All language subtitles for Butterfly.Effect.S01E12_English

- [Narrator] Our history
is no more than a series

of incredible events.

Each one of us can
influence its course.

The tiniest of our
decisions can influence

the future of mankind.

To know the past is to
anticipate the future.

October 4th, 1957.

The Soviets launch Sputnik,

the first artificial
satellite in history.

In the following years,
in order to make up

for their technological lag,

The United States conducts
an ambitious project, ARPA.

August 6th, 1991,

computer scientist, Tim
Berners-Lee, invents the web

and puts the very first
internet site online.

These three intimately
connected events

are key in the birth and in
the spread of the internet.

(dramatic music)

Communication is an essential
need for living beings.

Each species uses the means at
its disposal to communicate.

(wolf howling)
Wolves howl at the moon,

whales sing in infrasound,

ants exchange odors.

Among them, only one
has learn to go beyond

his own resources,

to communicate further, faster,

the human being.

Very early, the
first men were able

to express their emotions
in the form of words.

Articulated language is
one of the great advances

of humanity.

In antiquity, the
Greeks, like the Chinese,

organized chains of sentinels,

each within sight of the other,

the first system of
long-distance alert.

The invention of mail and
fast forms of postal service,

like the Pony Express,
revolutionized the exchange

of information.

During the French Revolution,
the telegraph is invented.

By creating combinations
of geometric shapes,

messages are sent from
Paris to Marseille

in just a few hours
instead of several days,

as previously.

In 1837, Samuel Morse develops
the first electric telegraph,

a decisive event, it
takes communications

into a new age.

From 1895 on, with the radio,

it is no longer a question
of sending messages

to one person.

It means distributing
it on a large scale,

and for free.

Antonio Meucci
invents the telephone.

Graham Bell files the patent.

In 1877, the first
telephone line is opened.

In 1922, at the
death of Graham Bell,

there are 13 million
telephones in service

throughout the world.

- [Woman] Welcome to
the memory of humanity.

Here we can control time,

analyze and compare
billions of events,

and alter them to rewrite
history endlessly.

Language is the ability
to express a thought

and communicate it by
way of a system of signs.

We agree on it, and
everybody understands.

Samuel Morse did not only
invent a communications tool,

he also developed
a language, Morse.

To each letter of the alphabet,

he associated a series
of dots and dashes,

both visual and sonic.

This very simple code can
be transmitted equally well

by electric impulses,
or by light signals

with a simple flashlight.

The Morse code for
the alert S.O.S.

has become the universal
distress signal.

A common language is
the foundation stone

of all human enterprise.

Imagine a world where all
people speak the same language.

Exchanges and collaboration
would be much more efficient.

No more fastidious translations,

no more misunderstandings.

But wouldn't our world
also be less rich?

Languages are an integral
part of our cultures.

A single language would
be very practical,

but it would
certainly be a threat

to the world's
cultural diversity.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] In
the 20th Century,

technology is put to the
service of a new form

of communication.

We can speak on the
telephone to a friend

at the other end of the earth

because the network allows it.

A whole complex system
was developed and set up.

(phone rings)

From the user's point of view,

this technological
octopus is represented

by a telephone.

To be suitable for the public,

a communications system
must be efficient

and easy to use.

In 1946, the very first
computer in history is
invented.

30 tons, with the surface
of 750 square feet,

it consumes 140 kilowatts
and fills an entire hanger.

It is reserved exclusively
for military research.

We are still a long
way from a technology

that is accessible to
all and easy to use.

20 years later, the Mastodon
has been miniaturized.

A digital triumph,

it can now fit in the
backseat of a car.

1975 sees the
founding of Microsoft,

a private company selling
computers designed

for the general public.

The next year, it's Apple.

Computers are not yet handheld

but fit easily onto a desk.

In 1980, France
develops its Teletel,

the first general public
telematics network.

It is named after its terminal,

the Minitel.

A major avenue opens
when the Macintosh goes

onto the market.

For the first time, a computer
includes drawing software,

a word processor, a mouse,

and a graphic interface.

Before the 80s,

computer technology
was perceived

as an instrument of control.

It now becomes a tool for
freedom and creativity

available to all.

But, to communicate, the
computer is not enough.

It has to be connected
to a network.

This network is
developed in parallel

with computer technology,

but in a more discrete way.

Its origin lies,
curiously enough,

in the launch of the
Soviet Sputnik satellite

in 1957.

Th United States is now faced
with a huge technological lag.

They respond with the launch
of NASA and the race to space,

but also with the
creation of ARPA in 1958.

Run by the Defense Department,

ARPA's mission is to maintain
the technological level

of the American Army far ahead
of its rivals and enemies.

ARPA is highly active,

and the American Army
is indebted to it.

For in particular,
the GPS system,

predator drones, and
the exo's exoskeletons.

In 1965, a computer in
California is connected

to another in Massachusetts.

It's the first extended
network in history.

Humanity takes its first
steps into cyberspace.

- [Woman] Troubled beginnings.

The first computer
weighed 30 tons.

The cell telephones of today
weigh a few hundred grams,

can be held in the hand,

and are incomparibly
more powerful.

The first extended
computer network

connected two computers
to each other.

Today, billions of computers
are connected one to another

and share dizzying
amounts of information.

Beginnings are often
troubled and rarely glorious.

It requires that people believe,

see the potential,
imagine the openings.

It requires visionaries.

In the last century, the
first
flights were more of less

glides of a few dozen yards.

Those machines, made
of wood and canvas,

were just able to
support themselves.

They were only capable
of carrying the pilot,

and that was it.

No immediate
application, no fame,

lack of reliability,

aviation was often
regarded as an activity

for crazy eccentrics.

But those madmen made progress.

Slowly, at first, for sure,

but after decades and
hundreds of failures,

we could cross the
Atlantic in a plane.

Adopting an inverse
model to computers,

the more technology advanced,
the bigger the planes became.

The race for gigantism in
aviation is the opposite

of the race for
miniaturization in computers.

We can never know in advance
what inventions will become.

The only answer is
to give it a try.

(computerized beeping)

- [Narrator] Two remote
computers have been connected.

It's a good start, but
it's only the beginning.

The idea is to create
a network in the form

of a huge web.

They know that a centralized
system is vulnerable,

because the
destruction of its core

causes the annihilation
of communications.

At this moment, Lawrence G.
Roberts enters the stage.

Roberts is an American
computer scientist,

physicist, and mathematician.

Having joined ARPA, he
develops a project known

as ARPANET in 1967.

The ancestor of the
internet, its objective

is to transmit information
from one computer to another

by passing via a
telephone network.

On October 29th, 1969,

the year of the first
step on the moon,

the first message is sent.

It's 10:30 pm, a
historic moment.

On the screen, having
traveled hundreds of miles

in a flash, the message appears:

L O.

These are the first two
letters of the word login.

But, the connection failed,

and the end of the
word is cut off.

The day of the first
message is also the day

of the first problem
with connection.

Then two computers are
added to the network.

Four computer
terminals form the core

of the future internet.

Very quickly, they tried
to make connections

more secure, lighter.

The best way is to
divide outgoing messages

into several pieces,

each lighter, and
therefore, easier to send.

Sent separately, the
are put back together

when they arrive on the
destination computer.

A new protocol, called TCP/IP,

increases the security of
this dividing into pieces,

and guarantees their
correct delivery.

At the beginning of the 70s,

the technique looks promising,

but by itself, it
serves no purpose.

They now have to use it,

find applications for it,

and the potential is enormous.

In 1971,

Ray Tomlinson sets up
the first basic software

for sending and receiving
electronic mail.

To differentiate the
sender from the host,

he decides to separate
the two with a symbol

that doesn't figure
in the alphabet.

The at sign.

Simple as that.

He then sends himself the
first electronic mail.

It contains the
message QWERTYUIOP,

the top line of
characters on a keyboard.

In 1983,

the part of the
ARPANET belonging

to the United
States Armed Forces

splits from the network

and becomes the MILNET.

At the end of the decade,

individuals and private
companies gain access

to the network.

For the first time, the
work internet is being used.

- [Woman] Cyber space.

Cyber space is a term
difficult to define.

It's an intangible
communications space,

created by the worldwide
interconnection of computers.

A meeting place, a new
economic and cultural
frontier,

an issue of global conflict.

It is a virtual space
beyond excellence.

It is sometimes seen as a
territory guaranteeing freedom

of circulation of information,

transparency,
sharing, democracy,
equality, world peace,

and progress.

The vocabulary of cyber
space is, incidentally,

rich with geographical
references.

We navigate on the web,

information flow
moves through portals,

gateways, channels, or ports.

Eventually, we could even
create a virtual country

and become a citizen of it.

Its borders would not be
physical, but ideological.

The possibilities of
cyberspace are enormous.

We can be in several different
places at the same time.

Everything is instantaneous,

everything can be
stored in a memory,

everything can be shared
and multiplied to infinity.

- [Narrator] Freedom.
(light rock music)

From the beginnings
of the internet,

the social dimension of the
project has been a major one.

The technical
advances are the fruit

of very special
ideologies and communities

that have made the
internet what it is today.

Because, although the internet
is financed by the military,

it was built by hippies.

Hippie communities were
born in the United States

at the beginning of the 1960s.

Supporters of the
counterculture,

Hippies opposed both
the consumer society

and any form of authority.

Today, the internet works
according to a horizontal
logic,

of all the pages making up
the web are on the same level,

none of them is dominant
in the structure.

This is not a coincidence.

ARPANET, then the internet,
are free to access.

This principal goes
against the logic

of the consumer society,
according to which everything

must be paid for.

Its technical features,
instead of being kept secret,

like a copyright,

were published, so that
all could access them.

(rock music)

Designed and developed
by engineers,

the internet will, at a stroke,

open up to the
rest of the world.

But for the general public,

technology isn't enough.

It has to be accessible,
ergonomic, intuitive.

It's Tim Berners-Lee,

researcher at the
CERN in Switzerland,

who will invent
this missing link.

(dramatic music)

He imagines an internet
equipped
with a graphic interface.

Using it could be made easy
with a system of clickable
links

called hypertext links.

These buttons would
make it possible

to navigate from
one page to another

without keying a
single line of code.

By using a little
editing program,

any user could create
his own site and host it

within a global system.

On March 13th, 1989,

Tim Berners-Lee synthesizes
his vision in a memo

that he gives to his superior.

The superior notes,
"vague, but exciting."

Tim Berners-Lee
has carte blanch.

On August 6th, 1991,

Tim Berners-Lee
announces the creation

of the World Wide Web,
HTTP, and FTTP protocols,

and the HTML language.

The Web is born.

The very first site
hosted on a CERN server

is put online.

It's a web-users manual,

hosted on Tim
Berners-Lee's computer,

it describes the main
features of the web

and explains how to
configure your own server.

More important, it provides
access to source codes.

Every person in the world
can access the heart

of the internet.

Nobody will now be
able to sell it.

By this act, Tim Berners-Lee
gifts the web to humanity.

(dramatic music)

- [Woman] We have just
reached a turning point.

A turning point is a key event,

a crossroads in our history,

where the world swings
one way or the other.

Tim Berners-Lee decides
to provide free access

to the source code,
thus enabling anyone

to create his own web server.

He could have chosen
to file a patent

and market his invention.

He would have been rich.

Imagine a world where
the web belonged to one

of several companies.

We can assume that each
company would maintain

its own network.

Like an encrypted
television channel,

access would be paying.

Their contents
would be controlled,

and would be
primarily for profit.

This system would be
like the French Minitel,

paying to get
information or a service

without having to move.

This is good, but
the web that we know

is far better than that.

It belongs to us.

It's not just about consulting,

but also creating,
sharing, and communicating.

Anyone can create a
page, and the whole world

can contribute to it.

The web moves.

It was built in a spontaneous
fashion by amateurs

passionate about
computers and technology.

Hackers.

Far from the stereotype, a
hacker is a computer expert

who creates, analyzes, and
modifies computer programs

to improve or provide new
functions for the user.

Now considered to
be mere pirates,

they are among the
pioneers of the web.

Their ideals were
generally humanist.

Tim Berners-Lee was
a hacker himself.

- [Narrator] By 1994,
a world-wide technical

and social phenomenon.

The World Wide Web had to
provide itself with a body

to manage its evolution.

This is the World
Wide Web Consortium,

or W3C.

Its president, Tim Berners-Lee.

(dramatic music)

The internet was designed
by American defense

and research organizations
at the end of the 1960s.

Then, gradually
generalized into the civil

and commercial field.

In 1985, there were
around a thousand users.

In 1994, the number rose
to more than two million,

and to nearly three billion,
420 million in 2016.

But the web designed
by Tim Berners-Lee

and the early hackers
reached its limits.

It had to evolve.

The Web 2.0 is the
fruit of this upgrade.

Watchwords, interactivity,
and participative.

The web becomes both
technically more complex

and operationally
simpler for the user.

Now the RSS flow can
show on a single page,

content provided by
multiple sources,

and each net user can
participate in real time.

The age of the Web 2.0 is one
where the use can be active,

participate, and even create.

The web is no longer considered
as a collection of sites

to be visited, but as a
platform that allows exchanges

between users.

It's an explosion of
blogs, Wikis, photos,

and video sharing,
search engine.

From the end of the 1990s,
social networks appear

on the internet.

They take the form of
groupings of individuals

or organizations
that discuss, talk,

and exchange with each other.

They share opinions,
ideas, or content.

From now on, the only
existing frontier

is the community of interest.

Today, Facebook is the
biggest social network site

in the world.

In December, 2015, it
had more than one billion

active users daily.

Through such communities,
the user is responding

to a latent and primal
need to socialize.

On the internet,
the tribal mechanism

finds a formidable tool.

Yesterday we were living in
an imposed group, the family.

Today the importance is
given to the individual.

Tomorrow the internet will
take humanity into a world

where individualism will be
associated with the notion

of a selected group.

Or maybe we're already there.

But that

is another story.

- [Woman] In 2015,

out of more than seven
billion human beings,

three billion have
access to the internet.

Every day, users spend
an average of 4.4 hours

on the net.

The amount of information
transmitted is astronomical.

It is not deleted.

Every word typed into a
search engine, like Google,

is recorded.

Somewhere, somebody knows
what searches you have done.

He knows your areas of interest,

your eating habits,
your movements.

This information is captured,
stored, and analyzed

with one precise aim:

to sell advertising space.

This is the reverse of the coin.

The internet is open and free,

but the people who design the
sites have to make a living.

There are plenty of
institutions seeking

to regulate the internet.

Some states have introduced
restrictive laws.

In parallel,
surveillance laws abound,

and many countries exercise
tight control of the network.

Forbidden content is thus
blocked in the majority

of authoritarian countries,

but also in the democracies.

Where net freedom is concerned,

China is the most
restrictive country.

Recently, in reaction
to the Arab Spring,

Egypt was able to cut
access to the network

by applying pressure
to internet providers.

Citizens were cut off
from the rest of the web

within a few hours.

The internet was
born out of a utopia,

a dream of hippie
computer experts

seeking to change the world.

They forged a functional,
sturdy, and living tool.

Driven by a vision
of a free world

where everyone would
be treated as equals,

faced with economical reality
and the consumer society,

internet hackers were not
content to persuade us

that it was possible.

They proved it.

(dramatic music)