Discussing Big History by David Christian at TED

I must admit I’ve always been interested in the related topics of ‘how the universe was created’, ‘how planet earth came to be’, and ‘how the human race began’.

While that deep discussion could take years, and consume volumes of written text, in this short video David Christian explores the development of the entire universe, comprising some 13.7 billion years of history, in just under 18 minutes – amazing!

Leading us on a journey that begins with the Big Bang the history of the universe is told from it’s first moments of utter simplicity to the formation of stars and planets, building ever greater levels of complexity via quantum physics and millions of years. Recorded at the TED2011 Conference in Long Beach, this is a must watch video for understanding life itself. More information can be found at the Big History Project.

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The graphical timeline below illustrates just how old the universe is, how long it took for our solar system to form and life to begin, and what a short period of time we’ve been around to enjoy and understand its history, composition and vast complexity.

(click on the image below to see a larger version)

The film goes a long way toward explaining ‘how it all happened’, and also gives us a better appreciation of life’s beauty and magic, but I’m still waiting for a documentary on ‘why are we all here’. In the meantime, however, it’s enough to understand how precious this fragile planet is and how our primary objective must be to protect it!