Mankind decoded. Information is power. Season 1, Episode 10

Description

Episode 10: Information is Power Communication is the vital ingredient in the building of civilisation. The ability to share complicated ideas allowed early man to hunt, farm, and build communities. With writing we became able to record ideas and spread them further - all you needed was to learn how to read. But when the Phoenicians invented a simple alphabet with 22 letters literacy level exploded and Mankind expanded. However, books are still expensive, and time consuming to make, until Johannes Gutenberg develops the printing press - suddenly a plethora of books, including the Bible, changes the world. Inspired by new ideas, revolution liberates America from British rule and gives birth to a brand new nation: The United States. Information still has the power to change the world; Alice Harris' photographs of King Leopold's exploited Africans caused global outrage and brought an end to the tyranny in the Congo. A peaceful protest for Civil rights in Selma, Alabama, turns violent and all is captured on a medium, the camera. The recent Arab spring even owes a debt to an unlikely, informal channel: Twitter.

Runtime

22 minutes

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Alexander Street

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