Origins: The Journey of Humankind - Season 1 (2017)

This is the story of how our world came to be - how communication defined our species and created the modern age, giving voice to the boundless human imagination, connecting us globally and to the stars. Communication gives us self-expression and collective knowledge - but it can also subvert and corrupt, and even manipulate entire populations.

Despite all our advances, humans keep inventing terrible new ways to kill each other. What if the same thing that gave us civilization also led to an unending cycle of violence? We learned to work together, and we learned to fight together. Much of our technology was created to fight wars. For all its evils, war is the origin of the modern world.

The human race has moved from bone huts to skyscrapers. Today, we are seemingly everywhere ... everywhere we want to be. Our walls and structures dominate the landscape. They don't just protect us, they define us. They represent our dream of the modern world. "Shelter" is the story of how we shaped the world around us, and how that world shaped us back.

When it comes to the edge of the darkness, the bend in the horizon or the distant stars, humans can't help ourselves: exploration is in our nature. We have climbed to the summits of the earth, peered into the depths of the oceans and planted our feet on the moon. Our primal curiosity has sparked new inventions and revealed the mysteries of the universe.

Freedom of movement has given us freedom of mind. The flow of people and materials exposes us to new ideas, new ways of life and new understanding. This is the story of how transportation turned society inside out. How engines and animals powered the rise of civilization. And how the innovations that drive humanity forward made us modern.