Curiosity
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Curiosity

2011, Science  -   97 Comments
6.53
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Ratings: 6.53/10 from 15 users.

CuriosityHave you ever wondered what it would be like if you could live forever? What would happen if aliens attacked? Why sex is fun? Welcome to Curiosity.

More than just a landmark television series, Curiosity is an adventure of discovery, an expedition to uncover the truths behind life's most challenging questions. With an insatiable thirst for answers and experiences, we're prepared to do anything, go anywhere and ask anyone to get to the heart of the matter.

Whether it's jumping out of an airplane to confront fear, having neuroscientists implant false memories, or donating tissue to test the possibility of regeneration, there is nothing stopping us as we embark on a global journey of learning and surprises.

Curiosity asks and answers the most fundamental questions facing the world today. Each episode of Curiosity will focus on a single enduring question in science, technology, and society. As is always the case, one single question cascades into several more, making each episode of Curiosity a rich and textured experience.

From the micro to the macro, we tackle provocative and insightful questions. Is there a Creator? Is it likely there's an alternate universe? Could you find out exactly how you are going to die and would you want to know? Are some people genetically prone to violence? Is time travel really possible? Why is it that we dream? What don't we know about gravity and does it hold the secret for exploring the universe?

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?????? ??????
?????? ??????
12 years ago

oh, come on! it was all episodes and now its just a preview :S

Miles Taylor
Miles Taylor
12 years ago

ufo episode is BULL**** !!

thenesteamonster
thenesteamonster
12 years ago

everyone who's thinking about God and Hawking please imagine Q showing up and curing Hawking
az

Guest
Guest
12 years ago

I try and i try but i can't help myself and think that the voice of Hawking has been abducted by high power. Wouldn't that be the perfect guinea pig (victim)?
I know ....bring it on...i promise, i am fighting the thought.
az

bob89
bob89
12 years ago

TIME IS A MEASURE OF CHANGE NOTHING ELSE, IF EVERYTHING SUDDENLY FROZE AROUND U WOULD THINK THAT TIME STOPPED ETC. TIME NEVER EXISTED AND NEVER WILL ITS JUST SOMETHING WE INVENTED. AND TO USE THE TERM TIME TO EXPLAIN THE BEGGING OF D UNIVERSE IS A WRONG APPROACH.

dmxi
dmxi
12 years ago

this is very good for the easy minded .a quick snoop into interesting topics.

PaulGloor
PaulGloor
12 years ago

Just a thought I had this morning... What if the universe Isn't still accelerating outward. After all, the light we are using to measure that expansion is just arriving to us after billions of years, beginning its journey possibly when it still was expanding faster !?

henrymart81
henrymart81
12 years ago

Yet another documentary with Michio Kaku. are there only 5 people they rotate in all of these science documentaries? Maybe I should just be thankful. At least it's not Neil deGrasse Tyson, whew.

Guest
Guest
12 years ago

Lars the Horny keeps his trap shut while eyeballing the solar eclipse with his buddies, but thinks, "This whole 'wolf swallows fire' thing is just a load of bollocks," and exchanges a covert look with Brunhilde of the Brass Balls, who sheaths his sword numerous times later on that night amid the nocturnal grunts and farts, swaddled in bearskins. Fifty generations later, their descendents preside over the inaugural class of the Nobel Prize...

Point is, how many of our ancestors never did buy into the myths they were told, even if they didn't have the vocabulary that would constitute dissent, or any kind of methodology to back it up, while having the good sense to know how to avoid the rack? I think it's easy to forget sometimes how sophisticated, if unschooled, and modern, if ancient, a larger percentage of our ancestors were than many would suppose.

Doubt, in other words, is certainly not a recent invention, even if it's now distributed wholesale. And while Power has always put its foot on the throat of doubt, it has failed to take note of the spear in its back.

1davideo_kidd1
1davideo_kidd1
12 years ago

We enjoyed the first episode but thought the Alien Attack scenario to be weak and didn't watch further.

Guest
Guest
12 years ago

Sweet dreams guys x

thenesteamonster
thenesteamonster
12 years ago

pretty much recycled information in this series, usa-centristic and sometimes plain wrong ex: i thought atlantis was supposed to be beyond hercules' pillars

and the parts that involve god are pure commercial stuff; michio kaku said it right: "even in a thousand years we won't know if god exists" even if there isn't an entity that created the entire universe there should be things that appeared latter and would seem like gods to us, q from star trek for example should play a trick on humans by showing up and pretending to be the creator of the universe haha who would dare to challenge that assumption?
az

wald0
wald0
12 years ago

I noticed a conversation below about the difference between scientific theory and fact, very interesting debate guys. I can see both points of view, a scientific theory is certainly much more than a guess, but I don't think most scientists would feel comfortable defining scientific theory as "fact". When does a theory become a fact? It’s actually very hard to say; one reason being that the concept of "fact" is still, philosophically speaking, very ambiguous. Mankind does not yet agree on what constitutes truth, what constitutes knowing, what exactly we mean by "fact". Does it merely mean universal agreement, if so we could all agree on anything and then it would become "fact". That’s not a very satisfying answer though; it doesn't feel tied to what we call reality. Does it mean direct, repeatable observation? If so then many of the theories we use and take for granted as fact everyday are not really fact, as they cannot be observed directly by their very nature. Is it a test of time? If so exactly how much time, evolution has withstood all scientific challenges for over one hundred and fifty years, the principles of evolution are used every day in genetics labs all over the world to gain accurate predictable results, but we still call it a theory. When does theory become "fact"?
So, how do we settle this issue, science after all must produce real world results, while at the same time avoiding the concept of absolute "fact", and that is an awfully subtle and difficult line to walk. Solution, avoid the concept of absolute facts altogether. Agree that no matter how much evidence you have that this appears to be the facts, no matter how many times you employ the theory and get accurate real world results, no matter how long the theory with stands true scientific scrutiny and challenge, you will not call it nor conceive of it as being absolute, end of discussion, fact. Agree that instead you will think of it as being the best explanation we currently have based on the available data. Turns out not only does this get rid of the whole issue of calling something fact or theory, it also tends to leave things open ended enough to inspire new scientists to keep pondering the question and trying to come up with better theories. This way we don’t close any line of inquiry off and our understanding of the universe continues to sharpen.

Now once you look at scientific theory in this light the argument that “well, this is only a theory”, just doesn't hold water. The word "fact" doesn't apply, not because we are uncertain, but because the word fact doesn't work in scientific dialogue in a general sense. To be honest there is more empirical support for say the big bang "theory" or evolution than there is for many of the things the average person calls "fact" everyday. Quantum mechanics is the most accurate "theory" ever produced by science, it consistently produces the most reliable predictions of any theory of reality- yet, to understand it we must trade the word "fact" for "probability", which is a much less ambiguous concept in the end. However, with all of this said, for many reasons, we should not and do not call theory fact. My point is that one of those reasons isn’t that we are uncertain, we are more certain of these theories than we are of much of what we think of as fact every day.
Sorry for the lengthy post, this subject happens to be one I am currently researching, so I had to pitch in my two cents. It really is a fascinating question.

nate_171
nate_171
12 years ago

How can Mr Hawkins say that the laws of the universe or "nature" are unchangeable and fixed when particle theory states that these laws only exist when they are being measured. How can both be true and accepted claims. I think the church had it right in opposing science, now thanks to science the human race has the ability to wipe out the entire planet seven times over maybe they foreseen something others at that time did not. lol

RobbieV22
RobbieV22
12 years ago

If God created the laws of nature, then who created God? LOL

Teddy Mcd
Teddy Mcd
12 years ago

@ Az - you said, 'You seem to have skipped the best part...the part on the female orgasims. Or are you just shy?'

Well - Shy? Pas moi mon cher. I watched that episode, very informative for sure.The reason I did not comment is I was curious to see if you would pick up on my omission. Well done. lol

Oh - whereas, Self-conscious? Very much so - for it is my life-blood as I continually explore my surroundings. (Take care)

Guest
Guest
12 years ago

Aristarchus must have been as far above his contemporaries as a man is above a chimp. It only took, what, 17 centuries to catch up with him? I imagine he must've felt quite lonely at times, when he wasn't able to cradle his head in the arms of the cosmos.

(It would also seem that those Revered Elders, the Immutable Laws of Gravity, are not without an ironical sense of humor.)

Guest
Guest
12 years ago

" But 'curing' female patients manually could be lengthy and labor intensive..."
Yes. Indeed. This has, fortunately, been my experience with them, as well.

Guest
Guest
12 years ago

Skipping ahead to ' Why Sex Is Fun,' for some reason.

El Mastapha
El Mastapha
12 years ago

if everything we seen her it is groin and to happen Wat is the since t
Wat about god who create them and us don't you think he is slipping
somewhere we can not say wen god nos only thank you

Norman Hawk Nordic
Norman Hawk Nordic
12 years ago

Thank you for opening some of fundamental peoples mind, thanks to science!

Zeebay Zakka
Zeebay Zakka
12 years ago

God doesn't need time.

Junior Jordan
Junior Jordan
12 years ago

I hate how Hawking act as if the universe coming from nothing is a complete fact, which leads me to think that he is a complete ***hole

Samuel Morrissey
Samuel Morrissey
12 years ago

Loving this doc btw, Hawking is a real hero.

Samuel Morrissey
Samuel Morrissey
12 years ago

There is no such thing as a fact, there are only theories and their lesser untested cousins hypotheses. Fact is a description of certainty that is unachievable apart from in a very limited sense - while it might hold true under certain local idealised conditions, in reality conditions are very rarely and/or very briefly ideal, or localised.

Theories are as close to facts as we are able to get, and should be treated as the best guess so far - until such times as we become aware of further intricacies of conditions, places outside of the local boundaries, scale or resolution of the theory.

You think the theory of gravity can be trusted completely here and now? Step outside of the local conditions however and something changes. Galaxies do not appear to move as they are expected according to their mass. similarly on the quantum scale, gravity does not appear to exist at all. No theory can ever be truly 'complete' as it would have to describe every condition, every locality and every scale, for all time. it would in fact :) have to be an equation that described the entirety of existense as we know it and as we don't.

Teddy Mcd
Teddy Mcd
12 years ago

On docs in general. - When I was kid there were only a few TV stations and it was mostly main street fare - news, sports, sitcoms, cop shows and the like but occasionally a documentary would appear and then I was, 'glued to the set' - as we said back then. Now - wow! A cornucopia of docs so very many in fact I wish I was twin.

First - I was hoping, I suppose by the title, 'Curiosity' - that it would be an investigation into the human faculty we call, 'curiosity'. I mean what the hell is it? How does it tie into the individual and global matrix? Why do some have it in abundance and others not so much? Alas it wasn't the intent of this doc.

Okay - this doc (all) is contemporary main street fare and pretty cool. Eight stars I say. I shan't go over each episode but I'll mention a few.

Did God Create the Universe - Fantastic! We have our man the brilliant Mr. Hawkings. I am not one to have heroes but I admire this fellow. A point of contention I have with him is his assertion that there is no life after death or as he, I think would say, there is nothing/zero after death. I think to declare that as a fact is more conjecture than science. We just don't know.

Alien Invasion - too Hollywood (fluff) for me. There are so many possibilities. If I was Admiral Zxqriot I would blast the lot of us with some sort of ray that would see us all believing in the same religion/creed or whatever and as such life would be so monotonous we would kill each other or commit suicide to relieve the tedium. Wait - oh yea, that's what we're doing now.

Titanic - Well done for a TV doc. Point tho'. Startling - here we witness man's unbelievable hubris viz the decision on number of lifeboats or lack thereof. They must have been drunk when they made that call. (Sixty, oopsie I thought you said sixteen.)

Your Body on Drugs - I must admit I explored that petri dish - but not so much. Drugs legal and illegal force us to question not only what is real but who is making the call.
Oh, and very sadly here in Canada, BC and Atla, we have recently lost too many youths to contaminated Ecstasy aka MDMA . Alert the youth.

Atlantis - Who knows? I do. It is under Antartica.

DaveJay
DaveJay
12 years ago

The conclusion is simple - we are god - man is himself god - or there is an objective god. God is either alive or dead!!!!!

wald0
wald0
12 years ago

I thought the exploding eyeballs in the alien invasion episode were a bit much; I don't think Ebola boasts exploding eye balls amongst its nasty list of surprises, but it was somewhat entertaining to contemplate such an odd occurrence as an alien invasion. To be honest I don't think it would be near as complicated as they played it out to be. It would seem to me that if a species possesses the technology necessary to cross interstellar space and arrive here ready for an invasion, a) they would have evolved past the point of such war like confrontation, seeing their species has been around long enough to develop such technology. I would like to think such a philosophy would be the inevitable product of any successful, intelligent social system bound by the same natural laws as ours. B.) I am dead wrong with “theory a” (after all I am just some guy on the internet you know) and they simply squash us like little ants, in an efficient timely manner consistent with such a technologically advanced culture as theirs. My point being, I don’t see this in-between thing that they got going on in the documentary playing out.
As far as the episode about why sex is fun, really? Is that a question we have to ask? It’s fun because it feels good; it feels good because our reproductive process evolved in such a way as to be pleasurable which gives us the motivation to pursue the continuation of our species. Yes, women do not HAVE to have an orgasm to get pregnant, but how many babies would have never been born if women were incapable of orgasm? A lot I suspect. Don’t get me wrong I know there are more reasons than just achieving orgasm to have sex with someone you love, intimacy and all that jive. But let’s not kid ourselves women are just creatures of the flesh, just like men, orgasm motivates both sexes to a large extent. At least that’s my two cents, like I said I am just some guy off the internet, remember.

fhade
fhade
12 years ago

OMG another species of animal will invade us!!

PaulGloor
PaulGloor
12 years ago

I really dislike those parallel universe theories.
Another me that made a different decision etc... Its a terrible waste of energy on a universal scale, and mapping from the big bang to me makes it as unlikely as God existing for a duplicate of me to exist.

norlavine
norlavine
12 years ago

No creator, but aliens? Sheez that's a relief!! lol

phillip wong
phillip wong
12 years ago

people make money, not to starve, and die.

Scott Williams
Scott Williams
12 years ago

Ouch! Creationists will love the first episode. So much for the something coming from nothing argument.

Jared Boyes
Jared Boyes
12 years ago

His Holiness the Dalai Lama described "God" perfectly with three words... "...conceptualized transcendent being...."

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
12 years ago

if there were a god we would just have the added mystery. of something we only think exists because we do. But where was 'god' for us before we were born? And believing in god is just adding the question: where did god come from then? and answers nothing. So if there is some kind of omniscient mind in the universe we do not have direct access to it. That doesnt mean there is not much more to the mental capabilities in man than the average person has access to but that doesn't mean man should be the prototype for a god which (if it exists) has created so much more than us and what we can see for us from the tiny stage upon which we stand and look out onto the unimaginably large and ancient universe.

Aaylsworth
Aaylsworth
12 years ago

The first episode was good, though basic. Then it kinda went downhill after that... watched about 5 or 6 episodes and can say there are better docs out there...well here.

in_SANE
in_SANE
12 years ago

This has nothing to do this with video, but I was concerned while I was watching this that if SOPA/PIPA are passed, I would not be able to watch documentaries here anymore. I would have to buy something, then realize its piece of **** and then get over with it. Thanks to Vlatko, I have been able to decide what I buy. We are very indebted to you Vlatko!!

Andrés Muñoz
Andrés Muñoz
12 years ago

could you divide de episodes when it longs more than an hour, thank you

Alx Stefanidis
Alx Stefanidis
12 years ago

nice playlist

KsDevil
KsDevil
12 years ago

If you want to promote a series, start out with controversy. All Stephen has to do is announce there is no god and everyone flocks to his show. Now on to 12 (ugh) hours of satisfying curiosity on God, the Universe, alien invasions and goodness knows what else.

Galina Vishnevskaya
Galina Vishnevskaya
12 years ago

I marvel at Professor Hawking's genius and his curiosity

lakhotason
lakhotason
12 years ago

The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.

Dorothy Parker

Teddy Mcd
Teddy Mcd
12 years ago

I have oft times wondered what is curiosity. Can it be measured like IQ or EQ. Can it be improved upon like strength or a skill? And, because I am curious, I will therefore watch and listen. (Yahooey)

Note - If curiosity killed the cat, I think it died happy.

Sean casey
Sean casey
12 years ago

I have long known that Aristarchos discovered the heliocentic system but for some reason Galileo and Copernicus still get the credit

Guest
Guest
12 years ago

Within a minute...is there a GOD?...i thought you guys said scientists were not interested in GOD. Well, apparently the most renown scientist has a thought or two about it.
Ok...let me watch this and may be my comment won't make sense.
az

jafelop
jafelop
12 years ago

second to comment.......................I think God is the universe itself, the time, space, matter and energy... in fact we are part of God, but we arent God, God lives inside of us even we don`t know that! MEN KNOW YOURSELF, AND YOU WILL KNOW THE UNIVERSE AND GOD!

David Salma
David Salma
12 years ago

first to comment I'll watch 1st 2 hours now and the rest in parts.