PBS.Human Spark (2009).2of3.WS.PDTV.XviD.Ekolb

 Human Spark (2009)

premiering on PBS, anuary 6th, 2010

A three-part public TV series about you. And me, and all of us. “We’ll be trying to get to the bottom of what makes us human. Trying to find that thing we’re calling the ‘human spark’.” One way to examine us is by looking at what’s almost us. “We’ll be checking in with our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees, to find out how the tiny difference in our genes, just 1 percent, makes such a huge difference to who we are and what we can do. Chimps are smart as a whip, but they’re not us. Why aren’t they?”

The Human Spark debuts on PBS Wednesday, January 6th, with episodes two and three on the following Wednesdays, the 13th and 20th. “We can’t promise we’ll find the human spark, but we can promise that looking for it will be fascinating. And it may change the way you think about who you are.”

The: So Human, So Chimp

We are separated from our nearest relatives, the chimpanzees, by only one or two percent of our genes - but also by some 6 million years of going our different evolutionary ways. So when we meet the eyes of a chimp we are reminded uncannily - and perhaps a little uneasily - of ourselves. But we are also aware that behind those eyes is a mind very different from our own. Alan Alda sets out to explore that difference, and quickly finds that the scientists studying chimps and other non-human primates are themselves separated into opposing worldviews. One camp emphasizes the continuity between us - seeing everything we believe to be uniquely human present in at least a rudimentary form in our ape and even monkey cousins.

The other camp sees a sharp discontinuity in our abilities, admiring chimps for their superb adaptation to their (rapidly disappearing) forest environment, but also granting to human minds a special status that has enabled us to conquer the planet (and cause those forests to disappear).In visiting with chimps and those who study them, Alan challenges the arguments of both sides in the debate. Yes, chimps exhibit empathy for others in their group; is that the same empathy humans show for victims of a far off natural disaster? Chimps have cultural practices they pass on within their social group; are those cultures the same as the cultures that can separate humans into "us" and "them?" Chimps can easily tell the difference between heavy and light, but do they have a concept of heavy and light? Chimps use tools, and can be taught that symbols represent objects; does that mean they have technology and language? Chimps can cooperate on tasks that reward them with food.

Is that the same cooperation humans employ to build a skyscraper or rescue the victims of an earthquake or even agree to take a walk together? Chimps and monkeys both seem able to judge the intentions of others. Does that mean they wonder, and worry, about who is saying what about whom, and why? And what about that one or two percent change in our DNA? Do those figures mask not a tiny difference but an evolutionary chasm?In short, how much of the Human Spark flared only since we evolved away from our non-human primate cousins, and how much was already there at the parting of the ways?

Format : AVI

Length : 465 MiB for 56mn 39s 866ms

Codec : XviD

Source : PDTV

Language : English US

Subtitles : None

Genre : Nature/Science

Video #0 : MPEG-4 Visual at 998 Kbps

Aspect : 608 x 336 (1.810) at 29.970 fps

Audio #0 : MPEG Audio at 135 Kbps

Infos : 2 channels, 48.0 KHz

Enjoy!

Ekolb