DOCUMENTARY: Jacob Bronowski’s The Ascent of Man (Week 7)

PREPARE for a close encounter with the most beautiful and profound audiovisual artifact in television history — The Ascent of Man (1973).

Jacob Bronowski’s poetic and crystal clear survey of humanity’s greatest moments of cognitive penetration will leave you flabbergasted. Jacob takes you behind the scenes and relives our greatest intellectual climaxes—from Australopithecus through quantum mechanics—in a way that is impossible to misunderstand.

PAST SADHO MEETUPS PLAYLIST:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCov3DtovgIVm11PixUkPHfLZm-_4ijoC

— PREPARING —
We STRONGLY recommend watching these masterpieces with subtitles ON. Here's how:

1. Download and install a BitTorrent client such as Transmission (https://transmissionbt.com, for Mac) or µ-torrent (https://www.utorrent.com, for Windows).

2. Click this link: https://www1.thepiratebay3.to/torrent/5219825/The_Ascent_of_Man_(BBC2_Documentary)_MP4_M4V_for_smartphones

3. Locate the tiny red magnet icon you will see and click it. This will download all episodes in an “The Ascent of Man” folder.

4. Then click here to download the subtitles: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l991ikDyjtSmb_jMVr9XzZyTW0hsnBrC/view?usp=sharing

5. Put the subtitles in the movies folder and play.

The BOOK is also great: https://1lib.us/book/3844645/d919ad

— MEETING FORMAT —
We now spend the entire MeetUp on Google Meet.

— QUICK LINKS —
The Ascent of Man series is also available (low-res, sans subtitles) on Daily Motion (but not YouTube) —

EPISODE #1: Lower than the Angels
Evolution of humans from proto-ape to the modern form 400,000 years ago.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6h97xs

EPISODE #2: The Harvest of the Seasons
Early human migration, agriculture and the first settlements, and war.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1ztord

EPISODE #3: The Grain in the Stone
Tools, and the development of architecture and sculpture.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6hb025

EPISODE #4: The Hidden Structure
Fire, metals and alchemy.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6hb184

EPISODE #5: Music of the Spheres
The language of numbers and mathematics.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6j38pn

EPISODE #6: The Starry Messenger
Galileo's universe—and the implications of his trial on the shift to "northern" science.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6j391l

EPISODE #7: The Majestic Clockwork
Explores Newton and Einstein's laws.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6j399k

EPISODE #8: The Drive for Power
The Industrial Revolution and the effect on everyday life.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6mk0rl

EPISODE #9: The Ladder of Creation
Darwin and Wallace's ideas on the origin of species.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6mk18h

EPISODE #10: World Within World
The story of the periodic table—and of the atom.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x20o2dw

EPISODE #11: Knowledge or Certainty
Physics and the clash of the pursuit of absolute vs. imperfect knowledge, and the misgivings of the scientists realizing the terrible outcome of the conflict. Auschwitz. Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x20ohne

EPISODE #12: Generation upon Generation
The joys of life, sex and genetics—and the dark side of cloning.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5o8iaq

EPISODE #13: The Long Childhood
Bronowski's treatise on the commitment of humanity.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x20p9h4