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00:00Hello, Stephen Hawking here.
00:07On another adventure to my favorite places.
00:11Unfortunately things are not going too well.
00:21I seem to be surrounded by a fleet of heavily armed spaceships.
00:26They don't look happy to see me.
00:36So, how did I get into this mess?
00:39Well, I've been searching for something my whole life.
00:44Something to explain a world that is by turns, kind and cruel.
00:51Beautiful and confusing.
00:56A single all-encompassing idea that can explain the nature of reality.
01:03Where it all came from.
01:08And why we exist at all.
01:12The theory of everything.
01:17And now, I think I found the answer.
01:26This particular adventure is just a few days old.
01:29It began when I took a trip.
01:44Here.
01:45To Dorset, England.
01:47The sight of my fondest childhood memories.
01:54This is where I spent glorious summer holidays as a boy.
02:02We always stayed in a rickety gypsy caravan.
02:06Which my dad had hidden in a field.
02:09It's a beautiful place.
02:15But, what really captured my imagination on those long summer days.
02:21Was these.
02:23Fossils.
02:25Remnants of a time when terrifying monsters ruled the earth.
02:31Hidden beneath a rock.
02:34Waiting for curious young boys to find them.
02:38They were the first clue that made me realize what a remarkable species we are.
02:54The only one that has ever been aware there's a whole cosmos beyond the sky.
03:00The key to unlocking the theory of everything.
03:15Is understanding our place in the universe.
03:20And we don't have to go too far.
03:22To discover just how precarious our existence is.
03:30Venus is like earth in so many ways.
03:40A sort of cosmic kissing cousin.
03:43But she's a great example of the dangerously faced back home.
03:49She's almost the same size as earth.
03:55A touch closer to the sun.
03:58She even has an atmosphere.
04:05Which means I can do something I've always wanted to try.
04:12as you see but isn't awesome.
04:14The only way even wings are needed.
04:16Just logging in to be some footage.
04:18If you are vaping out,
04:19you can have an atmosphere to trust at the extent of your unit.
04:22Explosion.
04:32Good job I wore protection. These clouds are sulfuric acid.
04:43Too late to turn back now. The only way is down.
04:52There's beauty here too, though. And possibly life.
05:11Perhaps airborne bacteria, floating here in the clouds.
05:22But now things are getting deadlier. Little could survive down here.
05:29The pressure is approaching 90 times that on Earth. Enough to crush a submarine.
05:36And the temperature is pushing over 200 degrees.
05:45Time to toughen up a little.
05:52The pressure and temperature are getting so immense that the atmosphere is not technically the gas anymore.
06:07It's a supercritical fluid. Halfway between gas and liquid.
06:14It's a lethal combination. But, the resistance is actually slowing me down.
06:23Cushioning my fall.
06:25Which is how Russian probes managed to make it to the surface.
06:32They even took photos for a few minutes. Before they were fried.
06:42Although, I'm guessing they had a slightly better drop zone than this.
06:47Maybe this isn't one of my favorite places after all.
06:58I hope this food is lava proof.
07:03That was cutting it close.
07:25Venus could so easily happen on other Earth.
07:28But, being just a bit closer to the sun caused a runaway greenhouse effect.
07:35And, if we are not careful, the same could happen on Earth.
07:40So, next time you meet a climate change denier, tell them to take a trip to Venus.
07:57I'll pay the fare.
07:59To create a theory of everything, we must consider how we came to exist.
08:11Venus shows us just how improbable that was.
08:16One tiny change.
08:22And humans wouldn't exist at all.
08:26Growing up, my father wanted me to study medicine, as he did.
08:41But, I chose physics.
08:43Because, I realized only physics could provide the answers I was looking for.
08:49Not just how things work.
08:54But, why?
08:56To understand our true place in the universe, we need to know both.
09:03For most of human history, we believed that our sun was a divine power.
09:16The source of all life.
09:19Orbiting us.
09:21But, around 500 years ago, we realized the Earth orbited the sun.
09:28It was the beginning of a new realization, that we are not at the center of things.
09:51How the sun worked, providing us with energy, remained a mystery for centuries.
09:59Hidden beneath its blinding glare.
10:10So, we are going to need a bit of an upgrade if we want to see what's truly cooking.
10:29Incredible.
10:31The surface looks alive.
10:32It's covered in ripples, like a pond.
10:41Creating an incredible sound.
10:45The sun's heartbeat.
10:46It's the sound of the energy that gives us life.
10:58What processes are turning within, to create something so remarkable?
11:08Only one way to find out.
11:18I have a feeling it's going to be a bumpy ride.
11:28Only one way to find emotions.
11:29Listen.
11:35The sound of the sun is changing.
11:41Shifting frequency and tone as we pass through different layers, each hotter and more violent
11:45than the last.
11:46Lific trainers.
11:47From the inner vacuum of the corona towards the denser, radioactive pronouns.
11:52From the near vacuum of the corona, towards the denser, radioactive core.
12:03We need to go deeper, right to the heart of the sun, to see the remarkable process that fuels all this.
12:14We'd better make this quick, the ship can only sustain so much.
12:23The temperature and pressure are immense.
12:28Hydrogen is crushing in on itself, surrounding us with superheated plasma.
12:37It's like being inside a hydrogen bomb, that just keeps exploding.
12:44An eternal conflagration, fusing hydrogen into helium, and releasing energy.
12:52It's amazing that this is the power source that keeps our hearts beating, and our minds thinking.
13:02Life, powered by lethal radiation.
13:05But, if I know anything about nuclear fusion, I know it's not a great idea, to spend too much time around it.
13:17Hold on tight.
13:24Hold on tight.
13:25When people used to call the sun a god, they weren't that far from the truth.
13:37It gives life to almost everything on earth.
13:38When people used to call the sun a god, they weren't that far from the truth.
13:52It gives life to almost everything on earth.
13:55But, in discovering how it does, we have stumbled across a bigger mystery.
14:08One that few scientists like to talk about.
14:11You see, the laws of physics would only have to be very minutely different, for the sun to be cold and dark.
14:26For nuclear fusion to fail to ignite.
14:30For it's hard not to beat.
14:32So, why should such a perfectly balanced system exist in our universe?
14:48It's enough to give an atheist nightmares.
15:02It's these fundamental mysteries that drive me on my quest, for a theory of everything.
15:14What can explain the strange serendipity of our universe?
15:20Could it be a computer simulation?
15:25Is our reality just lines of code, running on a cosmic supercomputer?
15:33Or, perhaps, the universe was manufactured by intelligent beings in another dimension?
15:44In a universe like ours, the possibilities are endless.
15:51And, as strange as those theories sound, I believe the truth is stranger still.
16:03They say truth can be found in beauty.
16:13And, this is one of the most beautiful places I know.
16:19But, there's far more here than meets the eye.
16:29In 1994, Hubble took this photo.
16:37It hinted at something incredible, happening within those swirling clouds.
16:46But, here's the catch.
16:48The light used to make that photo took over 7000 years to reach Earth.
16:53These beautiful pillars are probably gone now.
16:59Part of the great cosmic cycle of birth and death.
17:03So, to visit them, and peer inside, we're going to have to travel not just in space, but in time.
17:15But, in time.
17:18Luckily, I've got some practice at this.
17:21To pieces!
17:22Stop!
17:23Stop!
17:24Do things wrong.
17:25No.
17:27You want to be careful, don't you establish yourself.
17:30Yes, please!
17:32The matter is not the fact that you can't lead look at me, guess.
17:36Oh, no.
17:44The River of Truth.
17:49They're more beautiful than I could have ever imagined.
18:19Look. Gas and dust from these clouds is being pulled inwards by its own gravity.
18:39The pressure in there must be incredible.
18:43I think something truly spectacular is about to happen.
19:06The birth of a star.
19:10Just like our own sun.
19:17This place has been nicknamed the Pillars of Creation for a reason.
19:23Some people believe the heavens and the earth were created in six days.
19:29Others, that they were formed during the Big Bang.
19:33But they are both wrong.
19:39Those Pillars are actually the remnants of earlier supergiant stars, gone critical.
19:46In order for a sun and planets like ours to be born, an entire generation of giant stars had to live and die before them.
20:02And here is the remarkable thing.
20:10It takes around 7 billion years for that to happen.
20:17Our sun is just over 4.5 billion years old.
20:21And the universe is only 13.7 billion.
20:29So, you and I came into existence at precisely the time it became possible.
20:35And not a moment later.
20:36I can see why some people find it all so miraculous that they imagine the hand of a creator at work.
20:52After all, it is easy to believe there might be a grand design.
21:00Built to allow us to exist.
21:05But to meet such a god is unknowable.
21:08And I need to know.
21:11A theory of everything cannot have holes in it.
21:22My parents taught me that nothing is outside the reach of the rational mind.
21:40If you are willing to search hard enough.
21:42That's why I'm now supporting a new hundred million dollar project.
21:50Called Breakthrough Starshot.
21:55Developing the technology to explore other worlds.
21:59A fleet of tiny laser powered nano craft.
22:05Blasted into space at one fifth the speed of light.
22:08Designed to explore other solar systems.
22:17After all, if the universe is so perfectly designed for life.
22:22Where are all the aliens?
22:29The first place we are sending these craft.
22:33Is here.
22:38The closest star to our own.
22:49Orbited by multiple planets.
22:52Some similar to ours.
22:54Like Proxima Centauri b.
22:55When the starshot nano craft arrive here.
22:56They'll be able to start collecting data.
22:57And beaming it back to earth.
22:59Who knows what we'll find.
23:01Is life on earth truly as unique.
23:03Special.
23:04And designed as it seems.
23:05Are we the only ones in this universe.
23:10Are we the only ones in this universe.
23:12Who knows what we'll find?
23:17Is life on Earth truly as unique, special, and designed as it seems?
23:25Are we the only ones in this universe?
23:32The Nanocraft should be here in about 20 years time.
23:37So we're in for a bit of a wait.
23:42Who am I kidding? I haven't got that long.
23:57Incredible.
23:59Those don't look natural.
24:03Let's get a closer look.
24:12Ruins.
24:26Proxima Centauri is about 200 million years older than our sun.
24:31So, if evolution followed a similar time scale here, intelligent life would have coincided with the age of the dinosaurs.
24:42Maybe our children will come fossil hunting here one day.
24:54Perhaps the reason we've not seen or heard from aliens isn't that they don't exist.
25:00But that intelligent life never lasts very long.
25:08The way we're going, we'll be lucky if we last another thousand years.
25:12I wonder how this alien race managed to destroy itself.
25:24I wonder how this alien race managed to destroy itself.
25:26I have a horrible feeling I'm about to discover the answer.
25:38It looks like some form of artificial intelligence.
25:52Time to get out of here I think.
26:06Let's give it some gas.
26:14It's a good job this ship is designed to deal with anything.
26:18It's a good job this way.
26:19It's a good job.
26:20The moment you are safe.
26:21It's a good job.
26:22It's a good job.
26:23I'm afraid I think I'm afraid I'm not afraid I'm afraid I'm afraid they are going to be doing it.
26:24It's a good job.
26:25To do that, it's a good job.
26:26It's a good job.
26:27You're a good job.
26:28I mess with a good job.
26:29I'm sure we're gonna be a good job here.
26:31Well...
26:32Almost having a good job.
26:33I'm having a good job.
26:34It's a good job.
26:36I'm gonna be a good job.
26:37I'll do it.
26:38And I'll do it.
26:39To do it now is a lot better.
26:41With all of the nextảy eyes.
26:42And I'll just enter a good job.
26:44Transcription by CastingWords