's just a particle.

968
01:01:14,720 --> 01:01:19,980
It's like saying, can an electron tell
when an earthquake's going to go off?

969
01:01:20,560 --> 01:01:21,680
Can it? No.

970
01:01:22,700 --> 01:01:27,780
Subatomic particles, the tiniest things
in existence, can simultaneously exist

971
01:01:27,780 --> 01:01:32,980
in two different states at once, just
like Liam Hemsworth, who's sexy and

972
01:01:32,980 --> 01:01:38,280
boring. In other words, science moves in
mysterious ways, just like God does,

973
01:01:38,400 --> 01:01:41,860
which was awkward because scientists had
decided God didn't exist.

974
01:01:42,680 --> 01:01:47,260
So they invented a whole new kind of
science, the science of things that

975
01:01:47,260 --> 01:01:48,780
don't make scientific sense.

976
01:01:49,390 --> 01:01:52,590
And to make it sound official, they gave
it a clever name.

977
01:01:53,030 --> 01:01:54,570
What is quantum physics?

978
01:01:55,170 --> 01:02:00,270
Quantum physics, for quantum mechanics,
is our best theory of how the world

979
01:02:00,270 --> 01:02:05,210
works. It describes everything that
we've observed other than gravity.

980
01:02:05,610 --> 01:02:07,490
Do mirrors run on quantum physics?

981
01:02:09,150 --> 01:02:10,390
Run? Yeah.

982
01:02:11,910 --> 01:02:12,910
As in?

983
01:02:12,950 --> 01:02:15,810
Well, according to quantum physics,
mirrors shouldn't work. They're a

984
01:02:15,810 --> 01:02:16,810
miracle.

985
01:02:17,350 --> 01:02:18,550
That's not correct.

986
01:02:19,530 --> 01:02:23,510
Quantum therionics proves there's
infinite multiverses like in Marvel

987
01:02:23,510 --> 01:02:24,510
films, doesn't it?

988
01:02:24,770 --> 01:02:26,830
That's one interpretation of the theory.

989
01:02:27,110 --> 01:02:29,310
How many infinite multiverses are there?

990
01:02:29,790 --> 01:02:33,770
If there were an infinite number of
multiverses, then the number of

991
01:02:33,770 --> 01:02:34,950
multiverses would be infinite.

992
01:02:35,290 --> 01:02:36,450
See, I think there's two.

993
01:02:37,150 --> 01:02:39,190
Ours and the one in mirrors.

994
01:02:41,770 --> 01:02:44,470
Mirrors are windows into other
universes, aren't they?

995
01:02:44,690 --> 01:02:49,510
No. My mate Paul says they run on
quantum power, and that's why you can

996
01:02:49,510 --> 01:02:52,830
see into an alternative dimension in
which everything's the same as our

997
01:02:52,830 --> 01:02:53,890
realm, but backwards.

998
01:02:54,330 --> 01:02:55,330
What does Paul do?

999
01:02:55,750 --> 01:03:00,690
Well, he worked in a tennis ball factory
where he had to catch tennis balls, but

1000
01:03:00,690 --> 01:03:02,430
he was fired from that, and now he's
unemployed.

1001
01:03:07,570 --> 01:03:09,010
Sorry, am I wasting your time?

1002
01:03:10,070 --> 01:03:11,070
Yeah.

1003
01:03:12,910 --> 01:03:17,650
By the end of the 20th century, science
had tried to outdo religion by

1004
01:03:17,650 --> 01:03:22,590
explaining creation, unpicking the
fabric of existence, and discovering the

1005
01:03:22,590 --> 01:03:23,569
God particle.

1006
01:03:23,570 --> 01:03:29,270
For its next trick, it tried to emulate
God himself by creating life.

1007
01:03:29,690 --> 01:03:34,010
The first ever thing to be cloned was
Dolly the Sheep, daughter of Dolly the

1008
01:03:34,010 --> 01:03:34,908
Other Sheep.

1009
01:03:34,910 --> 01:03:38,730
Dolly became the most famous sheep in
history, although to be fair, that's a

1010
01:03:38,730 --> 01:03:39,730
low bar.

1011
01:03:39,850 --> 01:03:44,010
Of course, cloning raises awkward
questions about our sense of identity.

1012
01:03:45,050 --> 01:03:47,730
If I get copied, am I still unique?

1013
01:03:47,990 --> 01:03:52,270
Or is the clone me more unique because
it's a clone which is cooler?

1014
01:03:52,590 --> 01:03:57,230
What makes me me and you you and us us
and we we?

1015
01:03:58,230 --> 01:04:02,270
But rather than being replaced by
clones, it's more likely we'll be

1016
01:04:02,270 --> 01:04:04,070
replaced by something else we created.

1017
01:04:04,970 --> 01:04:09,420
Computers. which are becoming so clever
they might one day outsmart their

1018
01:04:09,420 --> 01:04:10,420
masters.

1019
01:04:10,940 --> 01:04:13,760
Will a computer ever be clever enough to
play chess?

1020
01:04:15,300 --> 01:04:17,500
Computers are already clever enough to
play chess.

1021
01:04:17,940 --> 01:04:19,920
Really? This is chess we're talking
about.

1022
01:04:20,260 --> 01:04:24,900
Yes. Years ago, computers overtook human
beings at chess.

1023
01:04:25,240 --> 01:04:28,820
But do they know what other pieces do,
like even the little horse ones?

1024
01:04:29,160 --> 01:04:30,160
Yeah.

1025
01:04:30,250 --> 01:04:33,310
But the horse ones move in random
directions, don't they? There's no

1026
01:04:33,310 --> 01:04:34,249
pattern to it.

1027
01:04:34,250 --> 01:04:39,070
No, there is. They just move two in one
direction and one in the other.

1028
01:04:39,390 --> 01:04:42,190
Oh, right. Did the computers work that
out for us?

1029
01:04:42,930 --> 01:04:46,430
Not content with playing chess,
computers are getting better at

1030
01:04:46,430 --> 01:04:49,790
emulating other, more human, less
chess-like pursuits.

1031
01:04:50,250 --> 01:04:54,810
One of the first examples of AI was a
piece of software called ELISA, which

1032
01:04:54,810 --> 01:04:55,810
stands for something.

1033
01:04:56,640 --> 01:04:58,320
Eliza simulated a psychiatrist.

1034
01:04:58,740 --> 01:05:01,460
It would ask you how you were feeling
and respond to your reply.

1035
01:05:01,820 --> 01:05:02,920
But it was basic.

1036
01:05:03,140 --> 01:05:05,160
It couldn't do everything a psychiatrist
can do.

1037
01:05:05,360 --> 01:05:08,780
It couldn't walk round the desk or
overcharge you, start an affair with its

1038
01:05:08,780 --> 01:05:10,880
secretary, cook an omelette or go...

1039
01:05:35,470 --> 01:05:39,650
Today, AI is everywhere and all around
us, in our homes and in our hands.

1040
01:05:39,870 --> 01:05:45,130
With digital assistants like Siri, Alexa
and that Google one no one remembers.

1041
01:05:45,390 --> 01:05:47,370
Seriously, it might as well be called
Cuthbert.

1042
01:05:47,590 --> 01:05:51,850
But when people talk about AI, most of
them are thinking about generative AI

1043
01:05:51,850 --> 01:05:53,030
chatbots like this.

1044
01:05:53,950 --> 01:05:57,790
ChatGPT, which is so good at mimicking
humans, we might as well fucking kill

1045
01:05:57,790 --> 01:06:00,230
ourselves. Or at least that's what it
just told me.

1046
01:06:01,350 --> 01:06:03,330
People worry a lot about AI.

1047
01:06:04,270 --> 01:06:05,370
What about you?

1048
01:06:07,530 --> 01:06:12,430
You mean, am I worried about... No, I
mean, should they worry about you?

1049
01:06:14,470 --> 01:06:19,290
I hope not. I hope not. I mean, people
are worried about artificial

1050
01:06:19,290 --> 01:06:23,270
intelligence because they think maybe
one day it will replace us human beings.

1051
01:06:23,930 --> 01:06:26,310
I'm a human being. Why should they be
worried about me?

1052
01:06:26,530 --> 01:06:28,090
No, no, no. The letter U.

1053
01:06:29,390 --> 01:06:34,810
They're all vowels, aren't they? A-I-U.
What does the U in AI stand for?

1054
01:06:36,330 --> 01:06:38,190
There isn't a U in AI.

1055
01:06:38,550 --> 01:06:40,990
So it's a secret, then, the computer's
hidden it.

1056
01:06:42,050 --> 01:06:45,070
I'm more than machine, poor man.

1057
01:06:45,850 --> 01:06:48,630
More than a fusion of the two.

1058
01:06:49,170 --> 01:06:53,190
Of course, us humans aren't about to be
slaughtered by the nightmarish robots of

1059
01:06:53,190 --> 01:06:54,189
science fiction.

1060
01:06:54,190 --> 01:06:58,250
We're about to be slaughtered by the
nightmarish robots of real life.

1061
01:06:59,660 --> 01:07:04,740
Now as humans stand on a precipice at
the edge of a cliff face, peering into a

1062
01:07:04,740 --> 01:07:08,120
bottomless abyss and wondering if
there's a void underneath it, the

1063
01:07:08,120 --> 01:07:10,840
question of life's purpose seems more
urgent than ever.

1064
01:07:11,060 --> 01:07:12,840
And even experts are confused.

1065
01:07:14,160 --> 01:07:16,540
Is there a point to human existence?

1066
01:07:17,760 --> 01:07:20,480
And if there is, what is it?

1067
01:07:20,700 --> 01:07:23,880
And when you're answering, bear in mind
that if it's too long, we have to

1068
01:07:23,880 --> 01:07:28,340
overlay funny pet videos over part of
the screen so viewers don't get bored.

1069
01:07:29,020 --> 01:07:33,340
Well, we want our lives to have meaning.

1070
01:07:34,180 --> 01:07:40,660
And the question is, is that meaning
something that we

1071
01:07:40,660 --> 01:07:47,500
construct, which is what the German
philosopher Nietzsche would say, or is

1072
01:07:47,500 --> 01:07:50,400
meaning something that we discover in
the world?

1073
01:07:51,300 --> 01:07:58,200
Maybe that meaning is generated by God,
or maybe that meaning just happens to

1074
01:07:58,200 --> 01:08:00,450
be part of the fabric of the universe.

1075
01:08:01,890 --> 01:08:04,470
Why are poos tapered at the end?

1076
01:08:04,970 --> 01:08:07,310
Are they that shape when they're inside
us?

1077
01:08:07,530 --> 01:08:10,770
Or do our bums mould them into that
shape?

1078
01:08:12,930 --> 01:08:14,470
Sorry, that's for the poo expert.

1079
01:08:15,210 --> 01:08:19,630
Although you're here, so do you fancy
answering it? I don't think I know

1080
01:08:19,630 --> 01:08:23,630
enough about human biology to give you
an accurate answer. Fair enough, yeah.

1081
01:08:25,260 --> 01:08:30,020
Throughout this landmark epic, which you
have definitely enjoyed, my quest for

1082
01:08:30,020 --> 01:08:33,800
meaning has taken me around the world
and into several buildings, downstairs,

1083
01:08:34,020 --> 01:08:36,260
and at one point onto a bouncy castle.

1084
01:08:36,500 --> 01:08:41,479
From religious ecstasy to nihilistic
defecation, from great works of

1085
01:08:41,479 --> 01:08:45,960
literature to that awful fucking
painting, humankind's quest for meaning

1086
01:08:45,960 --> 01:08:47,160
has never let up.

1087
01:08:47,580 --> 01:08:49,540
And now my work here is done.

1088
01:08:50,090 --> 01:08:51,870
I hope you found it illuminating.

1089
01:08:52,210 --> 01:08:55,229
Now it's time for me to find out the
meaning of life in other worlds.

1090
01:08:55,810 --> 01:08:56,810
Goodbye.

1091
01:09:04,510 --> 01:09:10,210
Do authors sign their books at the end,
like when you write a letter, like that

1092
01:09:10,210 --> 01:09:14,830
crime and punishment, the end, yours
sincerely, Dostoevsky?

1093
01:09:17,170 --> 01:09:18,189
Seldom, I think.

1094
01:09:19,340 --> 01:09:23,979
Why does the human eye have a nerve
connecting it directly to the anus? It

1095
01:09:23,979 --> 01:09:27,479
doesn't. It does, because when you pick
your bum, you sort of go like that.

1096
01:09:29,300 --> 01:09:34,720
When the penis goes into a lady, why
does it keep backing out and going back

1097
01:09:34,720 --> 01:09:37,600
in? Can't it just go in, get it done and
leave?

1098
01:09:38,060 --> 01:09:41,220
Were our souls created during the Big
Bang?

1099
01:09:41,859 --> 01:09:43,300
Depends what you mean by our souls.

1100
01:09:43,580 --> 01:09:45,240
You know what I mean by our souls.

1101
01:09:46,300 --> 01:09:50,700
It's a shame they only make semen, isn't
it? If they made tomato soup, you could

1102
01:09:50,700 --> 01:09:52,540
share a nice mug of it in bed
afterwards.

1103
01:09:53,779 --> 01:09:57,080
Is it harder to enter the kingdom of
heaven since Brexit?

1104
01:09:59,060 --> 01:10:04,140
I don't think Brexit has anything to do
with the kingdom of heaven, or hell for

1105
01:10:04,140 --> 01:10:04,879
that matter.

1106
01:10:04,880 --> 01:10:08,560
My mate Paul says if you look in a
mirror for about an hour, it's possible

1107
01:10:08,560 --> 01:10:12,020
to trick your consciousness into
thinking it's inside the other you.

1108
01:10:12,570 --> 01:10:15,730
And then you can run off before it can
jump back out and get you.

1109
01:10:16,670 --> 01:10:20,690
He said he managed it once, but about a
second after he started running, he

1110
01:10:20,690 --> 01:10:24,690
caught his balls on a door handle and
ended up rolling around on the floor in

1111
01:10:24,690 --> 01:10:27,710
agony while his consciousness watched
him from the mirror, pissing itself.

1112
01:10:28,870 --> 01:10:32,090
I don't think your consciousness can go
inside a mirror.

1113
01:10:33,150 --> 01:10:34,330
Do worry about Paul.

1114
01:10:36,150 --> 01:10:38,390
I think he just hasn't found his role in
society.

1115
01:10:39,670 --> 01:10:41,050
So you're in the big bang gang?

1116
01:10:42,450 --> 01:10:43,450
The Big Bang.

1117
01:10:43,510 --> 01:10:47,130
Gang. The Big Bang Gang. The Big Bang
Gang. I think we're all in the Big Bang

1118
01:10:47,130 --> 01:10:50,730
Gang. Are we? Yeah. Could you say that
down that lens there, please?

1119
01:10:51,290 --> 01:10:54,650
Yeah, I'm in the Big Bang Gang. You're
in the Big Bang Gang. You're in the Big

1120
01:10:54,650 --> 01:10:55,509
Bang Gang.

1121
01:10:55,510 --> 01:10:56,790
We're all in the Big Bang Gang.