had begun to plumb the true depths of time and space the long Collective Enterprise of science has revealed a universe some 15 billion years old the time since the explosive birth of the cosmos the Big Bang the cosmic calendar compresses the local history of the universe into a single year if the universe began on January 1st it was not until May that the Milky Way formed other planetary systems may have appeared in June July and August but our Sun and Earth not until mid-september life arose soon after everything humans have ever done occurred in that bright Speck at the lower right of the cosmic calendar the Big Bang is at upper left in the first 2 of January 1st 15 billion years later is our present time the last second of December 31st every month is 1 and A4 billion years long each day represents 40 million years each second stands for some 500 years of our history the blinking of an eye in the drama of cosmic time at this scale the cosmic calendar is the size of a football field but all of human history would occupy an area the size of my hand we're just beginning to trace the long and tortuous path which began with the Primeval Fireball and led to the condensation of matter gas dust Stars galaxies and at least in our little Nook of the universe planets and life intelligence and inquisitive men and women we've emerged so recently that the familiar events of our recorded history occupy only the last seconds of the last minute of December 31st some critical events for the human species however began much earlier minutes earlier so we change our scale from months to minutes down here the first humans made their debut around 10:30 p.m. on December 31st and with the passing of every Cosmic minute each minute 30,000 years long we began the arduous Journey towards understanding where we live and who we are 11:46 only 14 minutes ago humans have tamed fire 11:59 20 the evening of the last day of the cosmic year the 11th Hour the 59th minute the 20th second the domestication of plants and animals begins an application of the human [Music] talent for making tools 115935 settled agricultural communities evolve into the first cities we humans appear on the cosmic calendar so recently that our recorded history occupies only the last few seconds of the last minute of December 31st in the vast Ocean of Time which this calendar represents all our memories are confined to this small square every every person we've ever heard of lived somewhere in there all those kings and battles migrations and inventions Wars and loves everything in the history books happens here in the last 10 seconds of the cosmic [Music] calendar we on earth have just awakened to the great oceans of space and time from which which we have emerged we are the legacy of 15 billion years of cosmic Evolution we have a choice we can enhance life and come to know the universe that made us or we can squander our 15 billion year Heritage in meaningless self-destruction what happens in the first second of the next cosmic year depends on what we do