All language subtitles for Butterfly.Effect.S03E11_English

- [Narrator] Our history

is no more than a series
of incredible events.

Every one of us can
influence its course.

(dramatic orchestral music)

The most infinitesimal
of our decisions

can influence the
future of humanity.

To know the past is
to foresee the future.

October 21st, 1805, Trafalgar,
off the Spanish coast.

Onboard the Saint-Etienne,

flagship of the
French imperial fleet,

the steam engines of
the Papin Industries

run at full capacity.

Using the strength of steam,

the powerful battleship
charges at the British fleet.

At the end of the 17th
century,
the engineer, Denis Papin,

has succeeded in finding
practical applications

to his new invention,
the steam piston.

France has quickly become

the center of a huge
industrial revolution.

The country is now covered
with factories and coalmines.

From the moment he
came into office,

the admiral Napoleon Bonaparte,
in the service of the king,

launched the development
of new weapons using steam.

But none of that ever happened.

In 1690, France lost
its opportunity.

Britain will be the birthplace
of the Industrial Revolution.

1690, Denis Papin develops
the piston steam engine.

However, this invention
will never succeed

in going beyond prototype.

19th century, Europe is
covered with factory chimneys.

Everywhere, miners are sent
underground to mine coal.

March 1906, France,
mines of Courrieres.

68 miles of galleries are
destroyed by an explosion

which kills more
than 1,000 miners.

These three events are key
moments of coal mining in
Europe

and constitute the other side
of the Industrial Revolution.

Man and machine.

From antiquity, men
have vied in ingenuity

to develop complex machines.

From the exploitation
of animal strength

to the channeling
of natural forces.

From the invention of the
wheel
to the hydraulic millstone.

From the 10th century,

the countryside of Europe
is covered with mills,

each one of them
capable of carrying out

the work of about 15 men.

Yet, in 1690, a man
is about to write

a new chapter in history.

The French engineer Denis Papin

is testing his new invention,

a mechanism which
works with steam.

A cylinder containing a
piston is filled with water.

Brought to a boil, water
is converted into steam

and pushes the
piston to the top.

When the cylinder cools down,
the piston goes back down.

The cycle repeats itself
as long as the fire is fed.

Denis Papin has just
laid the foundation

of the steam engine.

But isolated, he doesn't develop

the potential of his prototype.

A few years later,
the Englishman Savery
develops a system

allowing the draining
of stagnant water

from the bottom of the mines.

It functions
slightly differently.

This time, water
is put in a boiler.

The steam is then channeled
in a leak-proof enclosure.

When the steam cools down,

it condenses and
creates a vacuum.

This vacuum is used to
evacuate the water below.

In 1712, a third
engineer, Newcomen,

conceives his own pumping system

combining the two
previous inventions:

the first steam
engine in history.

This allows just two men

to drain as much
water in 48 hours

as 20 men and 50 horses working
day and night for a week.

The success is immediate
and it is only the beginning

because these innovations have
also affected other trades.

The development of the flying
shuttle for the weaving looms

has quadrupled productivity.

30 years later, it is
multiplied 20-fold.

In Great Britain, production
soars, prices drop,

living standards increase,
more and more important loans

are granted to businessmen by
the banks, academies flourish.

Innovation radically
changes British society.

18th century England is
fascinated by science

and its practical applications.

New methods are developed
to produce steel.

Inventions combine steam
power and new weaving looms.

It is a real chain reaction,

the triumph of mechanization
and industrial revolution.

- [Robotic Woman] Welcome
to the memory of humanity.

Every historical event,
regardless of how small,

is recorded and connected.

You only need to change one
to upset all the others.

Here, we are able
to control time,

analyze and compare
billions of events

in order to rewrite
history in infinite ways.

At the end of the 18th
century, 2,000 Norman workers,

worried that their trade was
being called into question,

besiege a mill and destroy
the spinning machines.

With the industrial
development, thousands of people

see their skills
replaced by the machine.

In 1939, the economist
Joseph Schumpeter

theorizes about
creative destruction.

According to him, after
a major innovation,

the economy enters a
period of creative growth

which fosters employment,

followed by a period
of economic depression

when innovations chase the
outdated companies away,

causing unemployment.

Machines destroy some jobs,

but manufacturing
and maintaining them
creates new ones.

The balance is stable,

at least in theory.

But people who lose their job

on the grounds of innovation
are not trained in new
skills.

They become obsolete,

out of date in the eyes of
the great cycle of economy.

- [Narrator] University
of Glasgow, Scotland.

The young James Watt
works on the maintenance

of the university's
scientific instruments.

One day in 1763, he is
entrusted with a special job:

to fix the small-scale model
of the Newcomen Machine.

Convinced that he can
improve its output,

he studies it in detail.

He identifies its weakness:

the necessary cooling
of the cylinder

to allow the
condensation of steam

as well as its big
loss of energy.

In order to get 'round
these deficiencies,

he adds a separate tank to the
system called the condenser,

an idea that he immediately
protects with a patent.

Watt carries on
with his research

and develops the
principle of dual action.

Steam is used alternately on
the two faces of the piston.

He thus succeeds in
considerably increasing

the output of the
Newcomen engine.

He patents his invention again,

joins with the
manufacturer Boulten,

and starts the
conquest of the market.

Between 1776 and 1800, they
sell 500 of their machines.

They achieve a
resounding success.

But Watt doesn't stop here.

A pressure gauge,

an improved pendulum to
keep a rectilinear swing,

as well as an automatic
pressure regulator are added.

Inspired, he invents a
new unit of measurement

to help the investors

understand the capacity of
his product: horsepower.

One horsepower is equivalent
to the strength necessary

for a horse to lift 75 kilograms

one meter high in one second.

Backed by its 15 horsepower,

the machine adapts itself
to different kinds of uses:

pumping of mines,
gearing of mills,

but also to boilers for
locomotives and steamboats.

The energy of men and animal

is gradually giving way
to the mineral energy.

The West enters the Steam Age.

- [Robotic Woman] We are now
at a point of divergence.

A point of divergence
is a key moment,

a crossroads in our history

where our world can swing
from one side or the other.

The Industrial Revolution
was born in Britain.

A quite exceptional
conjunction of factors

has come into play:

economic dynamism, stable
political situation,

agriculture surplus,
abundance of raw materials.

Watts' genius was not only
to develop a technology,

but above all to find
practical applications for
it.

A few decades earlier,
another point of divergence

had almost changed
the face of the world.

From 1690, the
Frenchman Denis Papin

had understood the
importance of his invention,

especially its
potential applications.

However, for this Protestant
with no resources,

Catholic France had
nothing more to offer.

Exiled, he won't have the means
to carry on with his work.

If Denis Papin had been able
to exploit his invention,

the Industrial Revolution
might have been born in France.

France would've thus
overtaken England,

developing its
industry and its army,

even defying its great
rival on the seas.

French history would've taken

a radically different
turning point.

- [Narrator] Street lighting.

Individual heating.

Agricultural mechanization.

Rail transport.

Steam navy.

All of that thanks to
a black and dirty rock

deeply buried underground
since the dawn of time: coal.

Coal is a fossil fuel.

The countless boilers which
supply the precious steam,

the driving force behind
the spiral of modernity,

guzzle coal every day.

However, to obtain coal,

it is necessary to dig
and unearth a vein,

these layers rich in coal
which snake under our feet,

sometimes at several
hundred meters down.

And if, at ground level,

coal allows the machines
to replace the human being

in the depths of the
earth, roles are reversed.

Men are required to extract

the black rock from
the Earth's crust.

Every day, armies of miners

converge at the foot of
the mines' headframes.

These huge metal structures

will allow them to go
down in the darkness

equipped with a simple lamp

in search of this so-precious
ore for men at the surface.

The work rate is unimaginable.

The pits swallow miners at dawn

and, 14 hours later, spit
them out covered with soot.

Because the machines of the
revolution mustn't stop,

these voracious ogres,

which became essential
to mankind, must be fed.

So, miners dig, always
deeper and deeper.

The soil is scraped.

Loose stones are evacuated.

Rock is blown up with dynamite.

The coal tips and the slagheaps,

where excavation
scraps are accumulated,

gradually become
hills, then mountains.

Deep down in coal mines,

after a suffocating
descent in the mineshaft,

miners maneuver in a
maze of dark galleries

where reign heat, dampness,
and an environment

saturated with coal
dust and stagnant gas.

Danger lurks.

There are daily accidents.

Miners die in vertiginous falls,

crushed under heaps of rocks,

burnt alive by fires,
drowned in floods,

or, even more unpredictable,

pulverized by an
exploding of gas pockets,

the famous firedamp explosions.

It is impossible to flee
from this enclosed maze.

Dozens, even
hundreds of workers,

are killed by these
accidents each time.

Miners see their bodies
suffering, becoming distorted.

Nobody comes out from
the pit unharmed.

And it is only the visible part,

because miners die young
of various infections.

Even years later, miners
die from the silicosis,

this implacable reaper which
suffocates its victims.

The salaries, a pittance,
depend on the output.

Consequently, miners
never have a break,

work relentlessly
at a killing pace.

Even children are called upon.

Quite often, pregnant
women work until childbirth

and go back to work
the following day.

Miners are the fuel behind
the Industrial Revolution.

(light trance music)

- [Robotic Woman]
The 19th century

was the era of both
triumphant liberalism

and the emergence
of socialist ideas.

Indeed, if landscapes
were transformed

by the appearance of
factories and mineshafts,

society has also
experienced radical changes.

Capitalism is a system in
which means of production

are held by private persons,

favoring innovation and
enterprising spirit.

According to the
economist Karl Marx,

working is the
essence of mankind

and society is divided
into two classes.

The proletariat is
made up of workers,

the capitalist bourgeoisie
embodied by employers.

For Marx, the proletarian
refers to the person

who has only his or
her working force

in exchange for a salary.

On the opposite side,

the capitalist is the person
who enriches his capital

by exploiting the proletarian.

The two classes are
in perpetual conflict,

the capitalist pursuing
benefit while the proletarian

is hoping for better
living conditions.

A new fervor emerges
from the working masses,

longing for human dignity,
social justice, and equality.

The socialist movement
behind these ideas

emerges from the first
half of the century.

Its representatives
will position themselves

as defenders of the
rights of the proletariat.

It is the class struggle.

In France, down in coal mines,

this struggle will take a
remarkable turning point.

- [Narrator] At the beginning
of the 19th century,

France mined only one million
tons of coal every year.

During the following century,
it will be 40 times more.

For the shareholders
of French mines,

it is a wonderful success.

But at what cost?

Miners, exhausted by this
dangerous and underpaid job,

are left behind by progress.

At the mercy of their employers,

there is nothing they
can do against abuses.

Hunger, alcoholism,
violence, insecurity,

illiteracy, promiscuity,
prostitution,

and unsanitary housing
are their daily lot.

In order to increase output,

mine owners realize that
workers must be in good health

and live, if possible,
near the mineshafts.

In areas surrounding the mines,

they build workers
housing developments

with shops, schools, and of
course cafes and taverns.

Fear of unemployment pressures
people to accept anything.

But gradually, they
understand that,

standing together and unified,
they can make a difference.

General strike is
their means of action.

If they stop working,

mines won't produce
and profits will fall.

Now then, maybe they
will draw attention.

On May 17th, 1833,
miners of Anzin,

exasperated with a company
that has ignored them

for almost 10 years,

take to the streets
armed with sticks.

The army sets 3,000 soldiers

and three artillery pieces
against the striking miners.

For the French state, there is
no joking over coal supplies.

In 1844, in Rive-de-Gier,

during the transfer
to Saint-Etienne of
17 arrested workers,

the escort falls into an ambush

and retaliates by
fire and by sword.

Four years later in
the Saint-Etienne area,

miners succeed in finding
a stock of firearms.

Determined, 400 of them
attack a police station

in order to free the
prisoners on strike.

Demonstrating an
evolution of society,

strikes, long forbidden,

are authorized by
the state in 1864.

However, salaries don't increase

and working conditions
don't improve.

Strikes, more and more
violent, follow one another.

Attack on ramming
wagons in Lens.

Ambush in La Ricamarie.

In Aubin, strikers offer
their chest to the police

and shout, "Kill us
if it's what you want!

"Shoot us if you dare!"

In 1884, the
Waldeck-Rousseau Law

authorizes the creation
of trade unions.

The federative union action

will channel the
workers' fieriness.

The leaders of the
miners associations

advise the strikers to
be calm and moderate.

Ever-increasing
numbers of workers

are even in a position to
elect their own deputies.

Progressive legislation
is gradually enacted.

The workers' condition improves.

Children under 13 are
prohibited from working,

accidents at work
are compensated,

and the workday is reduced
to less than 12 hours.

While in France,

the workers' conditions
seems to finally improve,

a dreadful disaster
reminds everybody

the harsh reality of this job.

On March 10th,
1906, in Courrieres,

68 miles of galleries are
destroyed by an explosion.

Out of the 1,800 miners who
went down in the morning,

more than 1,000 won't come back.

Despite social advances,

miners continue to pay
the price for progress.

- [Robotic Woman]
Progress left its mark

on the 19th century.

As a continuous
evolution of society

towards a collective ideal,

progress should be on
behalf of all mankind.

Today is better than
yesterday,
but not as good as tomorrow.

Development is unavoidable
and even necessary

to the world's smooth running.

But the central
question remains:

Who sets limits and
under what conditions?

The invention of the
gasoline-powered car

is a symbol of progress.

But if its development has
generated many new trades,

it eliminated many others.

How many blacksmiths
have succeeded

in reinventing themselves
into motor mechanics?

How many miners died
down in coal mines

in order for us to enjoy
all modern conveniences?

Today, we understand that no
matter how great the benefits,

there are always
costs to progress.

Human beings are
constantly stretching

their technological limits.

More than ever,
the only objective

is to innovate again and again,

without considering if
its fair or not to do so.

Does material progress
always make people better

or happier?

- [Narrator] April
2004, Lorraine.

The last French mineshaft
is officially closed.

After three centuries
of intensive mining,

coal is no longer as
profitable as before.

Coal was the blood of the
Industrial Revolution,

the lungs of the
European rebuilding

just after World War II,

as well as the muscles of the
Chinese economic awakening.

But it now has been superseded
by other sources of energy.

Huge open-cut mines have
replaced metal pit headframes.

Nuclear waste has
given way to slagheaps.

Oil slicks have supplanted
firedamp explosions.

Our world is
changing once again.

Our daily life is now
flooded with cars.

There is a massive
population growth.

And space is already
being explored.

At the beginning of the '80s,

the world seemed once
again ready to evolve.

And then, a new machine
arrived on the market:

the first personal computer.

During the following decade,

it is the internet's
turn to revolutionize

our means of communication
on a global scale.

Like James Watts' engine
two centuries ago,

these inventions have
quickly become essential

and transformed the economy,

creating new jobs that
people from the 19th century

could never have imagined.

Nowadays, while the
Digital Revolution

has not reached
every country yet,

a new one seems
to emerge already.

A new view of the
future is promised

by the convergence of
technological advances

regarding artificial
intelligence,

nano and biotechnology,
and cognitive science,

a world of tomorrow
where the words work,

employment, and career
would be meaningless,

a world where robots could do
anything better than humans,

from the manufacturing
of cars to cooking

to the composition
of a violin concerto,

a world where the human being

would face the very question
of his own fundamental purpose.

But that is another story.

- [Robotic Woman] Progress
can be a frightening thought.

At the very beginning
of the steam locomotive,

the craziest rumors were spread
about this hellish machine

which was going to
destroy the countryside.

Nowadays, fantasy and
fears dominate debates

about leading-edge technology.

We hear about robots capable
of talking to humans as
equals,

computers synthesizing
our emotions,

machines augmenting our
intellectual abilities

or even extending our lifespan.

The future makes our head spin

so that we are greatly
tempted to reject it
outright.

Even entrepreneurs
like Elon Musk

consider that the
uncontrolled development

of artificial intelligence
could become the greatest
threat

for the future of humanity.

Are we soon going to see
the first robots breakers,

similar to the machines breakers

at the beginning of
the 19th century?

Who controls progress?

Who decides that an innovation
is good for mankind or not?

Are men still in control?

Fortunately, the main asset of
the human race is adaptation.

Because it seems
absolutely certain

that somehow or other
these technologies

will show up in our life,
it is only a matter of time.

Faced with this
future revolution,

every one of us has
a choice to make:

going through this
revolution as an onlooker

and entrusting others with
the task of shaping our future

or joining the fray
and keeping control.

(dramatic orchestral music)