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Out in the desert,
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I became a better athlete
than I ever was before.
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It was not uncommon for me
to run 250 miles a week.
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Two hundred
and fifty miles a week
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is a thousand miles a month.
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Twelve months,
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that's 12,000 miles right there.
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When I started
to lose my eyesight,
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I kept pushing and pushing.
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And after a couple of years,
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I've honed myself
to run across Death Valley.
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My purpose
was to start at Badwater
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and go roughly 150 miles
to the summit of Mount Whitney.
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It had never been done before.
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My very dear friend,
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David, and I started
training together.
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But one of the things
David didn't do
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was the heat training.
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Going down to Death Valley
the first time in 1974,
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we started at four o'clock
in the morning.
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Dave came down with heat stroke
after about 18 miles.
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If you get heat stroke,
the clock is ticking.
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At Furnace Creek,
we put David in the bathtub.
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I put over 100 pounds
of ice on him.
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And there were people there,
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and they said
they'd take care of him.
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So then I took off
and started running.
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The only thing I could think of
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was that my good friend
was dying.
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His temperature,
core temperature, was over 104.
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So I stopped.
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It took him over a year,
over a year before he recovered.
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That's how close
he was to dying.
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And that's the reason why
I didn't make it the first time.
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The second time
I went down there,
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I showed Death Valley absolutely
no respect whatsoever.
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I figured I'm gonna
go back and kill it.
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I ran a mile
in under six minutes
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in that attempt.
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I was charging
instead of taking it easy.
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And after 40, 50 miles,
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I learned real fast
who was the boss.
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You don't charge Death Valley.
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You treat Death Valley
the same way you do
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when you're making a meringue.
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If you go too fast,
the whole thing will collapse.
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It's not so hard physically.
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What's really hard
is mentally, to slow down.
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It had never been done before.
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It wasn't important
how fast I did it.
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Bristlecone pines live
in a pretty high altitude
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near Death Valley.
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The bristlecone pines survive
where other things wouldn't
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because they are slowing down
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to a painstakingly slow
growth rate.
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The bristlecone pines
are so beautiful
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because you really
can see their struggle
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is sort of inherent
in their forms.
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So it's almost like
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you can watch
their movement over time
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and understand that
they really want to live.
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There's a...
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There's a sense of doing
whatever it takes to survive
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in a pretty harsh environment.
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It actually wasn't
until the '60s
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that people knew
that they were that old.
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A grad student
had lost his coring bit
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in the middle of a tree,
and the Forest Service said,
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"Well, just go ahead
and cut it down.
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There's plenty of them."
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And it turned out he cut down
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what ended up being
the oldest known tree
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in the world, at the time,
that was the Prometheus tree.
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The oldest bristlecone pines
are over 5,000 years old.
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The oldest unitary organisms
on the planet.
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It's really interesting to think
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about what was going on
in history at that time,
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the invention of the wheel...
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and cuneiform,
the first written language.
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So it really actually demarcates
the beginning of human history.
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I had been working
on a lot of landscape work
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that was about the relationship
between humanity and nature.
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And I got an invitation
to visit some friends in Japan.
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I took the advice
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that several people
had given to me,
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which was, if you're
interested in nature,
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you should go visit
the 7,000-year-old tree.
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And it's on this remote island
called Yakushima.
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I just bought a new camera.
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It was a medium format
film camera,
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and I photographed it.
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But I had no idea when I started
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that it would be
a ten-year endeavor
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photographing
the oldest living things.
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Looking for things
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that were continuously living
for 2,000 years and longer.
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Two thousand, being, you know,
why is it 2018 right now,
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like, isn't it, you know,
4,500,002,018?
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Like really trying
to create this framework
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for understanding
human timekeeping.
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So, initially, I thought,
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"Oh, I'll find somebody
who's going to partner with me,
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an evolutionary biologist."
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They said, "Well, look
at what you're doing.
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It's really broad.
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This is not something
that one scientist
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would ever claim expertise at."
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That was the first moment
when I realized
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I would have to be the expert.
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It was thrilling to learn
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that there were
so many organisms
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that have been alive
for 2,000 years or longer.
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I had no idea.
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The honey mushroom
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is a 2,400-year-old
humongous fungus
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that lives almost
entirely underground
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that is actually
the largest organism
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in the world.
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Its unique footprint,
if you will,
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is that it will kill trees
in this circular pattern,
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and so that's known
as Armillaria Death Rings.
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And it's quite clever
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because it doesn't
kill the trees
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until after they've reached
reproductive age.
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So thereby, it's ensuring
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that it will continue
to have a food supply.
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There's an 80,000-year-old
clonal colony
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of aspen trees in Utah.
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It's known as Pando,
and this is fascinating
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because what looks like a forest
is essentially one tree.
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Like 106 acres in size.
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And what I mean by that
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is that it's this giant
interconnected root system,
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and each tree is actually a stem
coming up from that system.
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This whole system communicates
with all parts of itself.
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So, you know,
if one section needs water,
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an area that has more water
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can send it
through the root system
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to the place that needs it
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or likewise nutrients
or warning signs.
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I was surprised to learn
that there were any animals
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that were over 2,000 years old,
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and it turns out
there's several.
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In Antarctica, there's
the volcano sponge,
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some of which are thought
to be up to 15,000 years old.
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The one that I got
to photograph, however,
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I had to learn to scuba dive
for that, around 60 feet deep.
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It actually took my breath away
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seeing this just
enormous creature.
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It almost looked like
some lost meteorite
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at the bottom of the sea.
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What are the things
that connect these organisms
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that seem so different?
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I came to understand
that fast and furious
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is not the way to live and grow.
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Map lichens in Greenland
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grow one centimeter
every 100 years.
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The continents are actually
drifting away from each other
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faster than these lichens
are growing.
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A number
of the oldest living things
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thrive in a pretty
harsh environment.
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Not in spite of this
harsh environment they live in,
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but because of it.
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And the Atacama Desert
is really one of my favorites.
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It has seen almost no rainfall
in all of recorded history.
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I drove from the coast
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to farther and farther up this,
you know, tremendous elevation,
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and it just gets drier
and drier and more desolate,
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and truly, you could be
on another planet.
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I was there in search
of the llareta plants.
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They look like moss over rocks,
but they're actually shrubs.
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So they're made up of thousands
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of these really
tightly compressed branches,
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and they're so dense
you could actually sit or stand
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on top of them.
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But, at that altitude,
you're likely
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to fall over from dizziness,
so I don't recommend it.
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And who knows what else exists?
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We've really only
scratched the surface
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of understanding
what's on our own planet,
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let alone looking out
to the rest of the universe.
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We are all living
in a base camp here
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in the middle of the desert.
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The driest desert of the world.
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This is the weather
that astronomers like.
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So we see back in time
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where no visible light
is emitted.
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Imagine light
that began traveling
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and coming towards us
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from eight billion
light years away.
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Through empty space,
this light travels
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unimpeded by anything,
untouched,
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and then it hits Earth,
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and there's this very thin layer
of Earth's atmosphere,
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which can completely destroy
that light.
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This layer is the reason
why we can't look further
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and further into the universe,
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00:14:50,918 --> 00:14:53,089
further and further
back in time.
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One of the ways in which
we can do that on earth
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is to go up
to the Atacama Desert
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in the Chilean Andes,
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where you're above
most of the dense layers
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of Earth's atmosphere.
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And, to me, it's really amazing
that these ancient lands
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have been chosen as the site
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to look nearly
to the beginning of time
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when the first stars
were being born.
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The VLT is made
of four telescopes,
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the largest mirrors ever made
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from a monolithic piece
of glass.
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00:15:32,296 --> 00:15:34,394
And the surface
had to be so precise.
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00:15:34,463 --> 00:15:37,661
Imagine grinding
a city like Paris down,
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00:15:37,730 --> 00:15:41,368
so that the only bumps left
are about a millimeter high.
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00:15:42,339 --> 00:15:43,772
That's the kind of precision
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00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:45,735
that they needed
for the kind of astronomy
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00:15:45,804 --> 00:15:47,473
that we need to do now.
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00:15:48,976 --> 00:15:50,587
These telescopes
have become so sensitive,
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00:15:50,611 --> 00:15:53,248
and the kind of things
that we are studying
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00:15:53,317 --> 00:15:54,678
have become so faint
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00:15:54,747 --> 00:15:56,213
that astronomers are essentially
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in search of very,
very special land
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00:15:58,355 --> 00:16:00,651
that is completely radio-quiet.
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Which means no interference
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00:16:04,295 --> 00:16:07,328
from television towers,
mobile phones,
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00:16:07,397 --> 00:16:12,399
transmission from airplanes,
radios, urban centers.
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00:16:14,272 --> 00:16:16,370
And that's what set me
on journeys
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00:16:16,439 --> 00:16:19,373
to these very extreme locations
all over the Earth.
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00:16:24,579 --> 00:16:27,645
These amazing places,
which in themselves are poetic
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00:16:29,155 --> 00:16:31,484
where there was extreme physics
being done.
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00:16:37,328 --> 00:16:40,460
And also, to share
this sense that I have
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00:16:40,529 --> 00:16:42,693
of what physics can do to us
as human beings,
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00:16:42,762 --> 00:16:44,398
not in terms of the knowledge,
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00:16:45,934 --> 00:16:48,501
just simply in terms
of how it makes us feel.
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And I wanted a way
of exploring that feeling.
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A certain comprehension
of an infinity.
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00:17:17,797 --> 00:17:19,796
How immense everything is.
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00:17:19,865 --> 00:17:21,698
That we are part of it
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and probably a very tiny dot
in this vast scheme of things.
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00:17:38,257 --> 00:17:39,790
The Hanle Observatory lies
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00:17:39,859 --> 00:17:42,291
in one of the remotest regions
of India.
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00:17:45,759 --> 00:17:49,430
One of the remotest regions
in the Indian Himalayas.
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00:17:55,637 --> 00:17:57,636
There are almost
no people there.
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00:17:59,506 --> 00:18:04,544
It's quite an impressive,
remote, cold, beautiful place.
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00:18:06,813 --> 00:18:10,451
When I was standing
on top of Mount Saraswati,
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00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:13,520
which is the hill on which
the telescope has been built,
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00:18:13,589 --> 00:18:17,425
looking across the valley floor,
perched really precariously
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00:18:17,494 --> 00:18:19,060
at the other end of the valley
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00:18:19,129 --> 00:18:21,825
was this 400-year-old
Buddhist monastery.
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00:18:23,269 --> 00:18:25,400
The thing
that became clear there,
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00:18:25,469 --> 00:18:27,897
looking at the monastery
from the telescope,
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00:18:27,966 --> 00:18:33,375
was that both monks
and cosmologists need silence.
254
00:18:39,450 --> 00:18:41,284
It's because of this silence
255
00:18:41,353 --> 00:18:44,188
that we are able to look
deeper into the cosmos,
256
00:18:44,257 --> 00:18:45,783
and further back in time.
257
00:18:47,953 --> 00:18:49,697
We need to preserve
these places on Earth
258
00:18:49,721 --> 00:18:53,263
because if we don't,
then we'll end up on a planet
259
00:18:53,332 --> 00:18:54,528
that is so noisy...
260
00:18:55,964 --> 00:18:57,642
from television towers,
mobile phones,
261
00:18:57,666 --> 00:19:00,633
or light pollution,
which is a kind of noise,
262
00:19:00,702 --> 00:19:04,406
that we will be stranded
in this cosmos
263
00:19:04,475 --> 00:19:06,672
without an ability
to look outwards
264
00:19:06,741 --> 00:19:08,773
to understand
our very beginnings
265
00:19:08,842 --> 00:19:11,776
and maybe understand
where we are headed.
266
00:19:37,442 --> 00:19:39,507
We live in a very busy world
267
00:19:39,576 --> 00:19:41,608
that doesn't foster silence.
268
00:19:43,074 --> 00:19:47,812
My childhood backyard
was an ancient coral reef
269
00:19:47,881 --> 00:19:50,386
many, many millennia back.
270
00:19:52,391 --> 00:19:53,818
It's like a cathedral.
271
00:19:55,221 --> 00:19:57,954
A place of great beauty
and silence.
272
00:20:07,802 --> 00:20:10,340
It's easier to capture
the evidence
273
00:20:10,409 --> 00:20:14,542
of some of the old passages
of time here...
274
00:20:14,611 --> 00:20:18,744
through the fossilized
crustaceans of the mountains,
275
00:20:18,813 --> 00:20:22,583
through the pictographs
that remain on those rocks,
276
00:20:24,885 --> 00:20:27,984
highly polished
ancient mammoth rubbings,
277
00:20:31,826 --> 00:20:36,432
known trails
from early settlers.
278
00:20:36,501 --> 00:20:38,863
So there's this beautiful echo
of what's passed through
279
00:20:38,932 --> 00:20:42,339
and I like to think about
the people that came
280
00:20:42,408 --> 00:20:44,671
way before my own
passing through
281
00:20:44,740 --> 00:20:47,003
that their echoes
are still here as well.
282
00:20:52,814 --> 00:20:57,486
I've been a founding member
of Paul's Out of Eden Walk.
283
00:20:58,655 --> 00:21:00,221
He conceived of the idea
284
00:21:00,290 --> 00:21:02,887
while he was walking
across this landscape.
285
00:21:05,728 --> 00:21:08,365
I got this idea
on this ranch in West Texas
286
00:21:08,434 --> 00:21:09,867
where I was doing a little help
287
00:21:09,935 --> 00:21:11,797
with the local vaqueros,
the local cowboys.
288
00:21:13,406 --> 00:21:14,705
In the mid to late '90s,
289
00:21:14,774 --> 00:21:18,408
the genetic revolution
was just taking off in a big way
290
00:21:18,477 --> 00:21:20,608
and scientists were able
to start extracting
291
00:21:20,677 --> 00:21:23,380
very useful information
about ancient migrations,
292
00:21:23,449 --> 00:21:26,878
which you could, you know,
you can trace through our DNA.
293
00:21:26,947 --> 00:21:28,713
I thought, "What if I
retrace the route
294
00:21:28,782 --> 00:21:32,686
of the first human beings
who walked out of Africa...
295
00:21:34,658 --> 00:21:37,460
to recreate
the first primordial walk
296
00:21:37,529 --> 00:21:39,627
that we made across the world?"
297
00:21:42,127 --> 00:21:46,700
The first discovery of the world
by the first Homo sapiens,
298
00:21:46,769 --> 00:21:48,471
the first exploration
of the Earth
299
00:21:48,540 --> 00:21:49,868
back in the Stone Age.
300
00:21:51,571 --> 00:21:55,511
I drew out the map
of the intended global trail
301
00:21:55,580 --> 00:21:57,909
about 20,000 plus miles on foot
302
00:21:57,978 --> 00:22:01,044
from Ethiopia to the tip
of South America,
303
00:22:01,113 --> 00:22:03,486
Tierra del Fuego,
304
00:22:03,555 --> 00:22:05,818
which scientists tell us
is the last virgin beach
305
00:22:05,887 --> 00:22:09,855
that our ancestors reached
about 7,000 years ago.
306
00:22:11,794 --> 00:22:13,727
- Okay. Go ahead.
- All right.
307
00:22:14,896 --> 00:22:16,532
I've been
a foreign correspondent
308
00:22:16,601 --> 00:22:19,128
for the past 15 years.
309
00:22:19,197 --> 00:22:22,406
Foreign correspondents
normally cover stories
310
00:22:22,475 --> 00:22:23,941
as they happen.
311
00:22:24,010 --> 00:22:28,071
They fly to story A
and they fly to story B.
312
00:22:28,140 --> 00:22:30,678
What this project hopes to do
313
00:22:30,747 --> 00:22:33,648
is connect the spaces
in between.
314
00:22:33,717 --> 00:22:36,981
And the argument there
is that there are hidden links
315
00:22:37,050 --> 00:22:40,919
between major stories of our day
that never get covered
316
00:22:40,988 --> 00:22:44,626
because we simply don't
slow down enough to see them.
317
00:22:47,192 --> 00:22:50,500
Paul's walk comes
at a time when journalism
318
00:22:50,569 --> 00:22:54,966
is pressed on all sides
by short attention span
319
00:22:55,035 --> 00:22:56,501
because of the immediacy
320
00:22:56,570 --> 00:22:59,806
of the Digital Age
and the internet.
321
00:23:02,009 --> 00:23:04,514
We're still carrying
around a Pleistocene brain
322
00:23:04,583 --> 00:23:08,650
that absorbs information
and processes the world
323
00:23:08,719 --> 00:23:11,851
at the pace of walking,
at three miles an hour.
324
00:23:13,889 --> 00:23:16,119
Do you remember
what Linda's reaction was?
325
00:23:19,191 --> 00:23:20,761
Uh-huh.
326
00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:23,333
Over a cup of coffee,
327
00:23:23,402 --> 00:23:24,412
maybe not even looking up
from a newspaper or a book
328
00:23:24,436 --> 00:23:26,934
and just saying, "Uh-huh,
329
00:23:27,002 --> 00:23:28,080
so you're gonna walk
around the world?
330
00:23:28,104 --> 00:23:29,304
All right. That sounds good."
331
00:23:30,741 --> 00:23:32,069
Again, she knows me.
332
00:23:33,672 --> 00:23:39,714
When I was 14, I walked
across the Sierra Nevadas alone.
333
00:23:39,783 --> 00:23:43,982
Later, across Papua New Guinea
and through Alaska,
334
00:23:44,051 --> 00:23:45,885
just living off a rifle.
335
00:23:48,055 --> 00:23:52,023
He had walked from the border
of Arizona to Mexico City,
336
00:23:52,092 --> 00:23:56,599
retracing the footsteps
of an early Victorian explorer,
337
00:23:56,668 --> 00:23:58,101
took a packed mule,
338
00:23:58,169 --> 00:24:00,966
and that took something
like nine months.
339
00:24:02,641 --> 00:24:04,241
So then, it was not
too big of a leap
340
00:24:04,269 --> 00:24:05,835
to jump into a dugout canoe,
341
00:24:05,904 --> 00:24:09,172
a pirogue, to float down
the Congo River for weeks,
342
00:24:09,241 --> 00:24:11,911
to tell the story
of the Congo Civil War.
343
00:24:13,278 --> 00:24:14,911
Or to walk away
344
00:24:14,980 --> 00:24:17,279
from a broken down
Russian Jeep in Afghanistan
345
00:24:17,348 --> 00:24:18,914
and walk and ride horses
346
00:24:18,983 --> 00:24:22,790
over the Hindu Kush
through hip-deep snow,
347
00:24:22,859 --> 00:24:25,221
to get to the front lines
of the Afghan War.
348
00:24:27,127 --> 00:24:28,928
I think whether
we realize it or not,
349
00:24:28,997 --> 00:24:31,260
we're all on some form
of pilgrimage,
350
00:24:31,329 --> 00:24:33,196
and that includes
commuting to work,
351
00:24:33,265 --> 00:24:34,731
you know,
these micro migrations,
352
00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:37,607
even those
are a form of pilgrimage.
353
00:24:37,676 --> 00:24:39,075
Um...
354
00:24:39,144 --> 00:24:44,042
And it's our task maybe
to find the meaning under them.
355
00:24:51,283 --> 00:24:54,184
Being fearless
is important for anyone
356
00:24:54,253 --> 00:24:57,660
who is trying to do something
of the unknown.
357
00:24:58,631 --> 00:25:02,731
So I started
to extend my training,
358
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:05,734
acclimating my body
to temperatures.
359
00:25:06,870 --> 00:25:08,303
For example, I rode
360
00:25:08,371 --> 00:25:09,938
a stationary bicycle
in the sauna.
361
00:25:10,006 --> 00:25:17,108
The air temperature
was 165 for 10 hours.
362
00:25:17,177 --> 00:25:20,947
I made sure that my skin
did not touch the bike
363
00:25:21,016 --> 00:25:22,763
because it would've been like
a soldering iron,
364
00:25:22,787 --> 00:25:24,115
I would have scourged myself.
365
00:25:26,758 --> 00:25:29,054
I didn't know I had
this capacity.
366
00:25:29,794 --> 00:25:31,287
I did not know.
367
00:25:33,325 --> 00:25:34,824
Ten hours is a long time,
368
00:25:34,893 --> 00:25:39,130
but it's not two,
it's not three days.
369
00:25:39,199 --> 00:25:41,836
I wanted to know
how much I can take.
370
00:25:44,974 --> 00:25:49,910
All the pain that I inflicted
to find out about myself,
371
00:25:51,915 --> 00:25:55,949
each step pushing the boundaries
further and further.
372
00:25:58,020 --> 00:26:01,823
It took me 4 years
and 15,000 miles.
373
00:26:03,322 --> 00:26:05,893
And then I started thinking,
you know,
374
00:26:05,962 --> 00:26:09,094
"Maybe I can run Death Valley."
375
00:26:27,148 --> 00:26:31,017
I headed North
across the Panamint Desert.
376
00:26:33,990 --> 00:26:36,891
The temperature
was climbing and climbing,
377
00:26:39,490 --> 00:26:43,997
and I lost visual contact
with the surrounding mountains.
378
00:26:46,805 --> 00:26:50,267
I have glaucoma.
I can only see so much.
379
00:26:53,878 --> 00:26:57,043
I knew where the sun
was supposed to be.
380
00:26:58,311 --> 00:27:01,883
Following the sun,
I repositioned myself.
381
00:27:03,184 --> 00:27:08,384
Focused on it, I almost
became hypnotized to it.
382
00:27:12,864 --> 00:27:15,160
I had to pay attention
to my footing.
383
00:27:15,229 --> 00:27:18,196
I was by myself,
my life depended on it.
384
00:27:27,241 --> 00:27:30,472
Before setting out
in December of 2012,
385
00:27:30,541 --> 00:27:35,180
I went down to the finish line
to meet the last native speaker
386
00:27:35,249 --> 00:27:38,183
of her indigenous language
in that part of the world.
387
00:27:39,792 --> 00:27:41,956
So I spent a day
with her at her cabin
388
00:27:42,025 --> 00:27:44,992
next to the Beagle Channel
in Chile.
389
00:27:45,061 --> 00:27:47,258
This is just across the channel
from Argentina,
390
00:27:47,327 --> 00:27:48,927
listening to her talk,
391
00:27:48,995 --> 00:27:49,661
and she would walk around
and say, you know,
392
00:27:49,729 --> 00:27:51,296
a canoe is this,
393
00:27:51,364 --> 00:27:54,496
and a rock is this,
and the river is this.
394
00:27:54,565 --> 00:27:55,931
Recording this language
395
00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:58,874
is a form of gathering
a precious stone
396
00:27:58,943 --> 00:28:00,409
at this point in time
397
00:28:00,478 --> 00:28:02,878
where language
is about to wink out,
398
00:28:04,113 --> 00:28:07,146
to carry with me
across the world.
399
00:28:08,854 --> 00:28:11,854
To remind myself
partly why I'm doing this
400
00:28:11,923 --> 00:28:16,925
because this project is rooted
in the bedrock of history.
401
00:28:16,994 --> 00:28:20,929
And, in that sense,
it's also an act of remembering.
402
00:28:20,998 --> 00:28:23,492
And I just wanted
to remember her
403
00:28:23,561 --> 00:28:26,231
as I walk towards her.
404
00:28:26,300 --> 00:28:27,777
I don't know
if she'll still be there
405
00:28:27,801 --> 00:28:30,972
I don't know. When I get there,
she was quite old.
406
00:28:35,848 --> 00:28:37,314
I had first photographed
407
00:28:37,383 --> 00:28:40,179
the 3,500-year-old
bald cypress tree
408
00:28:40,248 --> 00:28:43,985
just outside of Orlando
in 2007, I believe.
409
00:28:44,615 --> 00:28:45,848
A few years ago,
410
00:28:45,916 --> 00:28:50,222
some kids snuck in
to do drugs inside the tree,
411
00:28:50,291 --> 00:28:54,259
and they actually set it
on fire from the inside out,
412
00:28:54,328 --> 00:28:56,800
and then posted about it
on Facebook
413
00:28:56,869 --> 00:28:58,263
and got caught, thankfully,
414
00:28:58,332 --> 00:29:00,529
but it was actually on fire
for over a week
415
00:29:00,598 --> 00:29:02,135
before anyone knew.
416
00:29:03,403 --> 00:29:06,304
It was impossible to save.
417
00:29:06,373 --> 00:29:10,044
There it was,
smoldering and dead.
418
00:29:11,048 --> 00:29:13,113
It really changed my perspective
419
00:29:13,182 --> 00:29:15,181
about everything
that I was doing.
420
00:29:17,890 --> 00:29:22,023
It was a very painful reminder
that just because something
421
00:29:22,092 --> 00:29:25,389
is incredibly old, does not mean
that it's immortal.
422
00:29:32,300 --> 00:29:35,465
In South Africa,
a researcher I was speaking with
423
00:29:35,534 --> 00:29:37,334
introduced me to something
424
00:29:37,403 --> 00:29:40,305
that are collectively known
as the underground forests.
425
00:29:40,374 --> 00:29:45,343
That area is very prone to fire,
and what these trees did
426
00:29:45,412 --> 00:29:46,945
was basically migrate
427
00:29:47,014 --> 00:29:48,324
the bulk of their structures
underground.
428
00:29:48,348 --> 00:29:51,217
And that way, when the fires
inevitably come through,
429
00:29:51,286 --> 00:29:53,989
it just singes the top
of the leaves off,
430
00:29:54,058 --> 00:29:56,453
which they can easily reproduce.
431
00:29:56,522 --> 00:30:00,523
And so I visited 1 that was
around 13,000 years old,
432
00:30:02,363 --> 00:30:04,868
that's been around
since mastodons
433
00:30:04,937 --> 00:30:09,070
and saber tooth tigers
when humans started farming.
434
00:30:11,009 --> 00:30:12,542
However, a few years later,
435
00:30:12,611 --> 00:30:15,010
I was informed that it
had been destroyed
436
00:30:15,079 --> 00:30:17,980
when they decided
to change the traffic patterns
437
00:30:18,049 --> 00:30:21,214
outside of the garden
and paved right over it.
438
00:30:24,484 --> 00:30:26,483
It hit another note of the chord
439
00:30:26,552 --> 00:30:30,058
of what it means
to be looking at time.
440
00:30:31,161 --> 00:30:32,699
The whole point
of the project, really,
441
00:30:32,723 --> 00:30:34,931
was to create a relationship
442
00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:36,933
with timescales
that are far removed
443
00:30:37,002 --> 00:30:39,397
from our normal
human experience,
444
00:30:39,466 --> 00:30:41,905
and by doing so,
to create a relationship
445
00:30:41,974 --> 00:30:44,105
with that time that's personal.
446
00:30:47,210 --> 00:30:50,111
When you see something
that's alive, that's alive now,
447
00:30:50,180 --> 00:30:51,591
that you can have
an interaction with
448
00:30:51,615 --> 00:30:55,578
and has experienced 80,000 years
of the world's history
449
00:30:55,647 --> 00:30:58,251
leading up to this moment
that you meet it,
450
00:30:58,320 --> 00:30:59,597
and then on the other end
of the spectrum,
451
00:30:59,621 --> 00:31:01,398
you have the click
of the shutter of a camera,
452
00:31:01,422 --> 00:31:02,988
so a 60th of a second.
453
00:31:03,057 --> 00:31:04,401
And then, somewhere
in between those two,
454
00:31:04,425 --> 00:31:07,491
we somehow then
all come together
455
00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:09,559
to share this moment.
456
00:31:09,628 --> 00:31:11,261
And, to me, that's a way
457
00:31:11,330 --> 00:31:14,234
to start looking at time
with a different perspective.
458
00:31:16,569 --> 00:31:19,470
Even though we are part
of this giant continuum,
459
00:31:19,539 --> 00:31:23,012
it's actually a reminder
to look at the small moments
460
00:31:23,081 --> 00:31:25,080
that make up the fabric
of the time
461
00:31:25,149 --> 00:31:26,411
that we all spend here.
462
00:32:14,198 --> 00:32:15,764
One of the places where some
463
00:32:15,833 --> 00:32:19,266
of the oldest Homo sapiens
fossils have been found
464
00:32:19,335 --> 00:32:21,334
is the Rift Valley of Ethiopia.
465
00:32:22,734 --> 00:32:26,174
Bones about 156,000 years old.
466
00:32:27,310 --> 00:32:29,078
So I chose that
as my starting line
467
00:32:29,147 --> 00:32:32,114
back in January of 2013,
468
00:32:32,183 --> 00:32:34,215
and walked away
from that boneyard,
469
00:32:34,284 --> 00:32:36,151
up the Rift Valley of Africa.
470
00:32:48,166 --> 00:32:50,198
The Afar Region
where Paul started
471
00:32:50,267 --> 00:32:52,167
requires every bit
of forethought
472
00:32:52,236 --> 00:32:54,235
and planning to survive.
473
00:33:01,245 --> 00:33:04,146
I'm grateful that I
was able to join Paul
474
00:33:04,215 --> 00:33:07,545
seeing him
take the first few steps.
475
00:33:08,648 --> 00:33:10,218
As we continue to know
476
00:33:10,287 --> 00:33:12,286
each other,
our paths have, um...
477
00:33:12,355 --> 00:33:14,552
They converge and diverge.
478
00:33:16,524 --> 00:33:19,359
He has been trying
to understand the world
479
00:33:19,428 --> 00:33:22,527
and who we are
through the soles of his feet.
480
00:33:23,861 --> 00:33:29,765
The antidote to instant news
and abbreviated viewpoint.
481
00:33:31,473 --> 00:33:34,605
In my case, my path has to move
482
00:33:34,674 --> 00:33:39,445
through a level of abstraction
to pursue those questions.
483
00:33:43,419 --> 00:33:45,418
For a period of time,
we knew each other
484
00:33:45,487 --> 00:33:48,289
in the template
of a traditional marriage.
485
00:33:50,426 --> 00:33:54,229
Though our practices
are vastly different,
486
00:33:54,298 --> 00:33:57,199
what we share is appreciation
487
00:33:57,268 --> 00:34:00,664
for slowing down
and seeing the invisible.
488
00:34:01,833 --> 00:34:05,834
But I suppose one of the more
harrowing moments for me
489
00:34:05,903 --> 00:34:10,509
uh, was when Paul was abducted
along the Sudan-Chad border
490
00:34:10,578 --> 00:34:13,446
in 2006, and he went missing.
491
00:34:16,188 --> 00:34:17,588
There's always
the element of risk
492
00:34:17,656 --> 00:34:21,454
because Paul does not shy away
from challenging stories.
493
00:34:21,523 --> 00:34:26,162
So you wonder, "Are you going
to see this person again
494
00:34:26,231 --> 00:34:28,659
as they walk off
into the Afar desert?"
495
00:34:30,532 --> 00:34:33,268
We were moving
in opposite directions now.
496
00:34:38,969 --> 00:34:40,468
I saw horrible things
497
00:34:40,537 --> 00:34:42,904
about how we treat each other
as human beings
498
00:34:42,973 --> 00:34:44,708
in my career as a war reporter.
499
00:34:47,978 --> 00:34:49,477
But walking has given me hope
500
00:34:49,546 --> 00:34:52,617
about our generally
messed up species.
501
00:34:55,590 --> 00:34:58,326
Walking creates bonds,
you get to know people.
502
00:34:58,395 --> 00:35:00,625
You talk about your life
with each other.
503
00:35:02,366 --> 00:35:06,367
It's a bridge
to that person's mind and heart,
504
00:35:07,602 --> 00:35:08,732
to their cosmos.
505
00:35:11,540 --> 00:35:14,771
On this journey, though,
across continents,
506
00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:17,708
I hoped that things
were gonna be okay.
507
00:35:22,980 --> 00:35:27,454
It was a physically demanding
starting line to the journey.
508
00:35:37,731 --> 00:35:40,302
Temperatures were extreme.
509
00:35:42,439 --> 00:35:44,669
The very first days
of the journey
510
00:35:44,738 --> 00:35:47,342
were defined
by this harsh reality
511
00:35:47,411 --> 00:35:49,575
of walking
through a drying landscape
512
00:35:49,644 --> 00:35:52,578
where pastoral groups
were fighting each other
513
00:35:52,647 --> 00:35:56,714
over shrinking pasture lands
and drying water holes.
514
00:35:58,917 --> 00:36:02,324
So it became the war story
almost immediately.
515
00:36:03,559 --> 00:36:06,823
And they were, in fact,
killing each other.
516
00:36:06,892 --> 00:36:10,761
So we have actually walked
through the Rift Valley
517
00:36:10,830 --> 00:36:14,633
along a very strange
snaking route
518
00:36:14,702 --> 00:36:17,768
that if you took
like a satellite picture
519
00:36:17,837 --> 00:36:21,244
would seem nonsensical
because there was no barrier,
520
00:36:21,313 --> 00:36:22,846
but they were following
521
00:36:22,915 --> 00:36:24,592
these invisible edges
of conflict zones
522
00:36:24,616 --> 00:36:27,514
that most people couldn't see
that were invisible to the eye,
523
00:36:27,583 --> 00:36:30,352
but were as real
as any trench works,
524
00:36:30,421 --> 00:36:33,520
you know, on front lines
of any war.
525
00:36:33,589 --> 00:36:35,522
And I remember
we had to kind of do
526
00:36:35,591 --> 00:36:38,019
a silent camp one night
without fire,
527
00:36:38,088 --> 00:36:41,330
so as not to be spotted
to get through a danger zone
528
00:36:41,399 --> 00:36:44,564
before anybody noticed us.
529
00:36:50,771 --> 00:36:52,437
Climate change,
530
00:36:52,506 --> 00:36:53,984
it's a very difficult thing
to convey to people
531
00:36:54,008 --> 00:36:56,038
because it appears
to be moving so slowly.
532
00:36:56,107 --> 00:36:59,381
It's an incremental calamity.
533
00:36:59,450 --> 00:37:01,812
But when you're walking,
you have no choice,
534
00:37:01,881 --> 00:37:03,459
but to experience it
through your own body
535
00:37:03,483 --> 00:37:05,783
in ways that reading
about it never will,
536
00:37:05,852 --> 00:37:08,489
or looking at equations
never will,
537
00:37:08,558 --> 00:37:13,626
or hearing politicians
lie about it never will.
538
00:37:14,894 --> 00:37:18,763
And sure enough, after crossing
the Djibouti border,
539
00:37:18,832 --> 00:37:23,504
we stumbled across men, women,
and children who didn't make it.
540
00:37:27,610 --> 00:37:29,543
A couple days ago,
we found the bodies
541
00:37:29,612 --> 00:37:32,414
of seven migrants in the desert.
542
00:37:34,782 --> 00:37:36,011
They died of thirst,
543
00:37:38,456 --> 00:37:40,422
trying to reach Saudi Arabia.
544
00:37:40,491 --> 00:37:43,854
And they were
just one ridge line away
545
00:37:43,923 --> 00:37:46,923
from reaching the Red Sea,
546
00:37:46,992 --> 00:37:50,795
their watery finish line
to get out of the desert.
547
00:37:52,932 --> 00:37:56,801
It's made my own journey
seem... frivolous.
548
00:38:28,671 --> 00:38:30,373
So I'll just ask
the question again.
549
00:38:30,442 --> 00:38:33,442
Okay.
550
00:38:33,511 --> 00:38:38,513
Abdi Nasir, it took you
one week to walk here.
551
00:38:39,616 --> 00:38:43,452
What did you...
Is the journey worth the danger?
552
00:38:43,521 --> 00:38:44,960
Is the journey worth
going to Saudi Arabia
553
00:38:44,984 --> 00:38:46,686
when people are dying?
554
00:38:48,624 --> 00:38:51,955
I was stuck in the port
of Djibouti for six weeks,
555
00:38:52,024 --> 00:38:54,595
because I couldn't convince
a commercial cargo ship
556
00:38:54,664 --> 00:38:56,097
to take on a passenger,
557
00:38:56,165 --> 00:38:59,930
with the risk of being attacked
by Somali Pirates.
558
00:38:59,999 --> 00:39:02,867
There's been
a lot of murder out at sea.
559
00:39:02,936 --> 00:39:04,132
Piracy is like a lottery
560
00:39:04,201 --> 00:39:06,475
for poor people
that are starving,
561
00:39:06,544 --> 00:39:08,741
and they're ready
to risk their lives, you know.
562
00:39:08,810 --> 00:39:10,743
- They're desperate.
- Yeah.
563
00:39:12,484 --> 00:39:14,615
Maybe I'll see you
in Saudi Arabia.
564
00:39:14,684 --> 00:39:15,917
I should come to Ali
565
00:39:15,985 --> 00:39:18,553
because I've been trying
for a month to get a boat,
566
00:39:18,622 --> 00:39:21,754
and I can't find a boat,
so, Ali, I might need your help.
567
00:39:24,595 --> 00:39:28,090
I wasn't getting a visa
to walk through Eritrea.
568
00:39:28,159 --> 00:39:30,664
We've been waiting
on a visa for four months.
569
00:39:30,733 --> 00:39:32,567
It wasn't coming through.
570
00:39:33,769 --> 00:39:35,235
I'm a 56-year-old man,
571
00:39:35,304 --> 00:39:38,507
and I don't have forever
to accomplish this.
572
00:39:39,610 --> 00:39:41,121
It's unfortunate
because some of these countries
573
00:39:41,145 --> 00:39:44,447
are just magnificent
in terms of cultural resources,
574
00:39:44,516 --> 00:39:45,949
and they're important pieces
575
00:39:46,017 --> 00:39:47,780
of the puzzle
of human migration.
576
00:39:49,550 --> 00:39:51,718
Political borders have been
the biggest obstacle.
577
00:39:51,787 --> 00:39:53,654
There's no question about it.
578
00:39:55,560 --> 00:39:57,724
I've had to do
what our ancestors did
579
00:39:57,793 --> 00:40:00,056
when they hit a glacier,
they had to walk around it.
580
00:40:08,265 --> 00:40:12,101
We've always been grasping
for something beyond our reach.
581
00:40:13,809 --> 00:40:16,677
The journey itself
makes us human.
582
00:42:03,083 --> 00:42:05,687
I didn't have to travel
only to mountaintops.
583
00:42:08,187 --> 00:42:12,188
The questions that we're asking,
understanding ourselves,
584
00:42:12,257 --> 00:42:14,289
understanding the history
of the universe,
585
00:42:15,425 --> 00:42:17,633
have become so difficult
to answer
586
00:42:17,702 --> 00:42:19,800
that we require
massive experiments
587
00:42:19,869 --> 00:42:23,133
all being done in some
very extreme locations
588
00:42:23,202 --> 00:42:24,780
because of the sensitivity
that you need
589
00:42:24,804 --> 00:42:27,775
to even begin
answering these questions.
590
00:42:31,980 --> 00:42:34,650
Dark matter may be
the scaffolding of the universe.
591
00:42:34,719 --> 00:42:36,152
We don't see it, but it's there.
592
00:42:36,220 --> 00:42:38,885
It's what draws
visible matter into place.
593
00:42:38,954 --> 00:42:40,420
But there's much more of it
594
00:42:40,489 --> 00:42:41,933
than there is
of the visible matter.
595
00:42:41,957 --> 00:42:44,759
It represents 85% of the matter
in the universe, we believe.
596
00:42:44,828 --> 00:42:46,321
And we don't know what it is.
597
00:42:50,999 --> 00:42:54,032
Dark matter will pass
right through an atom.
598
00:42:54,871 --> 00:42:56,404
What are you going to build
599
00:42:56,473 --> 00:42:58,806
that's going to actually capture
one of these particles?
600
00:43:08,412 --> 00:43:12,787
You need about half a mile
of rock or more to shield you
601
00:43:12,856 --> 00:43:14,255
from all the particle noise
602
00:43:14,324 --> 00:43:16,791
that will create the same signal
on the surface.
603
00:43:24,934 --> 00:43:27,164
Even after you've gone
half a mile underground,
604
00:43:27,233 --> 00:43:29,804
humans are radioactive enough
that if you stand near one
605
00:43:29,873 --> 00:43:31,473
of these detectors,
it could go off
606
00:43:31,541 --> 00:43:34,039
as if a dark matter particle
had hit your detectors.
607
00:43:36,308 --> 00:43:38,780
We know lead can shield us
from radioactivity,
608
00:43:38,849 --> 00:43:41,277
but new lead itself
is radioactive.
609
00:43:42,853 --> 00:43:45,787
What these physicists did
is they found some lead
610
00:43:45,856 --> 00:43:47,382
that had been salvaged
from a ship
611
00:43:47,451 --> 00:43:49,252
that had sank
off the coast of France
612
00:43:49,321 --> 00:43:51,054
in the 18th century.
613
00:43:51,123 --> 00:43:52,834
These are the kinds of lengths
that they've gone to,
614
00:43:52,858 --> 00:43:55,995
to build a detector
that is completely shielded,
615
00:43:56,064 --> 00:43:59,031
so that it can detect
this very, very tiny signal
616
00:43:59,100 --> 00:44:00,868
of a dark matter particle.
617
00:44:04,369 --> 00:44:08,040
Most theories suggest
that at very, very small scales,
618
00:44:08,109 --> 00:44:11,879
the structure of space-time
is not completely smooth.
619
00:44:12,982 --> 00:44:14,277
It might be frothy.
620
00:44:15,813 --> 00:44:18,083
How would you find
such a structure?
621
00:44:20,319 --> 00:44:23,286
Theory tells us
that neutrinos are particles
622
00:44:23,355 --> 00:44:26,894
that will interact with
the structure of space-time.
623
00:44:30,098 --> 00:44:31,738
Some of the earlier
neutrino detectors
624
00:44:31,803 --> 00:44:33,280
were essentially
large tanks of water
625
00:44:33,304 --> 00:44:34,949
that were lined
with photomultiplier tubes
626
00:44:34,973 --> 00:44:38,400
put inside mines looking
for the flash of blue light
627
00:44:38,469 --> 00:44:42,404
that happens when a neutrino
hits a water molecule.
628
00:44:43,947 --> 00:44:47,013
And in order to have any chance
of detecting them,
629
00:44:47,082 --> 00:44:48,943
you need larger
and larger volumes of water.
630
00:44:53,286 --> 00:44:56,385
The Russians came up
with a really ingenious way
631
00:44:56,454 --> 00:44:58,222
of addressing this problem.
632
00:45:02,966 --> 00:45:04,965
Lake Baikal has 20%
633
00:45:05,034 --> 00:45:07,231
of the world's
unfrozen freshwater.
634
00:45:10,138 --> 00:45:13,468
It's tucked away
in a remote corner of Siberia,
635
00:45:16,078 --> 00:45:19,309
deep enough to submerge
three Empire State Buildings
636
00:45:19,378 --> 00:45:21,113
and not see a trace of them.
637
00:45:22,916 --> 00:45:26,283
So they wait for the lake
to completely freeze over.
638
00:45:26,352 --> 00:45:29,319
When the ice is about
a meter thick all across,
639
00:45:29,388 --> 00:45:31,552
they use that ice as a platform,
640
00:45:31,621 --> 00:45:36,326
send in divers and use
the lake itself as a detector.
641
00:45:38,529 --> 00:45:42,035
They have about two months
in which they can do this work
642
00:45:42,104 --> 00:45:43,537
before the ice starts cracking
643
00:45:43,605 --> 00:45:45,434
and it becomes dangerous
to be on the ice.
644
00:45:47,371 --> 00:45:51,374
Even to get to the experiment,
you have to ride over this ice
645
00:45:51,443 --> 00:45:54,047
for about 40 kilometers,
646
00:45:54,116 --> 00:45:57,413
scouting for zones of good ice
on which they can drive.
647
00:46:03,422 --> 00:46:07,423
One of the challenges of doing
neutrino physics in a lake
648
00:46:07,492 --> 00:46:08,925
is that for every neutrino,
649
00:46:08,993 --> 00:46:11,526
there are about a billion
cosmic-ray muons
650
00:46:11,595 --> 00:46:13,161
that also hit the water,
651
00:46:13,230 --> 00:46:15,200
also creating the same kind
of blue light.
652
00:46:21,176 --> 00:46:23,076
So one solution
is to go deep down,
653
00:46:23,145 --> 00:46:24,711
so that you can use the water
654
00:46:24,780 --> 00:46:27,212
as a shield
against the cosmic-ray muons.
655
00:46:27,281 --> 00:46:29,412
But even at the depth
of about a kilometer,
656
00:46:29,481 --> 00:46:34,351
the cosmic-ray muons
will outnumber by 1,000 to 1.
657
00:46:34,420 --> 00:46:36,188
So the neutrino physicists
have come up
658
00:46:36,257 --> 00:46:38,256
with a very ingenious solution.
659
00:46:38,325 --> 00:46:40,357
It so happens
that cosmic-ray muons
660
00:46:40,426 --> 00:46:43,459
cannot go through rock,
but neutrinos can.
661
00:46:43,528 --> 00:46:46,462
So imagine now that you're
looking at neutrinos
662
00:46:46,531 --> 00:46:49,003
that are coming from
the other side of the earth,
663
00:46:49,072 --> 00:46:50,712
and hitting the bottom
of Lake Baikal.
664
00:46:52,268 --> 00:46:53,979
So you're essentially using
the entire planet
665
00:46:54,003 --> 00:46:58,309
as a shield against the noisy
cosmic-ray muons,
666
00:46:58,378 --> 00:47:00,212
and you're creating
a zone of silence
667
00:47:00,281 --> 00:47:02,445
just at the bottom
of Lake Baikal.
668
00:51:35,754 --> 00:51:39,359
Out in the desert,
there was just no noise.
669
00:51:40,891 --> 00:51:43,429
It was just my world of silence.
670
00:51:48,371 --> 00:51:51,437
I have no clue
why I do these things.
671
00:51:55,510 --> 00:51:56,976
Losing my eyesight,
672
00:51:57,045 --> 00:52:00,380
I saw better within
than I ever saw before.
673
00:52:04,255 --> 00:52:05,788
The real world was blurred,
674
00:52:05,857 --> 00:52:07,882
so I went with seeing
from with inside.
675
00:52:10,525 --> 00:52:14,361
That enabled me to run
for phenomenal distances.
676
00:52:15,926 --> 00:52:20,598
One foot in front of another,
mile after mile.
677
00:52:27,872 --> 00:52:31,576
During the night,
I had to keep moving.
678
00:52:33,911 --> 00:52:38,319
I kept focused on the white line
that was on the road.
679
00:52:41,853 --> 00:52:45,854
And that white line
always kept me focused
680
00:52:45,923 --> 00:52:47,493
as to where I'm going...
681
00:52:49,531 --> 00:52:52,696
until that moon started
to climb over the peak.
682
00:53:26,898 --> 00:53:29,766
I arrived in Saudi Arabia
on a Syrian cargo ship
683
00:53:29,835 --> 00:53:34,375
that was carrying 9,000 sheep
and 800 camels from Africa.
684
00:53:39,009 --> 00:53:41,877
To be able to walk
through this part of the world
685
00:53:41,946 --> 00:53:45,947
that has been so closed off
for centuries, actually,
686
00:53:46,016 --> 00:53:47,520
was pretty remarkable.
687
00:53:49,690 --> 00:53:52,052
What do you think
makes people so restless?
688
00:53:52,121 --> 00:53:54,428
You know, my project
is about discovery.
689
00:53:54,497 --> 00:53:57,563
It's about humankind's
natural impulse
690
00:53:57,632 --> 00:53:59,565
to always look
over the next mountain,
691
00:53:59,634 --> 00:54:01,369
cross the Bab el-Mandeb.
692
00:54:01,438 --> 00:54:02,470
What's your philosophy,
693
00:54:02,539 --> 00:54:04,834
your theory about why
we're that way?
694
00:54:04,903 --> 00:54:08,574
I think it's mankind's nature.
695
00:54:08,643 --> 00:54:13,744
And I think our Bab el-Mandeb
now is outer space.
696
00:54:32,997 --> 00:54:34,330
We have walked two days
697
00:54:34,398 --> 00:54:37,471
out of the vast
port city of Jeddah.
698
00:54:37,540 --> 00:54:41,871
Ahead, the long austere
salt plains of the Hejaz coast,
699
00:54:41,940 --> 00:54:45,875
a white ramp that leads
700 miles north to Jordan.
700
00:54:47,550 --> 00:54:49,150
A strip of Saudi Arabia
701
00:54:49,218 --> 00:54:51,749
not traversed
by an outside traveler on foot
702
00:54:51,818 --> 00:54:54,554
since the days
of Lawrence of Arabia.
703
00:55:13,576 --> 00:55:17,005
The photos I captured
of the Arabian Hajj trail system
704
00:55:17,074 --> 00:55:18,573
may be the first ever taken
705
00:55:18,642 --> 00:55:21,911
of those particular stretches
of the network,
706
00:55:21,980 --> 00:55:24,650
at least since cars
began bumping down
707
00:55:24,719 --> 00:55:28,016
old caravan trails
in the early 1940s.
708
00:55:30,461 --> 00:55:32,856
And already, we are lost.
709
00:55:38,898 --> 00:55:42,030
Modern day Saudi Arabia
has lost so much memory
710
00:55:42,099 --> 00:55:47,541
beneath sleek highways,
parking lots, hotels, malls.
711
00:55:48,875 --> 00:55:51,512
Saudi Arabia
is a more urbanized society
712
00:55:51,581 --> 00:55:52,975
than the United States today.
713
00:55:54,078 --> 00:55:55,577
Because they've had oil wealth,
714
00:55:55,646 --> 00:55:58,882
they live in these
westernized bubbles.
715
00:56:00,623 --> 00:56:02,523
Cars with rolled-up windows.
716
00:56:04,627 --> 00:56:07,891
And herein lies a paradox.
717
00:56:07,960 --> 00:56:10,828
As our species
becomes more successful,
718
00:56:10,897 --> 00:56:12,597
more populous,
719
00:56:12,665 --> 00:56:15,437
we fracture the world
into ever tighter panoramas,
720
00:56:15,506 --> 00:56:16,768
into countries,
721
00:56:17,640 --> 00:56:18,869
provinces,
722
00:56:20,038 --> 00:56:21,135
neighborhoods,
723
00:56:22,040 --> 00:56:23,577
houses,
724
00:56:25,516 --> 00:56:26,976
private space.
725
00:56:28,846 --> 00:56:31,915
In this way, a proportionally
larger share of the planet
726
00:56:31,984 --> 00:56:36,722
becomes alien, exotic,
threatening, unknown.
727
00:56:41,098 --> 00:56:44,059
In a sense, the car
has become a prosthetic
728
00:56:44,128 --> 00:56:47,667
for a world that is no longer
human in scale.
729
00:56:52,235 --> 00:56:55,477
On foot, I have reconnected
with fellow human beings
730
00:56:55,546 --> 00:56:57,611
in ways I could never conceive
731
00:56:57,680 --> 00:57:01,879
as a reporter crisscrossing maps
by jet and car.
732
00:57:01,948 --> 00:57:05,113
Out walking,
I constantly meet people.
733
00:57:05,182 --> 00:57:07,951
Mm, that's good.
734
00:57:08,020 --> 00:57:10,954
I cannot ignore them
or drive by them.
735
00:57:13,696 --> 00:57:17,862
I chat with strangers
5, 10, 20 times a day,
736
00:57:20,197 --> 00:57:21,797
people unlike me,
737
00:57:21,865 --> 00:57:24,165
who carry very different ideas
and universes
738
00:57:24,234 --> 00:57:26,035
inside of their heads.
739
00:57:26,104 --> 00:57:27,437
It's the opposite
740
00:57:27,505 --> 00:57:29,105
of the echo chambers
of the internet.
741
00:57:32,341 --> 00:57:34,549
It's the difference
between a tweet
742
00:57:34,618 --> 00:57:36,782
that's exchanged
at the speed of electrons
743
00:57:36,851 --> 00:57:39,851
and a heart to heart
that can change your life.
744
00:57:42,989 --> 00:57:46,660
I'm not just talking about
walking across the world,
745
00:57:46,729 --> 00:57:48,860
I'm listening my way across it.
746
00:57:52,097 --> 00:57:55,999
In this way, walking
builds a home everywhere.
747
00:59:00,264 --> 00:59:02,934
Scientists who have strapped
GPS devices
748
00:59:03,003 --> 00:59:06,003
to the world's last
hunter-gatherers report
749
00:59:06,072 --> 00:59:11,613
that the typical male forager
walks about seven miles a day,
750
00:59:11,682 --> 00:59:16,277
like walking annually
from New York to Los Angeles.
751
00:59:16,346 --> 00:59:21,018
This is roughly the distance
I'm covering year to year.
752
00:59:22,055 --> 00:59:23,086
It's normal.
753
00:59:25,960 --> 00:59:28,894
It's sitting down
that's actually insane.
754
00:59:28,963 --> 00:59:31,028
We do way too much of it.
755
00:59:31,097 --> 00:59:33,833
It makes us sick
with depression,
756
00:59:33,902 --> 00:59:37,232
addiction,
and attention deficit disorders.
757
00:59:43,274 --> 00:59:44,640
All motorized societies
758
00:59:44,709 --> 00:59:47,748
classify walkers
as suspicious beings.
759
00:59:49,885 --> 00:59:51,917
I personally
have encountered hundreds
760
00:59:51,986 --> 00:59:54,117
cast up everywhere like flotsam,
761
00:59:55,352 --> 00:59:56,785
escapees from the wrath
762
00:59:56,853 --> 00:59:59,122
of nationalist mobs
in the cities.
763
01:00:01,897 --> 01:00:04,226
They put me up
in their grubby tents.
764
01:00:06,902 --> 01:00:09,066
More than half
were women and children.
765
01:00:19,046 --> 01:00:21,815
I'm in a valley
called Wadi Natuf.
766
01:00:21,884 --> 01:00:24,312
The first human beings
to ever stop walking
767
01:00:24,381 --> 01:00:31,055
took up residence in a cave here
10,000 to 13,000 years ago.
768
01:00:31,124 --> 01:00:35,862
They concocted
a world-changing idea, home.
769
01:00:37,295 --> 01:00:40,031
No longer was all
movement worship.
770
01:00:41,805 --> 01:00:48,204
Meaning, not to mention God,
began to assume a fixed address.
771
01:00:55,918 --> 01:00:59,248
A Czech novelist,
Milan Kundera, once wrote,
772
01:00:59,317 --> 01:01:00,950
"The struggle of man
against power
773
01:01:01,019 --> 01:01:04,484
is the struggle of memory
against forgetting."
774
01:01:31,382 --> 01:01:35,823
As we set out on this project,
the lives of 2.3 billion people,
775
01:01:35,892 --> 01:01:37,592
a third
of the world's population,
776
01:01:37,660 --> 01:01:40,960
are potentially linked
through electronic devices.
777
01:01:43,097 --> 01:01:45,932
By the time this walk ends
in Tierra del Fuego,
778
01:01:46,001 --> 01:01:49,430
that global connectivity
may very well be complete.
779
01:01:52,238 --> 01:01:55,040
Wireless messages
are soaring above us,
780
01:01:55,109 --> 01:01:58,912
crisscrossing the world
at the speed of light.
781
01:01:58,981 --> 01:02:00,914
What impressions
will they leave behind
782
01:02:00,983 --> 01:02:04,852
that resonate with human beings
50,000 years from now?
783
01:02:07,253 --> 01:02:11,056
Will they be beautiful
or even worth a glance?
784
01:02:14,931 --> 01:02:16,798
I find ancient petroglyphs
785
01:02:16,867 --> 01:02:19,064
scattered throughout
the landscape.
786
01:02:20,431 --> 01:02:24,069
I try to capture their facsimile
with a digital camera,
787
01:02:24,138 --> 01:02:28,073
a tool whose only record,
electronic zeros and ones,
788
01:02:28,142 --> 01:02:33,045
won't last even 20 years,
much less 20 centuries.
789
01:02:36,348 --> 01:02:38,017
We are the ghosts.
790
01:02:55,301 --> 01:02:58,202
So the oldest
living thing that we know of...
791
01:03:00,438 --> 01:03:04,241
is some bacteria living
in the Siberian permafrost...
792
01:03:08,149 --> 01:03:10,478
doing DNA repair below freezing,
793
01:03:10,547 --> 01:03:12,249
meaning that it's not dormant.
794
01:03:15,189 --> 01:03:17,155
It's been living
and growing there
795
01:03:17,224 --> 01:03:21,093
below freezing
for half a million years.
796
01:03:25,265 --> 01:03:29,167
So I made images of the bacteria
under the microscope,
797
01:03:29,236 --> 01:03:31,565
and it turns out no one
had done that before.
798
01:03:42,579 --> 01:03:46,415
There are stromatolite fossils
all over the world.
799
01:03:46,484 --> 01:03:51,387
The stromatolites date back
to 3.5 billion years ago.
800
01:03:52,424 --> 01:03:54,621
The stromatolites
actually did the job
801
01:03:54,690 --> 01:03:57,063
of oxygenating our atmosphere.
802
01:03:57,132 --> 01:03:59,934
It took 900 million years.
803
01:04:00,003 --> 01:04:01,269
So I'd like to say, you know,
804
01:04:01,338 --> 01:04:03,538
"The next time you take
a breath, thank a stromatolite."
805
01:04:05,268 --> 01:04:09,405
The oldest colony is living
in Western Australia.
806
01:04:09,474 --> 01:04:13,541
Astrobiologists have studied
this idea of bacteria
807
01:04:13,610 --> 01:04:17,050
potentially having piggybacked
in on a meteorite
808
01:04:17,119 --> 01:04:19,118
and landed on Earth somewhere,
809
01:04:19,187 --> 01:04:22,055
and it turns out
there's a meteor impact site
810
01:04:22,124 --> 01:04:23,925
right over the crest
of the beach
811
01:04:23,994 --> 01:04:26,422
where I photographed
the stromatolites.
812
01:04:27,723 --> 01:04:30,525
So I'm not saying that's
where life on Earth began,
813
01:04:30,594 --> 01:04:32,329
but it's certainly really fun
814
01:04:32,398 --> 01:04:34,595
to try to start
to puzzle that out.
815
01:04:37,436 --> 01:04:40,502
I had an opportunity
to visit CERN
816
01:04:40,571 --> 01:04:42,104
where fascinating questions
817
01:04:42,173 --> 01:04:44,110
that would answer
so many things for us
818
01:04:44,179 --> 01:04:46,079
are being explored.
819
01:04:47,545 --> 01:04:49,211
What is the nature
of the universe?
820
01:04:49,280 --> 01:04:53,449
Can we replicate the moments
after the Big Bang?
821
01:04:53,518 --> 01:04:55,385
What happened
in the depths of time
822
01:04:55,453 --> 01:05:00,159
that we wouldn't normally have
any relationship to otherwise?
823
01:05:03,693 --> 01:05:06,297
The Large Hadron Collider
is where you get a sense
824
01:05:06,366 --> 01:05:09,069
of how extreme
these detectors are.
825
01:05:10,172 --> 01:05:12,699
When you actually enter
the caverns that house
826
01:05:12,768 --> 01:05:14,503
the world's biggest machine...
827
01:05:17,047 --> 01:05:19,112
the coldest thing
in the universe.
828
01:05:20,512 --> 01:05:22,478
Colder than outer space.
829
01:05:26,551 --> 01:05:28,616
At CERN, we built a machine
830
01:05:28,685 --> 01:05:30,189
that's the size of a city,
831
01:05:31,492 --> 01:05:35,062
recreating the kind
of high energy environment
832
01:05:35,131 --> 01:05:36,575
that has not existed
in the universe
833
01:05:36,599 --> 01:05:39,627
since a fraction of a trillionth
of a second after the Big Bang.
834
01:05:41,764 --> 01:05:44,467
What we're looking for is the
genetic code of the universe.
835
01:05:46,571 --> 01:05:47,837
This is a device
836
01:05:47,906 --> 01:05:50,176
with 80 million channels
of electronics.
837
01:05:51,708 --> 01:05:53,308
It uses one full year
838
01:05:53,376 --> 01:05:55,412
of the planet's production
of helium to run.
839
01:05:57,780 --> 01:05:59,580
Magnets have had to be developed
840
01:05:59,649 --> 01:06:02,287
250,000 times the strength
of the Earth's magnetic field.
841
01:06:04,292 --> 01:06:07,589
It's like a racetrack
spread out over 27 kilometers,
842
01:06:07,658 --> 01:06:08,857
and you have particles
843
01:06:08,926 --> 01:06:11,263
that are moving close
to the speed of light.
844
01:06:11,332 --> 01:06:14,200
They're going around
11,000 times per second,
845
01:06:15,369 --> 01:06:17,170
and they collide
in a very small space
846
01:06:17,239 --> 01:06:19,700
finer than a human hair.
847
01:06:19,769 --> 01:06:22,340
The equivalent
to firing knitting needles
848
01:06:22,409 --> 01:06:23,975
from Europe and from America,
849
01:06:24,044 --> 01:06:26,641
and having them collide head-on
midway over the Atlantic.
850
01:06:29,383 --> 01:06:31,547
If you put enough energy
into a collision,
851
01:06:31,616 --> 01:06:34,385
you can create particles
out of nothing.
852
01:06:36,489 --> 01:06:39,192
We seem to need
17 particle types
853
01:06:39,261 --> 01:06:40,523
to build a universe.
854
01:06:44,629 --> 01:06:46,529
I was elected the leader
of the experiment
855
01:06:46,598 --> 01:06:48,762
to search for the Higgs.
856
01:06:48,831 --> 01:06:51,138
It has been called
the "God Particle"
857
01:06:51,207 --> 01:06:52,273
because we require atoms.
858
01:06:52,341 --> 01:06:53,908
Atoms are what builds
the structure
859
01:06:53,976 --> 01:06:57,342
of everything we have,
including ourselves.
860
01:06:57,411 --> 01:06:59,410
And without the Higgs,
there would be no atoms.
861
01:07:01,679 --> 01:07:04,778
We're producing
200 million collisions a second.
862
01:07:05,683 --> 01:07:06,982
This is huge.
863
01:07:07,051 --> 01:07:08,683
And this
is a worldwide enterprise
864
01:07:08,752 --> 01:07:10,619
to pick out the interesting one.
865
01:07:13,163 --> 01:07:14,763
Down the hallway for me,
866
01:07:14,831 --> 01:07:16,442
Tim Berners-Lee developed
the World Wide Web
867
01:07:16,466 --> 01:07:19,364
for us to coordinate
all this information.
868
01:07:20,500 --> 01:07:22,664
We built the LHC
as a collaboration
869
01:07:22,733 --> 01:07:26,569
of 178 Institutes worldwide,
40 countries.
870
01:07:27,903 --> 01:07:29,536
That's something
our civilization
871
01:07:29,605 --> 01:07:32,377
may be known for, as one
of the key things we've done.
872
01:07:34,316 --> 01:07:36,645
We keep extending
into new regions,
873
01:07:36,714 --> 01:07:38,314
beyond our imagination.
874
01:07:38,382 --> 01:07:43,124
Extra dimensions,
the fabric of space-time,
875
01:07:43,193 --> 01:07:44,785
the production of black holes.
876
01:07:46,421 --> 01:07:48,657
And if there's
no more accelerators built,
877
01:07:48,726 --> 01:07:50,159
because the next ones
878
01:07:50,227 --> 01:07:51,987
would need magnets
the size of the galaxy,
879
01:07:52,029 --> 01:07:54,762
It often occurs to me
that the work we're doing now
880
01:07:54,831 --> 01:07:56,698
may have to stand for millennia.
881
01:07:56,766 --> 01:07:59,668
Who else is going to look back
to one trillionth of a second
882
01:07:59,737 --> 01:08:00,768
after the Big Bang?
883
01:08:05,578 --> 01:08:08,281
Believe it or not, I ended up
going into physics through art.
884
01:08:10,352 --> 01:08:11,896
And that brought me back
into these questions
885
01:08:11,920 --> 01:08:15,255
I've been asking
in the background of my life.
886
01:08:16,820 --> 01:08:18,319
Where do we come from?
887
01:08:18,388 --> 01:08:20,689
You know, what is this place
we're in?
888
01:08:20,758 --> 01:08:25,298
What's driving the universe
to be as it is?
889
01:08:25,367 --> 01:08:27,795
What we're trying to understand
is a timeless thing.
890
01:08:34,002 --> 01:08:35,401
A hundred thousand years ago,
891
01:08:35,470 --> 01:08:38,707
pigments were being made
for the purposes of art.
892
01:08:40,547 --> 01:08:42,447
Forty thousand years or so ago,
893
01:08:42,516 --> 01:08:44,878
we have the oldest
surviving artwork,
894
01:08:44,947 --> 01:08:47,518
and it's this red dot painting.
895
01:08:48,918 --> 01:08:50,554
That artwork it turns out
896
01:08:50,623 --> 01:08:53,392
was made
by a Neanderthal artist.
897
01:08:54,891 --> 01:08:56,023
To me, what that says
898
01:08:56,092 --> 01:08:57,957
is art was important
to the human experience
899
01:08:58,026 --> 01:09:00,300
even before we were fully human.
900
01:09:09,004 --> 01:09:11,707
My mother
was a self-taught painter
901
01:09:11,776 --> 01:09:12,807
of this region.
902
01:09:15,417 --> 01:09:17,812
Because of the remoteness
of this area,
903
01:09:17,881 --> 01:09:21,519
there was virtually
impossible television reception.
904
01:09:21,588 --> 01:09:26,458
So if I wasn't outdoors riding
on my horse, I was drawing.
905
01:09:31,829 --> 01:09:34,499
As I matured more with my work,
906
01:09:34,568 --> 01:09:38,404
eventually, the actual depiction
of the landscape
907
01:09:38,473 --> 01:09:41,440
began to fall away.
908
01:09:43,676 --> 01:09:45,309
The process of drawing for me
909
01:09:45,378 --> 01:09:49,580
is really about accessing
the edge of memory.
910
01:09:50,848 --> 01:09:52,814
Some sort of preconscious
911
01:09:52,883 --> 01:09:56,587
or unconscious knowledge
that we all share.
912
01:09:57,756 --> 01:10:00,525
That if we can get out
of our own way,
913
01:10:00,594 --> 01:10:06,025
we could access this place
and access what we know.
914
01:10:06,094 --> 01:10:09,468
And it's this kind
of deep memory
915
01:10:09,537 --> 01:10:13,373
that I find
is the inexhaustible reason
916
01:10:13,442 --> 01:10:14,737
why I keep working.
917
01:10:16,874 --> 01:10:18,273
This is a kind of memory
918
01:10:18,342 --> 01:10:21,678
that I believe
has to exist in us
919
01:10:21,747 --> 01:10:25,484
from the tiniest level
of being of who we are
920
01:10:25,553 --> 01:10:27,618
and what we have evolved from.
921
01:10:29,656 --> 01:10:33,690
And that's why stillness
is so important.
922
01:10:33,759 --> 01:10:37,492
That, that deep, deep
recessed knowledge can surface.
923
01:10:41,833 --> 01:10:47,968
Something is being accessed
that I can't know consciously,
924
01:10:48,037 --> 01:10:50,773
and yet it's there.
925
01:10:50,842 --> 01:10:54,909
If I don't dictate ahead of time
what the drawing is to be.
926
01:10:58,619 --> 01:11:02,015
I do feel that the grasses
have memory,
927
01:11:02,084 --> 01:11:07,856
that the soil has memory,
the air has memory.
928
01:11:11,995 --> 01:11:13,829
The memory of water.
929
01:11:20,575 --> 01:11:23,102
When you think
about the DNA we carry
930
01:11:23,171 --> 01:11:24,470
and the heredity that we carry,
931
01:11:24,539 --> 01:11:28,547
why can't we have
cellular memory?
932
01:11:32,147 --> 01:11:35,554
That reverberation is going
all the way through.
933
01:14:41,611 --> 01:14:43,277
The universe's first light
934
01:14:43,346 --> 01:14:45,975
has in it the imprint
of primordial sound waves.
935
01:14:47,646 --> 01:14:49,290
They essentially set
the universe ringing
936
01:14:49,314 --> 01:14:53,081
with a fundamental frequency
and a whole bunch of harmonics.
937
01:14:59,057 --> 01:15:01,826
And the imprint
of the primordial sound waves
938
01:15:01,895 --> 01:15:04,829
can now be seen
in the way galaxies
939
01:15:04,898 --> 01:15:06,897
and clusters of galaxies
are structured...
940
01:15:08,501 --> 01:15:10,769
the cosmic microwave background.
941
01:15:18,076 --> 01:15:21,912
So this is the cosmic
microwave background,
942
01:15:21,981 --> 01:15:24,585
which is the earliest light
in the universe.
943
01:15:24,654 --> 01:15:27,819
So 380,000 years
after the Big Bang,
944
01:15:27,888 --> 01:15:31,350
this radiation was imprinted
on the sky.
945
01:15:31,419 --> 01:15:33,957
And before that,
there was actually no light.
946
01:15:34,928 --> 01:15:36,993
I realized my subjects
947
01:15:37,062 --> 01:15:39,226
were getting
beyond geologic time
948
01:15:39,295 --> 01:15:40,832
and into cosmic time.
949
01:15:40,901 --> 01:15:42,367
And so, as I was starting
950
01:15:42,436 --> 01:15:44,869
to wrap up
the oldest living things,
951
01:15:44,938 --> 01:15:47,036
I knew that deep time
and deep space
952
01:15:47,105 --> 01:15:49,170
were going to be
my next subjects.
953
01:15:51,076 --> 01:15:52,809
The cosmic microwave mandala
954
01:15:52,878 --> 01:15:56,848
combines a traditional
Tibetan-Buddhist sand mandala
955
01:15:56,917 --> 01:16:00,214
with an image of the cosmic
microwave background.
956
01:16:00,283 --> 01:16:03,624
Both are trying to make sense
of our place in the universe.
957
01:16:30,445 --> 01:16:33,951
In Tibetan Buddhism,
there are a lot of correlations
958
01:16:34,020 --> 01:16:38,120
between the human body
and the cosmos.
959
01:16:48,738 --> 01:16:50,429
You try with the help
of the mandala
960
01:16:50,498 --> 01:16:53,036
to realize
this interconnectedness.
961
01:17:00,882 --> 01:17:04,014
It's also the depiction
of an inner cosmology.
962
01:17:05,051 --> 01:17:07,281
You carry the cosmos within you.
963
01:19:23,288 --> 01:19:28,389
The tantra sand mandala
is a 2,600-year-old design.
964
01:19:30,427 --> 01:19:34,263
It took me over 25,
30 years practice.
965
01:19:41,042 --> 01:19:44,845
I've been doing this
fighting for my country.
966
01:19:44,914 --> 01:19:48,013
I'm not carrying
any weapons in my hand.
967
01:19:48,082 --> 01:19:50,983
I'm simply carrying
a beautiful art
968
01:19:51,052 --> 01:19:53,249
for the welfare
of all sentient beings.
969
01:20:51,607 --> 01:20:52,940
When I first saw it,
970
01:20:53,008 --> 01:20:55,443
this beautiful mountain
with the sun
971
01:20:55,512 --> 01:21:00,019
breaking over behind me
and capturing the peak,
972
01:21:00,088 --> 01:21:02,351
I said,
"Okay, sweetie, I see you.
973
01:21:02,420 --> 01:21:05,453
I've been training
a long time to get here,
974
01:21:05,522 --> 01:21:08,159
but it's still a long way to go.
975
01:21:08,228 --> 01:21:10,557
I've got a lot of miles,
a lot of footsteps."
976
01:21:15,664 --> 01:21:18,598
It's a little over 14,500 feet.
977
01:21:39,754 --> 01:21:44,624
As I was approaching
the last mile on the climb,
978
01:21:44,693 --> 01:21:47,099
I just savored every step.
979
01:21:50,039 --> 01:21:51,171
It was almost a fantasy,
980
01:21:51,240 --> 01:21:53,303
and I was afraid
to let go of it.
981
01:21:59,609 --> 01:22:04,479
That was cumulatively
about a 200 mile run.
982
01:22:06,649 --> 01:22:08,186
Eighty-four hours.
983
01:22:10,125 --> 01:22:12,223
I'm awake for over four days.
984
01:22:14,129 --> 01:22:16,293
I thought about
all these things,
985
01:22:16,362 --> 01:22:20,066
and when I got to the top,
I was just crying.
986
01:22:20,135 --> 01:22:22,530
I couldn't believe it,
I started to cry.
987
01:22:22,599 --> 01:22:25,269
And I looked back
towards Badwater,
988
01:22:25,338 --> 01:22:29,570
and I knew that I had gone up
that desert by myself,
989
01:22:29,639 --> 01:22:31,605
as far as I could see.
990
01:22:34,743 --> 01:22:39,547
But I didn't realize
my adventure was just starting.
991
01:22:45,490 --> 01:22:48,787
I ran probably about
50 miles the next day.
992
01:22:48,856 --> 01:22:50,459
There were all kinds of people
993
01:22:50,528 --> 01:22:52,560
who wanted me,
television, radio,
994
01:22:52,629 --> 01:22:54,496
and I didn't want
to talk to anybody.
995
01:22:55,236 --> 01:22:56,762
It was a... It was a...
996
01:22:56,831 --> 01:22:59,237
It was a personal thing.
997
01:23:01,671 --> 01:23:05,375
My wife, Betty, was preparing
for a dinner party,
998
01:23:05,444 --> 01:23:07,641
and I said, "Well, I'm
gonna go body surfing."
999
01:23:14,651 --> 01:23:16,084
Next thing I knew, I was sucked
1000
01:23:16,152 --> 01:23:21,259
into the first of a series
of rogue waves.
1001
01:23:23,693 --> 01:23:28,167
Eventually, I was washed ashore,
and they were able to find me.
1002
01:23:28,236 --> 01:23:31,566
And at that point,
I was totally paralyzed.
1003
01:23:37,311 --> 01:23:39,673
It severed half my spinal cord.
1004
01:23:41,843 --> 01:23:46,680
I could visualize my wife
preparing for a dinner party
1005
01:23:46,749 --> 01:23:48,385
that would never take place.
1006
01:24:11,840 --> 01:24:14,741
It's still with me.
1007
01:24:20,387 --> 01:24:23,651
The therapist put me
in a wheelchair.
1008
01:24:23,720 --> 01:24:25,488
I said, "I'm gonna walk again."
1009
01:24:25,557 --> 01:24:27,357
Then she says,
1010
01:24:27,426 --> 01:24:30,823
"You'll be lucky if you walk
at all even with a walker."
1011
01:24:36,238 --> 01:24:40,239
I couldn't make anything go
on my stationary bicycle.
1012
01:24:43,476 --> 01:24:45,805
I couldn't hold anything
in my hand.
1013
01:24:50,846 --> 01:24:52,412
But my legs,
1014
01:24:52,481 --> 01:24:57,157
after repetitive efforts,
I was able to function,
1015
01:24:57,226 --> 01:24:58,851
but there's little
or no strength.
1016
01:25:07,830 --> 01:25:09,367
It was at...
1017
01:25:09,997 --> 01:25:11,363
It was at...
1018
01:25:11,432 --> 01:25:17,276
It was at that point I realized
that I've come a long way.
1019
01:25:28,587 --> 01:25:32,819
It was three days short
of one year earlier
1020
01:25:32,888 --> 01:25:35,657
that I was totally paralyzed.
1021
01:25:38,597 --> 01:25:42,862
I said, "Put me
on my stationary bicycle."
1022
01:25:45,406 --> 01:25:48,472
And I remember that I prayed.
1023
01:25:49,674 --> 01:25:54,478
And I rode that bike
for ten miles.
1024
01:26:03,754 --> 01:26:10,362
In January of 1978, I ran
the Paul Mason marathon.
1025
01:26:10,431 --> 01:26:13,629
Twenty-six and a quarter miles,
there was a fire station
1026
01:26:13,698 --> 01:26:16,830
just before the start
of each loop.
1027
01:26:16,899 --> 01:26:19,866
And I went in, I told the guys,
"I've lost all my fine motors.
1028
01:26:19,935 --> 01:26:21,967
If I fell, you'd have
to pick me up.
1029
01:26:22,036 --> 01:26:23,441
I couldn't get up.
1030
01:26:26,645 --> 01:26:30,811
And I could have bowel movement.
I have no control.
1031
01:26:30,880 --> 01:26:34,518
I'd like to leave clean clothes,
shoes, and everything,
1032
01:26:34,587 --> 01:26:38,588
and use your shower
that you use for the trucks
1033
01:26:38,657 --> 01:26:41,624
to clean up
before I start again."
1034
01:26:44,993 --> 01:26:46,629
And they said, "No problem."
1035
01:26:48,165 --> 01:26:50,798
I just took off everything,
messy as it was,
1036
01:26:50,867 --> 01:26:52,567
right in the shower.
1037
01:26:52,635 --> 01:26:54,451
When I came back, they
had cleaned the other stuff,
1038
01:26:54,475 --> 01:26:56,474
dried it, I put that on.
1039
01:26:57,610 --> 01:26:59,243
And then they...
1040
01:26:59,312 --> 01:27:02,414
They all ran along with me
to the finish line.
1041
01:27:03,748 --> 01:27:07,452
They gave me clean clothes,
they gave me dignity.
1042
01:27:09,952 --> 01:27:13,458
I guess it takes
really getting beat up
1043
01:27:14,121 --> 01:27:15,955
to realize how strong you are.
1044
01:27:22,701 --> 01:27:24,766
You know, I've lost
my external mobility,
1045
01:27:24,835 --> 01:27:29,606
but the internal mobility
expands just like the universe.
1046
01:27:43,392 --> 01:27:44,984
I've walked with many people
1047
01:27:45,053 --> 01:27:47,657
across the world so far.
1048
01:27:48,694 --> 01:27:50,294
The African proverb is
1049
01:27:50,362 --> 01:27:51,873
"If you want to walk quickly
or fast, you walk alone.
1050
01:27:51,897 --> 01:27:55,434
And if you want to walk far,
walk together."
1051
01:28:01,476 --> 01:28:03,871
By walking with a local person,
1052
01:28:03,940 --> 01:28:07,710
they allow me to see that
landscape through their eyes.
1053
01:28:10,045 --> 01:28:11,645
In Ethiopia, I was walking
1054
01:28:11,713 --> 01:28:15,047
with one of Ethiopia's
finest fossil finders.
1055
01:28:16,722 --> 01:28:22,021
With a desert guide in Djibouti
who was running for parliament
1056
01:28:22,090 --> 01:28:23,523
on a very strange clunky
1057
01:28:23,591 --> 01:28:27,499
kind of 1980s radio phone,
marshaling votes
1058
01:28:27,568 --> 01:28:30,568
as we were walking
through the desert.
1059
01:28:30,637 --> 01:28:33,604
I'm not too surprised
to say that he lost.
1060
01:28:33,673 --> 01:28:36,970
I've walked in Saudi Arabia
with Mohamad Banounah,
1061
01:28:37,039 --> 01:28:39,643
a special forces general
in the Saudi army,
1062
01:28:39,712 --> 01:28:41,612
who was a true life force.
1063
01:28:41,681 --> 01:28:43,779
A man who was a great raconteur,
1064
01:28:43,848 --> 01:28:46,551
who was a wealth
of Bedouin folk knowledge,
1065
01:28:46,620 --> 01:28:48,532
who was willing to walk
hundreds of kilometers
1066
01:28:48,556 --> 01:28:49,889
through the Hejaz desert
1067
01:28:49,957 --> 01:28:52,524
during some of the hottest part
of the year.
1068
01:28:52,593 --> 01:28:54,823
Cheerful,
full of off-color jokes.
1069
01:28:54,892 --> 01:28:56,462
Woo-hoo!
1070
01:28:56,531 --> 01:28:58,926
With an abdominal hernia,
1071
01:28:58,995 --> 01:29:00,761
a part of his gut
had actually come out
1072
01:29:00,830 --> 01:29:04,503
through his abdominal wall,
and he refused to tell me.
1073
01:29:04,572 --> 01:29:05,905
He kept it secret for weeks
1074
01:29:05,973 --> 01:29:08,573
and actually walked
about 250 miles
1075
01:29:08,642 --> 01:29:12,071
in this condition,
quietly wrapping up his abdomen
1076
01:29:12,140 --> 01:29:17,010
with a cloth in the mornings
before I woke up,
1077
01:29:17,079 --> 01:29:19,947
so he could take the pain.
1078
01:29:20,016 --> 01:29:22,785
Um, and when I finally stopped
the walk and medevaced him,
1079
01:29:22,854 --> 01:29:25,524
the doctor was amazed
that he was still alive.
1080
01:29:26,759 --> 01:29:29,055
And he is my Saudi Arabia.
1081
01:29:31,126 --> 01:29:32,792
In Turkey,
1082
01:29:32,861 --> 01:29:36,436
I met a young Kurdish
photographer, Murat Yazar,
1083
01:29:36,505 --> 01:29:37,904
who expressed an interest
1084
01:29:37,973 --> 01:29:40,638
in walking with me
for nine days.
1085
01:29:40,707 --> 01:29:43,641
Murat so loved the walk
that he ended up walking with me
1086
01:29:43,710 --> 01:29:47,975
all the way across Turkey
for seven months.
1087
01:29:48,044 --> 01:29:50,879
And then didn't even stop
at the Turkish border,
1088
01:29:50,948 --> 01:29:53,684
but continued walking
through Georgia with me.
1089
01:29:55,920 --> 01:29:58,887
I stand back from my own project
and watch in awe
1090
01:29:58,956 --> 01:30:01,890
as my walking partners
become the driving force,
1091
01:30:01,959 --> 01:30:05,058
rediscovering their
own home on foot.
1092
01:30:07,998 --> 01:30:10,063
I partnered
with Kazakh wolf hunters,
1093
01:30:10,132 --> 01:30:12,703
joined by an archaeologist
creating petroglyphs
1094
01:30:12,772 --> 01:30:15,574
on the landscape
across Kazakhstan.
1095
01:30:15,643 --> 01:30:20,612
For Kazakhs, separated from
their ancestral nomadic ways,
1096
01:30:20,681 --> 01:30:23,483
as a way of not forgetting.
1097
01:30:23,552 --> 01:30:27,487
A mounted archer taller
than three football fields.
1098
01:30:27,556 --> 01:30:28,989
A stylized camel
1099
01:30:29,057 --> 01:30:30,935
stretching nearly a quarter-mile
from nose to tail,
1100
01:30:30,959 --> 01:30:36,595
and two other gigantic motifs
borrowed from local history.
1101
01:30:36,664 --> 01:30:38,498
When Google Earth updates
1102
01:30:38,567 --> 01:30:40,367
its satellite imagery
of Central Asia,
1103
01:30:40,436 --> 01:30:44,999
you'll be able to appraise
Astafyev's artwork from orbit.
1104
01:30:49,776 --> 01:30:53,271
A melon seller
from far western Uzbekistan
1105
01:30:53,340 --> 01:30:55,713
decided to join the walk,
1106
01:30:55,782 --> 01:30:57,781
and he was also
a forced migrant.
1107
01:30:57,850 --> 01:30:59,216
A man who was so poor
1108
01:30:59,285 --> 01:31:00,762
that he'd been forced
dozens of times
1109
01:31:00,786 --> 01:31:01,797
to go work illegally
in Kazakhstan
1110
01:31:01,821 --> 01:31:04,887
as a construction laborer,
1111
01:31:04,956 --> 01:31:06,489
and had the scars on his body
1112
01:31:06,558 --> 01:31:09,958
from Kazakh police beatings
to prove it.
1113
01:31:10,027 --> 01:31:14,028
And Tolik was almost
a folkloric figure.
1114
01:31:15,703 --> 01:31:19,165
His attitude to life
was totally unflappable.
1115
01:31:19,234 --> 01:31:22,740
Whether we were being arrested
and detained more than 30 times,
1116
01:31:22,809 --> 01:31:25,809
whether the donkeys would escape
into the Kyzylkum Desert,
1117
01:31:25,878 --> 01:31:29,208
whether our water was stolen
and we were without water
1118
01:31:29,277 --> 01:31:30,710
in the middle of the desert,
1119
01:31:30,778 --> 01:31:35,148
he was this calm, steady,
inspiring person
1120
01:31:35,217 --> 01:31:38,690
who would have been dismissed
as kind of a street-side vendor
1121
01:31:38,759 --> 01:31:40,923
if you had driven
by him in a car.
1122
01:31:44,633 --> 01:31:47,930
The idea is to gather them all.
1123
01:31:47,999 --> 01:31:50,175
I don't know how I'm going
to do it, but I'm gonna do it.
1124
01:31:50,199 --> 01:31:52,770
I'm gonna find somebody
to pay for their air tickets
1125
01:31:52,839 --> 01:31:55,333
to gather hundreds
of these people
1126
01:31:55,402 --> 01:31:59,975
to whom the walk belongs,
as much to them as to me,
1127
01:32:00,044 --> 01:32:02,076
in Tierra del Fuego,
at the finish line,
1128
01:32:02,145 --> 01:32:03,745
and then have us all
walk together
1129
01:32:03,813 --> 01:32:06,311
for the last day down
to the Antarctic Sea.
1130
01:32:09,185 --> 01:32:12,218
Because, in truth,
this isn't only my journey,
1131
01:32:12,287 --> 01:32:13,920
it's yours, too.
1132
01:32:13,989 --> 01:32:16,860
If you go far back enough
in your family tree,
1133
01:32:16,929 --> 01:32:19,962
some ancestor walked
the trails that I'm following.
1134
01:32:21,230 --> 01:32:26,001
We're all walking together
into the 21st century.
1135
01:32:38,852 --> 01:32:40,685
Paul's walk comes at a time
1136
01:32:40,754 --> 01:32:44,657
when our ability to connect
has been increasingly replaced
1137
01:32:44,726 --> 01:32:49,222
by interactions with our screens
and our devices,
1138
01:32:49,291 --> 01:32:54,128
when we have so many reasons
to be strangers to one another.
1139
01:32:58,003 --> 01:33:01,806
I knew that many, many lives
would be touched by his walk
1140
01:33:01,875 --> 01:33:05,040
and that many
would be touching him.
1141
01:33:09,146 --> 01:33:10,914
To be a walker on a planet
1142
01:33:10,983 --> 01:33:14,885
conquered by suspicion, flags,
1143
01:33:14,954 --> 01:33:17,250
the incessant babble
of television,
1144
01:33:18,386 --> 01:33:20,825
I'm often asked about safety.
1145
01:33:22,764 --> 01:33:25,027
Israeli soldiers
fired rubber bullets at me
1146
01:33:25,096 --> 01:33:27,062
as I zigzagged
through the West Bank.
1147
01:33:30,838 --> 01:33:32,672
A militia of village guards
1148
01:33:32,741 --> 01:33:34,773
nearly shot me
from behind a tree
1149
01:33:34,842 --> 01:33:37,237
while walking through Turkey.
1150
01:33:37,306 --> 01:33:40,042
And to date,
the police in ten countries
1151
01:33:40,111 --> 01:33:45,245
have detained me 84 times
for, well, suspicious walking.
1152
01:33:46,755 --> 01:33:48,188
Still, as a member
1153
01:33:48,256 --> 01:33:49,998
of one of the most
disempowered minorities
1154
01:33:50,022 --> 01:33:51,823
in our motorized age,
1155
01:33:51,892 --> 01:33:53,558
a pedestrian,
1156
01:33:53,627 --> 01:33:55,271
I can assert with confidence
that, by and large,
1157
01:33:55,295 --> 01:33:58,962
our shared planet
is not a dangerous place.
1158
01:34:00,263 --> 01:34:01,929
In the Arab world,
1159
01:34:01,998 --> 01:34:05,430
I learned to scale
human compassion by the pound.
1160
01:34:05,499 --> 01:34:09,236
Daily invitations to meals
and tea had the effect
1161
01:34:09,305 --> 01:34:10,738
of lightening my rucksack
1162
01:34:10,806 --> 01:34:13,911
in Saudi Arabia, Jordan,
and the West Bank.
1163
01:34:14,475 --> 01:34:16,041
And in the Caucuses,
1164
01:34:16,110 --> 01:34:17,910
the Georgians
did Christian charity proud.
1165
01:34:17,978 --> 01:34:21,985
During my 42-day trek through
their mountainous nation,
1166
01:34:22,054 --> 01:34:25,791
I was kindly invited
into private homes every night.
1167
01:34:28,324 --> 01:34:31,324
In Western Kazakhstan,
my cargo horse foundered.
1168
01:34:31,393 --> 01:34:34,998
A local nomad transported
a healthy replacement
1169
01:34:35,067 --> 01:34:37,968
from his own herd
more than 100 miles away.
1170
01:34:39,434 --> 01:34:44,205
In Uzbekistan, a police state
where I was detained 37 times,
1171
01:34:44,274 --> 01:34:47,142
villagers sometimes
did turn me away.
1172
01:34:49,147 --> 01:34:50,613
"I'm sorry," they'd whisper,
1173
01:34:50,682 --> 01:34:54,149
"I don't want trouble
with the KGB."
1174
01:34:54,218 --> 01:34:57,020
Often, they looked
acutely embarrassed,
1175
01:34:57,089 --> 01:34:58,824
their fear clearly at war
1176
01:34:58,893 --> 01:35:01,354
with their own thwarted
neighborliness.
1177
01:35:03,997 --> 01:35:05,530
They sent out children
1178
01:35:05,599 --> 01:35:07,393
with fresh baked bread
as I walked away.
1179
01:35:10,234 --> 01:35:15,170
All the Abrahamic faiths espouse
compassion towards wayfarers.
1180
01:35:16,141 --> 01:35:18,778
"Love the foreigner as yourself
1181
01:35:18,847 --> 01:35:20,813
for you were foreigners
in Egypt,"
1182
01:35:20,882 --> 01:35:23,343
says the book of Leviticus.
1183
01:35:23,412 --> 01:35:27,182
As I now point my boot tips
towards India and China,
1184
01:35:27,251 --> 01:35:30,020
I'll doubtless find
similar resonances
1185
01:35:30,089 --> 01:35:33,122
in Hinduism, Buddhism,
and Confucianism.
1186
01:35:36,557 --> 01:35:41,394
When I talk to school kids,
which I do pretty frequently,
1187
01:35:41,463 --> 01:35:44,265
I use these positive
interactions to remind them
1188
01:35:45,038 --> 01:35:46,905
to not be afraid.
1189
01:35:48,842 --> 01:35:52,075
Because I think in today's day
and age, when we're inundated
1190
01:35:52,144 --> 01:35:56,475
with a tsunami
of anxiety-causing news
1191
01:35:56,544 --> 01:36:00,545
about the Other dumped
on your head every day,
1192
01:36:00,614 --> 01:36:05,957
the weird aftereffect of the
information age explosion
1193
01:36:06,026 --> 01:36:08,454
is a recurrence of tribalism.
1194
01:36:08,523 --> 01:36:11,292
The walk has provided
a through line
1195
01:36:11,361 --> 01:36:12,694
that is connected,
1196
01:36:12,762 --> 01:36:14,900
not from mountaintop
to mountaintop,
1197
01:36:15,563 --> 01:36:17,496
but from person to person.
1198
01:36:19,237 --> 01:36:21,302
I'm not walking to "somewhere."
1199
01:36:23,505 --> 01:36:26,076
I would not be sitting here
talking to you
1200
01:36:26,145 --> 01:36:27,711
from Southern Pakistan
1201
01:36:27,780 --> 01:36:31,884
if I didn't get this help
of thousands of people,
1202
01:36:31,953 --> 01:36:33,952
almost all of them strangers,
1203
01:36:34,021 --> 01:36:37,120
who have no warrant
to help me at all.
1204
01:36:39,455 --> 01:36:41,121
I have to remind people
1205
01:36:41,190 --> 01:36:45,326
don't let digital overload
strike fear into them,
1206
01:36:45,395 --> 01:36:48,263
a paralyzing fear
that would immobilize them
1207
01:36:48,332 --> 01:36:49,709
from going out
into the larger world
1208
01:36:49,733 --> 01:36:52,564
and exploring places
and experiences
1209
01:36:52,633 --> 01:36:54,335
beyond their immediate horizon.
1210
01:36:56,406 --> 01:36:57,905
This whole place,
1211
01:36:57,974 --> 01:37:03,146
this chaotic, heartbreaking,
maddening,
1212
01:37:03,215 --> 01:37:07,018
beautiful, ecstatic place
is yours.
1213
01:37:07,087 --> 01:37:10,417
It belongs to you,
it's home, all of it.
1214
01:37:25,072 --> 01:37:27,038
I was born
in suburban California,
1215
01:37:27,107 --> 01:37:30,305
but raised in semi-rural Mexico.
1216
01:37:30,374 --> 01:37:32,571
Like many children
who straddle borders,
1217
01:37:32,640 --> 01:37:37,444
I learned to pour my loyalty
into relationships, not places.
1218
01:37:42,254 --> 01:37:47,157
I'm making for Tierra del Fuego,
the last continental horizon.
1219
01:37:50,394 --> 01:37:53,361
I'm not walking
toward the exotic Other.
1220
01:37:56,169 --> 01:37:59,103
I'm walking
toward a better part of myself,
1221
01:38:00,008 --> 01:38:01,402
these people.