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[♪ futuristic, synthesized ♪]

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And when you get to where we are now,[br]in the last quarter of the 20th century

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how do you <i>begin</i> to get involved with this,[br]the computer?

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There's nothing to see!

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Well I suppose in one sense there is -

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Here:

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But so I tell you that these disks[br]contain one hundred million characters.

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Where does that get you?

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Oh sure, at one level we all understand computers[br]don't we? they send us bills and statements.

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And even this awe-inspiring lot here;

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the British Airways computer,

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one of the biggest and fastest in the world,

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will do some very endearing things for you.

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I mean, you can book your old granny onto any flight,[br]from anywhere to anywhere, with all the trimmings,

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like this:

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That's her and her flights and hotels,

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and this is her, and her personal details:

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Look she speaks only Italian she's flying for the 1st time[br]she doesn't like carrots she wants help when she gets there

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she wants to sit near the toilet, not see the film,[br]she's got excess baggage, and a lot more.

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And this friendly monster will do that for you for a flight[br]anytime up to a year in the future <i>and</i> prepare your bill

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within 50th of a second.

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Great.

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That's the kind of assistance computers give us[br]that help the world go 'round.

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And you get involved:

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☺You pay☺

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But that's not the side of the computer I'm talking about.

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If part one of the specialization of knowledge

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happened in the 15th century when Johannes Gutenberg[br]came up with the printing press,

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and helped scientists to talk their own kind of gibberish[br]to each other on the printed page

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easier than they'd ever done it before,

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then <i>this</i> is part two.

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Only this is no book you can leaf through[br]and get a rough idea what it's talking about.

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This is *the future*

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because if you tell a computer[br]everything you know about something,

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it will juggle the mix and come up with a prediction.

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• Do <i>this</i> and you'll get <i>that</i>

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And if you have information, and a computer,

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you too can look into the future.

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And that is <i>power</i>.

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• Commercial power

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• Political power

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• Power to <i>change</i> things

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You want some of that power?

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Easy, go get yourself a PhD.

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Otherwise?

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The way things have become: Forget it.

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And there's no point in coming in here and say:[br]"show me, show me", look:

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So what?

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☺Me too!☺

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But never mind the machinery.

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What about the <i>stuff</i> this lot uses?

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The *raw material* that will change our futures[br]like you will <i>never</i> believe:

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Information.

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Not the facts, it's too late for that:

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What you <i>do</i> with the facts.

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Because there, you're into probability theory;

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choosing one of the alternate futures[br]and actually making it happen.

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And how does the man on the street[br]get involved in <i>that</i> game?

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He doesn't.

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So when the next major change comes out of the computers,

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double-checked and pre-packaged,

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it looks increasingly like you've only got[br]<i>two</i> options open to you:

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1. Do nothing, stick your thumb in your mouth and[br]switch your mind in neutral.

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2. Do what people have done for centuries[br]when machines did things they didn't want:

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Overreact.

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Strike out.

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Sabotage the machine for good.

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You want that?

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[♫ ♫ ↑↑↑]

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[♫ ♫ ↑↑↑]

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[♫ ♫ ↑↑↑]

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But once you start can you stop?[br][♫ ♫ ↑↑↑]

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Is our technology so interconnected[br][♫ ♫ ↑↑↑]

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that when you destroy one machine[br][♫ ♫ ↑↑↑]

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you automatically trigger <i>total</i> destruction[br][♫ ♫ ↑↑↑]

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of the <i>entire</i> life support system![br][♫ ♫ ↑↑↑]

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[♫ ♫ ♫ ↑↑↑↑]

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[♫ ♫ ♫ ↑↑↑↑]

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[♫ ♫ ♫ ↑↑↑↑]

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[♫ ♫ ♫ (climaxes)]

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[♫ ♫ ♫ ↑↑↑↑]

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[♫ ♫ ...]

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Well, that's no better a solution[br]than any of the others is it?

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So, in the end, have we learned <i>anything</i>

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from this look at

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why the world turned out the way it did

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that's of any use to us in our future?

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Something, I think.

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That... *the key* to why things change,[br]is the key to <i>everything</i>

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• How easy is it *for knowledge* to spread?

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And that, in the past

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the people who made change happen were[br]the people who <i>had</i> that knowledge,

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whether they were craftsmen or kings.

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Today, the people who make things change,[br]the people who <i>have</i> that knowledge,

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are the scientists and the technologists

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who are the <i>true</i> driving force of humanity.

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And before you say:[br]"What about the Beethovens and the Michaelangelos?"

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Let me suggest something with which[br]you may disagree violently:

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That *at best* the products of human emotion;

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Art - philosophy - politics - music - literature,

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are <i>interpretations</i> of the world.

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They tell you more about the guy who's talking

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than about the world he's talking about.

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Second-hand views of the world

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made <i>third-hand</i> by your interpretation of them.

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Things like that:

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As opposed to

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this:

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Know what it is?

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It's a bunch of amino acids.

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The stuff that goes to build a up a ...

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a worm,

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or a geranium,

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or you.

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This stuff's easier to take isn't it?

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Understandable; got people in it.

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This: scientific knowledge,

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is hard to take

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because it removes the reassuring crutches of[br]opinion - ideology

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and leaves <i>only</i> what is demonstrably true[br]about the world.

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And the reason why so many people may be[br]thinking about throwing away those crutches

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is because, thanks to science and technology,

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they have begun to know

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that they <i>don't</i> know *so much*

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and that if they're to have

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more say in what happens to their lives;

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more freedom to develop their abilities to the full,

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they have to be helped towards that knowledge[br]that they know <i>exists</i>

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and that they don't possess.

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And by "helped towards that knowledge", I don't mean

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uh... give everybody a computer and say "help yourself".

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Where would you even start?

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No, I mean...

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trying to find ways to translate the knowledge;

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to *teach us* to ask the right questions.

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See, we're on the edge [►1978◄]

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of a revolution in communications technology that is[br]going to make that more possible than ever before.

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Or, if that's not done,

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to cause an <i>explosion</i> of knowledge

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that will leave those of us who don't have access to it[br]as powerless as if we were *deaf, dumb and blind*.

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And I don't think most people want that.

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So what do we do about it?

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I don't know.

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But maybe a good start

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would be to recognize. within yourself, the ability to[br]understand <i>anything</i>

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because that ability's there,

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as long as it's explained clearly enough.

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And then go and ask for explanations.

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And if you're thinking right now "what do I ask for"?

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ask yourself

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if there's anything in your life that you want changed.

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That's where to start.

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Closed Captions by JBW and mossa13

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Timings produced with the help of SubTimer™[br]Copyright © 2009 JBWCaptionsTubeTeam, LLC

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