00:01
Once upon a time, a dragon tyrannized the kingdom.
00:04
Covered with thick black scales, its eyes glowed with hate ,…
00:08
… and from its terrible jaws flowed evil-smelling slime.
00:12
Some tried to fight the dragon …
00:14
… priests and magicians called down curses to no avail.
00:18
Warriors, armed with the best weapons, attacked, only to be incinerated.
00:23
The dragon’s claws, jaws, and fire were so effective, …
00:27
… its scaly armor so hard, as to make it invincible.
00:31
The dragon demanded from humankind a tribute: …
00:35
… ten thousand men and women, randomly chosen, …
00:38
… to be delivered every evening to the foot of the mountain to be eaten.
00:42
The king and the kingdom, their weapons useless, …
00:45
… had no choice but to pay the grisly tribute, ….
00:48
… to suffer the misery, to feed the insatiable hunger.
00:52
And humans, ever adaptable, came to accept the dragon-tyrant as a fact of life; …
00:59
… knowing, even embracing, that everyone’s final moments would be in its maw.
01:05
How could the world be otherwise?
01:08
The kingdom began to teach its children that the dragon had its place …
01:12
… in the natural order and, the very meaning of being human to end up …
01:17
… in the dragon’s stomach, their shorter lives motivating them to lead good lives.
01:23
And the dragon was helping the kingdom by keeping the population …
01:27
… from growing too fast.
01:29
Learning this, attacks on the dragon ceased.
01:33
But the kingdom still grew, slowly, and with it so did the dragon, …
01:39
… becoming as big as the mountain on which it lived, its appetite increasing.
01:45
The logistics of collecting and transporting so many every day…
01:50
… to the mountain came to occupy the king’s mind more than the deaths and the dragon itself.
01:56
The king had to hire registrars to keep track of who would be sent.
02:00
There were people-collectors dispatched to fetch the designated victims.
02:04
There were clerks who administered the pensions to be paid to decimated families.
02:08
And there were comforters who would travel with the doomed …
02:11
… on their way to the dragon, trying to ease the anguish.
02:16
And there were dragonologists who studied how these logistic processes could be made more efficient.
02:22
Steam engines were invented and a railway constructed leading to the dragon’s abode.
02:28
Trains arrived at the mountain terminal crammed with people and return empty.
02:33
Some dragonologists also studied the dragon’s behavior and collected samples …
02:39
… its shed scales, the slime, the excrement speckled with fragments of human bone.
02:44
The more the beast was understood, the more its invincibility confirmed.
02:50
But. . . humanity is a curious species.
02:53
Every once in a while, someone gets a good idea.
02:57
Others copy the idea, adding to it their own improvements.
03:02
Over time, many wondrous tools and systems are developed.
03:06
Some of these tools make it easier to generate new ideas.
03:10
Thus, the great wheel of invention, …
03:12
… which in the older ages turned imperceptibly slow, …
03:15
… began to accelerate and humans did what would have seemed magic before, …
03:21
… communicating instantly across great distance, building machines that could fly,
03:26
… and many other astonishing things.
03:29
A few dragonologists argued it might be time argued for a new attack …
03:33
… one had invented a material so sharp it could pierce a dragon’s scale.
03:38
It would not be easy but if a huge projectile could be made out of this material …
03:44
… and launched with sufficient force and sufficient precision it might penetrate the dragon’s armor.
03:50
However, it would be difficult and expensive and time-consuming to do.
03:56
The dragonologists explained their proposal to anyone who would listen.
04:01
But the people were skeptical; they had been taught the dragon-tyrant was invincible and the sacrifices it demanded a fact of life.
04:09
Yet when they learnt about the new material and the idea for a projectile, many became intrigued.
04:16
When the king read about the plans, he decided to hold an open hearing …
04:20
… it took place on the last and darkest day of the year, in the largest hall of the royal castle.
04:27
People packed in to every last seat and crowded the aisles.
04:31
The king's advisor spoke first: telling the people it was best they accept the inevitability of the dragon…
04:38
… and the dragon-administration department provided many jobs …
04:43
… that would be lost were the dragon slaughtered and, in any case, …
04:47
… the kingdom's coffers were empty after building the new railway.
04:51
Next the leading dragonologist explained how the proposed device would work, …
04:56
… how the requisite amount of new invented material could be manufactured.
05:00
Given the requested amount of funding, it may be possible to complete the work in fifteen to twenty years.
05:06
With greater funding, maybe twelve. However, there could be no guarantee.
05:12
Last to speak was the king’s advisor for morality:
05:16
"Let us grant" he said "The project is technologically possible, though it hasn’t been proven to me. …
05:25
… Presumably, you think you've got the right not to be chewed up.
05:29
How willful, how presumptuous, how vain. The shortness of human life is a blessing.
05:37
Getting rid of the dragon, which might seem such a convenient thing to do, would undermine our dignity.
05:44
This preoccupation with killing the dragon will deflect us from realizing more fully …
05:49
… the aspirations to which our lives naturally point, from living well rather than merely staying alive.
05:57
The nature of the dragon is to eat, and our own nature, my friends, is nobly fulfilled only by getting eaten.
06:06
The dragon is necessary. The dragon is good."
06:10
The great hall was silent.
06:12
Then a small child yelled out from the audience: "The dragon is bad!"
06:17
The child’s parents turned red and hushed, but the child said again:
06:22
"The dragon is bad -- it kills people... it ate my Granny... I want my Granny back."
06:28
The hall was silent again -- then a woman stood: “The dragon killed my parents.”
06:34
And man followed and stood: “The dragon killed my wife and my daughter.”
06:39
More and more people stood -- the simple fact that the dragon killed everyone, the loss of it, the weight of it, crashing over the hall.
06:50
The way out from under remote, yet maybe possible.
06:54
The king, looking at the first child to speak, announced: "Let us kill the dragon".
07:01
The next morning, a billion people woke to realize they or those they loved might be sent to the dragon before the projectile launched.
07:10
Whereas before, active support for the anti-dragon cause had been limited, …
07:15
… it now became the number one priority and concern on everyone’s mind.
07:20
Mass rallies raised money for the projectile project and urged the king to increase support, …
07:26
… which he did, passing extra appropriations bills and selling his summer castle, announcing:
07:32
"I believe that this kingdom should commit itself to achieving the goal, …
07:37
… before the decade is out, of freeing the world from the ancient scourge of the dragon."
07:42
Thus started a great technological race against time.
07:46
To make the dragon-killing weapon required solutions to a thousand technical problems, …
07:51
… each of which required dozens of time-consuming steps and missteps.
07:56
Test-missiles were fired but fell dead to the ground or flew off in the wrong direction.
08:01
Terrible accidents happened.
08:03
But there was now a seriousness of purpose, and the work continued.
08:08
But despite almost unlimited funding and round-the-clock work by technicians, the king’s deadline could not be met.
08:15
The task was hard.
08:17
The decade concluded and the dragon still lived — still ate.
08:22
But the effort was getting closer.
08:24
A year later the first prototype missile successfully launched.
08:28
The construction of the final projectile eventually set to complete and launch on New Year’s Eve, …
08:34
… twelve years after the project’s inauguration.
08:38
The last day of the year was cold and overcast, but still and clear — good launch conditions.
08:47
As the sun set, technicians scuttled around making the final adjustments and checks.
08:53
The king and his advisors observed from a platform close to the launch pad.
08:57
Further away, behind a fence, the public assembled to witness the great event.
09:02
A large clock counted down: ten minutes to go -- the dark slumped profile of the dragon beyond, eating.
09:10
From the crowd, someone jumped the fence and ran to the platform where the king sat.
09:15
He arrived, accompanied by security, in a frenzied state, his nose bleeding.
09:20
He shouted: "The last train! Stop the last train!"
09:24
The young man was a junior clerk in the ministry of transportation.
09:28
He had discovered that his father was on the last train to the mountain.
09:32
The king had ordered the trains to continue to the very end, …
09:37
… fearing any disruption might cause the dragon to stir and the missile to miss.
09:42
The young man begged the king to issue a recall-order for the last train, …
09:47
… due to arrive at the mountain terminal five minutes before time zero.
09:52
"I cannot do it," said the king, "I cannot take the risk it will alert the dragon“.
09:58
The clouds above their head let loose the rain.
10:01
“I am so sorry” The king continued, “had we started but one day earlier your father would not have to die.”
10:10
Looking at the crowd, thinking of all the losses that they and he, had endured.
10:17
“This project should have been started years earlier than we did.
10:22
So many need not have been killed by the dragon, had we but awoken from our acceptance of its horror sooner.”
10:31
The young man's wailing ceased.
10:33
The king looked up at the countdown clock: five seconds remaining.
10:38
Four.
10:39
Three.
10:40
Two.
10:42
One.
10:43
Zero.
10:44
A ball of fire enveloped the launch pad and the missile shot out.
10:48
The masses, the king, the low and the high, the young and the old…
10:53
... that white flame, shooting into the dark embodied the human spirit, its fear and its hope.
11:00
It struck the heart of evil.
11:03
The silhouette on the horizon tumbled and fell.
11:06
Thousands of voices of joy rose from the masses, joined seconds later by a deafening drawn-out thud from the collapsing monster.
11:15
After all this time, humanity was at last free from the dragon.
11:20
The joy cry resolved into a jubilating chant:
11:24
"Long live the king! Long live us all!"
11:27
The royal entourage, huddling in the downpour, accumulated around their monarch.
11:33
So much had changed in the last hour.
11:36
The right to an open future had been regained, a primordial fear abolished, and many long-held assumptions overturned.
11:45
“What do we do now?" they asked.
11:48
"We have come a long way. . ." said the king, "yet now we are like children again.
11:53
The future lies open before us.
11:56
We shall go and try to do better than we have done in the past, for we have time now…
12:02
… time to get things right, time to grow up, time to learn from our mistakes.
12:08
Let all the bells in the kingdom ring until midnight, in remembrance of our dead.
12:14
Then after, we will celebrate and begin the process of building a better world. . . for we have time now.
12:23
[Music and crackling sounds]
Once upon a time, a dragon tyrannized the kingdom.
00:04
Covered with thick black scales, its eyes glowed with hate ,…
00:08
… and from its terrible jaws flowed evil-smelling slime.
00:12
Some tried to fight the dragon …
00:14
… priests and magicians called down curses to no avail.
00:18
Warriors, armed with the best weapons, attacked, only to be incinerated.
00:23
The dragon’s claws, jaws, and fire were so effective, …
00:27
… its scaly armor so hard, as to make it invincible.
00:31
The dragon demanded from humankind a tribute: …
00:35
… ten thousand men and women, randomly chosen, …
00:38
… to be delivered every evening to the foot of the mountain to be eaten.
00:42
The king and the kingdom, their weapons useless, …
00:45
… had no choice but to pay the grisly tribute, ….
00:48
… to suffer the misery, to feed the insatiable hunger.
00:52
And humans, ever adaptable, came to accept the dragon-tyrant as a fact of life; …
00:59
… knowing, even embracing, that everyone’s final moments would be in its maw.
01:05
How could the world be otherwise?
01:08
The kingdom began to teach its children that the dragon had its place …
01:12
… in the natural order and, the very meaning of being human to end up …
01:17
… in the dragon’s stomach, their shorter lives motivating them to lead good lives.
01:23
And the dragon was helping the kingdom by keeping the population …
01:27
… from growing too fast.
01:29
Learning this, attacks on the dragon ceased.
01:33
But the kingdom still grew, slowly, and with it so did the dragon, …
01:39
… becoming as big as the mountain on which it lived, its appetite increasing.
01:45
The logistics of collecting and transporting so many every day…
01:50
… to the mountain came to occupy the king’s mind more than the deaths and the dragon itself.
01:56
The king had to hire registrars to keep track of who would be sent.
02:00
There were people-collectors dispatched to fetch the designated victims.
02:04
There were clerks who administered the pensions to be paid to decimated families.
02:08
And there were comforters who would travel with the doomed …
02:11
… on their way to the dragon, trying to ease the anguish.
02:16
And there were dragonologists who studied how these logistic processes could be made more efficient.
02:22
Steam engines were invented and a railway constructed leading to the dragon’s abode.
02:28
Trains arrived at the mountain terminal crammed with people and return empty.
02:33
Some dragonologists also studied the dragon’s behavior and collected samples …
02:39
… its shed scales, the slime, the excrement speckled with fragments of human bone.
02:44
The more the beast was understood, the more its invincibility confirmed.
02:50
But. . . humanity is a curious species.
02:53
Every once in a while, someone gets a good idea.
02:57
Others copy the idea, adding to it their own improvements.
03:02
Over time, many wondrous tools and systems are developed.
03:06
Some of these tools make it easier to generate new ideas.
03:10
Thus, the great wheel of invention, …
03:12
… which in the older ages turned imperceptibly slow, …
03:15
… began to accelerate and humans did what would have seemed magic before, …
03:21
… communicating instantly across great distance, building machines that could fly,
03:26
… and many other astonishing things.
03:29
A few dragonologists argued it might be time argued for a new attack …
03:33
… one had invented a material so sharp it could pierce a dragon’s scale.
03:38
It would not be easy but if a huge projectile could be made out of this material …
03:44
… and launched with sufficient force and sufficient precision it might penetrate the dragon’s armor.
03:50
However, it would be difficult and expensive and time-consuming to do.
03:56
The dragonologists explained their proposal to anyone who would listen.
04:01
But the people were skeptical; they had been taught the dragon-tyrant was invincible and the sacrifices it demanded a fact of life.
04:09
Yet when they learnt about the new material and the idea for a projectile, many became intrigued.
04:16
When the king read about the plans, he decided to hold an open hearing …
04:20
… it took place on the last and darkest day of the year, in the largest hall of the royal castle.
04:27
People packed in to every last seat and crowded the aisles.
04:31
The king's advisor spoke first: telling the people it was best they accept the inevitability of the dragon…
04:38
… and the dragon-administration department provided many jobs …
04:43
… that would be lost were the dragon slaughtered and, in any case, …
04:47
… the kingdom's coffers were empty after building the new railway.
04:51
Next the leading dragonologist explained how the proposed device would work, …
04:56
… how the requisite amount of new invented material could be manufactured.
05:00
Given the requested amount of funding, it may be possible to complete the work in fifteen to twenty years.
05:06
With greater funding, maybe twelve. However, there could be no guarantee.
05:12
Last to speak was the king’s advisor for morality:
05:16
"Let us grant" he said "The project is technologically possible, though it hasn’t been proven to me. …
05:25
… Presumably, you think you've got the right not to be chewed up.
05:29
How willful, how presumptuous, how vain. The shortness of human life is a blessing.
05:37
Getting rid of the dragon, which might seem such a convenient thing to do, would undermine our dignity.
05:44
This preoccupation with killing the dragon will deflect us from realizing more fully …
05:49
… the aspirations to which our lives naturally point, from living well rather than merely staying alive.
05:57
The nature of the dragon is to eat, and our own nature, my friends, is nobly fulfilled only by getting eaten.
06:06
The dragon is necessary. The dragon is good."
06:10
The great hall was silent.
06:12
Then a small child yelled out from the audience: "The dragon is bad!"
06:17
The child’s parents turned red and hushed, but the child said again:
06:22
"The dragon is bad -- it kills people... it ate my Granny... I want my Granny back."
06:28
The hall was silent again -- then a woman stood: “The dragon killed my parents.”
06:34
And man followed and stood: “The dragon killed my wife and my daughter.”
06:39
More and more people stood -- the simple fact that the dragon killed everyone, the loss of it, the weight of it, crashing over the hall.
06:50
The way out from under remote, yet maybe possible.
06:54
The king, looking at the first child to speak, announced: "Let us kill the dragon".
07:01
The next morning, a billion people woke to realize they or those they loved might be sent to the dragon before the projectile launched.
07:10
Whereas before, active support for the anti-dragon cause had been limited, …
07:15
… it now became the number one priority and concern on everyone’s mind.
07:20
Mass rallies raised money for the projectile project and urged the king to increase support, …
07:26
… which he did, passing extra appropriations bills and selling his summer castle, announcing:
07:32
"I believe that this kingdom should commit itself to achieving the goal, …
07:37
… before the decade is out, of freeing the world from the ancient scourge of the dragon."
07:42
Thus started a great technological race against time.
07:46
To make the dragon-killing weapon required solutions to a thousand technical problems, …
07:51
… each of which required dozens of time-consuming steps and missteps.
07:56
Test-missiles were fired but fell dead to the ground or flew off in the wrong direction.
08:01
Terrible accidents happened.
08:03
But there was now a seriousness of purpose, and the work continued.
08:08
But despite almost unlimited funding and round-the-clock work by technicians, the king’s deadline could not be met.
08:15
The task was hard.
08:17
The decade concluded and the dragon still lived — still ate.
08:22
But the effort was getting closer.
08:24
A year later the first prototype missile successfully launched.
08:28
The construction of the final projectile eventually set to complete and launch on New Year’s Eve, …
08:34
… twelve years after the project’s inauguration.
08:38
The last day of the year was cold and overcast, but still and clear — good launch conditions.
08:47
As the sun set, technicians scuttled around making the final adjustments and checks.
08:53
The king and his advisors observed from a platform close to the launch pad.
08:57
Further away, behind a fence, the public assembled to witness the great event.
09:02
A large clock counted down: ten minutes to go -- the dark slumped profile of the dragon beyond, eating.
09:10
From the crowd, someone jumped the fence and ran to the platform where the king sat.
09:15
He arrived, accompanied by security, in a frenzied state, his nose bleeding.
09:20
He shouted: "The last train! Stop the last train!"
09:24
The young man was a junior clerk in the ministry of transportation.
09:28
He had discovered that his father was on the last train to the mountain.
09:32
The king had ordered the trains to continue to the very end, …
09:37
… fearing any disruption might cause the dragon to stir and the missile to miss.
09:42
The young man begged the king to issue a recall-order for the last train, …
09:47
… due to arrive at the mountain terminal five minutes before time zero.
09:52
"I cannot do it," said the king, "I cannot take the risk it will alert the dragon“.
09:58
The clouds above their head let loose the rain.
10:01
“I am so sorry” The king continued, “had we started but one day earlier your father would not have to die.”
10:10
Looking at the crowd, thinking of all the losses that they and he, had endured.
10:17
“This project should have been started years earlier than we did.
10:22
So many need not have been killed by the dragon, had we but awoken from our acceptance of its horror sooner.”
10:31
The young man's wailing ceased.
10:33
The king looked up at the countdown clock: five seconds remaining.
10:38
Four.
10:39
Three.
10:40
Two.
10:42
One.
10:43
Zero.
10:44
A ball of fire enveloped the launch pad and the missile shot out.
10:48
The masses, the king, the low and the high, the young and the old…
10:53
... that white flame, shooting into the dark embodied the human spirit, its fear and its hope.
11:00
It struck the heart of evil.
11:03
The silhouette on the horizon tumbled and fell.
11:06
Thousands of voices of joy rose from the masses, joined seconds later by a deafening drawn-out thud from the collapsing monster.
11:15
After all this time, humanity was at last free from the dragon.
11:20
The joy cry resolved into a jubilating chant:
11:24
"Long live the king! Long live us all!"
11:27
The royal entourage, huddling in the downpour, accumulated around their monarch.
11:33
So much had changed in the last hour.
11:36
The right to an open future had been regained, a primordial fear abolished, and many long-held assumptions overturned.
11:45
“What do we do now?" they asked.
11:48
"We have come a long way. . ." said the king, "yet now we are like children again.
11:53
The future lies open before us.
11:56
We shall go and try to do better than we have done in the past, for we have time now…
12:02
… time to get things right, time to grow up, time to learn from our mistakes.
12:08
Let all the bells in the kingdom ring until midnight, in remembrance of our dead.
12:14
Then after, we will celebrate and begin the process of building a better world. . . for we have time now.
12:23
[Music and crackling sounds]