'43''35
Eventually, when Mao (1)____________, Deng returned to Beijing and with Mao's death, Deng (2)___________ the chance of a political (3)______________ and two years later he became the most powerful man in China. When his moment came, he took China right round towards (4)_______________________________ capitalism.
Although China was still as repressive as it had been before Deng, he began (5)__________________ the two big ideas of capitalism and communism. Since then, China's economy has been growing every year and it's (6)____________ to become the world's biggest economy by 2016.
However, there's a (7)_________ to this story, because Deng's son, Deng Pufang, currently plays a crucial role in China for (8)______________________ with a message about the importance of (9)_______________________.
Eventually, when Mao (1)____________, Deng returned to Beijing and with Mao's death, Deng (2)___________ the chance of a political (3)______________ and two years later he became the most powerful man in China. When his moment came, he took China right round towards (4)_______________________________ capitalism.
Although China was still as repressive as it had been before Deng, he began (5)__________________ the two big ideas of capitalism and communism. Since then, China's economy has been growing every year and it's (6)____________ to become the world's biggest economy by 2016.
However, there's a (7)_________ to this story, because Deng's son, Deng Pufang, currently plays a crucial role in China for (8)______________________ with a message about the importance of (9)_______________________.
The great (10)_______________ between dynamic capitalism
and (11)________________ communism finished dramatically with the fall of the Berlin Wall
in 1989.
With the Cold War over, there was (12)______________ about the end of history.
Mao, Stalin and Hitler had all (13)__________________________ humanity using political terror. On the other hand now the only possibility was capitalism. And history didn't stop.
Others were trying to reshape the world. In 1997, a game of chess began. The defender was the (14)______________ world chess champion, Garry Kasparov and the challenger was a supercomputer built by IBM called Deep Blue.
[NEWSCASTER:] 'The world of chess is (15)___________________________ for what they're calling the match of the century.'
The match between man and machine was (16)____________ "the brain's (17)_________________".
Kasparov played an aggressive first game and four hours later, he'd gained the (18)_____________. Deep Blue (19)______________ defeat and Gary Kasparov won the first game.
The second game was the (20)_________________ in the match between Kasparov and the computer. He made an attempt to (21)____________ it into a trap. However, Deep Blue didn't take the (22)______________. Instead, it ignored the trap and made a brilliant (23)_______________ of its own. And that was it. Kasparov was being (24)___________________ by a (25)____________________.
Although the great master tried to escape, every (26)________________ was futile. Eventually, Kasparov (27)___________________ .
Machines becoming cleverer than us is an idea that has long (28)________________ science fiction and Hollywood. And many scientists have predicted that this will happen in our (29)______________.
We are now living in an age of acceleration, a (30)_________________________ of invention, devices, (31)______________________ and smart everything.
On the other hand there is also a high price to pay for all this. We've (32)_____________ through rainforests like the Amazon. Animals have died out and the climate has been affected.
At the end of the 20th century a small group of Indians were suddenly (33)_______________ modern humanity. A (34)_______________ had come to eat their land and their way of life. They went to meet the stranger. They tried to (35)__________________ him. Even though they had been separated from the rest of the world, their tastes, their needs, proved humanly familiar. This comes to show that despite all the progress, we still have the same instincts and desires as we had before. Nevertheless, we should take into account that we are now seven billion, and therefore we should do things differently, no longer (36)_______________ quite so much so fast of the earth's natural resources, otherwise we'll have to (37)___________________ our numbers. Therefore what we choose to do in the near future may well decide our (38)_______________.
With the Cold War over, there was (12)______________ about the end of history.
Mao, Stalin and Hitler had all (13)__________________________ humanity using political terror. On the other hand now the only possibility was capitalism. And history didn't stop.
Others were trying to reshape the world. In 1997, a game of chess began. The defender was the (14)______________ world chess champion, Garry Kasparov and the challenger was a supercomputer built by IBM called Deep Blue.
[NEWSCASTER:] 'The world of chess is (15)___________________________ for what they're calling the match of the century.'
The match between man and machine was (16)____________ "the brain's (17)_________________".
Kasparov played an aggressive first game and four hours later, he'd gained the (18)_____________. Deep Blue (19)______________ defeat and Gary Kasparov won the first game.
The second game was the (20)_________________ in the match between Kasparov and the computer. He made an attempt to (21)____________ it into a trap. However, Deep Blue didn't take the (22)______________. Instead, it ignored the trap and made a brilliant (23)_______________ of its own. And that was it. Kasparov was being (24)___________________ by a (25)____________________.
Although the great master tried to escape, every (26)________________ was futile. Eventually, Kasparov (27)___________________ .
Machines becoming cleverer than us is an idea that has long (28)________________ science fiction and Hollywood. And many scientists have predicted that this will happen in our (29)______________.
We are now living in an age of acceleration, a (30)_________________________ of invention, devices, (31)______________________ and smart everything.
On the other hand there is also a high price to pay for all this. We've (32)_____________ through rainforests like the Amazon. Animals have died out and the climate has been affected.
At the end of the 20th century a small group of Indians were suddenly (33)_______________ modern humanity. A (34)_______________ had come to eat their land and their way of life. They went to meet the stranger. They tried to (35)__________________ him. Even though they had been separated from the rest of the world, their tastes, their needs, proved humanly familiar. This comes to show that despite all the progress, we still have the same instincts and desires as we had before. Nevertheless, we should take into account that we are now seven billion, and therefore we should do things differently, no longer (36)_______________ quite so much so fast of the earth's natural resources, otherwise we'll have to (37)___________________ our numbers. Therefore what we choose to do in the near future may well decide our (38)_______________.
The largest (39)_________________ in South America is thriving. Brazil is bound to be one of the most important countries in the world. Hopefully, they will get the balance between a better life and democracy without
destroying the environment. And if they do, why shouldn't the rest of us? However, getting it right must mean (40)__________________ our past experience.
Homo sapiens means "wise man". Our technical (41)________________ are indeed awesome. We understand more than we've never done before. However, we are still (42)____________ dangerous, very (43)______________ and bad at looking ahead. We're a clever (44)_________ in a (45)_________________. There is no reason why we shouldn't be able to deal with difficulties. That's why the most interesting part of human history (46)______________________.
KEY
1. relented
relent: to finally agree to something after refusing. Give in. E.g. ‘Well, just for a little while then,’ she said, finally relenting.
2. seized
3. comeback
4. roaring full-throttle
roaring: making a continuous loud deep noise. E.g. All we could hear was the sound of roaring water.
full-throttle as fast as possible. E.g. He drove along at full throttle.
throttle: a device controlling the flow of fuel or power to an engine. E.g. the engines were at full throttle.
5. welding together
weld: to unite people or things into a strong and effective group. E.g. weld somebody/ something into something They had welded a bunch of untrained recruits into an efficient fighting force. Weld something together The crisis helped to weld the party together.
6. on track
brace somebody/yourself (for something)| brace somebody/yourself (to do something) to prepare somebody/ yourself for something difficult or unpleasant that is going to happen. E.g. UN troops are braced for more violence. They are bracing themselves for a long legal battle.
16. dubbed
dub somebody + noun to give somebody/something a particular name, often in a humorous or critical way. E.g. The Belgian actor Jean–Claude Van Damme has been dubbed ‘Muscles from Brussels’.
17. last stand
stand a strong effort to defend yourself or your opinion about something. E.g. We must make a stand against further job losses. The rebels' desperate last stand.
concede (defeat) to admit that you have lost a game, an election, etc. E.g. After losing this decisive battle, the general was forced to concede. Injury forced Hicks to concede defeat.
20. turning point
turning point (in something) the time when an important change takes place, usually with the result that a situation improves. E.g. The promotion marked a turning point in her career.
21. lure
lure somebody (+ adverb/preposition) /lʊə(r)/ /ljʊə(r)/(disapproving) to persuade or trick somebody to go somewhere or to do something by promising them a reward. Entice. E.g. The child was lured into a car but managed to escape. Young people are lured to the city by the prospect of a job and money.
22. bait
bait: a person or thing that is used to catch somebody or to attract them, for example to make them do what you want. E.g. He had chosen the right bait to persuade her to go. The police used him as bait to trap the killers.
23. strategic move
24. outsmarted
outsmart somebody to gain an advantage over somebody by acting in a clever way. Outwit. E.g. She always managed to outsmart her political rivals.
25. circuit board
circuit board: /ˈsɜːkɪt bɔːd/ a board that holds electrical circuits inside a piece of electrical equipment.
Homo sapiens means "wise man". Our technical (41)________________ are indeed awesome. We understand more than we've never done before. However, we are still (42)____________ dangerous, very (43)______________ and bad at looking ahead. We're a clever (44)_________ in a (45)_________________. There is no reason why we shouldn't be able to deal with difficulties. That's why the most interesting part of human history (46)______________________.
KEY
1. relented
relent: to finally agree to something after refusing. Give in. E.g. ‘Well, just for a little while then,’ she said, finally relenting.
2. seized
seize a chance, an opportunity, the initiative, etc. to be quick to make use of a chance, an opportunity, etc. Grab. E.g. The party seized the initiative with both hands(= quickly and with enthusiasm).
3. comeback
comeback /ˈkʌmbæk/ if a person in public life makes a comeback, they start doing something again which they had stopped doing, or they become popular again. E.g. an ageing pop star trying to stage a comeback.
4. roaring full-throttle
roaring: making a continuous loud deep noise. E.g. All we could hear was the sound of roaring water.
full-throttle as fast as possible. E.g. He drove along at full throttle.
throttle: a device controlling the flow of fuel or power to an engine. E.g. the engines were at full throttle.
5. welding together
weld: to unite people or things into a strong and effective group. E.g. weld somebody/ something into something They had welded a bunch of untrained recruits into an efficient fighting force. Weld something together The crisis helped to weld the party together.
6. on track
be on track: to be doing the right thing in order to achieve a particular result. Curtis is on track for the gold medal.
7. twist
twist: an unexpected change or development in a story or situation. E.g. the twists and turns of his political career. The story has taken another twist. The disappearance of a vital witness added a new twist to the case. By a curious twist of fate we met again only a week or so later. A bizarre twist to the tale.
8. humanitarianism
9. compassion
10. standoff
stand-off (between A and B) a situation in which no agreement can be reached. Deadlock. E.g. a stand-off between the union and the management.
11. tottering
totter: to be weak and seem likely to fall. E.g. the tottering walls of the castle. (Figurative) a tottering dictatorship.
12. wild talk
wild:
Not based on sound reasoning or probability. E.g. a wild guess. Wild rumours were circulating. Performing in Hollywood was beyond my wildest dreams.
Disorderly or chaotic. E.g. wild thoughts; wild talk.
13. attempted to reshape
14. reigning
reign: to be the best or most important in a particular situation or area of skill. E.g. the reigning champion. In the field of classical music, he still reigns supreme.
15. bracing itself
brace somebody/yourself (for something)| brace somebody/yourself (to do something) to prepare somebody/ yourself for something difficult or unpleasant that is going to happen. E.g. UN troops are braced for more violence. They are bracing themselves for a long legal battle.
16. dubbed
dub somebody + noun to give somebody/something a particular name, often in a humorous or critical way. E.g. The Belgian actor Jean–Claude Van Damme has been dubbed ‘Muscles from Brussels’.
17. last stand
stand a strong effort to defend yourself or your opinion about something. E.g. We must make a stand against further job losses. The rebels' desperate last stand.
18. upper hand
gain, get, have, etc. the upper hand to get an advantage over somebody so that you are in control of a particular situation.
19. conceded
concede (defeat) to admit that you have lost a game, an election, etc. E.g. After losing this decisive battle, the general was forced to concede. Injury forced Hicks to concede defeat.
20. turning point
turning point (in something) the time when an important change takes place, usually with the result that a situation improves. E.g. The promotion marked a turning point in her career.
21. lure
lure somebody (+ adverb/preposition) /lʊə(r)/ /ljʊə(r)/(disapproving) to persuade or trick somebody to go somewhere or to do something by promising them a reward. Entice. E.g. The child was lured into a car but managed to escape. Young people are lured to the city by the prospect of a job and money.
22. bait
bait: a person or thing that is used to catch somebody or to attract them, for example to make them do what you want. E.g. He had chosen the right bait to persuade her to go. The police used him as bait to trap the killers.
23. strategic move
24. outsmarted
outsmart somebody to gain an advantage over somebody by acting in a clever way. Outwit. E.g. She always managed to outsmart her political rivals.
25. circuit board
circuit board: /ˈsɜːkɪt bɔːd/ a board that holds electrical circuits inside a piece of electrical equipment.
26. manoeuvre
27. resigned
28. haunted
haunt somebody /hɔːnt/ if something unpleasant haunts you, it keeps coming to your mind so that you cannot forget it. Sp. obsesionar. E.g. The memory of that day still haunts me. For years she was haunted by guilt.
29. lifetime
30. frothing torrent
froth (something) if a liquid froths, or if somebody/something froths it, a mass of small bubbles appears on the surface. E.g. a cup of frothing coffee. The water gushed (= to flow or pour suddenly and quickly out of a hole in large amounts) and frothed.
torrent: a large amount of water moving very quickly. E.g. After the winter rains, the stream becomes a raging torrent. The rain was coming down in torrents.
31. interconnectedness
32. ripped
rip: to remove something quickly or violently, often by pulling it. E.g. He ripped off his tie.The carpet had been ripped from the stairs. Half of the house was ripped away in the explosion.
33. confronted by
confront: /kənˈfrʌnt/ to have something in front of you that you have to deal with or react to.
34. bulldozer
/ˈbʊldəʊzə(r)/ a powerful vehicle with a broad steel blade in front, used for moving earth or knocking down buildings
35. reassure
36. devouring
37. shrink
38. fate
39. shanty town
40. drawing on
41. accomplishments
42. deadly
43. greedy
44. ape /eɪp/ a large animal like a monkey.
45. spot of bother
46. lies just ahead
27. resigned
28. haunted
haunt somebody /hɔːnt/ if something unpleasant haunts you, it keeps coming to your mind so that you cannot forget it. Sp. obsesionar. E.g. The memory of that day still haunts me. For years she was haunted by guilt.
29. lifetime
30. frothing torrent
froth (something) if a liquid froths, or if somebody/something froths it, a mass of small bubbles appears on the surface. E.g. a cup of frothing coffee. The water gushed (= to flow or pour suddenly and quickly out of a hole in large amounts) and frothed.
torrent: a large amount of water moving very quickly. E.g. After the winter rains, the stream becomes a raging torrent. The rain was coming down in torrents.
31. interconnectedness
32. ripped
rip: to remove something quickly or violently, often by pulling it. E.g. He ripped off his tie.The carpet had been ripped from the stairs. Half of the house was ripped away in the explosion.
33. confronted by
confront: /kənˈfrʌnt/ to have something in front of you that you have to deal with or react to.
34. bulldozer
/ˈbʊldəʊzə(r)/ a powerful vehicle with a broad steel blade in front, used for moving earth or knocking down buildings
35. reassure
reassure to say or do something that makes somebody less frightened or worried. Set somebody's mind at rest. E.g. reassure somebody (about something) They tried to reassure her, but she still felt anxious. Reassure somebody that… The doctor reassured him that there was nothing seriously wrong.
36. devouring
devour: /dɪˈvaʊə(r)/
37. shrink
shrink shrank shrunk: to become or to make something smaller.
38. fate
39. shanty town
shanty town: an area in or near a town where poor people live in shanties
shanty: a small house, built of pieces of wood, metal and cardboard, where very poor people live, especially on the edge of a big city.
40. drawing on
draw on/upon something to use a supply of something that is available to you. E.g. I'll have to draw on my savings. The novelist draws heavily on her personal experiences.
41. accomplishments
42. deadly
deadly extremely
43. greedy
greedy: wanting more money, power, food, etc. than you really need. E.g. You greedy pig! You've already had two helpings! He stared at the diamonds with greedy eyes. The shareholders are greedy for profit.
44. ape /eɪp/ a large animal like a monkey.
45. spot of bother
spot: small amount of. E.g. a spot of rain.
bother: trouble or difficulty. E.g. You seem to have got yourself into a spot of bother.
46. lies just ahead
TRANSCRIPT
In time, Mao relented, and Deng was welcomed
back to Beijing as if nothing had happened.
When Mao died in 1976, the great survivor seized the chance of a political comeback.
Within two years, Deng was the most powerful man in China.
Deng's moment had come, and what a moment! He took China right round towards roaring full-throttle capitalism.
Under Deng, China's repressive state continued, but he began welding together the two big ideas that had divided the world in the 20th century.
For him, capitalism in a communist country wasn't a contradiction.
It was a pragmatic solution.
Since Deng's reforms were introduced, China's economy has been growing at an average of nearly 10% a year every year.
It's on track to become the world's biggest economy by 2016.
But there's a twist to this story, because Deng Xiaoping wasn't the only survivor.
From his wheelchair, his son, Deng Pufang, is today one of the most influential voices in China for humanitarianism and, in 2008, he was part of the team behind the Beijing Olympics.
The father's message was all about economic growth, and that is very important.
But the son's message is about the importance of compassion, and, in the end, that may matter more.
When Mao died in 1976, the great survivor seized the chance of a political comeback.
Within two years, Deng was the most powerful man in China.
Deng's moment had come, and what a moment! He took China right round towards roaring full-throttle capitalism.
Under Deng, China's repressive state continued, but he began welding together the two big ideas that had divided the world in the 20th century.
For him, capitalism in a communist country wasn't a contradiction.
It was a pragmatic solution.
Since Deng's reforms were introduced, China's economy has been growing at an average of nearly 10% a year every year.
It's on track to become the world's biggest economy by 2016.
But there's a twist to this story, because Deng Xiaoping wasn't the only survivor.
From his wheelchair, his son, Deng Pufang, is today one of the most influential voices in China for humanitarianism and, in 2008, he was part of the team behind the Beijing Olympics.
The father's message was all about economic growth, and that is very important.
But the son's message is about the importance of compassion, and, in the end, that may matter more.
The great standoff between dynamic capitalism
and tottering communism came to a dramatic end with the fall of the Berlin Wall
in 1989.
With the Cold War over, there was wild talk about the end of history.
Mao, Stalin and Hitler had all attempted to reshape humanity using political terror.
But now it seemed there was only one way forward - capitalism.
But history didn't stop.
Other people were trying to reshape the merely human and they included scientists working in the beating heart of capitalism, New York.
In 1997, a game of chess began.
The defender, the reigning world chess champion, Garry Kasparov.
The challenger, a supercomputer built by IBM.
It had a name.
Deep Blue.
[NEWSCASTER:] 'The world of chess is bracing itself 'for what they're calling the match of the century.
' The match between man and machine was dubbed "the brain's last stand".
Chess has always been seen as one of the ultimate tests of human memory and concentration and planning and intuition.
There are said to be more possible moves in a game of chess than there are atoms in the universe.
Human chess players deal with this extraordinary complexity by seeing patterns, using their imagination and their intuition.
Computers can only grind the numbers.
They have no intuition.
Or so people thought.
Kasparov opened the first game with a classic attack.
An IBM expert was carrying out the moves dictated by the computer.
A chess genius like Kasparov could calculate three moves a second.
But in that same second, his electronic opponent could process 200 million possible moves.
The world champion played an aggressive first game.
After four hours, he'd gained the upper hand.
If this was the brain's last stand, the brain seemed to be doing pretty well.
[CLICKS TIMER] Deep Blue conceded defeat.
[AUDIENCE APPLAUDS] [NEWSCASTER:] 'And Gary Kasparov has won the first game against Deep Blue 'in fantastic style.
' The second game was the turning point in the match between man and machine.
Kasparov tried to lure Deep Blue into a trap.
But the computer didn't take the bait.
It went quiet.
It processed its options...…for a full 15 minutes.
Then it ignored the trap and made a brilliant strategic move of its own.
This was the decisive moment.
It almost seemed as if the computer had been thinking.
The great master was being outsmarted by a circuit board.
Kasparov tried to escape...…but every manoeuvre was futile.
There was no way out.
The machine had beaten the man.
[AUDIENCE APPLAUD] [NEWSCASTER:] 'And Kasparov has resigned.
' Kasparov said later, "Deep Blue sees so deeply, it plays like God.
" [VEHICLES SOUND HORNS] The idea of machines waking up and becoming cleverer than we are is something that has long haunted science fiction and Hollywood, but it is the cold belief of many scientists that this will happen and in the lifetime of many of the people watching this.
If so, it would be the greatest achievement of humanity since the invention of agriculture, but it would be one which challenged the very idea of what it is to be human.
We are now, all of us, living in an age of acceleration, a frothing torrent of invention, devices, interconnectedness and smart everything.
More of us on earth live longer, healthier and wealthier lives than our ancestors would have imagined possible.
But all this consumption hasn't come free.
We've ripped through rainforests like the Amazon.
We've caused the extinction of other creatures and we've affected the climate.
It's hard to imagine the shock early humans would have felt if they were suddenly confronted by modern humanity.
Except that, at the end of the 20th century, that is exactly what happened to a small group of Indians who'd lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle for thousands of years in South America.
Parojnai, Ibore and their five children were members of the Ayoreo tribe.
'We thought that the beast with the metal skin could see us.
'We thought that it had seen our garden and came to eat the fruit 'and to eat us too.
' And of course they were quite right.
The bulldozer had come to eat their land and their way of life.
'Parojnai asked me if I was scared of the stranger.
'I said I'm not scared.
'So we went to get a closer look.
' [BANGING ON DOOR] [SHE SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE] Ibore tried to reassure the stranger.
"There's no reason to run," she said.
"We are good people.
" [HE SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE] Fernando.
Hey?
With the Cold War over, there was wild talk about the end of history.
Mao, Stalin and Hitler had all attempted to reshape humanity using political terror.
But now it seemed there was only one way forward - capitalism.
But history didn't stop.
Other people were trying to reshape the merely human and they included scientists working in the beating heart of capitalism, New York.
In 1997, a game of chess began.
The defender, the reigning world chess champion, Garry Kasparov.
The challenger, a supercomputer built by IBM.
It had a name.
Deep Blue.
[NEWSCASTER:] 'The world of chess is bracing itself 'for what they're calling the match of the century.
' The match between man and machine was dubbed "the brain's last stand".
Chess has always been seen as one of the ultimate tests of human memory and concentration and planning and intuition.
There are said to be more possible moves in a game of chess than there are atoms in the universe.
Human chess players deal with this extraordinary complexity by seeing patterns, using their imagination and their intuition.
Computers can only grind the numbers.
They have no intuition.
Or so people thought.
Kasparov opened the first game with a classic attack.
An IBM expert was carrying out the moves dictated by the computer.
A chess genius like Kasparov could calculate three moves a second.
But in that same second, his electronic opponent could process 200 million possible moves.
The world champion played an aggressive first game.
After four hours, he'd gained the upper hand.
If this was the brain's last stand, the brain seemed to be doing pretty well.
[CLICKS TIMER] Deep Blue conceded defeat.
[AUDIENCE APPLAUDS] [NEWSCASTER:] 'And Gary Kasparov has won the first game against Deep Blue 'in fantastic style.
' The second game was the turning point in the match between man and machine.
Kasparov tried to lure Deep Blue into a trap.
But the computer didn't take the bait.
It went quiet.
It processed its options...…for a full 15 minutes.
Then it ignored the trap and made a brilliant strategic move of its own.
This was the decisive moment.
It almost seemed as if the computer had been thinking.
The great master was being outsmarted by a circuit board.
Kasparov tried to escape...…but every manoeuvre was futile.
There was no way out.
The machine had beaten the man.
[AUDIENCE APPLAUD] [NEWSCASTER:] 'And Kasparov has resigned.
' Kasparov said later, "Deep Blue sees so deeply, it plays like God.
" [VEHICLES SOUND HORNS] The idea of machines waking up and becoming cleverer than we are is something that has long haunted science fiction and Hollywood, but it is the cold belief of many scientists that this will happen and in the lifetime of many of the people watching this.
If so, it would be the greatest achievement of humanity since the invention of agriculture, but it would be one which challenged the very idea of what it is to be human.
We are now, all of us, living in an age of acceleration, a frothing torrent of invention, devices, interconnectedness and smart everything.
More of us on earth live longer, healthier and wealthier lives than our ancestors would have imagined possible.
But all this consumption hasn't come free.
We've ripped through rainforests like the Amazon.
We've caused the extinction of other creatures and we've affected the climate.
It's hard to imagine the shock early humans would have felt if they were suddenly confronted by modern humanity.
Except that, at the end of the 20th century, that is exactly what happened to a small group of Indians who'd lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle for thousands of years in South America.
Parojnai, Ibore and their five children were members of the Ayoreo tribe.
'We thought that the beast with the metal skin could see us.
'We thought that it had seen our garden and came to eat the fruit 'and to eat us too.
' And of course they were quite right.
The bulldozer had come to eat their land and their way of life.
'Parojnai asked me if I was scared of the stranger.
'I said I'm not scared.
'So we went to get a closer look.
' [BANGING ON DOOR] [SHE SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE] Ibore tried to reassure the stranger.
"There's no reason to run," she said.
"We are good people.
" [HE SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE] Fernando.
Hey?
They may have been separated by thousands of
years of human development, but on both sides, their tastes, their needs,
proved humanly familiar.
Decoration, nice things, a shared humanity.
[LAUGHTER] Barcelona, Barcelona! Yeah, Barcelona. You know football.
Under the layers of experience that we call progress, we're still driven by the same instincts and desires that ruled us right at the beginning of the human story.
Today we're armed with gadgets, computers, phones, and what do we do with them? The same shopping, gossiping, consuming and sometimes protesting that we've always done.
Only now there are seven billion of us and rising rapidly.
Either we manage differently, no longer devouring quite so much so fast of the earth's natural resources, or we'll have to shrink our numbers.
So, the decisions we make in the next 50 years may well decide our fate.
Decoration, nice things, a shared humanity.
[LAUGHTER] Barcelona, Barcelona! Yeah, Barcelona. You know football.
Under the layers of experience that we call progress, we're still driven by the same instincts and desires that ruled us right at the beginning of the human story.
Today we're armed with gadgets, computers, phones, and what do we do with them? The same shopping, gossiping, consuming and sometimes protesting that we've always done.
Only now there are seven billion of us and rising rapidly.
Either we manage differently, no longer devouring quite so much so fast of the earth's natural resources, or we'll have to shrink our numbers.
So, the decisions we make in the next 50 years may well decide our fate.
I'm in
what's said to be the largest shantytown in South America, and yet it's also
got a dynamic vibrant democracy, producing growth.
This is a shantytown on the way up.
It's got a bit of law and order.
It's got some businesses.
Now, Brazil is going to be one of the most important countries in the world in the century ahead.
If they can get the balance between a better life and democracy without destroying the environment...… Big if, but if they can get that balance right here in Brazil, then perhaps mankind can get it right.
But getting it right must mean drawing on our past experience.
What else have we got to learn from but our history, all of our history? The history of the world.
Homo sapiens means "wise man".
Really? Clever, certainly.
Our technical accomplishments, awesome.
We understand our planet, the origins of our universe, even ourselves, as we've never done before, and we live in societies much less violent than most of those you've seen in this series.
But we are still deadly dangerous, very greedy and bad at looking ahead.
I'd say we're a clever ape in a spot of bother.
Societies have faced catastrophe before and found ways through them, and there's no reason why we can't do the same.
But at the end of this series, the only absolutely clear and safe prediction that I can give you is that the most interesting part of human history lies just ahead.
This is a shantytown on the way up.
It's got a bit of law and order.
It's got some businesses.
Now, Brazil is going to be one of the most important countries in the world in the century ahead.
If they can get the balance between a better life and democracy without destroying the environment...… Big if, but if they can get that balance right here in Brazil, then perhaps mankind can get it right.
But getting it right must mean drawing on our past experience.
What else have we got to learn from but our history, all of our history? The history of the world.
Homo sapiens means "wise man".
Really? Clever, certainly.
Our technical accomplishments, awesome.
We understand our planet, the origins of our universe, even ourselves, as we've never done before, and we live in societies much less violent than most of those you've seen in this series.
But we are still deadly dangerous, very greedy and bad at looking ahead.
I'd say we're a clever ape in a spot of bother.
Societies have faced catastrophe before and found ways through them, and there's no reason why we can't do the same.
But at the end of this series, the only absolutely clear and safe prediction that I can give you is that the most interesting part of human history lies just ahead.
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