[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:49.41,0:00:51.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen
Dialogue: 0,0:00:51.58,0:00:53.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s a very interesting, and unusual,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:53.96,0:00:55.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and weird experience for me
Dialogue: 0,0:00:55.73,0:01:00.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to be talking in my home town. Which is…
Dialogue: 0,0:01:03.36,0:01:06.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, amongst the books
Dialogue: 0,0:01:06.37,0:01:08.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that Constance mentioned \Nwhen she was introducing me,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:08.99,0:01:11.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Hitchhiker’s Guide, \NDirk Gently and so on,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:11.29,0:01:12.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was not my favourite book.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:12.69,0:01:13.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And my favourite book
Dialogue: 0,0:01:13.74,0:01:15.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is what I’m here to talk about tonight.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:16.28,0:01:18.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's funny how, how often…
Dialogue: 0,0:01:18.39,0:01:20.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Virtually every author I know,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:20.42,0:01:23.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,their own favourite book is the one\Nthat sold the least.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:23.90,0:01:26.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s somehow the runt of the litter,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:26.62,0:01:29.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it’s the one you’ve always\Njust loved the most.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:29.93,0:01:32.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I want to tell you about\Nhow this came about.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:34.85,0:01:37.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Sometime in about the mid 1980s,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:38.79,0:01:40.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the phone rang.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:46.61,0:01:47.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the voice said,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:48.68,0:01:50.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“We want you to go to Madagascar.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:53.27,0:01:57.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We want you to look for \Na very rare form of lemur,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:57.81,0:01:59.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,called the Aye-aye.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:00.06,0:02:01.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The plane leaves in two weeks,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:02.03,0:02:03.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we would like you to be on it.”
Dialogue: 0,0:02:03.72,0:02:06.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now I—assuming they’ve got\Nthe wrong number—said “yes!”
Dialogue: 0,0:02:06.28,0:02:08.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,before they could discover their mistake.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:11.78,0:02:13.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But in fact it turned out \Nthat they decided,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:14.47,0:02:17.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Well, here is somebody who \Ndoesn’t know anything about lemurs,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:17.47,0:02:20.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,anything about the Aye-aye, \Nanything about Madagascar,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:20.56,0:02:21.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,let’s send him.”
Dialogue: 0,0:02:24.51,0:02:27.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I started to try \Nand find out something about it,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:27.38,0:02:29.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it turns out it’s very interesting.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:31.58,0:02:35.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Lemurs used to be \Nthe dominant primate in all the world.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:36.91,0:02:40.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And they were very, \Nvery gentle, pleasant creatures.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:41.13,0:02:43.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They were a little bit \Nlike sort of cat size,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:44.73,0:02:46.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they used to hang around in the trees
Dialogue: 0,0:02:47.25,0:02:48.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,having a nice time.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:51.75,0:02:55.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then, Gondwanaland split up.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:57.62,0:03:00.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It always sounds like \Nsome sort of 70’s rock group
Dialogue: 0,0:03:00.99,0:03:04.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,going their own way \Nfor reasons of musical differences.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:04.47,0:03:06.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But as you probably remember
Dialogue: 0,0:03:06.54,0:03:11.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Gondwanaland was that \Nvast continental landmass
Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.02,0:03:13.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that consisted of what then became
Dialogue: 0,0:03:14.18,0:03:17.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,South America, Africa, India
Dialogue: 0,0:03:17.39,0:03:19.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Southeast Asia, Australasia
Dialogue: 0,0:03:19.95,0:03:22.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—uh, no—Australia, Australia and not
Dialogue: 0,0:03:22.94,0:03:25.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—and this will turn out \Nto be significant later—
Dialogue: 0,0:03:25.57,0:03:26.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not New Zealand
Dialogue: 0,0:03:26.61,0:03:28.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which turns out to be just a lot of gunk
Dialogue: 0,0:03:28.53,0:03:30.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that came out from under the ocean.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.50,0:03:38.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And as I say,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:39.11,0:03:42.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,lemurs were the dominant primate\Naround the world
Dialogue: 0,0:03:43.16,0:03:45.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and when all these landmasses split up,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:45.92,0:03:47.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and Madagascar was one of them,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:47.87,0:03:49.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Madagascar kind of sailed off
Dialogue: 0,0:03:49.35,0:03:52.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into the middle of what then\Nsuddenly became the Indian Ocean.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:53.32,0:03:56.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And took with it a representative sample
Dialogue: 0,0:03:56.80,0:03:58.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the livestock of the period,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:58.92,0:04:00.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which included a lot of lemurs.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:01.44,0:04:03.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And they basically sort of sat there
Dialogue: 0,0:04:03.52,0:04:05.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for millions and millions of years
Dialogue: 0,0:04:05.82,0:04:06.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in glorious isolation.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:07.88,0:04:09.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,While, in the rest of the world,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:10.45,0:04:12.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a new creature emerged.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:12.50,0:04:13.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A new creature arrived
Dialogue: 0,0:04:14.06,0:04:19.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that was much more intelligent \Nthan the lemurs
Dialogue: 0,0:04:19.81,0:04:21.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—according to it—
Dialogue: 0,0:04:25.16,0:04:26.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,much more competitive,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:26.93,0:04:28.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,much more aggressive,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:28.82,0:04:31.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and incredibly interested
Dialogue: 0,0:04:31.30,0:04:33.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in all of things you could do with twigs.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:35.06,0:04:36.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Twigs were absolutely wonderful.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:36.59,0:04:38.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So much you can do with twigs
Dialogue: 0,0:04:38.18,0:04:40.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you can dig in the ground \Nfor things with twigs,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:40.70,0:04:43.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you can burrow under \Nthe bark of trees for grubs,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:43.30,0:04:45.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you can hit each other with twigs.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:45.18,0:04:48.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If there had been copies of \NTwigUser Magazine around on those days,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:48.38,0:04:51.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,these creatures would \Nhave been lining up for it.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:53.15,0:04:54.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And these creatures
Dialogue: 0,0:04:54.19,0:04:57.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—which, as you have probably guessed, \Nare called the monkeys—
Dialogue: 0,0:04:57.10,0:05:00.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because they were more competitive \Nand more aggressive,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:00.92,0:05:03.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they lived in the \Nsame habitat as the lemurs,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:03.65,0:05:05.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they successfully supplanted the lemurs
Dialogue: 0,0:05:05.82,0:05:09.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,everywhere in the world \Nother than Madagascar.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:10.39,0:05:13.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because Madagascar was right out \Nin the middle of the Indian Ocean
Dialogue: 0,0:05:13.54,0:05:15.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they couldn’t get there.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:17.30,0:05:21.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They couldn’t get there until\Nabout 1500 years ago,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:21.28,0:05:24.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when due to startling \Nadvances in twig technology
Dialogue: 0,0:05:31.82,0:05:34.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they were able to get there in boats,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:34.86,0:05:36.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and eventually planes.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:36.77,0:05:40.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And suddenly the lemurs,\Nthat have had this place for themselves
Dialogue: 0,0:05:40.27,0:05:42.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for millions and millions \Nand millions of years,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:42.57,0:05:45.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were suddenly facing \Ntheir old enemy: the monkey.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:47.47,0:05:49.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, this is Madagascar,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:49.64,0:05:51.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it turns out that \Nthe rarest of the lemurs
Dialogue: 0,0:05:51.82,0:05:53.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—and when I say the rarest of the lemurs,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:53.78,0:05:55.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at this particular point in the mid 80’s
Dialogue: 0,0:05:55.83,0:05:58.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they were thought to be \Nthe rarest of the lemurs;
Dialogue: 0,0:05:58.18,0:06:02.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we’ve now discovered and even rarer lemur \Ncalled the Golden Bamboo Lemur,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:02.82,0:06:05.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which went straight to the number one\Nof endangered lemurs—
Dialogue: 0,0:06:07.22,0:06:10.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but the Aye-aye is a very \Nvery peculiar animal.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:11.78,0:06:13.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It looks like an agglomeration
Dialogue: 0,0:06:13.25,0:06:15.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of all sorts of other different animals.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:15.16,0:06:18.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, for instance, \Nit has a sort of fox's ears,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:19.02,0:06:21.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it has a little sort\Nof bitty rabbit’s teeth,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:21.91,0:06:27.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it has a kind of \Nostrich feather as a tail,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:28.21,0:06:31.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it has very weird eyes,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:31.75,0:06:35.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,actually it has Marty Feldman’s eyes.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:36.54,0:06:39.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The kind of sort of looking \Nslightly beyond you
Dialogue: 0,0:06:39.41,0:06:42.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into a sort of other dimension \Njust over your left shoulder.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:45.80,0:06:50.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it also has one very very\Nvery peculiar characteristic,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:50.77,0:06:56.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is its middle finger on both hands\Nis skeletally thin and very very long.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:00.94,0:07:03.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it turns out there is\Nonly one other animal
Dialogue: 0,0:07:03.22,0:07:06.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the entire world that has this feature.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:08.02,0:07:09.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this is called
Dialogue: 0,0:07:10.87,0:07:13.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—I love zoologists; \Nthey have such vivid imaginations—
Dialogue: 0,0:07:13.50,0:07:15.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it’s called the Long-Fingered Possum.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:16.100,0:07:20.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this is a creature \Nthat lives in New Guinea,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:20.89,0:07:26.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and in fact it's its fourth finger \Nthat is skeletally thin and elongated.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:26.54,0:07:28.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this is the thing that tells us
Dialogue: 0,0:07:28.23,0:07:30.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that there is no relationship \Nbetween these animals,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:30.71,0:07:32.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it’s pure convergent evolution,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:32.47,0:07:37.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because the common factor \Nbetween Madagascar and the Aye-aye,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:37.40,0:07:39.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and New Guinea and \Nthe Long-Fingered Possum
Dialogue: 0,0:07:39.55,0:07:43.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that in both habitats \Nthere are no woodpeckers.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:46.22,0:07:47.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you see, the thing is
Dialogue: 0,0:07:49.33,0:07:52.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—life is very very opportunistic,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:52.86,0:07:57.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it will take advantage of any \Nfood source it finds around the place.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:57.65,0:08:02.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And if there are no woodpeckers looking \Nunder the bark of trees for grubs,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:03.09,0:08:06.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then, in this case, it will be the mammals
Dialogue: 0,0:08:07.33,0:08:12.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that grow the skeletally thin long finger \Nto burrow under the bark of the tree,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:12.61,0:08:15.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and get to this source of food \Nwhich is the grubs under the bark.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:17.18,0:08:22.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, the Aye-aye is this \Nvery very very strange creature.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:22.68,0:08:26.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And at this time it was thought there \Nwere only about fifteen of them left.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:27.08,0:08:33.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And they lived actually \Nnot on Madagascar itself,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:33.54,0:08:35.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but on a tiny little rainforest island
Dialogue: 0,0:08:35.91,0:08:38.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just off the coast of Madagascar, \Ncalled Nosy Mangabe,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:39.02,0:08:43.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it’s just off \Nthe northwest tip of Madagascar.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:43.48,0:08:45.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And now to get there, what you have to do,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:45.52,0:08:48.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is you have to fly in a 747 to Madagascar.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:49.58,0:08:52.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then in a terrible \Nold jalopy of an airplane
Dialogue: 0,0:08:54.02,0:08:57.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from Madagascar up to the northwest port.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:57.54,0:09:01.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And from there you have to go \Nin a kind of decreasingly excellent
Dialogue: 0,0:09:01.56,0:09:04.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,series of carts and trucks and so on,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:07.34,0:09:09.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to a little port where \Nthere was going to be a boat
Dialogue: 0,0:09:09.87,0:09:11.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that was going to take us to Nosy Mangabe.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:12.26,0:09:14.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So we arrived there, \Nand arrived at the port,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:14.98,0:09:18.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we were looking around for the boat\Nthat was going to take us to Nosy Mangabe,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:18.86,0:09:20.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we couldn’t see it.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:20.09,0:09:21.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we kept on asking people
Dialogue: 0,0:09:21.54,0:09:23.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,–you know–“where is this boat?”,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:23.06,0:09:25.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they would say \N“It’s there! It’s there!”,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:25.21,0:09:27.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we couldn’t see \Nwhat they were pointing at
Dialogue: 0,0:09:27.41,0:09:30.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because there was this terrible \Nrotting old hulk in the way.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:31.40,0:09:32.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well as you guessed,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:32.98,0:09:34.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this is the terrible rotting old hulk
Dialogue: 0,0:09:34.76,0:09:36.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we had to go to Nosy Mangabe in.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:36.53,0:09:41.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it didn’t fulfill what to my mind \Nwas the sort of basic criteria of a boat,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:42.49,0:09:45.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in that it was basically full of ocean.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:45.93,0:09:48.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it seemed to me \Nthat the whole point of a boat
Dialogue: 0,0:09:48.69,0:09:50.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was to keep the ocean on the outside.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:52.40,0:09:54.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Anyway, so we crossed to Nosy Mangabe.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:56.56,0:10:00.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it’s this tiny little, very very \Nbeautiful little rainforest island.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:00.86,0:10:02.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we hit a major problem
Dialogue: 0,0:10:02.13,0:10:07.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which of course is that \Nthis animal not only lives in trees
Dialogue: 0,0:10:07.10,0:10:09.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—nobody has seen it for \Nyears and years and years—
Dialogue: 0,0:10:09.53,0:10:13.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,lives in trees but \Nalso it's a nocturnal animal.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:13.46,0:10:17.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the quality of batteries \Nin Madagascar was very very poor.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:19.14,0:10:22.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, we spent night after night\Nafter night,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:23.18,0:10:25.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,traipsing through the rainforest,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:26.74,0:10:29.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in what can only be described as: \Nthe rain.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:36.87,0:10:37.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Getting rather ratty,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:39.57,0:10:42.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and basically we’ve just spent\Nnight after night
Dialogue: 0,0:10:42.47,0:10:44.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sort of huddled under tarpaulins,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:44.24,0:10:46.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,looking at us, saying “stop raining.”
Dialogue: 0,0:10:46.44,0:10:48.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And every now and then we would sort of,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:48.34,0:10:50.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“gah, I’ve been trying \Nto find this damn animal.”
Dialogue: 0,0:10:50.67,0:10:52.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Actually, this is wonderful,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:52.13,0:10:55.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we found this hut that used \Nto be this sort of game warden’s
Dialogue: 0,0:10:55.18,0:10:58.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—not game warden—a ranger’s hut.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:59.19,0:11:00.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it’s a tiny little hut.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:00.99,0:11:02.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it was actually full of wild life.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:05.54,0:11:06.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What happened, you see,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:07.12,0:11:11.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is you would open the door,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:12.89,0:11:14.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you'd hear all this noise…
Dialogue: 0,0:11:19.32,0:11:21.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you turn on the light \Nand it would all stop.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:26.98,0:11:30.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you would see these little \Ngiant spiders around the wall,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:30.44,0:11:32.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,each with a sort of \Nhalf-eaten bug in their mouth!
Dialogue: 0,0:11:35.14,0:11:36.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And say, “yes?”
Dialogue: 0,0:11:41.01,0:11:42.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you turn the light out and…
Dialogue: 0,0:11:46.03,0:11:48.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So this is our shelter, you know,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:48.11,0:11:49.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we were having a great time.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:53.62,0:11:55.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And eventually…
Dialogue: 0,0:11:55.29,0:11:56.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But one night, one night,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:56.86,0:11:59.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we were all sort of—as I said—\Nhuddled under our tarpaulins,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:59.88,0:12:01.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I sort of got out, \Nand wandered around,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:01.96,0:12:05.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and suddenly, suddenly, \NI looked up and on a branch
Dialogue: 0,0:12:05.89,0:12:07.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at about that high above my head
Dialogue: 0,0:12:08.00,0:12:10.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this creature came out.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:11.90,0:12:15.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This creature came out along the branch,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:17.37,0:12:19.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,looked down on me,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:20.05,0:12:23.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I looked at it, and as it looked to me
Dialogue: 0,0:12:23.54,0:12:26.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—it obviously didn’t at all like \Nto look at what it saw—
Dialogue: 0,0:12:26.94,0:12:28.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it turned around and went away again.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:30.61,0:12:32.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Whole encounter about ten seconds.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:34.02,0:12:36.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that’s what we’d come for.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:38.04,0:12:40.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had actually seen, and we saw
Dialogue: 0,0:12:40.88,0:12:44.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—we all just managed to get a quick \Nphotograph of it when it appeared—
Dialogue: 0,0:12:44.60,0:12:47.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I suddenly realised \Nwe’d seen an Aye-aye.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:48.19,0:12:51.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, I was absolutely \Ntransfixed by that moment,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:51.57,0:12:54.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for reasons that I couldn’t entirely \Nexplain to myself immediately.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:55.41,0:12:58.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because a month earlier\NI’d never even heard of this animal
Dialogue: 0,0:12:58.19,0:13:00.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and now here I was, staring at it,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:01.12,0:13:03.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,thinking that something \Nextraordinary happening here.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:04.20,0:13:06.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I began to sort of \Nthink about it a little bit,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:06.58,0:13:08.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the thought I put together was this.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:12.16,0:13:18.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In traveling here, \Nin traveling on a 747 to Tananarive,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:19.27,0:13:21.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is the capital of Madagascar,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:21.41,0:13:23.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and this terrible old jalopy\Nof an airplane
Dialogue: 0,0:13:23.43,0:13:26.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that took us out to the northwest corner,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:26.48,0:13:29.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then in the decreasingly excellent\Nseries of carts and trucks,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:29.62,0:13:34.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then in the rotting old hulk\Nthat took us to the rainforest
Dialogue: 0,0:13:34.28,0:13:37.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where we basically walked through\Nthe rainforest night after night,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:37.45,0:13:39.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was as if we were taking \Na kind of time journey
Dialogue: 0,0:13:40.13,0:13:41.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—a time travel journey—
Dialogue: 0,0:13:41.66,0:13:44.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,back through the history\Nof twig technology.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:46.34,0:13:48.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what this encounter had been,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:48.94,0:13:52.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what this encounter had been was:
Dialogue: 0,0:13:52.16,0:13:53.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was a monkey looking at a lemur.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:55.08,0:13:56.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you suddenly think,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:56.18,0:13:58.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there is a huge amount of history
Dialogue: 0,0:13:58.88,0:14:00.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to this moment that we don’t think
Dialogue: 0,0:14:00.86,0:14:03.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—we don’t realise—we carry around with us.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:03.75,0:14:09.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Our roots in this planet go back \Nan awfully awfully awfully long way,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:09.61,0:14:12.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we don’t tend to \Nthink about that very much.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:12.80,0:14:14.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it takes a confrontation like this
Dialogue: 0,0:14:14.63,0:14:20.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,suddenly to realise how sort of\Nbroad and deep your family goes.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:21.38,0:14:24.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I thought, \Nwell this is terribly interesting.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:25.14,0:14:29.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I talked to the guy who had been\Nkind of my guide out there,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:29.70,0:14:31.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who was a zoologist \Nwho had been sent along
Dialogue: 0,0:14:32.17,0:14:35.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to make sure I didn’t sort of \Nfall out of the trees and so on.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:35.19,0:14:39.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And his name was Mark Carwardine,\Nand I said to him,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:41.30,0:14:42.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“I would love it if we could …,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:42.96,0:14:45.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,do you fancy the idea of \Nsort of going around the world
Dialogue: 0,0:14:45.57,0:14:48.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and looking for other rare \Nand endangered species of animals,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:48.47,0:14:49.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,maybe doing a book about this?”
Dialogue: 0,0:14:49.96,0:14:52.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He said, \N“well, that’s what I do for a living!”
Dialogue: 0,0:14:53.12,0:14:54.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“So yeah, OK.”
Dialogue: 0,0:14:55.53,0:14:57.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so we did.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:57.55,0:14:59.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, there was a pause at that moment
Dialogue: 0,0:14:59.45,0:15:02.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because I had a couple of novels\NI’d just contracted to write.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:02.61,0:15:06.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I wrote Dirk Gently’s\NHolistic Detective Agency
Dialogue: 0,0:15:06.80,0:15:08.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:08.72,0:15:10.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then it was time to go.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:11.56,0:15:15.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the first place we went,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:15.82,0:15:21.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we went to look for a particular animal\Nwhich is the Komodo Dragon Lizard.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:23.51,0:15:26.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now you know what \Nlizards are like, don’t you?
Dialogue: 0,0:15:26.40,0:15:27.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean they’re sort of…
Dialogue: 0,0:15:30.59,0:15:34.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Komodo Dragon Lizard \Nis a little bit bigger than that.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:37.20,0:15:43.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The biggest one we saw actually\Nit was about 13 feet long,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:44.54,0:15:46.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and its head came out to about here
Dialogue: 0,0:15:48.99,0:15:51.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,fucking huge \NI think is the technical term.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:54.94,0:15:57.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s thought they're the origin\Nof the chinese dragon myth
Dialogue: 0,0:15:58.01,0:16:01.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—because they are well huge, \Ngiant giant lizards,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:02.08,0:16:05.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they’re scaly, they’re man eaters,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:05.36,0:16:06.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,literally they are man eaters,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:06.96,0:16:08.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they don’t actually breathe fire,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:08.75,0:16:12.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but they do have the worst breath\Nof any creature known to man.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:14.08,0:16:18.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And they live on this island\Ncalled Komodo.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:19.15,0:16:22.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, it’s not enough—it turns out—
Dialogue: 0,0:16:22.42,0:16:30.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that this island has fifteen hundred, \Nfifteen hundred man-eating dragons on it.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:33.34,0:16:37.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It turns our that actually that \Nthe most endangered animal on the island
Dialogue: 0,0:16:37.46,0:16:39.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is anything other than the dragons.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:45.54,0:16:47.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In fact—as I said—they’re man eaters.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:47.76,0:16:50.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They don’t actually eat you\Nsort of straight out,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:50.27,0:16:52.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they don’t sort of lunge at you\Nand just gobble you up.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:52.83,0:16:54.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They sort of sneak around
Dialogue: 0,0:16:54.04,0:16:56.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they come \Nand give you a bit of a bite.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:57.22,0:16:59.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because their saliva is so virulent
Dialogue: 0,0:17:00.23,0:17:01.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that your wound would not heal
Dialogue: 0,0:17:02.09,0:17:04.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and after a while you will die.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:05.06,0:17:07.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so one of the dragons\Nwill get to eat you
Dialogue: 0,0:17:07.17,0:17:09.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—it doesn’t matter if it’s\Nthe same one that bit you—
Dialogue: 0,0:17:09.66,0:17:10.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they just have a strategy
Dialogue: 0,0:17:10.95,0:17:14.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of having as many dead and dying\Ncreatures lying around the island
Dialogue: 0,0:17:14.65,0:17:17.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as they can manage \Nand that kind of keeps them going.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:20.98,0:17:23.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it turns out it’s not enough\Nthat the island
Dialogue: 0,0:17:23.73,0:17:26.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,has fifteen hundred \Nman-eating dragons on it.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:26.54,0:17:28.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Just to make it a little bit \Nmore interesting,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:28.79,0:17:32.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it also has more poisonous snakes on it
Dialogue: 0,0:17:32.36,0:17:33.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—per square meter of land—
Dialogue: 0,0:17:33.83,0:17:36.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than any equivalent \Narea of land anywhere on earth.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:37.33,0:17:39.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, we approached Komodo
Dialogue: 0,0:17:39.74,0:17:41.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—I have to say—slightly nervously,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:42.41,0:17:44.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and in a slightly roundabout way.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:45.10,0:17:47.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In fact we approached \Nin such a roundabout way
Dialogue: 0,0:17:47.32,0:17:49.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we went by Melbourne in Australia.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:51.45,0:17:53.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the reason we went by Melbourne
Dialogue: 0,0:17:53.15,0:17:55.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was somebody who\Nwe wanted to go and see there,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:55.41,0:17:57.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a man called Dr. Struan Sutherland.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:58.92,0:18:01.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Actually I want to read you\Na little bit about him,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:02.05,0:18:08.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he was a great expert in snake venom.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:10.63,0:18:12.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I should apologise \Nbefore I read this, actually,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:12.96,0:18:16.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for the fact that \Nmy australian accent isn’t very good.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:16.71,0:18:17.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But then, what the hell,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:17.86,0:18:20.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you’re all americans \Nyou won’t know the difference anyway.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:33.57,0:18:35.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There is in Melbourne a man
Dialogue: 0,0:18:35.17,0:18:37.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who probably knows more\Nabout poisonous snakes
Dialogue: 0,0:18:37.35,0:18:38.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than anyone else on earth.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:39.92,0:18:41.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,His name is Dr. Struan Sutherland,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:41.80,0:18:43.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and he has devoted his entire life
Dialogue: 0,0:18:43.72,0:18:45.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to a study of venom.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:46.21,0:18:47.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“And I’m bored at talking about it”,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:47.96,0:18:50.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he said when we went along\Nto see him the next morning
Dialogue: 0,0:18:50.50,0:18:52.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,laden with tape recorders and notebooks.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:52.45,0:18:54.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Can’t stand all these \Npoisonous creatures,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:54.52,0:18:56.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,all these snakes and \Ninsects and fish and things.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:56.87,0:18:58.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Wretched things, biting everybody.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:58.50,0:19:01.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then people expect me \Nto tell them what to do about it.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:01.31,0:19:04.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’ll tell them what to do.\NDon’t get bitten in the first place.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:04.28,0:19:05.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That’s the answer.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:05.15,0:19:07.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’ve had enough of \Ntelling people all the time.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:07.39,0:19:09.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Hydroponics, now that’s interesting.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:09.93,0:19:12.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Talk to you all you like \Nabout hydroponics.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:12.06,0:19:13.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Fascinating stuff,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:13.27,0:19:15.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,growing plants artificially in water,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:15.21,0:19:16.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,very interesting technique.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:16.52,0:19:19.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We’ll need to know all about it \Nif we’re going to go to Mars and places.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:19.96,0:19:21.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Where did you say you were going?”
Dialogue: 0,0:19:21.59,0:19:22.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Komodo.”
Dialogue: 0,0:19:23.08,0:19:25.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Well don’t get bitten, \Nthat’s all I can say.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:28.83,0:19:32.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And don’t come running to me if you do \Nbecause you won’t get here in time,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:33.46,0:19:35.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and anyway I’ve got enough on my plate.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:36.25,0:19:39.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Look at this office, full of \Npoisonous animals all over the place.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:39.41,0:19:42.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,See this tank, it’s full of fire ants. \NVenomous little creatures.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:42.52,0:19:44.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What are we going to do about them?
Dialogue: 0,0:19:44.19,0:19:47.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Anyway, I got some little fairy cakes\Nin case you were hungry.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:47.40,0:19:48.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Would you like some little cakes?
Dialogue: 0,0:19:48.99,0:19:50.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I can’t remember where I put them.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:50.63,0:19:52.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There’s some tea but it’s not very good.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:52.56,0:19:54.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Anyway, sit down for heaven’s sake.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:55.20,0:19:56.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, you’re going to Komodo.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:56.70,0:19:58.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, I don’t know why you want to do that
Dialogue: 0,0:19:58.72,0:20:00.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I suppose you have your reasons.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:01.21,0:20:03.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are fifteen different \Ntypes of snake on Komodo,
Dialogue: 0,0:20:03.89,0:20:05.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and half of them are poisonous.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:06.35,0:20:07.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The only potentially deadly ones
Dialogue: 0,0:20:08.02,0:20:09.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are the Russell’s Viper,
Dialogue: 0,0:20:09.46,0:20:11.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the Bamboo Viper and the Indian Cobra.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:13.19,0:20:16.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Indian cobra is the fifteenth\Ndeadliest snake in the world,
Dialogue: 0,0:20:17.47,0:20:20.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and all the other fourteen\Nare here in Australia.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:22.19,0:20:24.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That’s why it’s so hard \Nfor me to find time
Dialogue: 0,0:20:24.24,0:20:27.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to get on with my hydroponics, \Nwith all these snakes all over the place.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:28.26,0:20:32.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And spiders. The most poisonous spider \Nis the Sydney funnel-web,
Dialogue: 0,0:20:32.36,0:20:35.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we get about five hundred people\Na year bitten by spiders.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:36.11,0:20:37.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A lot of them used to die,
Dialogue: 0,0:20:37.37,0:20:41.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so I had to develop an antidote to stop \Npeople bothering me with it all the time.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:42.38,0:20:46.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Took us years. Then we developed\Nthis snake bite detector kit.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:47.52,0:20:50.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not that you need a kit to tell you\Nwhen you’ve been bitten by a snake,
Dialogue: 0,0:20:50.89,0:20:53.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you usually know, but the kit is \Nsomething that will detect
Dialogue: 0,0:20:53.74,0:20:56.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what type you’ve been bitten by\Nso you can treat it properly.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:57.06,0:21:00.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Would you like to see a kit? I’ve got a\Ncouple here in the venom fridge.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:00.47,0:21:03.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Let’s have a look. Ah look, \Nthe cakes are in here too.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:03.13,0:21:05.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Quick, have one while they’re still fresh.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:05.100,0:21:07.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Fairy cakes, I baked ’em myself”
Dialogue: 0,0:21:09.09,0:21:11.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He handed round the snake venom\Ndetection kits
Dialogue: 0,0:21:12.16,0:21:15.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and these home baked fairy cakes\Nand retreated back to his desk,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:15.75,0:21:17.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where he beamed at us cheerfully
Dialogue: 0,0:21:17.74,0:21:19.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from behind his curly beard and bow tie.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:20.76,0:21:23.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We admired the kits \Nwhich were small efficient boxes
Dialogue: 0,0:21:23.24,0:21:26.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,neatly packed with tiny bottles, \Na pipette, a syringe,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:26.28,0:21:28.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and a complicated set of instructions
Dialogue: 0,0:21:28.30,0:21:31.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that I wouldn’t want to have \Nto read for the first time in a panic.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:33.43,0:21:36.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then we asked him how many of\Nthe snakes he had been bitten by himself.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:37.71,0:21:38.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“None of ’em,” he said.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:39.05,0:21:41.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Another area of expertise I’ve developed
Dialogue: 0,0:21:41.97,0:21:45.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that of getting other people \Nto handle the dangerous animals.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:48.38,0:21:50.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Won’t do it myself. \NDon’t want to get bitten, do I?
Dialogue: 0,0:21:51.47,0:21:53.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know what it says on my book jackets?
Dialogue: 0,0:21:53.43,0:21:55.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,‘Hobbies: gardening, with gloves;
Dialogue: 0,0:21:56.30,0:21:57.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,fishing, with boots;
Dialogue: 0,0:21:58.17,0:21:59.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,travelling, with care.’
Dialogue: 0,0:21:59.77,0:22:01.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That’s the answer. What else?
Dialogue: 0,0:22:01.17,0:22:04.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well in addition to the boots \Nwear thick baggy trousers.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:04.58,0:22:07.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And preferably have half a dozen people\Ntrampling along in front of you
Dialogue: 0,0:22:08.12,0:22:09.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,making as much noise as possible.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:11.24,0:22:14.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The snakes pick up the vibrations \Nand get out of your way.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:14.02,0:22:15.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Unless it’s a Death Adder,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:16.70,0:22:18.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,otherwise known as the Deaf Adder,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:20.34,0:22:21.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which just lies there.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:22.87,0:22:25.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,People can walk right past it\Nand over it and nothing happens.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:25.78,0:22:28.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’ve heard of twelve people in a line\Nwalking over a Death Adder
Dialogue: 0,0:22:28.78,0:22:31.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the twelfth person \Naccidentally trod on it and got bitten.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:32.33,0:22:34.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Normally it’s quite safe \Nto get twelfth in line.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:34.97,0:22:36.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You’re not eating your cakes.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:36.36,0:22:37.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Come on, get them down you,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:37.66,0:22:39.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there’s plenty more in the venom fridge.”
Dialogue: 0,0:22:42.67,0:22:44.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We asked, tentatively, if we could perhaps
Dialogue: 0,0:22:44.95,0:22:47.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,take a snake bite detector kit \Nwith us to Komodo.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:48.03,0:22:49.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Course you can, course you can.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:49.66,0:22:51.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Take as many as you like.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:51.34,0:22:55.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Won’t do you a blind bit of good because \Nthey’re only for Australian snakes.”
Dialogue: 0,0:23:03.36,0:23:07.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“So what do we do if we get bitten by \Nsomething deadly, then?” I asked.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:08.93,0:23:10.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He blinked at me as if I were stupid.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:12.86,0:23:14.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Well what do you think you do?” he said.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:14.83,0:23:17.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“You die of course. \NThat’s what deadly means.”
Dialogue: 0,0:23:24.83,0:23:29.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“But what about cutting open the wound \Nand sucking out the poison?” I asked.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:30.80,0:23:32.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Rather you than me,” he said.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:32.87,0:23:34.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“I wouldn’t want a mouthful of poison.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:34.70,0:23:36.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Shouldn’t do you any harm, though,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:36.34,0:23:38.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,snake toxins are of high molecular weight
Dialogue: 0,0:23:38.32,0:23:40.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so they wont penetrate \Nthe blood vessels in the mouth
Dialogue: 0,0:23:40.84,0:23:42.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the way that alcohol or some drugs do.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:42.90,0:23:45.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then the poison gets destroyed\Nby the acids in your stomach.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:46.11,0:23:48.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it’s not necessarily going \Nto do much good either.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:48.69,0:23:51.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, you’re not likely to be able\Nto get much of the poison out,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:51.85,0:23:54.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but you’re probably going to make\Nthe wound a lot worse trying.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:54.82,0:23:58.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And in a place like Komodo it means you’d \Nquickly have a seriously infected wound
Dialogue: 0,0:23:58.69,0:24:00.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to contend with as well as\Na leg full of poison.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:00.98,0:24:03.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Septicaemia, gangrene, \Nyou name it, it’ll kill you.”
Dialogue: 0,0:24:04.92,0:24:07.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“What about a tourniquet?” I asked.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:07.47,0:24:10.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Well, fine if you don’t mind having\Nyour leg cut off afterwards.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:11.34,0:24:13.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You’d have to because if you cut off
Dialogue: 0,0:24:13.07,0:24:15.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the blood supply to it completely\Nit will just die.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:15.89,0:24:18.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And if you can find anyone \Nin that part of Indonesia
Dialogue: 0,0:24:18.38,0:24:20.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who you’d trust to take your leg off
Dialogue: 0,0:24:20.10,0:24:21.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then you’re a braver man than me.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:23.21,0:24:25.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,No, I’ll tell you, \Nthe only thing you can do
Dialogue: 0,0:24:25.30,0:24:27.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is apply a pressure bandage \Ndirect to the wound
Dialogue: 0,0:24:27.73,0:24:30.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and wrap the whole leg up tightly, \Nbut not too tightly.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:30.82,0:24:34.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Slow the blood flow but don’t cut it off \Nor you’ll lose the leg.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:34.68,0:24:37.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Hold your leg, \Nor whatever bit you’ve been bitten in,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:37.84,0:24:40.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,lower than your heart and your head.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:40.48,0:24:48.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Keep very, very still, breathe slowly \Nand get to a doctor immediately.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:51.12,0:24:53.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you’re on Komodo \Nthat means a couple of days,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:53.42,0:24:55.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by which time you’ll be well dead.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:56.63,0:24:59.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, the only answer, \Nand I mean this quite seriously,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:59.27,0:25:01.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is don’t get bitten.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:02.72,0:25:04.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There’s no reason why you should.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:04.33,0:25:06.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Any of the snakes there \Nwill get out of your way
Dialogue: 0,0:25:06.65,0:25:08.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,well before you even see them.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:08.38,0:25:11.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You don’t really need to worry \Nabout the snakes if you’re careful.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:11.77,0:25:15.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,No, the things you really need to \Nworry about are the marine creatures.”
Dialogue: 0,0:25:15.21,0:25:16.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“What?”
Dialogue: 0,0:25:18.46,0:25:20.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Scorpion fish, stonefish, sea snakes.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:20.76,0:25:23.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Much more poisonous than anything on land.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:23.04,0:25:25.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Get stung by a stonefish \Nand the pain alone will kill you.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:26.74,0:25:29.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,People drown themselves\Njust to stop the pain.”
Dialogue: 0,0:25:36.44,0:25:38.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Where are all these things?”
Dialogue: 0,0:25:39.24,0:25:40.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Oh, just in the sea. Tons of them.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:40.92,0:25:42.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I wouldn’t go near it if I were you.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:42.65,0:25:44.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Full of poisonous animals. Hate them.”
Dialogue: 0,0:25:45.79,0:25:47.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Is there anything you do like?”
Dialogue: 0,0:25:47.34,0:25:48.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Yeah", he said, "Hydroponics.”
Dialogue: 0,0:25:54.20,0:25:57.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“No”, I said, “I mean are there any \Npoisonous creatures
Dialogue: 0,0:25:57.66,0:25:59.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you’re particularly fond of?”
Dialogue: 0,0:25:59.52,0:26:01.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He looked out of the window for a moment.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:01.50,0:26:03.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“There was,” he said, “but she left me.”
Dialogue: 0,0:26:20.54,0:26:24.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Anyway, in fact my favourite \Nof all the animals we went to see,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:24.80,0:26:27.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,my favourite, was an animal \Ncalled the Kakapo.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:29.93,0:26:32.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the Kakapo is a kind of parrot.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:33.83,0:26:35.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It lives in New Zealand.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:36.31,0:26:40.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s a flightless parrot, \Nit's forgotten how to fly.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:43.59,0:26:48.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Sadly, it has also forgotten \Nthat it has forgotten how to fly.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:55.66,0:27:04.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So a seriously worried Kakapo has been \Nknown to run up a tree and jump out of it.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:10.23,0:27:12.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Opinion divides as to what next happens:
Dialogue: 0,0:27:14.48,0:27:18.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,some people said it has developed \Na kind of rudimentary parachuting ability,
Dialogue: 0,0:27:19.98,0:27:22.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,other people say \Nit flies a bit like a brick.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:24.96,0:27:25.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the thing is
Dialogue: 0,0:27:26.05,0:27:28.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—I might talk about a \Nseriously worried Kakapo—
Dialogue: 0,0:27:28.57,0:27:31.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the fact is you’re not likely to find \Na seriously worried Kakapo
Dialogue: 0,0:27:31.97,0:27:34.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because Kakapos have not learned to worry.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:36.62,0:27:38.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It seems an extraordinary thing to say
Dialogue: 0,0:27:38.84,0:27:42.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because worrying is something \Nwe’re all so terribly good at,
Dialogue: 0,0:27:42.96,0:27:45.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and which comes so \Nabsolutely naturally to us,
Dialogue: 0,0:27:45.47,0:27:47.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we think it must be \Nas natural as breathing.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:47.95,0:27:50.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it turns out that worrying
Dialogue: 0,0:27:50.58,0:27:53.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is simply an acquired \Nhabit like anything else.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:57.38,0:28:01.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s something you’re genetically \Ndisposed to do or not to do.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:02.27,0:28:06.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the thing is that the Kakapo\Ngrew up in New Zealand
Dialogue: 0,0:28:06.63,0:28:14.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which was, until man arrived, \Na country which had no predators.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:14.66,0:28:17.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it’s predators that, \Nover a series of generations,
Dialogue: 0,0:28:17.24,0:28:19.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,will teach you to worry.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:21.48,0:28:26.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And if you don’t have predators then the \Nneed to worry will never occur to you.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:27.76,0:28:31.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now I said earlier, that New Zealand\Nturns out to be
Dialogue: 0,0:28:31.49,0:28:34.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just a load of gunk that \Ncame out from under the ocean.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:34.55,0:28:36.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this is why, when it emerged,
Dialogue: 0,0:28:36.24,0:28:39.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it didn’t have any life on it at all\N—maybe a few dead fish.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:44.99,0:28:48.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the only animals that \Ninhabited New Zealand
Dialogue: 0,0:28:48.62,0:28:51.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were the animals \Nthat could fly there, i.e. birds.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:51.89,0:28:54.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There were also \Na couple of species of bats
Dialogue: 0,0:28:54.16,0:28:56.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which are mammals, but you get the point.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:56.17,0:28:59.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So it was only birds \Nthat lived on New Zealand.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:59.56,0:29:02.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, in an absence of predators,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:02.68,0:29:05.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there was nothing \Nfor them to worry about.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:06.56,0:29:09.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now it’s very very peculiar for us\Nto try and understand this
Dialogue: 0,0:29:09.58,0:29:16.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because we have never ever encountered \Nan environment with no predators in it.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:17.45,0:29:18.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Why not?
Dialogue: 0,0:29:18.51,0:29:20.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because we are predators and because,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:20.31,0:29:23.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,therefore, if we are in that environment\Nit is a predated environment.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:27.44,0:29:30.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For the europeans who \Noriginally arrived in New Zealand,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:34.74,0:29:38.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,… sorry, that was \Nan extraordinary thing to say.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:38.65,0:29:41.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Of course there were \Nthe Māoris before them
Dialogue: 0,0:29:41.93,0:29:48.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and before them the Morioris, \Nthe Māoris ate the Morioris
Dialogue: 0,0:29:49.70,0:29:52.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then the europeans came along.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:54.36,0:29:57.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But before all of that happened—as I said—
Dialogue: 0,0:29:57.78,0:30:05.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the island had no predators, and the \Nbirds basically led a worry-free life.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:05.04,0:30:08.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now you can actually see another example\Nof this if you go to the Galápagos,
Dialogue: 0,0:30:08.60,0:30:12.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there is a type of animal, \Nthere is a bird on the Galápagos Islands
Dialogue: 0,0:30:12.52,0:30:13.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,called the Blue-footed Booby.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:14.84,0:30:18.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the Blue-footed Booby is so called\N—I believe—for two reasons:
Dialogue: 0,0:30:19.04,0:30:21.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,one of which has to do \Nwith the colour of its feet,
Dialogue: 0,0:30:22.76,0:30:26.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the other has to do with this \Npiece of behaviour I’m about to describe.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:26.32,0:30:29.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because, apparently you can \Nwalk up to a Blue-footed Booby
Dialogue: 0,0:30:29.28,0:30:31.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—it will be sitting there on \Nthe beach or on a branch—
Dialogue: 0,0:30:31.88,0:30:35.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you can walk up and\Nyou can sort of pick him up.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:37.04,0:30:38.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what the Booby will be thinking
Dialogue: 0,0:30:39.78,0:30:42.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that once you finish with him\Nyou’ll put him back.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:53.85,0:30:55.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And if you haven’t lived
Dialogue: 0,0:30:55.04,0:30:58.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,through generation after generation\Nof people trying to eat you,
Dialogue: 0,0:30:58.32,0:31:00.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it’s very easy to come to that conclusion.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:02.40,0:31:04.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the Kakapo, as I say,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:05.07,0:31:08.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,had grown up in an environment \Nwithout predators.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:08.98,0:31:10.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And because they were all birds,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:11.14,0:31:16.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and because nature has a way—as I say—\Nvery opportunistic
Dialogue: 0,0:31:16.91,0:31:20.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and life will flow into any niche \Nwhere it’s possible to make a living,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:21.73,0:31:25.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so—if I can be very naughty and \Nanthropomorphise for a moment—
Dialogue: 0,0:31:25.36,0:31:27.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it’s as if some of the birds figured out,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:27.33,0:31:31.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Well, this flying stuff \Nis very very expensive.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:31.79,0:31:32.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It takes a lot of energy,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:32.99,0:31:34.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you have to eat a bit, fly a bit,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:34.59,0:31:35.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,eat a bit, fly a bit,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:35.63,0:31:37.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because every time you \Neat something—you know—
Dialogue: 0,0:31:37.82,0:31:39.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you weight down and it’s heavier to fly,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:39.74,0:31:41.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so eat a bit, fly a bit—I mean—
Dialogue: 0,0:31:41.28,0:31:43.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there are other ways of life available.”
Dialogue: 0,0:31:43.19,0:31:45.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so it’s as if some of the birds said,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:45.18,0:31:49.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Well, actually what we could do is we \Ncould settle in for a rather larger meal,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:49.00,0:31:50.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and go for a waddle afterwards!”
Dialogue: 0,0:31:56.48,0:31:58.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so gradually over many \Nmany generations
Dialogue: 0,0:31:58.55,0:32:01.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a lot of the birds lost \Nthe ability to fly,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:01.71,0:32:03.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they took up life on the ground.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:03.76,0:32:06.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Kiwi, the most famous bird\N—I guess—of New Zealand,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:06.78,0:32:13.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the Weka, and the old night parrot\N—as it was called—the Kakapo.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:13.97,0:32:19.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Which is this sort of big, fat, \Nsoft, fluffy, lugubrious bird.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:21.24,0:32:24.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And because it has never learned to worry,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:25.56,0:32:27.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when man arrived and brought with him
Dialogue: 0,0:32:27.89,0:32:33.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,his deadly menagerie of \Ndogs, and cats, and stoats,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:33.48,0:32:37.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that most destructive of all animals
Dialogue: 0,0:32:37.47,0:32:40.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,–other than man—which is \NRattus rattus, the ship’s rat.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:42.31,0:32:47.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Suddenly, suddenly these birds \Nwere waddling for their lives.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:48.50,0:32:50.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Except in fact they \Ndidn’t know how to do that
Dialogue: 0,0:32:50.71,0:32:53.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because they were confronted \Nwith an animal which was a predator,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:53.84,0:32:55.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they didn’t know what to do,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:55.19,0:32:57.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they didn’t know what the social form was,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:57.18,0:33:00.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they just waited for the other \Nanimal to make the next move,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:00.05,0:33:02.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and of course—as usually—\Na fairly swift and deadly one.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:04.61,0:33:10.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, suddenly from there \Nbeing a population of
Dialogue: 0,0:33:10.53,0:33:12.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—we don’t know exactly of how many—
Dialogue: 0,0:33:12.92,0:33:14.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,probably not as many as a million,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:14.58,0:33:16.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but hundreds of thousands of these birds,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:17.15,0:33:22.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,their population plunged at an incredible\Nrate down into the low forties.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:22.45,0:33:26.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Which is roughly where it is\Nat the moment.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:27.79,0:33:33.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, so there are groups of people \Nwho dedicated their entire lives
Dialogue: 0,0:33:34.55,0:33:37.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to try to save these animals, \Ntrying to conserve them.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:39.40,0:33:41.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And one of the problems \Nthey’ve come across
Dialogue: 0,0:33:42.02,0:33:45.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that it’s all very well \Njust to protect them
Dialogue: 0,0:33:45.16,0:33:48.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—from predators—which is \Nvery very very hard to do.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:49.04,0:33:51.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the next problem they come across
Dialogue: 0,0:33:52.01,0:33:55.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is the mating habits of the Kakapo.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:55.93,0:33:58.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because it turns out that \Nthe mating habits of the Kakapo
Dialogue: 0,0:33:58.67,0:34:00.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are incredibly long drawn-out,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:01.17,0:34:02.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,fantastically complicated,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:02.60,0:34:04.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and almost entirely ineffective.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:08.58,0:34:11.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some people would tell you \Nthat the mating call of the male Kakapo
Dialogue: 0,0:34:11.72,0:34:14.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,actively repels the female Kakapo,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:15.23,0:34:16.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is the sort of behaviour
Dialogue: 0,0:34:16.66,0:34:19.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you would otherwise only find \Nreally in discotheques.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:26.31,0:34:30.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The people who’ve heard the \Nmating call of the male Kakapo
Dialogue: 0,0:34:31.30,0:34:35.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,will tell you, you can hardly \Neven hear it,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:35.97,0:34:40.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it’s like a sort of …\NI’ll tell you what they do.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:42.19,0:34:47.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This animal every—for about a hundred \Nnights of the year—
Dialogue: 0,0:34:48.16,0:34:49.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it goes through its mating ritual.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:49.99,0:34:54.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what it does is it finds \Nsome great rocky outcrop
Dialogue: 0,0:34:56.35,0:34:59.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,looking out over the great \Nrolling valleys of New Zealand,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:59.97,0:35:03.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because acoustics are very important \Nfor what's about to happen.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:06.81,0:35:10.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It carves out this kind \Nof bowl that it sits in.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:12.07,0:35:13.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it sits there,
Dialogue: 0,0:35:13.82,0:35:18.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it puffs out this great sort \Nof air-sacks around its chest.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:19.60,0:35:21.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it sits there
Dialogue: 0,0:35:21.72,0:35:25.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—and these are reverberation chambers, \Nthis is a kind of reverberation chamber—
Dialogue: 0,0:35:25.53,0:35:29.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it sits there and for \Nnight after night after night
Dialogue: 0,0:35:29.56,0:35:31.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for a hundred nights of the year,
Dialogue: 0,0:35:31.14,0:35:32.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for eight hours of the night,
Dialogue: 0,0:35:33.37,0:35:37.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it performs the opening bars \Nof Dark Side of the Moon.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:45.28,0:35:50.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, I see some grey hairs here \Nso you’ll know the album I’m referring to.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:52.93,0:35:55.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Which as you remember starts with
Dialogue: 0,0:35:55.56,0:35:59.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this great sort of boom, boom, boom,
Dialogue: 0,0:35:59.58,0:36:01.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it’s a heartbeat sound.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:02.06,0:36:05.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this is the noise, \Nthat the Kakapo makes.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:05.59,0:36:07.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it’s so, it’s so deep,
Dialogue: 0,0:36:08.08,0:36:11.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that you more kind of feel it like a \Nwobble in the pit of your stomach.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:11.46,0:36:14.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You can only just sort of \Ntune your hearing in to it.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:15.04,0:36:17.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now I never managed to get to hear it,
Dialogue: 0,0:36:17.28,0:36:23.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but those who do, say they feel\Nit’s a very eerie sound
Dialogue: 0,0:36:23.26,0:36:26.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because you don’t really hear it, \Nyou more kind of feel it.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:26.70,0:36:32.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, it’s bass sound.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:32.70,0:36:34.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s very very deep bass sound,
Dialogue: 0,0:36:34.88,0:36:36.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just below our level of our hearing.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:36.68,0:36:40.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now it turns out that bass sound \Nhas two important characteristics to it.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:41.07,0:36:46.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One of which is that \Nthese great long waves,
Dialogue: 0,0:36:46.90,0:36:49.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,these great long sound waves \Ntravel great distances,
Dialogue: 0,0:36:50.03,0:36:53.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they fill these great valleys \Nof the south island of New Zealand.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:53.92,0:36:57.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that’s good. That’s good.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:58.33,0:37:03.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But there is another characteristic \Nof bass sounds,
Dialogue: 0,0:37:03.37,0:37:04.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which you may be familiar with,
Dialogue: 0,0:37:04.86,0:37:08.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if you’ve got this kind of—you know—\Nthe kind of stereo speakers you can get.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:08.90,0:37:12.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Where you have two tiny little ones \Nthat give you your treble sound,
Dialogue: 0,0:37:12.38,0:37:16.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you have to put them \Nvery carefully in the room,
Dialogue: 0,0:37:16.11,0:37:18.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because they’re going to \Ndefine the stereo image.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:19.30,0:37:21.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then you have \Nwhat’s known as a subwoofer
Dialogue: 0,0:37:21.46,0:37:25.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is the bass box, \Nand that’s going to produce
Dialogue: 0,0:37:25.25,0:37:29.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just the bass sound and you can \Nput that anywhere in the room you like.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:29.58,0:37:31.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You can put it behind the sofa \Nif you like,
Dialogue: 0,0:37:31.90,0:37:34.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because the other\Ncharacteristic of bass sound
Dialogue: 0,0:37:34.08,0:37:37.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—and remember we’re talking about \Nthe mating call of the male Kakapo—
Dialogue: 0,0:37:37.37,0:37:39.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that you can’t tell \Nwhere it’s coming from!
Dialogue: 0,0:37:53.59,0:37:55.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So just imagine if you will,
Dialogue: 0,0:37:57.01,0:38:00.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this male Kakapo sitting up here,
Dialogue: 0,0:38:00.77,0:38:05.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,making all this booming noise which,
Dialogue: 0,0:38:05.88,0:38:11.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if there’s a female out there\N—which there probably isn’t—
Dialogue: 0,0:38:12.06,0:38:15.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and if she likes the sound of this booming\N—which she probably doesn’t—
Dialogue: 0,0:38:18.18,0:38:21.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then she can’t find the \Nperson who’s making it!
Dialogue: 0,0:38:24.12,0:38:25.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But supposing she does,
Dialogue: 0,0:38:25.26,0:38:27.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,supposing she’s out there\N—but she probably isn’t—
Dialogue: 0,0:38:27.63,0:38:30.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she likes the sound of this booming\N—she probably doesn’t—
Dialogue: 0,0:38:30.34,0:38:33.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,supposing that she can find him\N—which she probably can’t—
Dialogue: 0,0:38:33.80,0:38:39.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she will then only consent to mate \Nif the Podocarp tree is in fruit!
Dialogue: 0,0:38:47.02,0:38:49.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now we’ve all had \Nrelationships like that …
Dialogue: 0,0:39:01.48,0:39:05.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But supposing they get through\Nall those obstacles,
Dialogue: 0,0:39:05.85,0:39:07.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,supposing she manages to find him,
Dialogue: 0,0:39:09.05,0:39:13.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she will then lay one egg \Nevery two or three years
Dialogue: 0,0:39:13.56,0:39:15.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which will promptly get eaten \Nby a stoat or rat.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:17.60,0:39:19.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you think, well so far
Dialogue: 0,0:39:19.04,0:39:21.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—before trying to sort of \Nsave them and conserve them—
Dialogue: 0,0:39:21.64,0:39:24.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how on earth has it managed\Nto survive for this long!
Dialogue: 0,0:39:27.17,0:39:32.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the answer is terribly interesting, \Nwhich is this:
Dialogue: 0,0:39:34.13,0:39:37.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it seems like absurd behaviour to us,
Dialogue: 0,0:39:38.69,0:39:43.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it’s only because its environment has \Nchanged in one particular and dramatic way
Dialogue: 0,0:39:44.95,0:39:47.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that is completely invisible to us.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:48.27,0:39:53.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And its behaviour is perfectly attuned \Nto the environment it developed in,
Dialogue: 0,0:39:54.13,0:39:58.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and completely out of tune with \Nthe environment it now finds itself in.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:59.46,0:40:03.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because in an environment \Nwhen nothing is trying to predate you,
Dialogue: 0,0:40:04.72,0:40:07.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you don’t want to reproduce too fast.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:10.04,0:40:13.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it turns out you can actually \Nsort of graph this on a computer.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:14.17,0:40:18.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That if you take a given \Nreproduction rate,
Dialogue: 0,0:40:19.22,0:40:23.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you take the ability of \Nany given environment
Dialogue: 0,0:40:24.04,0:40:26.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to sustain any particular\Nlevel of population.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:27.52,0:40:30.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you start say with \Na fairly low reproduction rate,
Dialogue: 0,0:40:30.89,0:40:33.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you just plot it\Nover several generations
Dialogue: 0,0:40:33.42,0:40:36.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you find that the population \Ngoes up and up and up
Dialogue: 0,0:40:36.39,0:40:39.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then sort of steadies out \Nand achieves a nice plateau.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:39.15,0:40:40.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Tweak the reproduction rate up a bit,
Dialogue: 0,0:40:41.22,0:40:43.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it goes up a little bit higher,
Dialogue: 0,0:40:43.35,0:40:46.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then maybe settles down, \Nand levels out.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:46.66,0:40:49.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Tweak the reproduction rate \Na little bit higher yet,
Dialogue: 0,0:40:49.15,0:40:51.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it goes up, and it goes too high,
Dialogue: 0,0:40:51.67,0:40:53.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it drops down, it goes too low,
Dialogue: 0,0:40:53.70,0:40:57.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,goes up, too high, and settles \Ninto an oscillating sine wave.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:58.28,0:41:02.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Tweak it a bit more, and it starts to \Noscillate between four different values.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:02.19,0:41:03.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Tweak it more and more and more
Dialogue: 0,0:41:03.68,0:41:07.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you suddenly hit this terribly \Nfashionable condition called chaos.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:07.73,0:41:16.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Where the population of the animal just \Nswings wildly from one year to another,
Dialogue: 0,0:41:17.56,0:41:19.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and will just hit zero at one point
Dialogue: 0,0:41:19.27,0:41:21.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just out of the sheer mathematics \Nof the situation.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:21.72,0:41:24.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And once you’ve hit zero, \Nthere is kind of no coming back.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:26.80,0:41:29.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so, because nature \Ntends to be very parsimonious
Dialogue: 0,0:41:30.62,0:41:34.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and is not going to expend\Nenergy and resources
Dialogue: 0,0:41:34.91,0:41:36.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on something for which there is no return.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:37.21,0:41:45.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the reproduction rate of an animal \Nin an environment with no predators
Dialogue: 0,0:41:46.00,0:41:50.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,will tune itself to an \Nappropriate level of reproduction.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:51.08,0:41:53.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, if there is nothing trying\Nto eat you—particularly—
Dialogue: 0,0:41:53.91,0:41:56.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then that reproduction rate \Nwill be very low.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:56.80,0:42:00.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that is the rate at which \Nthe Kakapo used to reproduce,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:00.78,0:42:04.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and continues to reproduce \Ndespite the fact that it’s being predated,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:04.08,0:42:05.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because it doesn’t know any better.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:05.84,0:42:09.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because nothing has managed to teach it\Nanything different along the way,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:10.25,0:42:13.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because the change that occurred \Nhappened so suddenly,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:13.43,0:42:14.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that there is no kind of slope,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:15.20,0:42:19.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there is no slope of gradual\Nevolutionary pressure,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:19.57,0:42:21.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is the thing that tends\Nto bring about change.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:22.00,0:42:23.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you have a sudden dramatic change
Dialogue: 0,0:42:24.02,0:42:27.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then there is no direction to go \Nand you just have disaster.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:27.89,0:42:32.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, again if I can anthropomorphize\Nfor a moment,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:32.23,0:42:39.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what seems to have happened\Nis that the animal
Dialogue: 0,0:42:39.54,0:42:42.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,suddenly reaching a crisis \Nin his population thinks,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:42.31,0:42:43.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Whoa, whoa! I better just do, do,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:43.98,0:42:46.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what I do fantastically well, \Ndo what is my main thing,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:46.62,0:42:48.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is I reproduce \Nreally really slowly!”
Dialogue: 0,0:42:50.06,0:42:51.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And its population goes down.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:51.46,0:42:53.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Well, I’d better really do what I do,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:53.28,0:42:55.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and reproduce really really really \Nreally slowly!”
Dialogue: 0,0:42:56.01,0:43:03.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it seems absurd to us because \Nwe can see a larger picture than they can.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:03.58,0:43:10.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But if that is the type of behaviour that \Nyou’ve evolved successfully to produce,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:10.72,0:43:14.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then to do anything else would be \Nagainst kakapo-nature,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:14.34,0:43:16.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,would be an inkakapo thing to do.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:19.05,0:43:25.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it has nothing to teach it any other \Nthan to just do what it’s always done,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:25.98,0:43:27.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to follow its successful strategy,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:28.28,0:43:30.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and because times have changed around it,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:30.29,0:43:34.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it’s no longer a successful strategy, \Nand the animal is in terrible trouble.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:38.01,0:43:39.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There is another animal we went to find,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:39.92,0:43:42.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it is in even worse trouble now.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:44.42,0:43:50.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this is the Baiji, \Nthe Yangtze River Dolphin,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:50.72,0:43:54.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is an almost blind river dolphin.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:56.46,0:43:57.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The reason it’s almost blind,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:57.88,0:44:00.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that there is nothing to see\Nin the Yangtze River.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:03.69,0:44:07.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thousands and thousands \Nof years of agriculture
Dialogue: 0,0:44:07.50,0:44:09.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,along the banks of the Yangtze River
Dialogue: 0,0:44:09.25,0:44:13.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,have washed so much mud \Nand silt and so on into it,
Dialogue: 0,0:44:13.58,0:44:16.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the river has become \Ncompletely turbid.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:16.73,0:44:19.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Which is a word I didn’t even \Nknow the meaning of
Dialogue: 0,0:44:19.08,0:44:20.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,until I saw the Yangtze River,
Dialogue: 0,0:44:20.68,0:44:23.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and basically \Nyou can’t see anything in it.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:24.64,0:44:29.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So these animals, dolphins as I said,
Dialogue: 0,0:44:29.39,0:44:33.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,gradually they abandoned the use of sight.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:34.28,0:44:41.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now—as we all know—marine mammals also \Nhave this other faculty available to them,
Dialogue: 0,0:44:42.33,0:44:44.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which they can develop, \Nwhich is that of sound.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:45.24,0:44:50.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so what the Yangtze River Dolphins did\Nwas over thousands of years,
Dialogue: 0,0:44:51.42,0:44:54.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as their eye sight deteriorated,
Dialogue: 0,0:44:54.23,0:45:00.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so their sonar abilities became \Nmore and more and more sophisticated,
Dialogue: 0,0:45:00.62,0:45:02.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and more powerful and more complex.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:02.69,0:45:06.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it’s very interesting, you can \Nactually watch—if you feel like it—
Dialogue: 0,0:45:08.42,0:45:10.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the development of a Baiji foetus,
Dialogue: 0,0:45:12.53,0:45:17.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you’ll see that right at\N—as you may or may not know—
Dialogue: 0,0:45:17.39,0:45:20.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there is a certain amount\Nof truth in the idea
Dialogue: 0,0:45:20.56,0:45:25.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the development of the foetus \Nrecapitulates stages
Dialogue: 0,0:45:25.81,0:45:27.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the evolutionary development\Nof an animal.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:27.92,0:45:31.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you see, right at the beginning of \Nthe development of the foetus,
Dialogue: 0,0:45:31.23,0:45:33.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,its eyes are in the normal \Ndolphin position,
Dialogue: 0,0:45:33.33,0:45:36.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which are kind of relatively far down\Non the side of the head.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:37.30,0:45:39.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And gradually, \Nas the generations have gone by,
Dialogue: 0,0:45:40.13,0:45:42.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,its eyes have kind of migrated \Nup the side of the head,
Dialogue: 0,0:45:42.94,0:45:45.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you see this happening \Nas the foetus develops.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:45.38,0:45:48.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because gradually, over the generations,
Dialogue: 0,0:45:49.20,0:45:51.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,its only light is coming \Ndirectly from up above
Dialogue: 0,0:45:52.14,0:45:54.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and there is no ambient light and then,
Dialogue: 0,0:45:54.06,0:45:57.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as that too dies out, so \Nthe eyes gradually atrophied.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:58.38,0:46:04.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, instead, the sonar abilities \Ntake over.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:05.12,0:46:07.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And these animals developed\Nincredibly sensitive,
Dialogue: 0,0:46:07.61,0:46:11.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and incredibly precise abilities\Nto navigate themselves around
Dialogue: 0,0:46:12.10,0:46:13.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the water just using sonar.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:15.11,0:46:16.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And all is well and good.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:17.53,0:46:21.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Until the twentieth century \Nwhen man invents the diesel engine.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:23.29,0:46:27.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And suddenly all hell breaks loose \Nbeneath the surface of the Yangtze,
Dialogue: 0,0:46:27.55,0:46:29.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because it’s suddenly full of noise.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:31.44,0:46:37.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so, suddenly these animals find \Nthemselves trapped by something that they
Dialogue: 0,0:46:37.63,0:46:39.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—that nobody had any means of foreseeing—
Dialogue: 0,0:46:39.85,0:46:41.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the thing they now rely on
Dialogue: 0,0:46:41.68,0:46:43.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,has been completely overwhelmed
Dialogue: 0,0:46:43.26,0:46:47.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by the noise pollution \Nthat we put in the oceans.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:47.24,0:46:50.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So suddenly these animals
Dialogue: 0,0:46:50.98,0:46:53.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that used to be so sophisticated
Dialogue: 0,0:46:53.29,0:46:55.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in their ability to find\Ntheir way around,
Dialogue: 0,0:46:55.28,0:46:57.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are sort of bumping into things, \Nbumping into boats,
Dialogue: 0,0:46:57.82,0:46:59.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,bumping into ships’ propellers,
Dialogue: 0,0:46:59.31,0:47:02.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,finding themselves ensnared\Nin fishermen’s nets and so on,
Dialogue: 0,0:47:02.98,0:47:06.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because we basically screwed up\Nthe next of their faculties.
Dialogue: 0,0:47:08.36,0:47:10.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it’s a very curious feeling,
Dialogue: 0,0:47:11.30,0:47:18.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I remember sort of sitting on a boat\Non the Yangtze River and looking,
Dialogue: 0,0:47:18.65,0:47:19.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,well trying to look into
Dialogue: 0,0:47:19.96,0:47:23.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—you couldn’t look into cause it’s turbid \Nand you remember what turbid means—
Dialogue: 0,0:47:23.63,0:47:30.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and realising that all this noise\Ndown there means that …
Dialogue: 0,0:47:30.74,0:47:34.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s very curious to think that
Dialogue: 0,0:47:34.28,0:47:36.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there may have been a \Ndolphin somewhere near me
Dialogue: 0,0:47:36.56,0:47:40.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—I didn’t know, I mean by this stage,\Nthis was ten years ago,
Dialogue: 0,0:47:40.31,0:47:41.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there were only two hundred left
Dialogue: 0,0:47:41.85,0:47:44.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in a structure of water of about\Ntwo hundred miles long,
Dialogue: 0,0:47:44.80,0:47:47.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so you had no idea if \Nthere was one anywhere near you—
Dialogue: 0,0:47:47.40,0:47:51.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it’s curious because you\Nthink if you and another person,
Dialogue: 0,0:47:51.34,0:47:55.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,another creature, \Nare kind of in the same world,
Dialogue: 0,0:47:55.24,0:47:57.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then you must be feeling roughly similar.
Dialogue: 0,0:47:58.55,0:48:00.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But one of the things you begin to \Nrealise when you look at different animals
Dialogue: 0,0:48:00.100,0:48:05.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that because of their \Nevolutionary history,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:05.75,0:48:09.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and because of the forms\Nthey have developed into,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:09.93,0:48:13.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the ways they have developed \Nof perceiving the world,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:13.27,0:48:15.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they may be inhabiting the same world
Dialogue: 0,0:48:16.24,0:48:18.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but actually a completely \Ndifferent universe.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:19.35,0:48:22.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But actually a completely different \Nuniverse because you create
Dialogue: 0,0:48:22.37,0:48:28.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,your only own universe from what you do \Nwith the sensory data coming in.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:28.20,0:48:34.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, you realise that you’re here, \Nand there is a dolphin there,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:34.35,0:48:38.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you’re comfortable, and the dolphin \Nmay be actually in a species of hell.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:38.98,0:48:41.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But has no means of communicating that \Nwith you
Dialogue: 0,0:48:41.40,0:48:44.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because we’ve kind of taken charge,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:44.98,0:48:48.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and there is no way of kind of \Ncommunicating with the management,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:48.39,0:48:50.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that there’s a problem.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:54.00,0:48:59.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, I suddenly became very interested in \Nwhat it must actually sound like
Dialogue: 0,0:49:00.16,0:49:02.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the Yangtze River.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:03.29,0:49:08.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, we’ve gone to record some \NBBC Radio programmes while we were there,
Dialogue: 0,0:49:08.11,0:49:10.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so as well as Mark Carwardine \Nthe zoologist,
Dialogue: 0,0:49:10.83,0:49:13.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we also had a sound recordist \Nfrom the BBC.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:14.06,0:49:14.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I said to him,
Dialogue: 0,0:49:16.20,0:49:18.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Could we actually drop \Na microphone into the Yangtze
Dialogue: 0,0:49:18.81,0:49:21.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so that we can see what \Nit actually sounds like in the river?”
Dialogue: 0,0:49:22.100,0:49:24.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And he said,
Dialogue: 0,0:49:25.14,0:49:27.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Well I wish you'd said that \Nbefore we left London.”
Dialogue: 0,0:49:28.48,0:49:29.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I said, “Why?”
Dialogue: 0,0:49:29.40,0:49:32.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And he said, “Well, cause I just could \Nhave checked out
Dialogue: 0,0:49:32.03,0:49:33.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a waterproof microphone but, you know,
Dialogue: 0,0:49:33.99,0:49:36.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you didn’t mention anything \Nabout recording under water.”
Dialogue: 0,0:49:37.91,0:49:41.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I said, “No, I didn’t. \NIs there anything we could do about it?”
Dialogue: 0,0:49:41.10,0:49:45.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And he said, “Well there is, there is\Nactually one technique
Dialogue: 0,0:49:45.28,0:49:49.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they teach us at the BBC for recording \Nunder water in an emergency.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:57.44,0:49:59.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Do either of you have condoms with you?”
Dialogue: 0,0:50:01.89,0:50:05.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we didn’t. Wasn’t that kind of trip.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:08.84,0:50:10.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But we decided we’d better \Ngo and buy some.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:12.15,0:50:15.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so we went into the streets of \NShanghai trying to buy some condoms,
Dialogue: 0,0:50:16.28,0:50:19.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I just want to read you \Na little passage about this.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:26.60,0:50:30.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Friendship Store seemed like \Na promising place to buy condoms,
Dialogue: 0,0:50:31.48,0:50:34.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but we had a certain amount of \Ndifficulty in getting the idea across.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:36.02,0:50:39.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We passed from one counter to another \Nin the large open-plan department store,
Dialogue: 0,0:50:40.07,0:50:42.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which consists of many \Ndifferent individual booths,
Dialogue: 0,0:50:42.52,0:50:45.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,stalls and counters, \Nbut no one was able to help us.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:45.98,0:50:49.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We first started at the stalls which \Nlooked as if they sold medical supplies,
Dialogue: 0,0:50:49.65,0:50:50.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but had no luck.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:50.56,0:50:52.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,By the time we had got to the stalls
Dialogue: 0,0:50:52.93,0:50:54.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which sold bookends and chopsticks
Dialogue: 0,0:50:54.70,0:50:56.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we knew we were on to a loser,
Dialogue: 0,0:50:56.14,0:50:59.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but at least we found a young \Nshop assistant who spoke English.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:00.36,0:51:03.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We tried to explain to her \Nwhat it was we wanted,
Dialogue: 0,0:51:04.05,0:51:07.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but seemed to reach the limit \Nof her vocabulary pretty quickly.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:08.66,0:51:11.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, I got out my notebook \Nand drew a condom very carefully,
Dialogue: 0,0:51:13.29,0:51:15.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,including the little \Nextra balloon on the end.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:16.49,0:51:18.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She frowned at it, \Nbut still didn’t get the idea.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:19.25,0:51:21.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She brought us a wooden spoon,
Dialogue: 0,0:51:22.91,0:51:26.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a candle, a sort of paper knife and, \Nsurprisingly enough,
Dialogue: 0,0:51:26.96,0:51:29.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a small porcelain model\Nof the Eiffel Tower
Dialogue: 0,0:51:37.41,0:51:39.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then at last lapsed \Ninto a posture of defeat.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:41.24,0:51:43.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some other girls from the stall \Ngathered round to help,
Dialogue: 0,0:51:43.85,0:51:46.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but they were also defeated \Nby our picture.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:46.74,0:51:50.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At last I plucked up the bravado \Nto perform a delicate little mime,
Dialogue: 0,0:52:03.34,0:52:04.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and at last the penny dropped.
Dialogue: 0,0:52:08.01,0:52:11.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Ah!” the first girl said, suddenly \Nwreathed in smiles. “Ah yes!”
Dialogue: 0,0:52:12.85,0:52:15.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They all beamed delightedly\Nat us as they got the idea.
Dialogue: 0,0:52:16.14,0:52:17.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-“You do understand?” l asked.
Dialogue: 0,0:52:17.91,0:52:19.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-“Yes! Yes, I understand.”
Dialogue: 0,0:52:19.69,0:52:20.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-“Do you have any?”
Dialogue: 0,0:52:20.91,0:52:22.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-“No,” she said. “Not have.”
Dialogue: 0,0:52:22.77,0:52:23.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-“Oh.”
Dialogue: 0,0:52:23.58,0:52:24.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-“But, but, but …”
Dialogue: 0,0:52:24.69,0:52:25.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-“Yes?”
Dialogue: 0,0:52:26.67,0:52:28.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-“I say you where you go, OK?”
Dialogue: 0,0:52:29.57,0:52:31.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-“Thank you, thank you very much. Yes.”
Dialogue: 0,0:52:31.93,0:52:35.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-“You go 616 Nanjing Road. OK. \NThey have there.
Dialogue: 0,0:52:36.06,0:52:38.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You ask ‘rubberover’. OK?”
Dialogue: 0,0:52:38.31,0:52:40.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-“Rubberover?”
Dialogue: 0,0:52:40.29,0:52:43.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-“Rubberover. You ask. \NThey have. OK. Have nice day.”
Dialogue: 0,0:52:48.03,0:52:51.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She giggled happily about this \Nwith her hand over her mouth.
Dialogue: 0,0:52:52.64,0:52:56.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We thanked them again, profusely, \Nand left with much waving and smiling.
Dialogue: 0,0:52:56.39,0:52:59.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The news seemed to have spread \Nvery quickly around the store,
Dialogue: 0,0:52:59.31,0:53:01.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and everybody waved at us.
Dialogue: 0,0:53:02.62,0:53:05.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They seemed terribly pleased \Nto have been asked.
Dialogue: 0,0:53:07.55,0:53:11.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When we reached 616 Nanjing Road, \Nwhich turned out to be another,
Dialogue: 0,0:53:11.70,0:53:14.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,smaller department store, and not a \Nknocking shop
Dialogue: 0,0:53:14.06,0:53:15.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as we had been half-suspecting,
Dialogue: 0,0:53:15.87,0:53:18.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,our pronunciation of ‘rubberover’ \Nseemed to let us down
Dialogue: 0,0:53:18.87,0:53:21.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and produce another wave \Nof baffled incomprehension.
Dialogue: 0,0:53:22.25,0:53:25.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This time I went straight for the mime \Nthat had served us so well before,
Dialogue: 0,0:53:30.56,0:53:33.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it seemed to do the trick at once.
Dialogue: 0,0:53:34.10,0:53:38.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The shop assistant, a slightly more \Nmiddle-aged lady with severe hair,
Dialogue: 0,0:53:38.62,0:53:40.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,marched straight to a cabinet of drawers,
Dialogue: 0,0:53:40.66,0:53:42.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,brought us back a packet and placed it
Dialogue: 0,0:53:42.59,0:53:45.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,triumphantly on the counter\Nin front of us.
Dialogue: 0,0:53:45.91,0:53:48.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Success, we thought, opened the packet
Dialogue: 0,0:53:48.73,0:53:51.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and found it to contain \Na bubble sheet of pills.
Dialogue: 0,0:53:53.52,0:53:56.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Right idea,” said Mark, \Nwith a sigh. “Wrong method.”
Dialogue: 0,0:54:06.50,0:54:08.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We were quickly floundering again
Dialogue: 0,0:54:08.17,0:54:10.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as we tried to explain to \Nthe now slightly affronted lady
Dialogue: 0,0:54:10.93,0:54:13.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that it wasn’t precisely \Nwhat we were after.
Dialogue: 0,0:54:13.40,0:54:17.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,By this time a crowd of about fifteen \Nonlookers had gathered round us,
Dialogue: 0,0:54:17.50,0:54:19.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,some of whom, I was convinced,
Dialogue: 0,0:54:19.60,0:54:22.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,had followed us all the way\Nfrom the Friendship Store.
Dialogue: 0,0:54:22.89,0:54:25.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One of the things that \Nyou quickly discover in China,
Dialogue: 0,0:54:25.42,0:54:27.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that we are all at the zoo.
Dialogue: 0,0:54:27.96,0:54:29.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you stand still for a moment,
Dialogue: 0,0:54:30.03,0:54:32.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,people will gather round and stare at you.
Dialogue: 0,0:54:33.47,0:54:36.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The unnerving thing is that they \Ndon’t stare intently or inquisitively,
Dialogue: 0,0:54:36.84,0:54:39.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they just stand there, \Noften right in front of you,
Dialogue: 0,0:54:39.63,0:54:42.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and watch you as blankly \Nas if you were a dog food commercial.
Dialogue: 0,0:54:48.61,0:54:51.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At last one young and \Npasty-faced man with glasses
Dialogue: 0,0:54:51.83,0:54:55.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,pushed through the crowd and said he \Nspoke a little English and could he help?
Dialogue: 0,0:54:56.48,0:54:59.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We thanked him and said, yes, \Nwe wanted to buy some condoms,
Dialogue: 0,0:54:59.76,0:55:03.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,some rubberovers, and we would be very \Ngrateful if he could explain that for us.
Dialogue: 0,0:55:04.52,0:55:06.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He looked puzzled,
Dialogue: 0,0:55:07.56,0:55:10.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,picked up the rejected packet \Nlying on the counter
Dialogue: 0,0:55:10.81,0:55:13.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in front of the affronted \Nshop assistant and said,
Dialogue: 0,0:55:13.22,0:55:15.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Not want rubberover. This better.”
Dialogue: 0,0:55:18.59,0:55:20.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“No,” Mark said.
Dialogue: 0,0:55:20.25,0:55:23.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“We definitely want rubberover, \Nnot pills.”
Dialogue: 0,0:55:23.87,0:55:25.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Why want rubberover? Pill better.”
Dialogue: 0,0:55:29.18,0:55:30.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“You tell him,” said Mark.
Dialogue: 0,0:55:34.94,0:55:37.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“It’s to record dolphins,” I said.
Dialogue: 0,0:55:45.07,0:55:47.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Or not the actual dolphins in fact.
Dialogue: 0,0:55:47.49,0:55:50.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What we want to record is \Nthe noise in the Yangtze that …
Dialogue: 0,0:55:50.21,0:55:52.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it’s to go over the microphone, \Nyou see, and …”
Dialogue: 0,0:55:53.36,0:55:55.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Oh, just tell him you want \Nto fuck someone,”
Dialogue: 0,0:55:55.57,0:55:57.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,said the sound recordist.
Dialogue: 0,0:55:57.46,0:55:58.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“And you can’t wait.”
Dialogue: 0,0:56:06.70,0:56:09.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But by now the young man was edging\Nnervously away from us,
Dialogue: 0,0:56:09.66,0:56:12.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,suddenly realising that \Nwe were dangerously insane,
Dialogue: 0,0:56:13.18,0:56:15.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and should simply be humoured \Nand escaped from.
Dialogue: 0,0:56:16.17,0:56:18.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He said something hurriedly \Nto the shop assistant
Dialogue: 0,0:56:18.54,0:56:21.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and backed away into the crowd.
Dialogue: 0,0:56:21.56,0:56:23.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The shop assistant shrugged, \Nscooped up the pills,
Dialogue: 0,0:56:23.95,0:56:26.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,opened another drawer \Nand pulled out a packet of condoms.
Dialogue: 0,0:56:28.35,0:56:30.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We bought nine, just to be safe.
Dialogue: 0,0:56:41.76,0:56:42.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So a couple of days later
Dialogue: 0,0:56:42.96,0:56:45.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we were standing \Non the banks of the Yangtze,
Dialogue: 0,0:56:46.37,0:56:49.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on a very desperate drizzly grey day.
Dialogue: 0,0:56:50.07,0:56:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we put the microphone\Nin this little sort of pink thing,
Dialogue: 0,0:56:55.62,0:56:57.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and dropped it into the water.
Dialogue: 0,0:56:58.78,0:57:02.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, I don’t usually do impressions
Dialogue: 0,0:57:03.00,0:57:05.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I’m going to do for you an impression
Dialogue: 0,0:57:06.12,0:57:10.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of what it sounds like \Nunder the surface of the Yangtze River.
Dialogue: 0,0:57:11.23,0:57:12.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it’s something like this
Dialogue: 0,0:57:16.24,0:57:18.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Yangtze River ladies and gentleman.
Dialogue: 0,0:57:23.19,0:57:27.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, I suddenly realised \Nwhat an appalling thing
Dialogue: 0,0:57:27.73,0:57:30.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we’ve inflicted on these poor animals,
Dialogue: 0,0:57:31.11,0:57:36.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that live in a world of super \Nsensitive sound and hearing.
Dialogue: 0,0:57:37.81,0:57:43.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this was why these animals \Nwere now desperately endangered
Dialogue: 0,0:57:43.67,0:57:47.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because having removed \None way of life from them
Dialogue: 0,0:57:47.82,0:57:49.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we were now removing a second.
Dialogue: 0,0:57:52.42,0:57:54.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The problem is \Nwe’re about to remove a third,
Dialogue: 0,0:57:55.03,0:57:59.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I said that when I was \Nthere it was ten years ago,
Dialogue: 0,0:57:59.11,0:58:00.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there were two hundreds of these left,
Dialogue: 0,0:58:00.94,0:58:02.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,today there are twenty.
Dialogue: 0,0:58:03.63,0:58:10.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And because the Chinese \Nare building these giant dams
Dialogue: 0,0:58:11.34,0:58:14.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to dam the Yangtze at one
Dialogue: 0,0:58:14.97,0:58:18.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the most beautiful and most\Nspectacular sites in all world,
Dialogue: 0,0:58:18.11,0:58:21.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the Three Gorges, \Nand they’re damming it there
Dialogue: 0,0:58:21.85,0:58:27.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which means that the Yangtze Dolphin \Nwill at that point definitely go extinct.
Dialogue: 0,0:58:30.31,0:58:31.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it’s terribly sad.
Dialogue: 0,0:58:33.26,0:58:35.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The peculiar thing about dams
Dialogue: 0,0:58:37.23,0:58:38.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that we keep on building them
Dialogue: 0,0:58:39.21,0:58:40.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and none of them ever do any good.
Dialogue: 0,0:58:41.32,0:58:42.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s not quite true,
Dialogue: 0,0:58:42.57,0:58:44.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because unfortunately there are
Dialogue: 0,0:58:44.46,0:58:45.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—in the history of dam-making—
Dialogue: 0,0:58:45.91,0:58:47.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,two that did work, one is the Hoover
Dialogue: 0,0:58:48.31,0:58:55.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the other is the one up in the \Npacific northwest, the Coulee Dam.
Dialogue: 0,0:58:55.29,0:58:58.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And every other one doesn’t work.
Dialogue: 0,0:58:59.72,0:59:03.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And for some reason we never \Nmanage to be able to quite stop us …
Dialogue: 0,0:59:03.91,0:59:05.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we always think we just build one more.
Dialogue: 0,0:59:05.85,0:59:08.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think must have some sort \Nof beaver genes deep in our …
Dialogue: 0,0:59:11.08,0:59:14.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the sad thing as I say is that \Nthe Yangtze River dolphin
Dialogue: 0,0:59:15.14,0:59:19.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is definitely and without doubt \Nbound for extinction.
Dialogue: 0,0:59:21.12,0:59:25.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, it’s very peculiar to me
Dialogue: 0,0:59:27.56,0:59:31.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we are living at the moment \Nin an extraordinary age,
Dialogue: 0,0:59:32.58,0:59:34.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an extraordinary renaissance,
Dialogue: 0,0:59:38.30,0:59:42.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because we’ve got to the point
Dialogue: 0,0:59:43.04,0:59:45.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when we suddenly understand\Nthe value of information,
Dialogue: 0,0:59:46.26,0:59:47.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as we never have before.
Dialogue: 0,0:59:47.40,0:59:49.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We call the age we live in\Nthat of information.
Dialogue: 0,0:59:49.77,0:59:51.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we’ve discovered that information is
Dialogue: 0,0:59:52.32,0:59:55.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the most valuable resource we have.
Dialogue: 0,0:59:59.12,1:00:03.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And as you’d know \Nwe’ve just spent billions of dollars
Dialogue: 0,1:00:03.59,1:00:07.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—quite rightly—in trying to \Nunderstand the human genome,
Dialogue: 0,1:00:10.74,1:00:14.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that’s just one species, \Nthat’s just us.
Dialogue: 0,1:00:15.33,1:00:16.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we’ve come to understand and
Dialogue: 0,1:00:16.89,1:00:19.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,realise how incredibly valuable\Nthis information is.
Dialogue: 0,1:00:21.98,1:00:24.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we’ve never understood kind of
Dialogue: 0,1:00:24.78,1:00:26.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how it all worked together before,
Dialogue: 0,1:00:26.93,1:00:29.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because before we had …
Dialogue: 0,1:00:29.73,1:00:30.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,let me put it this way.
Dialogue: 0,1:00:31.92,1:00:33.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the past we’ve done science
Dialogue: 0,1:00:34.92,1:00:36.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by taking things apart
Dialogue: 0,1:00:36.55,1:00:37.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to see how they work.
Dialogue: 0,1:00:38.74,1:00:41.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it’s led to extraordinary discoveries,
Dialogue: 0,1:00:42.03,1:00:44.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,extraordinary degrees of understanding,
Dialogue: 0,1:00:45.06,1:00:48.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but the problem with taking things apart \Nto see how they work
Dialogue: 0,1:00:48.95,1:00:52.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is even though it gets you\Ndown to the sort of fundamental particles,
Dialogue: 0,1:00:52.53,1:00:56.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the fundamental principles,\Nthe fundamental forces at work,
Dialogue: 0,1:00:57.41,1:01:00.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we still don’t really understand\Nhow they work
Dialogue: 0,1:01:00.28,1:01:01.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,until we see them in motion.
Dialogue: 0,1:01:02.52,1:01:04.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One of the things that came about
Dialogue: 0,1:01:04.59,1:01:08.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as a result of understanding\Nthese fundamental principles,
Dialogue: 0,1:01:08.04,1:01:10.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that we came to invent \Nthis thing called the computer.
Dialogue: 0,1:01:10.76,1:01:13.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the great thing \Nabout the computer is that,
Dialogue: 0,1:01:13.03,1:01:17.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,unlike every previous analytical tool
Dialogue: 0,1:01:17.75,1:01:18.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—and there are a bit …
Dialogue: 0,1:01:18.81,1:01:21.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it’s funny how many of these \Nhave to do with glass,
Dialogue: 0,1:01:21.74,1:01:27.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when we first came across glass,\Nwhich is a form of sand,
Dialogue: 0,1:01:28.50,1:01:32.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we invented lenses,\Nand we looked up into the sky,
Dialogue: 0,1:01:33.14,1:01:36.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we discovered, from that, \Nthe fundamental…
Dialogue: 0,1:01:36.60,1:01:38.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by studying the sky
Dialogue: 0,1:01:38.11,1:01:41.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we began to discover fundamental \Nthings about gravity,
Dialogue: 0,1:01:43.65,1:01:48.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we also discovered that \Nthe universe seems to consist
Dialogue: 0,1:01:48.28,1:01:50.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—terrifyingly enough—\Nalmost entirely of nothing.
Dialogue: 0,1:01:52.71,1:01:57.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The next thing we did with glass \Nwas we put them in microscopes,
Dialogue: 0,1:01:57.84,1:02:03.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we looked down into this very \Nvery very solid world around us,
Dialogue: 0,1:02:04.68,1:02:08.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we see the fundamental \Nparticles there, the atoms
Dialogue: 0,1:02:08.79,1:02:14.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—made up of protons and neutrons \Nwith electrons spinning around them—
Dialogue: 0,1:02:14.73,1:02:16.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we also discover that \Nthey seem to consist
Dialogue: 0,1:02:16.98,1:02:20.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,frighteningly almost entirely of nothing.
Dialogue: 0,1:02:20.93,1:02:22.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that even when you do find something
Dialogue: 0,1:02:22.86,1:02:24.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it turns out that it isn’t actually there,
Dialogue: 0,1:02:24.86,1:02:26.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it isn’t actually a thing there,
Dialogue: 0,1:02:26.49,1:02:29.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,merely the possibility that \Nthere may be something there.
Dialogue: 0,1:02:32.61,1:02:34.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It kind of doesn’t feel as real as this
Dialogue: 0,1:02:37.75,1:02:41.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the next thing \Nwe do with sand was silicon,
Dialogue: 0,1:02:41.88,1:02:44.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as we create the computer.
Dialogue: 0,1:02:44.90,1:02:48.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this finally enables us \Nto start putting things together
Dialogue: 0,1:02:49.06,1:02:50.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to see how they work.
Dialogue: 0,1:02:50.63,1:02:55.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it allows us to see \Nactual process at work,
Dialogue: 0,1:02:55.36,1:02:59.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we begin to see how very \Nvery simple things lead inexorably
Dialogue: 0,1:02:59.52,1:03:01.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—by iteration after iteration—
Dialogue: 0,1:03:01.92,1:03:06.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to enormously complex processes\Nemerging and blossoming.
Dialogue: 0,1:03:07.01,1:03:12.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And to my mind one of the \Nmost extraordinary things of our age
Dialogue: 0,1:03:12.49,1:03:14.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—I mean those of us who \Nwere around will remember,
Dialogue: 0,1:03:14.90,1:03:17.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you know, seeing man walking\Non the moon for the first time—
Dialogue: 0,1:03:17.76,1:03:22.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I think the most dramatic\Nand extraordinary thing
Dialogue: 0,1:03:23.02,1:03:24.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we have seen in our time
Dialogue: 0,1:03:25.18,1:03:27.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is being able to see, on computer screens,
Dialogue: 0,1:03:27.21,1:03:34.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the process by which enormously \Nsimple primitive things,
Dialogue: 0,1:03:34.09,1:03:38.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,processes, instructions, \Nrepeated many many times over,
Dialogue: 0,1:03:38.54,1:03:42.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,very very fast, and iterated over\Ngenerations of instructions,
Dialogue: 0,1:03:43.02,1:03:46.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,produce enormously complex results.
Dialogue: 0,1:03:47.38,1:03:50.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So that we can suddenly start to create,
Dialogue: 0,1:03:51.19,1:03:55.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just out of fundamentally \Nsimple primitive instructions,
Dialogue: 0,1:03:55.62,1:04:03.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we can create the way in \Nwhich wind behaves in a wind tunnel,
Dialogue: 0,1:04:03.35,1:04:04.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a turbulence of wind,
Dialogue: 0,1:04:04.69,1:04:09.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we can see how light might dance \Nin an imaginary dinosaur’s eye.
Dialogue: 0,1:04:11.38,1:04:15.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we do it all out of \Nfundamentally simple instructions.
Dialogue: 0,1:04:15.53,1:04:17.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And as a result of that \Nwe have finally come
Dialogue: 0,1:04:17.65,1:04:24.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to an understanding of the way \Nin which life has actually emerged.
Dialogue: 0,1:04:25.40,1:04:28.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, there are an awful lot of things \Nwe don’t know about life.
Dialogue: 0,1:04:29.30,1:04:31.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But any life scientist will tell you that,
Dialogue: 0,1:04:32.75,1:04:35.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,although there is an awful lot \Nwe don’t know,
Dialogue: 0,1:04:36.66,1:04:39.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there is no longer a deep mystery.
Dialogue: 0,1:04:40.16,1:04:41.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There is no longer a deep mystery
Dialogue: 0,1:04:41.73,1:04:44.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because we have actually seen \Nwith our own eyes
Dialogue: 0,1:04:44.74,1:04:48.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the way in which simplicity \Ngives rise to complexity.
Dialogue: 0,1:04:49.57,1:04:51.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I say there is no mystery
Dialogue: 0,1:04:51.82,1:04:53.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it is rather as if you imagine
Dialogue: 0,1:04:56.61,1:04:59.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,taking a detective from the 19th century,
Dialogue: 0,1:05:00.40,1:05:03.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,teaming him up with a detective \Nfrom the late 20th century,
Dialogue: 0,1:05:04.91,1:05:06.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and giving them this problem to work on:
Dialogue: 0,1:05:07.41,1:05:09.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that a suspect in a crime
Dialogue: 0,1:05:09.94,1:05:14.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was seen one day to be \Nwalking down the street
Dialogue: 0,1:05:14.58,1:05:15.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the middle of London,
Dialogue: 0,1:05:15.77,1:05:16.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the next day
Dialogue: 0,1:05:16.76,1:05:18.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was seen somewhere out in the desert
Dialogue: 0,1:05:18.49,1:05:19.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the middle of New Mexico.
Dialogue: 0,1:05:20.01,1:05:21.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now the 19th century detective will say,
Dialogue: 0,1:05:21.91,1:05:24.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Well, I haven’t the faintest idea.
Dialogue: 0,1:05:24.78,1:05:27.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean it must be some species \Nof magic has happened.”
Dialogue: 0,1:05:28.46,1:05:29.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And he would have no idea
Dialogue: 0,1:05:29.77,1:05:32.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about how to begin to solve
Dialogue: 0,1:05:32.35,1:05:33.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what has happened here.
Dialogue: 0,1:05:34.23,1:05:35.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For the 20th century detective,
Dialogue: 0,1:05:35.96,1:05:39.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,now he may never know whether the guy
Dialogue: 0,1:05:39.22,1:05:42.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,went on British Airways \Nor United or American
Dialogue: 0,1:05:42.34,1:05:45.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or where he hired his car from, \Nor all that kind of stuff,
Dialogue: 0,1:05:45.11,1:05:47.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he may never find those details,
Dialogue: 0,1:05:47.57,1:05:51.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but there wont be any fundamental mystery \Nabout what has happened.
Dialogue: 0,1:05:53.27,1:05:57.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So for us there is no longer \Na fundamental mystery about life.
Dialogue: 0,1:05:59.01,1:06:04.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It is all the process of extraordinary\Neruptions of information.
Dialogue: 0,1:06:05.82,1:06:07.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it's information that gives us
Dialogue: 0,1:06:07.45,1:06:12.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this fantastically rich \Ncomplex world in which we live.
Dialogue: 0,1:06:12.36,1:06:14.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But at the same time \Nthat we’ve discovered that,
Dialogue: 0,1:06:14.66,1:06:17.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we are destroying it at a rate
Dialogue: 0,1:06:18.05,1:06:20.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that has no precedent in history,
Dialogue: 0,1:06:20.29,1:06:23.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,unless you go back to the point\Nthat we’re hit by an asteroid.
Dialogue: 0,1:06:26.47,1:06:30.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So there is a kind of terrible irony
Dialogue: 0,1:06:30.38,1:06:33.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that at the point that \Nwe are best able to understand,
Dialogue: 0,1:06:34.20,1:06:39.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and appreciate, and value \Nthe richness of life around us,
Dialogue: 0,1:06:39.63,1:06:43.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we are destroying it at a higher rate\Nthat it has even been destroyed before.
Dialogue: 0,1:06:43.81,1:06:49.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we are losing species \Nafter species after species,
Dialogue: 0,1:06:49.53,1:06:51.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,day after day, just because
Dialogue: 0,1:06:51.76,1:06:54.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we’re burning the stuff down for firewood.
Dialogue: 0,1:06:55.40,1:06:58.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this is a kind of terrible \Nindictment of our understanding.
Dialogue: 0,1:06:59.20,1:07:01.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But, you see, we make another mistake,
Dialogue: 0,1:07:02.13,1:07:03.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because we think somehow,
Dialogue: 0,1:07:03.75,1:07:06.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this is all right in some \Nfundamental kind of way,
Dialogue: 0,1:07:07.87,1:07:12.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because we think that this is all\Nsort of “meant to happen.”
Dialogue: 0,1:07:12.72,1:07:18.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now let me explain how \Nwe get into that kind of mindset,
Dialogue: 0,1:07:18.87,1:07:21.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because it’s exactly \Nthe same kind of mindset
Dialogue: 0,1:07:21.02,1:07:22.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the Kakapo gets trapped in.
Dialogue: 0,1:07:23.34,1:07:26.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because, what has been
Dialogue: 0,1:07:26.42,1:07:28.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a very successful strategy for the Kakapo
Dialogue: 0,1:07:29.23,1:07:30.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,over generation after generation
Dialogue: 0,1:07:30.98,1:07:32.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for thousands and thousands of years,
Dialogue: 0,1:07:32.75,1:07:34.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,suddenly is the wrong strategy,
Dialogue: 0,1:07:34.51,1:07:35.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and he has no means of knowing
Dialogue: 0,1:07:35.94,1:07:38.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because he is just doing what \Nhas been successful up till then.
Dialogue: 0,1:07:40.38,1:07:43.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we have always been,\Nbecause we’re toolmakers,
Dialogue: 0,1:07:43.67,1:07:45.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because we take from our environment
Dialogue: 0,1:07:46.07,1:07:48.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the stuff that we need to do \Nwhat we want to do
Dialogue: 0,1:07:48.35,1:07:50.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it’s always been \Nvery successful for us …
Dialogue: 0,1:07:50.52,1:07:52.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’ll tell you what’s happened.
Dialogue: 0,1:07:53.19,1:07:54.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s as if we’ve actually
Dialogue: 0,1:07:54.59,1:07:56.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,kind of put the sort of “pause” button
Dialogue: 0,1:07:56.40,1:07:58.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on our own process of evolution,
Dialogue: 0,1:07:58.93,1:08:02.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because we have put a buffer around us,
Dialogue: 0,1:08:03.01,1:08:08.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which consists of—you know—\Nmedicine and education and buildings,
Dialogue: 0,1:08:08.64,1:08:10.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and all these kinds of things\Nthat protect us
Dialogue: 0,1:08:10.83,1:08:13.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from the normal environmental pressures.
Dialogue: 0,1:08:14.16,1:08:18.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, it’s our ability to make tools\Nthat enables us to do this.
Dialogue: 0,1:08:18.79,1:08:21.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, generally speaking, \Nwhat drives speciation,
Dialogue: 0,1:08:21.90,1:08:23.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that a small group of animals
Dialogue: 0,1:08:23.59,1:08:27.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,gets separated out from the main body
Dialogue: 0,1:08:27.23,1:08:30.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by population pressure, some geographical\Nupheaval or whatever.
Dialogue: 0,1:08:31.20,1:08:35.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So imagine, a small bunch \Nsuddenly finds itself stranded
Dialogue: 0,1:08:35.84,1:08:37.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in a slightly colder environment.
Dialogue: 0,1:08:38.02,1:08:40.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Then you know, over a \Nsmall number of generations
Dialogue: 0,1:08:40.35,1:08:42.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that those genes \Nthat favour a thicker coat
Dialogue: 0,1:08:42.99,1:08:44.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,will come to the fore
Dialogue: 0,1:08:44.42,1:08:46.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you come back a few generations later,
Dialogue: 0,1:08:46.46,1:08:48.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the animal’s got a thicker coat.
Dialogue: 0,1:08:48.18,1:08:51.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Man, because we are able to make tools,
Dialogue: 0,1:08:51.91,1:08:55.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we arrive in a new environment \Nwhere it’s much colder,
Dialogue: 0,1:08:55.10,1:08:57.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we don’t have \Nto wait for that process.
Dialogue: 0,1:08:57.64,1:08:58.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because we see an animal
Dialogue: 0,1:08:58.82,1:09:00.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that’s already got a thicker coat
Dialogue: 0,1:09:00.42,1:09:02.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we say we’ll have it off him.
Dialogue: 0,1:09:05.70,1:09:08.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so we’ve kind of taken \Ncontrol of our environment,
Dialogue: 0,1:09:08.28,1:09:11.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that’s all very well,
Dialogue: 0,1:09:11.50,1:09:16.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but we need to be able to\Nsort of rise above that process.
Dialogue: 0,1:09:19.00,1:09:21.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have to rise above that vision \Nand see a higher vision
Dialogue: 0,1:09:22.03,1:09:26.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—and understand the effect \Nwe’re actually having.
Dialogue: 0,1:09:26.85,1:09:31.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now imagine—if you will—an early man,
Dialogue: 0,1:09:33.21,1:09:36.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and let’s just sort of see \Nhow this mindset comes about.
Dialogue: 0,1:09:36.71,1:09:40.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He’s standing, surveying his world\Nat the end of the day.
Dialogue: 0,1:09:42.74,1:09:44.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And he looks at it and thinks,
Dialogue: 0,1:09:44.19,1:09:46.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“This is a very wonderful world \Nthat I find myself in.
Dialogue: 0,1:09:46.78,1:09:47.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is pretty good.
Dialogue: 0,1:09:48.89,1:09:52.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, look, here I am, \Nbehind me is the mountains,
Dialogue: 0,1:09:52.66,1:09:53.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the mountains are great
Dialogue: 0,1:09:53.94,1:09:55.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because there are caves in the mountains
Dialogue: 0,1:09:55.87,1:09:57.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where I can shelter,
Dialogue: 0,1:09:57.32,1:10:00.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,either from the weather or from bears
Dialogue: 0,1:10:00.52,1:10:02.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that occasionally come \Nand try to attack me.
Dialogue: 0,1:10:02.62,1:10:04.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I can shelter there, so that’s great.
Dialogue: 0,1:10:04.62,1:10:06.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And in front of me there is the forest,
Dialogue: 0,1:10:06.94,1:10:09.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the forest is full of nuts \Nand berries and trees,
Dialogue: 0,1:10:09.48,1:10:11.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they feed me, and they’re delicious
Dialogue: 0,1:10:11.39,1:10:12.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they sort of keep me going.
Dialogue: 0,1:10:12.89,1:10:14.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And here’s a stream going through
Dialogue: 0,1:10:14.83,1:10:16.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which has got fish running through it,
Dialogue: 0,1:10:16.65,1:10:19.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the water is delicious, \Nand I drink the water,
Dialogue: 0,1:10:19.49,1:10:20.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and everything’s fantastic.
Dialogue: 0,1:10:20.80,1:10:22.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And there’s my cousin Ug.
Dialogue: 0,1:10:22.82,1:10:25.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And Ug has caught a mammoth! Yay!!
Dialogue: 0,1:10:26.26,1:10:27.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ug has caught a mammoth!
Dialogue: 0,1:10:27.42,1:10:28.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Mammoths are terrific!
Dialogue: 0,1:10:29.14,1:10:31.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There’s nothing greater than a mammoth,
Dialogue: 0,1:10:31.58,1:10:32.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because a mammoth,
Dialogue: 0,1:10:32.61,1:10:35.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,basically you can wrap yourself \Nin the fur from the mammoth,
Dialogue: 0,1:10:36.09,1:10:38.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you can eat the meat of the mammoth,
Dialogue: 0,1:10:39.05,1:10:42.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you can use the bones of the mammoth, \Nto catch other mammoths!
Dialogue: 0,1:10:44.96,1:10:47.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now this world is a fantastically \Ngood world for me.”
Dialogue: 0,1:10:50.02,1:10:55.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, part of how we come to \Ntake command of our world,
Dialogue: 0,1:10:55.45,1:10:57.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to take command of our environment,
Dialogue: 0,1:10:57.40,1:11:00.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to make these tools that are\Nactually able to do this,
Dialogue: 0,1:11:00.17,1:11:02.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is we ask ourselves questions\Nabout it the whole time.
Dialogue: 0,1:11:02.72,1:11:05.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So this man starts to \Nask himself questions.
Dialogue: 0,1:11:05.40,1:11:11.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“This world,” he says, \N“well, who … so, so who made it?”
Dialogue: 0,1:11:13.77,1:11:17.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, of course he thinks that,\Nbecause he makes things himself,
Dialogue: 0,1:11:17.64,1:11:21.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so he’s looking for someone \Nwho will have made this world.
Dialogue: 0,1:11:22.63,1:11:25.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He says, “So, who would \Nhave made this world?
Dialogue: 0,1:11:25.85,1:11:28.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, it must be something\Na little bit like me.
Dialogue: 0,1:11:28.92,1:11:31.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Obviously much much bigger,
Dialogue: 0,1:11:33.19,1:11:36.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and necessarily invisible,
Dialogue: 0,1:11:40.13,1:11:45.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but he would have made it. \NNow, why did he make it?”
Dialogue: 0,1:11:47.10,1:11:49.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, we always ask ourselves “why”
Dialogue: 0,1:11:50.11,1:11:52.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because we look for intention around us,
Dialogue: 0,1:11:52.80,1:11:56.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because we always do \Nsomething with intention.
Dialogue: 0,1:11:56.52,1:12:01.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, we boil an egg \Nin order to eat it.
Dialogue: 0,1:12:02.29,1:12:05.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, we look at the rocks \Nand we look at the trees,
Dialogue: 0,1:12:06.25,1:12:08.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we wonder what intention is here,
Dialogue: 0,1:12:08.56,1:12:10.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,even though it doesn’t have intention.
Dialogue: 0,1:12:12.01,1:12:17.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So we think, what did this person \Nwho made this world intend it for.
Dialogue: 0,1:12:18.08,1:12:19.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this is the point where you think,
Dialogue: 0,1:12:19.95,1:12:22.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Well, it fits me very well.
Dialogue: 0,1:12:24.52,1:12:26.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, the caves and the forests,
Dialogue: 0,1:12:26.25,1:12:28.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the stream, and the mammoths.
Dialogue: 0,1:12:29.64,1:12:31.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He must have made it for me!
Dialogue: 0,1:12:32.64,1:12:35.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, there’s no other conclusion \Nyou can come to.”
Dialogue: 0,1:12:35.54,1:12:41.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it’s rather like a puddle \Nwaking up one morning
Dialogue: 0,1:12:41.50,1:12:43.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—I know they don’t normally do this,
Dialogue: 0,1:12:43.23,1:12:45.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but allow me, I’m a \Nscience fiction writer.
Dialogue: 0,1:12:47.67,1:12:50.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A puddle wakes up one morning and thinks,
Dialogue: 0,1:12:51.38,1:12:54.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“This is a very interesting \Nworld I find myself in.
Dialogue: 0,1:12:55.79,1:12:57.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It fits me very neatly.
Dialogue: 0,1:12:58.97,1:13:01.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In fact, it fits me so neatly,
Dialogue: 0,1:13:02.02,1:13:03.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, really precise, isn’t it?
Dialogue: 0,1:13:11.45,1:13:13.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It must have been made to have me in it!”
Dialogue: 0,1:13:15.14,1:13:18.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the sun rises, and \Nhe’s continuing to narrate
Dialogue: 0,1:13:18.66,1:13:21.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the story about this hole being\Nmade to have him in it.
Dialogue: 0,1:13:22.11,1:13:24.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the sun rises, and \Ngradually the puddle
Dialogue: 0,1:13:24.62,1:13:26.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is shrinking and shrinking and shrinking,
Dialogue: 0,1:13:27.06,1:13:29.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and by the time the puddle\Nceases to exist,
Dialogue: 0,1:13:29.15,1:13:32.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it’s still thinking, \Nit’s still trapped in this idea,
Dialogue: 0,1:13:32.44,1:13:34.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the hole was there for it.
Dialogue: 0,1:13:35.67,1:13:38.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And if we think that \Nthe world is here for us,
Dialogue: 0,1:13:38.48,1:13:41.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we will continue to destroy it
Dialogue: 0,1:13:41.11,1:13:43.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the way that we’ve been destroying it,
Dialogue: 0,1:13:43.16,1:13:44.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because we think we can do no harm.
Dialogue: 0,1:13:46.96,1:13:50.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There’s an awful lot of speculation
Dialogue: 0,1:13:50.71,1:13:52.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,one way or another at the moment,
Dialogue: 0,1:13:52.56,1:13:55.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about whether there’s life \Non other planets or not.
Dialogue: 0,1:13:56.27,1:13:58.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Carl Sagan, as you know,
Dialogue: 0,1:13:58.67,1:14:01.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was very keen on the idea\Nthat there must be.
Dialogue: 0,1:14:02.08,1:14:03.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The sheer numbers dictate,
Dialogue: 0,1:14:03.35,1:14:05.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because there are billions \Nand billions and billions
Dialogue: 0,1:14:05.83,1:14:07.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—as he famously did not say, in fact—
Dialogue: 0,1:14:08.36,1:14:10.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of worlds out there,
Dialogue: 0,1:14:10.85,1:14:11.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so the chance must be
Dialogue: 0,1:14:11.92,1:14:16.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that there’s other \Nintelligent life out there.
Dialogue: 0,1:14:16.46,1:14:19.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are other voices at \Nthe moment you’ll hear saying,
Dialogue: 0,1:14:19.14,1:14:20.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,well actually if you look at
Dialogue: 0,1:14:20.51,1:14:25.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the set of circumstances here on Earth,
Dialogue: 0,1:14:25.62,1:14:28.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they are so extraordinarily specific
Dialogue: 0,1:14:28.70,1:14:31.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the chances of there being\Nsomething like this out there,
Dialogue: 0,1:14:31.85,1:14:33.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are actually pretty remote.
Dialogue: 0,1:14:34.65,1:14:36.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, in a way it doesn’t matter.
Dialogue: 0,1:14:36.22,1:14:38.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because think of this
Dialogue: 0,1:14:38.89,1:14:41.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—I mean Carl Sagan, I think,\Nhimself, said this.
Dialogue: 0,1:14:41.13,1:14:45.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are two possibilities: \Neither there is life
Dialogue: 0,1:14:45.60,1:14:47.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,out there on other planets,
Dialogue: 0,1:14:48.36,1:14:50.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or there is no life out\Nthere on other planets.
Dialogue: 0,1:14:52.10,1:14:54.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They are both utterly extraordinary ideas!
Dialogue: 0,1:14:58.70,1:15:05.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But, there is a strong possibility
Dialogue: 0,1:15:05.75,1:15:08.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that there isn’t anything \Nout there remotely like us.
Dialogue: 0,1:15:10.99,1:15:14.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we are behaving as if this planet,
Dialogue: 0,1:15:15.02,1:15:18.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this extraordinary, utterly, utterly \Nextraordinary little ball of life,
Dialogue: 0,1:15:20.52,1:15:23.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is something we can just screw \Nabout with any way we like.
Dialogue: 0,1:15:25.47,1:15:28.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And maybe we can’t.
Dialogue: 0,1:15:30.56,1:15:33.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Maybe we should be looking after it \Njust a little bit better.
Dialogue: 0,1:15:34.38,1:15:36.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not for the world’s sake
Dialogue: 0,1:15:37.90,1:15:40.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—we talk rather grandly about\N“saving the world.”
Dialogue: 0,1:15:40.47,1:15:42.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We don’t have to save the world\N–the world’s fine!
Dialogue: 0,1:15:43.23,1:15:46.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The world has been through \Nfive periods of mass extinction.
Dialogue: 0,1:15:47.46,1:15:52.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Sixty-five million years ago when, \Nas it seems, a comet hit the Earth
Dialogue: 0,1:15:52.47,1:15:55.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at the same time that there \Nwere vast volcanic eruptions in India,
Dialogue: 0,1:15:56.66,1:15:58.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which saw off the dinosaurs,
Dialogue: 0,1:15:58.62,1:16:01.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and something like 90%\Nof the life on the planet at the time.
Dialogue: 0,1:16:01.51,1:16:04.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Go back another, I think is 150 million\Nyears earlier than that,
Dialogue: 0,1:16:05.12,1:16:08.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to the Permian-Triassic \Nboundary, another giant,
Dialogue: 0,1:16:08.57,1:16:10.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,giant, giant extinction.
Dialogue: 0,1:16:10.80,1:16:13.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The world has been through it \Nmany many times before.
Dialogue: 0,1:16:14.18,1:16:15.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what tends to happen,
Dialogue: 0,1:16:15.94,1:16:18.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what happens invariably\Nafter each mass extinction,
Dialogue: 0,1:16:19.04,1:16:23.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that there’s a huge \Namount of space available,
Dialogue: 0,1:16:23.81,1:16:27.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or new forms of life suddenly \Nto emerge and flourish into.
Dialogue: 0,1:16:27.78,1:16:34.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Just as the extinction of \Nthe dinosaurs made way for us.
Dialogue: 0,1:16:35.06,1:16:37.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Without that extinction, \Nwe would not be here.
Dialogue: 0,1:16:37.100,1:16:39.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, the world is fine.
Dialogue: 0,1:16:39.16,1:16:40.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We don’t have to save the world
Dialogue: 0,1:16:41.01,1:16:43.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—the world is big enough \Nto look after itself.
Dialogue: 0,1:16:44.20,1:16:45.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What we have to be concerned about,
Dialogue: 0,1:16:45.99,1:16:49.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is whether or not the world we live in,
Dialogue: 0,1:16:49.60,1:16:53.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,will be capable of sustaining us in it.
Dialogue: 0,1:16:54.82,1:16:56.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That’s what we need to think about.
Dialogue: 0,1:16:56.52,1:16:58.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen.
Dialogue: 0,1:17:29.50,1:17:31.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And now if anybody has any questions,
Dialogue: 0,1:17:31.29,1:17:32.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’m very happy to take questions,
Dialogue: 0,1:17:32.95,1:17:37.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and there are microphones down here \Nat the front so I suggest you use them.
Dialogue: 0,1:17:37.72,1:17:39.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yeah, hi.
Dialogue: 0,1:17:39.95,1:17:41.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank you. Wonderful talk.
Dialogue: 0,1:17:41.84,1:17:46.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You say we should take care\Nto not destroy the planet.
Dialogue: 0,1:17:47.02,1:17:49.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There is one suggestion\Nthat has been made is that,
Dialogue: 0,1:17:49.95,1:17:52.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the reason why we destroy the planet
Dialogue: 0,1:17:52.24,1:17:54.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that we don’t pay \Nthe true cost of things
Dialogue: 0,1:17:54.61,1:17:55.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when we consume them.
Dialogue: 0,1:17:56.85,1:17:58.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The price of gasoline has been falling
Dialogue: 0,1:17:59.24,1:18:02.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in real dollars and the vehicles\Nget bigger and bigger,
Dialogue: 0,1:18:03.05,1:18:04.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we have the Selfish Useless Vehicles
Dialogue: 0,1:18:04.84,1:18:06.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,—I think they’re called—the SUV’s.
Dialogue: 0,1:18:12.07,1:18:14.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, I have to say as a brit,
Dialogue: 0,1:18:15.70,1:18:16.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you know we sit and think,
Dialogue: 0,1:18:16.99,1:18:19.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“the americans are complaining again\Nbecause their gas prices
Dialogue: 0,1:18:19.84,1:18:22.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,have reached now nearly \Na quarter of what we pay.”
Dialogue: 0,1:18:24.96,1:18:28.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, I just wonder whether you think
Dialogue: 0,1:18:28.64,1:18:33.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that a good solution is that if \Nwe would pay the true cost of things,
Dialogue: 0,1:18:33.86,1:18:35.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if we would pay the ten dollars a gallon
Dialogue: 0,1:18:36.31,1:18:39.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or whatever it really costs in terms \Nof the impact on the environment,
Dialogue: 0,1:18:39.74,1:18:41.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that that might make a difference?
Dialogue: 0,1:18:43.34,1:18:48.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Umm. It may be …, I …, it …
Dialogue: 0,1:18:52.46,1:18:56.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There is a problem I’m very \Nvery conscious of here.
Dialogue: 0,1:18:57.49,1:19:04.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Which is that, even though I’m talking \Nfrom a conservationist point of view,
Dialogue: 0,1:19:04.100,1:19:08.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,very very strongly, you’d look back\Nover the history
Dialogue: 0,1:19:08.57,1:19:11.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of what we and the conservation \Nmovement have said
Dialogue: 0,1:19:11.75,1:19:14.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the last ten years, \Nand the previous ten years,
Dialogue: 0,1:19:14.15,1:19:15.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and previous ten years of that.
Dialogue: 0,1:19:15.66,1:19:19.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And most of what we’ve said \Nwe have to do about it,
Dialogue: 0,1:19:20.24,1:19:23.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or the way to have gone about it, \Nhave actually turned out to be wrong.
Dialogue: 0,1:19:24.04,1:19:30.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, it’s very hard for me to pretend
Dialogue: 0,1:19:30.71,1:19:32.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I can stand up and say we have to do this,
Dialogue: 0,1:19:32.79,1:19:34.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we have to do that.
Dialogue: 0,1:19:34.60,1:19:36.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because they may not be \Nthe right solution.
Dialogue: 0,1:19:37.46,1:19:40.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’m terribly aware of this as far as,
Dialogue: 0,1:19:41.19,1:19:43.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean just going back again,
Dialogue: 0,1:19:43.72,1:19:49.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean thinking about sort of protection\Nof animals in Africa, for instance.
Dialogue: 0,1:19:49.68,1:19:52.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That time after time, we’ve gone\Nabout it the wrong way.
Dialogue: 0,1:19:53.48,1:19:56.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, yeah, the conservation efforts
Dialogue: 0,1:19:56.82,1:20:00.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of once every ten years \Nwill be as much as anything else,
Dialogue: 0,1:20:01.05,1:20:03.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,undoing the problems caused \Nby the last ten years.
Dialogue: 0,1:20:03.94,1:20:08.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So it is a question of constant\Nsort of self-education,
Dialogue: 0,1:20:09.37,1:20:11.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,trying to assimilate the information,
Dialogue: 0,1:20:11.17,1:20:14.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,trying to see what the consequence \Nof what we’ve done so far has been,
Dialogue: 0,1:20:15.97,1:20:17.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what we can learn from that.
Dialogue: 0,1:20:17.36,1:20:24.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now it may well be that if we say\Nwe’re going to multiply the cost of gas
Dialogue: 0,1:20:25.01,1:20:31.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by ten times or whatever, that may have \Neffects that we would put into …
Dialogue: 0,1:20:31.23,1:20:35.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they would be the lure of unintended \Nconsequences, which comes into play.
Dialogue: 0,1:20:36.99,1:20:41.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think the best thing we can do is \Ncontinually inform ourselves,
Dialogue: 0,1:20:41.97,1:20:46.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,be as aware as possible of what \Nis actually happening,
Dialogue: 0,1:20:46.43,1:20:51.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how if that kind of feedback loop\Nsaying now we’re going to make
Dialogue: 0,1:20:51.40,1:20:55.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the true cost of the damage we’re causing \Nbe part of what you have to pay,
Dialogue: 0,1:20:56.17,1:20:59.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then that may be very well \Nbe a very good answer;
Dialogue: 0,1:20:59.95,1:21:02.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I’m also worried that\Nit may not be the answer.
Dialogue: 0,1:21:02.40,1:21:05.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Which is a complicated way of saying\N“I don’t know.”
Dialogue: 0,1:21:14.16,1:21:16.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Two questions. First. \NDo you know where your towel is?
Dialogue: 0,1:21:18.46,1:21:19.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,No.
Dialogue: 0,1:21:20.54,1:21:21.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK.
Dialogue: 0,1:21:22.39,1:21:23.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That was always my problem.
Dialogue: 0,1:21:25.02,1:21:27.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s very funny the thing \Nabout the towel because, …
Dialogue: 0,1:21:28.36,1:21:30.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’ll tell you where it came from.
Dialogue: 0,1:21:30.89,1:21:32.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was on a holiday with a bunch of people,
Dialogue: 0,1:21:33.28,1:21:35.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we were on a Villa in Corfu.
Dialogue: 0,1:21:35.56,1:21:38.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And every day we would \Nset out to the beach,
Dialogue: 0,1:21:38.26,1:21:40.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and just as we were \Nsetting out for the beach
Dialogue: 0,1:21:40.83,1:21:42.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there would a problem,
Dialogue: 0,1:21:43.46,1:21:47.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the problem would be \Nthat Douglas could not find his towel!
Dialogue: 0,1:21:49.73,1:21:52.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Where was my towel? Was it under the bed?
Dialogue: 0,1:21:52.66,1:21:54.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Was it on the end of bed? \NWas it in the bed?
Dialogue: 0,1:21:54.81,1:21:57.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Was it the bathroom? \NWas it hanging on the line outside?
Dialogue: 0,1:21:57.100,1:21:59.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Was it in the washing …? Was it …?
Dialogue: 0,1:21:59.74,1:22:02.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had no idea, day after day, \Nwhere the fuck my towel was.
Dialogue: 0,1:22:04.15,1:22:06.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And after a while I just began to think
Dialogue: 0,1:22:06.05,1:22:07.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this must be symptomatic of somebody
Dialogue: 0,1:22:08.00,1:22:11.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who is so sort of deeply chaotic.
Dialogue: 0,1:22:11.92,1:22:14.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I then …
Dialogue: 0,1:22:14.60,1:22:17.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I don’t even know whether \NI even came up with it first,
Dialogue: 0,1:22:17.98,1:22:19.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or somebody on the hold of it
Dialogue: 0,1:22:19.97,1:22:21.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,came with the idea that somebody
Dialogue: 0,1:22:22.22,1:22:24.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who was rather more together than I,
Dialogue: 0,1:22:24.35,1:22:27.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,would be someone who would \Nreally know where their towel was.
Dialogue: 0,1:22:27.27,1:22:35.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so then, when I was writing \Nthe Hitchhiker, I sort of put …
Dialogue: 0,1:22:35.56,1:22:38.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You very often put things in because \Nyou know what they mean.
Dialogue: 0,1:22:39.12,1:22:42.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it’s really kind of a flag to yourself
Dialogue: 0,1:22:42.88,1:22:46.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that in the next draft through \Nyou would put something in
Dialogue: 0,1:22:47.14,1:22:50.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that means to everybody else\Nwhat this thing means to you.
Dialogue: 0,1:22:51.25,1:22:53.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know. And then it kind of stays there,
Dialogue: 0,1:22:53.27,1:22:56.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it turns out that it does mean \Nsomething to everybody else as well.
Dialogue: 0,1:22:58.04,1:22:59.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Does that answer your question?
Dialogue: 0,1:23:00.09,1:23:04.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK. And also, do we behave like people \Ndescended from stick-using monkeys
Dialogue: 0,1:23:05.42,1:23:07.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or people descended \Nfrom telephone cleaners.
Dialogue: 0,1:23:10.94,1:23:13.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think we have both lots there\Nin our genes, I’m afraid.
Dialogue: 0,1:23:21.86,1:23:25.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’m absolutely going to kill myself \Nif I get out of here without asking this.
Dialogue: 0,1:23:25.56,1:23:27.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This question occurred to me\Nwhen my friend
Dialogue: 0,1:23:27.59,1:23:29.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,bodily forced me to pick up the first book
Dialogue: 0,1:23:29.97,1:23:32.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,n The Hitchhiker’s Guide and I read the \Nvery first sentences
Dialogue: 0,1:23:32.83,1:23:34.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on the very first paragraph,
Dialogue: 0,1:23:34.90,1:23:38.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“What on God’s green earth does \Nthis man have against digital watches!?”
Dialogue: 0,1:23:45.73,1:23:47.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well I have to admit\Nthey’ve improved since
Dialogue: 0,1:23:47.98,1:23:52.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I actually wrote that bit.
Dialogue: 0,1:23:53.20,1:23:55.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But if you think about it,
Dialogue: 0,1:23:56.45,1:23:58.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean the first digital \Nwatches which were …,
Dialogue: 0,1:24:00.90,1:24:06.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you look at a regular watch with hands\Nand you got a pie chart.
Dialogue: 0,1:24:07.31,1:24:09.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Remember the time when\Nwe used to get very excited
Dialogue: 0,1:24:09.66,1:24:13.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about pie charts being the \Nthing that computer did for us?
Dialogue: 0,1:24:13.44,1:24:15.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Uhhh! Pie charts!”
Dialogue: 0,1:24:19.02,1:24:22.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But at the same time when we were \Ngetting terribly excited about pie charts
Dialogue: 0,1:24:22.61,1:24:25.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and what they could do for \Nour understanding of the world,
Dialogue: 0,1:24:25.38,1:24:28.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we were saying, \N“We don’t want pie charts on our wrists.
Dialogue: 0,1:24:28.60,1:24:30.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That’s old fashioned technology.
Dialogue: 0,1:24:30.52,1:24:34.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,No what we want is not something you \Njust glance at and see what the time is.
Dialogue: 0,1:24:34.19,1:24:36.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We want something that you’ve got to go
Dialogue: 0,1:24:36.05,1:24:38.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into a dark corner and \Nput down your suitcase
Dialogue: 0,1:24:39.15,1:24:41.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and press a button in order to read,
Dialogue: 0,1:24:41.49,1:24:43.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,‘Oh it’s 11:43, now what is …? uhm …?
Dialogue: 0,1:24:43.92,1:24:46.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How long is that before twelve o’clock?’ ”
Dialogue: 0,1:24:47.43,1:24:49.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this was progress.
Dialogue: 0,1:24:50.63,1:24:54.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But you see, I mean the great \Nthing about human beings,
Dialogue: 0,1:24:55.09,1:24:57.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean—while we make fun of it—
Dialogue: 0,1:24:57.30,1:25:01.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is not only that we invent \Nstuff that’s new,
Dialogue: 0,1:25:01.55,1:25:04.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and better, and does things better.
Dialogue: 0,1:25:04.95,1:25:09.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But even stuff that works perfectly well \Nwe can’t leave well enough alone,
Dialogue: 0,1:25:09.70,1:25:14.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it’s really the most sort of charming\Nand delightful aspect of human beings,
Dialogue: 0,1:25:14.47,1:25:17.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we keep on inventing things \Nthat we’ve already got right once.
Dialogue: 0,1:25:17.65,1:25:23.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean like bathroom faucets, \NI mean it’s very very simple,
Dialogue: 0,1:25:23.18,1:25:26.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you turn it on the water comes out, \Nyou turn it off the water stops.
Dialogue: 0,1:25:26.43,1:25:28.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we kind of got the hang of that.
Dialogue: 0,1:25:28.21,1:25:30.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That works. But it’s amazing you go into,
Dialogue: 0,1:25:30.60,1:25:33.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you know, a hotel lobby or an airport,
Dialogue: 0,1:25:33.78,1:25:35.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you approach the basin
Dialogue: 0,1:25:35.93,1:25:38.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with a certain amount of \Nsort of anxiety, you know.
Dialogue: 0,1:25:45.22,1:25:47.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“What do I do? Do I turn something?
Dialogue: 0,1:25:47.01,1:25:48.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Do I push something? Do I pull something?
Dialogue: 0,1:25:48.99,1:25:49.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Do I knee it!?
Dialogue: 0,1:25:53.04,1:25:55.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Do I just have to sort of be in near it?”
Dialogue: 0,1:25:58.91,1:26:01.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And once the water started to flow
Dialogue: 0,1:26:01.46,1:26:04.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because it has picked up some sort
Dialogue: 0,1:26:04.02,1:26:05.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of brainwave energy from me or whatever.
Dialogue: 0,1:26:06.62,1:26:09.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“So, now how do I stop it? \NIs it my job to stop it?
Dialogue: 0,1:26:11.23,1:26:12.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Would it stop itself?”
Dialogue: 0,1:26:13.56,1:26:19.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, I think we’ve got\Nthe faucet down OK.
Dialogue: 0,1:26:20.59,1:26:24.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But, I just think it’s wonderful\Nwe just sort of
Dialogue: 0,1:26:24.92,1:26:27.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,keep on inventing it even though it works,
Dialogue: 0,1:26:27.61,1:26:32.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because it’s the way of getting ourselves\Noff local maximums isn’t it?
Dialogue: 0,1:26:37.94,1:26:40.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think that’s all I have \Nto say there. Thanks.