How farming planted seeds for the Internet - Patricia Russac

170,120 views ・ 2013-03-21

TED-Ed


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Transcriber: Andrea McDonough Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar
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We talk about inventions and innovation
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as though the best things out there
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are the Internet, iPads, or smart phones.
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Or perhaps more simply,
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trains, planes, and automobiles.
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Which one is most important,
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the best, or the greatest?
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Which one has had the most impact on society?
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Today the debate would probably be
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in favor of computer technology,
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but is it?
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Well, some would say, "Nope, not really, it's farming."
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Where would we be if we didn't have it?
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Give up?
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We would still be hunting and gathering
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with little time to invent anything,
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let alone the Internet.
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That's right, farming is the seed of civilization.
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Not quite literally, but without early man's discovery
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of using seeds to grow grain,
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we wouldn't have much of anything we have today.
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Growing your own food changed everything.
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Sure, hunting and gathering worked just fine
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for tens of thousands of years,
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but you couldn't do much else -
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no time.
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But when hunters and gatherers started planting seeds,
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they began to farm.
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With farming came animals,
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and with animals came settling down
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and staying in one location.
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So, how does this have anything to do
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with invention and innovation?
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Everything.
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Anyone who's ever farmed,
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even if it's planting a half dozen tomato plants in your backyard,
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knows that you usually harvest way more
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than you could possibly eat,
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a surplus.
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Farming yielded plenty of food,
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with enough to store, trade, and eat.
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In other words, not everyone needed to be farmers.
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Therefore, this allowed other people,
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non-farmers, to do other things
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such as make tools,
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craft pottery,
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and build homes.
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Farming and food surpluses led to the division of labor.
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This is still thousands of years ago,
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so life wasn't easy.
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But with so many people contributing to the community,
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small villages began to develop.
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As the population of villages expanded,
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so did the needs of the people.
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Things got complicated.
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But, civilization is just that - advanced, complex societies.
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And without farming, they would not exist.
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Villages increased in size,
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eventually becoming the first cities.
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Cities are just one of the basic features of a civilization,
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the others include central government,
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system of writing,
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organized religion,
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art and architecture,
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urban planning of roads, bridges, and public works,
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social classes,
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and different jobs.
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Developing expertise in various types of occupations
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allowed for innovative ways of doing things,
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producing new products,
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or making advancements in technology.
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As civilizations became more complex,
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new ways of doing things were needed.
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Some were out of necessity.
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Others because people had ideas.
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The sharing of ideas and technology
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led to the growth of things we readily use today,
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like the Internet.
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So without farming, we'd still be hunting and gathering.
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No video,
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no computers,
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and certainly no world wide web.
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