All language subtitles for Through the Wormhole S04E02 When Does Life Begin [pseudo]

Freeman:
Everyone has a beginning.

[ Baby crying ]

But when does that beginning
begin?

Is it the instant
two cells fuse together?

Or the moment
we enter the world?

Scientists and religious leaders
don't agree

on when
the first spark of life occurs.

Is life just biology

or does
our sense of consciousness

dictate
whether we are truly alive?

If we can create consciousness,

can we build life out of nonlife
and understand when life begins?

Space, time, life itself.

The secrets of the cosmos
lie through the wormhole.

Subtital By RA_One

Life is a miracle.

That's a word we use
when we are moved by something

and when we don't understand
how it happens.

Nine months before
a child is born,

it's just a handful of cells,

no more complex, apparently,

than the bacteria
that live on our skin.

Both these clumps of cells
have genes.

They both reproduce.

One turns into something
we value greatly.

The other just makes us sick.

But they are both miracles --

a collection of chemicals with
a mysterious spark of life.

Did you ever make
your own lunches growing up?

I used to make
peanut butter sandwiches.

Every once in a while,
I'd find a moldy slice of bread.

"Where did this green fuzz
come from?" I wondered.

Just seemed to have appeared
from thin air.

I wondered what would happen
if I left it alone.

Would the mold keep growing
into a fuzzy mold monster?

It didn't.

It was alive,
but not in the way I was.

What was it inside me
that made me grow into a boy?

Maureen Condic is a biologist

at the University of Utah
School of Medicine.

She spends her weekends
traversing

the Wasatch Mountains of Utah,

where life springs up
all around her.

Condic: As a biologist,

it's always fascinating
to come to the mountains,

because there's such
a diversity of life around you,

and it all comes into being
in radically different ways.

Freeman:
All organisms reproduce,

but they have
different ways of doing it.

The Aspen trees that pervade
the mountains of Utah

clone themselves.

Offspring grow as shoots from
the roots of more mature trees,

creating growths
that are really the same tree

grown over and over again.

Some worms, on the other hand,

create their next generations
in a different way.

Condic: There's a whole class
of worms known as planaria.

They reproduce by attaching
the back of their body to a rock

and stretching themselves out

until they literally
tear themselves in two.

And then each of the two halves
produce a full worm.

Freeman: Nature offers
myriad ways for life to begin.

But the one
that fascinates Maureen

is the way it happens
for you and me.

And, no,
it doesn't involve a stork.

Condic: So, human life
comes into existence

in just a fraction of a second.

You have
a human egg and a human sperm,

and their sole purpose in life
is to find each other and fuse.

So, they come together,
and in that one instant,

you create a new kind of cell --
a one-celled human embryo.

Freeman: This new cell has its
own genetic code, its own DNA,

that is a unique mixture
of the egg and the sperm.

Condic:
And within this single cell,

there's a complete plan
for development.

Development doesn't create
that information.

It's there
from the very beginning.

Freeman: From her understanding
of embryology,

Maureen concludes that the life
of a unique human individual

begins within
the 1/4 of a second

it takes the sperm and the egg
to unite.

That single-celled embryo

contains
an elaborate instruction manual

with all of the information
needed to create a human being.

You can think of it like

a camping tent
that builds itself.

So, our tent is self-assembling
because it has

all of the parts it needs
to put itself together

and because it has a set of
instructions built into it

that allow it to assemble
into its final state.

Freeman:
Life is like this tent,

only a billion times
more complex.

After the single-celled embryo
is formed,

it takes a journey
down the fallopian tubes

to the uterus,

where it begins
the process of cell division,

from 2 cells to 4 to 8 to 16
and so on.

After about one week,

the embryo
arrives at the uterine wall

and implants itself.

A week later,
the cells of the embryo

begin to reorganize themselves
into a primitive body.

After three weeks,

the beginning of
the nervous system is in place.

As days go on,
cells continue to multiply,

blood vessels form,
the heart starts to beat,

the backbone takes shape,

arms and legs
begin to bulge out.

During that time,

the formation of the brain
begins.

Condic: The cells and tissues
of the embryo

undergo these amazingly complex
cellular gymnastics

to give rise to structures,
organs,

complex relationships
that turn that flat embryo

into something that has form.

Freeman: Maureen's
biological understanding

of the development
of a human embryo

leaves her with little doubt

about when
a new human life begins.

We all trace our own origins
back to this single cell

that came into existence
at sperm-egg fusion.

It's something
we should try to understand

as a process of self-discovery,

as a process
of understanding our natures.

This is where we began.

Freeman: But not all scientists
trace an individual's origins

back to just two cells.

In fact, some scientists believe
within one individual

there could be the ghosts
of multiple lives,

that life on earth is
an unbreakable chain of events

where one generation
and the next

are blurred together.

Gammill: When I was a kid, I would go
and visit my grandfather,

and he used to play chess,
and I would go and watch him,

and I grew up
learning to play with him...

Pawn to G-4.

...and then my father
also taught my son,

and now my son and I play.

[ Distorted voice ]
Checkmate.

I think there's an interesting
parallel between chess

that was passed
from one generation to another,

and what we know
biologically now

is the passage of cells
between generations.

Freeman:
Dr. Hilary Gammill

from the Fred Hutchinson
Cancer Research Center

believes individual lives

are more interwoven
than we ever imagined.

She wonders if inside all of us

there are traces
of our relatives,

dating back generations.

Gammill: My area of focus
is on the exchange of cells

between a mother and fetus
during pregnancy.

The classic textbooks
used to state

that there was
absolutely no contact

between the fetal blood
and the maternal blood --

they were just protected
in separate compartments.

Freeman: For years, scientists
thought when the placenta forms,

it acts
as an impenetrable barrier

between the mother
and the fetus,

so nothing as large

as a foreign cell
with foreign genes

could pass through --

baby's DNA
stays within the baby,

and mom's DNA
stays with the mom.

By peering into
the bloodstreams of mothers,

Hilary and her team have
discovered something remarkable.

When they sampled
just a teaspoon

of blood from the mothers,

they found dozens and dozens of
foreign cells floating around,

cells from the mothers' babies.

So, we actually understand now
that throughout pregnancy,

there is bidirectional exchange
of information cells and DNA

between the mother
and the fetus.

Freeman: Hilary's work shows the placenta
is not at all impenetrable.

It's more like a sieve.

There are miniscule holes

that let cells out
and let cells in.

These foreign cells can survive
in our bodies for decades.

It's an exchange that happens

not only between
mother and fetus.

Cells from other relatives
may sneak in, too.

It is theoretically possible
that we could have cells

that are exchanged from multiple
different sources --

you know, older siblings

and certainly
mothers and fetuses,

but past generations, as well.

Freeman: When a mother
acquires cells from a fetus,

she could pass on
these baby cells

to her next child.

A younger sibling
could have cells

from the body
of an older sibling.

These cells are more
than just a curiosity.

They can act as soldiers
in the body

and combat disease...

Those cells can be active
against cancer cells

that develop in the recipient.

Freeman: ...But not all
of these exchanged cells

protect and defend.

When our immune system

detects these foreign cells
in the bloodstream,

it may decide to attack them.

Gammill: These small numbers
of foreign cells

that are persistent
in an individual

are associated
with disease states,

like autoimmune diseases
like systemic sclerosis.

The exchange of cells

may have both positive
and negative consequences

for the health
of the individuals involved.

Freeman: The presence of cells
from our relatives

could change the course
of our entire lives,

making us
all more interconnected

than we ever thought possible.

Gammill: Understanding
that cells are exchanged

commonly between individuals,

I think, blurs the borders
between those individuals

so that the beginning
of one life

and the end of another life
are a little bit less clear.

Freeman: The life
of some parts of our bodies

actually begins before
our sperm and egg have ever met,

but one doctor in Stockholm

wants to push
the beginning of life

in the other direction.

He believes we cannot be alive
until we know we are alive.

When does human life begin?

In this age
of in vitro fertilization

and prenatal medicine,

it's a question
that scientists and doctors

struggle to answer every day.

Perhaps there's another way
to approach the question.

How do you know
if someone is home?

You knock on the door,
see if someone answers.

When Dr. Hugo Lagercrantz
was a younger man,

his life was stressful.

[ Baby crying ]

He was the director of
the neonatal intensive care unit

at the Astrid Lindgren
Children's Hospital

in Stockholm,

where he monitored fetuses
and newborn babies.

Fetal monitoring
was quite new at that time.

There were a lot
of false alarms,

so [chuckles]
it was distressing.

Freeman: But Hugo's patients
experienced far more stress

than he ever did --

not the mothers,
the babies.

Lagercrantz: Being born is the most
stressful event in life,

particularly if you're born
in the natural way.

Freeman:
When we are born,

we're taken
from our warm, safe womb

and thrown into the world.

It's the most dramatic day
of our lives,

but it's a day
we don't even remember.

This made Hugo wonder,

"When do babies become aware
of what's going on?

When does consciousness begin?"

He thinks we can look for clues
by looking at fish.

Lagercrantz: Now there is
a new law in Sweden

that you're not allowed to
use hooks when you're fishing.

The idea is that they think

that the fish may be conscious
and suffer,

and certainly
the fish reacts to pain,

but I don't think the fish
is conscious about pain.

It's more kind of a reflex.

Freeman:
According to Hugo,

fish cannot experience
the psychological aspect of pain

because they lack
the brain circuitry

called
thalamocortical connections.

Thank you.

Thalamocortical connections

operate like a switchboard
in the human brain.

Whenever we see, hear, touch,
smell, or taste something,

electrical signals go from
our sensory organs to the cortex

so our brains can process
what we experience in the world.

These
thalamocortical connections

are crucial for consciousness

because we believe
that consciousness --

at least high consciousness --
is localized in the cortex,

and if what you see,
what you hear, what you sense

doesn't reach the cortex,

then you cannot be conscious
about it.

Freeman: Hugo is now
a neonatal researcher

and studies when human brains
develop these connections.

When does the first spark
of consciousness happen?

Donato,
a 4-day-old full-term baby,

is here to help Hugo find out.

There are several criteria
for consciousness.

One is being awake

and then to be aware
of your body

and then, of course,
to be aware what you see

and hear and smell, et cetera.

Freeman: Hugo and his team
connect Donato to an instrument

that measures blood flow
in his brain.

[ Monitor beeping ]

When Donato is exposed
to certain stimuli,

Hugo can tell

if the baby's brain
is receiving signals

and processing
the outside world.

Milk is a scent
Donato is used to,

which is why he shows
little blood flow.

Vanilla, on the other hand,
is a pleasant surprise,

causing the blood flow
in the brain to spike.

[ Monitor beeping ]

Lagercrantz:
With vanilla, it indicates

that the baby reacted
in the cortex to this smell.

Freeman: When Hugo gives Donato a whiff
of a toxic odor, like acetone,

he has a very negative reaction.

His blood flow goes down,

even below where he started
before he smelled the milk.

It tells us that the baby
seems to be conscious

of the good and bad smell,

which, I think,
is very important

from an evolutionary
point of view.

For survival, I mean,
you must be able

to differentiate between
what is good for you

and what is poisonous
or not good for you.

Freeman:
Hugo's study proves

that even a 4-day-old baby
is already conscious,

but what about
before we reach full-term?

Testing for consciousness
in fetuses

is too invasive
with current medical technology,

so Hugo tries to get clues

by studying premature infants
born as young as 22 weeks.

I would say
that after 25, 26 weeks

that they seem to have
some degree of consciousness,

but before that,
there are very few signs

that they are conscious.

Freeman: Hugo's research
has led him to believe

that a baby cannot be conscious
until it is about 25 weeks old.

So, is this when life begins?

I think before consciousness
has developed,

you are not a person, actually.

I think this is the time
when life begins.

Freeman: But one child psychologist
thinks the beginning of life

comes much later...

...later than
you could ever imagine.

Mark Twain once wrote,

"Man is the only animal
that blushes...

or needs to."

Blushing
is a uniquely human reaction,

one that stems

from our high level
of self-awareness,

but babies don't blush.

It's something
they have to learn.

Does human life only truly begin
when we become self-conscious?

Philippe Rochat
is a child psychologist

at Emory University.

He has spent his career

embarrassing himself
in the name of science.

So, if I have my sticker
on the forehead

and I see people
giving me looks, okay,

I'm gonna start to be
unsettled and concerned.

I mean, something is wrong
about myself.

I think that to be human is to
be concerned about reputation.

At the psychological
and cultural level,

life begins, indeed, in humans

with the emergence
of self-consciousness --

blushing, embarrassment,
and shame.

Freeman: Humans have developed
a social brain.

We are the only species

that do things
like wear clothes and jewelry.

Monkeys don't wear makeup.

We are the only species

that is profoundly concerned
with how the world sees us.

According to Philippe,

only when a child
develops this concern

is he fully human
and psychologically alive.

Rochat: Okay.

Come in.

Philippe is the head of
the Emory Infant and Child Lab,

where he is trying to detect
when children become aware

of how they are perceived
by the world.

You can sit here.
Okay.

He says a first sign
is when a child feels

the pressure
to go along with a crowd.

Meet 1-year-old Booker.

Hey, Booker,
we're gonna play.

Philippe and Booker's mother

have pink stickers
on their foreheads.

Look --
this is goo-goo.

Rochat:
So, we create this social norm.

Then we place the mark
on the kid's head

unbeknownst to him,
surreptitiously,

and we look at
the child's reaction

when he sees that he, too,
has a mark on the forehead.

Freeman: If Booker's brain
has developed an awareness

of what other people
think of him,

he will leave the sticker
on his head

to fit in with the others...

...but Booker is more concerned

with getting the pesky sticker
off his head

than he is with fitting in.

Okay, Kayden,

are you comfortable
there, huh?

But when Philippe tries
the same test

on 4-year-old Kayden,

he gets
a very different reaction.

Kayden basically freezes
in front of his own image.

He noticed that we all
have a sticker on the forehead,

and he leaves the sticker on.

So, there's this idea
of conformity.

They care about their own image
and self-presentation.

This is something that emerges
by two to three years of age.

Freeman:
It's a big milestone,

but Philippe's research
has shown

that even a 3-year-old
is not yet fully self-aware.

What?!

Paper on my head?

There is still another level

of psychological development
to reach.

Okay. Look.
I have some cups here.

I think
they are beautiful.

This is 4-year-old Sidney.

I'm gonna build something
with them.

Sidney watches as Philippe
builds what he is calling

the most beautiful sculpture
in the world.

Whoa!

But it's
very fragile, huh?

I'm not sure
it's gonna hold,

but I'm gonna get some glue
to put the cups together.

So, don't touch it,
okay?

I'll be right back.

As Sidney patiently waits
for Philippe to return with glue

to secure
the precious work of art,

Philippe secretly pulls
a transparent fish wire

that is connected
to a bottom cup.

And the question is,
is to what extent

the child will show concern

that he's gonna be seen
as responsible

for the collapsing
of the sculpture.

Freeman: Sidney is not fazed
by the tragic collapse

because he does not care
if he looks like the culprit.

Everything okay?

Oh! What happened?

Did you touch it?

No.

He's not concerned with
how Philippe will perceive him.

When Philippe
plays the same trick

on 5-year-old Milo...

That was scary.

...he takes action
and tries to rebuild the pyramid

before Philippe returns.

Rochat: And what we've seen
with Milo and other 5-year-olds

is the great concern...

...about how are they gonna
be perceived and judged,

which is a huge step

in the development
of consciousness.

Freeman: Philippe's tests
chart the development

of a fully conscious brain.

Just as a fetus develops
in stages

from a single cell to a baby
over the course of nine months,

consciousness in the brain
grows in stages, too.

Philippe believes consciousness
comes to full-term

after about five years...

What happened?

It just fell
by itself.

How is that possible?

...and to him, it's the mark
of when we are truly alive.

Why don't we
put it back together?

Rochat:
What it means to be alive?

I think it's not to be a robot
and not to be a machine.

To be alive
is more than sensing the world,

but to be alive
is to feel the world.

To say that a child's life
does not begin

until he becomes self-conscious
has radical implications.

A 4-year-old is not alive,

but a newborn
piece of machinery might be...

If it can think on its own.

Even a child can tell
that a spider is alive...

...and a rock is not...

...but what if a lifeless object
became a life-form?

Can life begin
inside something that's dead?

Good afternoon.
Thank you for coming.

I'm here to do a presentation
on Project Annabelle.

Freeman: Kate Izhikevich
is on a serious mission.

She has a plan to build
the first ever living machine.

I've always wanted a chihuahua,
and I've always had a thing

that I wanted to name it --
Annabelle.

Freeman: She is facing
her toughest critic yet --

renowned computational
neuroscientist

Eugene Izhikevich,
also known as dad.

I decided that, what if I could
make a dog that was robotic?

Eugene: Kate has been asking me
for a real dog

since she was three years old,

and for the last two years,

she has been asking me
for a robotic dog.

So, no mess.
It eats and poops out batteries.

Kate thinks that
Project Annabelle is possible

because I do
computational neuroscience

and I build artificial
nervous systems for robots.

Kate:
I hope Project Annabelle

will become
my dad's first priority.

Thank you.

Freeman: Kate thinks her dad
is the best man for the job.

Eugene has built
the most detailed computer model

of the human brain --

100 billion neurons

and almost 1 quadrillion
synapses.

His ultimate goal
is to create consciousness

in an artificial nervous system.

He thinks
it could be the beginning

of a new life-form,
one never before seen on earth.

I don't believe that
consciousness is something

that only has to be
part of a human brain.

I think we can create
computer programs for robots

that possess this property.

Freeman:
Eugene and his team

think they have found a way
to do this.

Instead of giving robots
step-by-step instructions

with a program
to make them move,

they want their robots
to figure out how to move

and learn on their own,

just like living,
conscious beings.

They are building
their robots' electronic brains

modeled on biological ones.

Somebody says, "What's the most
important concept in the brain?"

I would say it's the neuron.

Freeman:
Neurons are the brain cells

that help
conscious, biological beings,

like these dogs, learn.

We may think biscuits
are the key to a dog's learning,

but it's actually
the neurons in his brain.

When a dog learns how to fetch,
the neurons in his brain

fire spikes of electricity
that create pathways.

As he practices more and more,

his neurons fire
faster and faster

and electricity
flows more efficiently

down the new pathway.

[ Dog panting ]

[ Dog barks ]

[ Dog barks ]

Eugene and his team
of roboticists

are building artificial networks
of neurons

that fire spikes of electricity
and create favored pathways

just like the neurons
in a biological brain.

They wanted to see
what would happen

if they wired
these spiking neurons

to a robotic body.

Could a robot learn how to move
and become aware of its body

and its environment
all by itself?

Could a robot become conscious?

Eugene:
Our approach to robotics

is quite different
from the standard approach.

We don't program robots.

We endow them
with artificial nervous systems

and their own experiences.

For example, a robot starts
by moving their hands

and moving their necks

and just exploring
their own body,

and after that, users --
people -- can teach the robots

the same way as they teach dogs
and cats different tricks --

with reward and punishment.

Freeman: Eugene and his team
use different body shapes

to see how many kinds
of movements a robot can learn.

This robot is trying
to learn how to stand up.

Its artificial brain
is telling its body how to move.

Eugene:
They look alive,

and some of the demos
that I show to my daughter

look so creepy that she's said

that we're torturing
a baby robot.

Freeman: By endowing Eugene's
artificial brains with a body

and letting them
explore the world,

these robots
acquire experience...

They development behaviors.

Are they becoming alive?

You can imagine a situation
when you have a set of robots

having access to raw materials.

You can even hypothesize that
it's possible for these robots

to kind of create copies
of themselves,

and then
such a community of robots

would act as a life system.

Freeman:
Perhaps the day will come

when one of Eugene's robots
will feel emotion,

maybe even blush.

Artificial life will then
be indistinguishable

from our own...

...but building robots
may not be the only way

to create new life on earth.

One scientist in Denmark

is searching
for the perfect recipe.

He thinks the ingredients
to produce new life-forms

are right under our noses.

If we build robots
that become self-aware,

then humanity will have created
an entirely new form of life.

It will be the first time
in billions of years

that something nonliving
became living,

but there might be another way
to create brand-new life-forms,

not in a robot,
but in a petri dish.

Martin Hanczyc

from the University
of Southern Denmark

is trying to figure out
when life begins

by going back
to a time when life was simpler.

As a biochemist, he knows that
in order to understand life,

he has to look
at the simplest form

that appeared on earth
a very long time ago.

Hanczyc: When we think about
the origin of life,

there must've been
a very interesting transition

from material that we wouldn't
consider living

that gave rise to organize

what we would call
life or biology.

So, it's a big mystery,
and it's a fascinating mystery.

Freeman: How can inanimate objects
become animate?

What sparked the transition
from nonliving to living?

Martin's work as a biochemist
inspires him

to ask that question
wherever he looks.

Hanczyc: So, what we're looking at here
is an old windmill.

It's from, I think, the 1830s,
and we are considering

whether an artificial
construction like this

has any similarity
to living systems.

Living systems have a body,
they have a metabolism,

and they have some sort
of inheritable information.

Freeman: Clearly,
this windmill has a body.

It has a metabolism

that takes wind energy
from the outside

and uses it as power,

and it has
inheritable information.

Hanczyc: There is a blueprint
for this that has information

about how
to put the parts together

to make a functional windmill.

Freeman: Humans can use these blueprints
and create modern windmills.

In a sense, you could say

that windmills
have evolved and multiplied.

However,
something important is missing.

Windmills cannot grow
all by themselves.

They rely on humans
to assemble them,

but the first forms of life
must've assembled themselves.

Martin wanted to see

if he could find a recipe
made of nonliving materials

that could build itself a body
and become alive.

We think one of the key steps
in the origin of life

is actually the self-assembly
of molecules together.

Freeman: Martin wondered
what kind of chemicals

might behave like this.

He realized
he had to look no further

than the kitchen pantry -- oil.

As we all know,
when you combine oil and water,

they don't mix,

but the combination
forces the oil molecules

to self-assemble
and form big droplets.

[ Oil molecules cheering ]

These are the bodies
Martin decided to use

for his lab-made life.

[ Oil molecules scream ]

Hanczyc: So, when we make an oil droplet
in a dish, nothing happens.

You just get a nice,
spherical oil drop

that just sits there
in the dish,

but the key was how to, then,

power some sort of movement
of the system.

We wanted
to put in a metabolism.

Freeman: Martin injected
his oil droplets with molecules

that break down
into soap bubbles

when they encounter water.

The bubbles spread
from the middle of the droplets

to the edge, pushing them
around like a motor.

It's a working metabolism.

You could say it's almost alive.

Hanczyc: We were very excited
when we saw this

because not only does it work,
but it worked rather quickly.

Freeman: Martin has successfully created
a self-assembling body

that can metabolize
and move on its own.

Next, he arranged
for a little oil-droplet soiree.

Could he mimic
the process of reproduction?

Hanczyc:
And it's interesting

that when we put more than one
droplet into an experiment,

they tend to follow one another,
almost like a dance.

Freeman: The oil droplets
are being social,

and we all know
what a little mingling

and some good chemistry
can lead to.

Each droplet is giving out
a chemical signal,

and therefore the droplets

are able to communicate
with each other

through this kind
of chemical language.

Freeman: But even if one of Martin's
droplets meets "the one,"

what about
inheritable information?

Do they have
a genetic blueprint?

We are thinking
of how to address this question

of inheritance
and genetic information.

One way to do it is to take
some lessons from biology

and put something in
like RNA or DNA,

but we're thinking
of more primitive ways

of understanding
the emergence of information.

Freeman:
Martin is still working

on recipes
for inheritable information,

and he's on the brink

of creating a living organism
from nonliving materials.

If there is a line

between the living
and nonliving systems,

then it must be
a very blurry line.

Freeman: From artificial cells
to artificial neurons,

scientists are creating new life
with their own hands,

but one former physicist

thinks there could be
another version of life arising,

growing out of
the collective experience

of all of humanity.

Life on earth began

as a simple cycle
of chemical reactions

in a bubbling, primordial pond.

Four billion years later,

those chemical reactions
have spread across the planet

and have become so complex

that they can think and talk,
like me,

but something new is happening.

Connections between computers
have spread worldwide,

forming a dense electronic web,

and now these global networks --
one electronic, one chemical --

are interacting.

A new life
could be about to begin

on a scale unlike anything
earth has ever known.

Evolutionary cyberneticist
Francis Heylighen

at the free University
of Brussels

thinks humanity is giving birth,
and this baby is big.

Heylighen:
If we look at global society,

at all the seven billion people
on this planet,

people become more and more
connected into a coherent being.

The Internet
gives you immediate access

to all the important ideas.

Nowadays,
ideas travel the ocean.

They can do that
with almost the speed of light.

That means
the speed is comparable

to the speed that
the neurons in our brain use

to talk to each other.

Freeman: The global network
that connects all of us

facilitates massive amounts
of information sharing,

information
that has unveiled secrets

that explain
how our universe works.

The Large Hadron Collider
at Cern, for example,

could not have detected
the elusive Higgs boson

without the ability to share
tremendous amounts of data

across the globe
at great speeds.

Heylighen: If Galileo
could immediately have talked

with all his colleagues,

I'm sure that science would've
developed much more quickly.

Freeman: Francis and his team
of computer scientists

have invented
a mathematical model

to measure
what the Internet is doing.

Their goal is to find out

whether it is becoming
a global brain.

Heylighen: In the mathematical model,
like in all scientific models,

you make a kind of
simplification of reality.

Instead of having a real person,

you will have
a small computer program

that in some way
behaves like a real person.

Freeman: Francis' models
are like global fMRIs,

where people act like
the neurons in a giant brain.

Just as neurons learn
by firing back and forth,

people fire information
to one another electronically.

Francis believes
as connections between people

increase in number and strength,

our global brain
will become more intelligent.

Hmm.

Heylighen: You see that the network
of connections --

it's getting better
at what it needs to do.

New connections are created,

old connections that
are no longer useful disappear,

and the whole thing
is constantly self-organizing.

Freeman:
Francis' work has shown him

that our global brain
is adapting, learning.

Humanity and the Internet
are merging

to become a giant, living being.

He compares this beginning
of global life

to the beginning of life

for his 9-year-old
daughter, Nia.

This is a picture
of Nia in the womb.

She had a rudimentary brain,

but the brain
was basically a bunch of cells.

There was no interconnection --

learning and experiencing
over the months and the years

to find what
are the right connections.

She started out
as this bunch of cells,

but then she gradually developed
into a smart, intelligent,

adventurous little girl
that likes to climb in trees.

Freeman:
A single cell in Nia's body

doesn't know
what to do on its own.

It is the coordinated effort

of the billions of neurons
in her brain

that tells her leg muscles
how to climb a tree trunk

and tells her arm muscles

how to propel herself
from branch to branch.

Francis believes
humans and the web

are working together
in the same way.

If life begins with a brain,

then humanity has just climbed
to a new level of awareness.

Heylighen: It is the beginning
of consciousness

at the global level

that we see with the emergence
of the Internet.

So, it is a kind of
a beginning of life.

Freeman: A human being
cannot survive without a brain,

a brain cannot survive
without a body,

and now the body of humanity
and the brain of the web

may be evolving into
a superintelligent organism.

Could it be the beginning
of a new form of life?

When does life begin?

We now know
there are several answers

to this question.

When sperm and egg meet,

they create a new and unique
genetic blueprint.

Life takes another leap forward
when creatures become conscious,

be they babies,
toddlers, or robots.

And when all those
individual life-forms merge,

becoming part
of a global superorganism,

life on earth will advance
one more step,

and perhaps, one day,

that new life-form will ask
where its life began

and what miracles
are yet to be born.

Subtital By RA_One