1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,000 It has been called the key to the universe. 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:09,000 We are just discovering something which is completely blowing our mind. 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:12,000 A gateway to new technologies. 4 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:17,000 We're going into vast unknown territory. Who knows what we'll find? 5 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:23,000 And possibly the most important scientific breakthrough of all time. 6 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:27,000 It's going to open up new layers of our understanding of reality. 7 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:34,000 Could the so-called God particle really reveal the truth about our origins? 8 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:44,000 And might clues to its significance have been left here on Earth thousands of years ago by extraterrestrial beings? 9 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:54,000 We can use this to understand our place in the universe and even to teleport and travel through time and space. 10 00:00:54,000 --> 00:01:02,000 Millions of people around the world believe we have been visited in the past by extraterrestrial beings. 11 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:05,000 What if it were true? 12 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:10,000 Did ancient aliens really help to shape our history? 13 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:16,000 And if so, might there be evidence in the discovery of the God particle? 14 00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:02,000 Every religion seeks to answer the same question. Where did we come from? 15 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:10,000 Philosophers, sages and priests have pondered our origins since the dawn of humanity, 16 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:16,000 while science has looked for evidence that might one day give us the answer. 17 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:23,000 Both religion and science approach the idea of where we come from with a set of rules. 18 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:30,000 Science has the scientific method. Religion comes at the same question with its own set of rules, 19 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:34,000 a presupposition that a God or gods exist. 20 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:41,000 Religion gives us a certain view of reality. Science gives us a different view of reality. 21 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:47,000 And yes, there are points at which these two world views are compatible. 22 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:54,000 Science and religion at their best moments are searching for truth as is philosophy, 23 00:02:54,000 --> 00:03:02,000 especially at moments like the moment of the Big Bang, the moment of creation, the Genesis. 24 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:13,000 These streams of thought converge. In effect, science and religion and philosophy are all searching for the same thing. 25 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:21,000 It reminds me of Einstein's question, what were God's thoughts when he was making the universe? 26 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:27,000 If science and religion are both searching for answers to the same questions, 27 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:32,000 then why do we so often consider them at odds? 28 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:37,000 Is it necessary that one negates the other? 29 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:41,000 Science speaks nothing whatsoever about the existence of God. 30 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:45,000 And because of that, there's still an opening for God, right? 31 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:52,000 There's still a possibility that God stands behind all this, that God's responsible for the Big Bang. 32 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:57,000 In the ancient world, the philosophers were the scientists. 33 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:03,000 There was no clear distinction between hard research and theological speculations. 34 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:08,000 All serious thinkers were trying to figure out the nature of reality. 35 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:13,000 Now we consider these to be separate pursuits. 36 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:19,000 We truly want to bridge the gap between religion and science. 37 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:26,000 We must recognize that religion needs to become more scientific. 38 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:32,000 Science would benefit by becoming a wee bit more religious, not in the mythological sense, 39 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:37,000 but by looking back to the religious, in quote, what they interpret to be myth, 40 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:42,000 and say, if there's any legitimacy or reality to this, what is it? 41 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:49,000 Let's explore, let's discover, let's find out what the truth is. 42 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:54,000 As our technology advances at an increasingly rapid rate, 43 00:04:54,000 --> 00:05:00,000 are we getting closer to discovering our true origins? 44 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:06,000 And finding out whether or not we really are alone in the universe. 45 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:19,000 Some believe a recent scientific breakthrough may prove to be a giant leap forward in our search for the truth. 46 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,000 Geneva, Switzerland. 47 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:27,000 Here, buried over 300 feet beneath the Earth, 48 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:31,000 and covering a remarkable 17 mile expanse, 49 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:37,000 is the largest and most complex machine ever created. 50 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:42,000 The Large Hadron Collider, or LHC. 51 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:49,000 Smashing tiny protons together at speeds of nearly 670 million miles per hour, 52 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:56,000 the LHC creates such intense energy that some people are afraid it could actually create a black hole. 53 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:00,000 And swallow up the entire Earth. 54 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:04,000 The Large Hadron Collider is a real triumph of human civilization. 55 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:11,000 It's easily the most complicated and powerful device that the human beings have ever built. 56 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:15,000 You're actually firing two protons into each other, 57 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:20,000 and having them collide with an enormous release of energy. 58 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:25,000 Recreating conditions in a very small area similar to the Big Bang 59 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:29,000 in its very earliest instant. 60 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:33,000 It is a bit like going back in time towards the Big Bang or the being of the universe, 61 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:41,000 getting to points in the history of the universe where the energies were that high. 62 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:47,000 On July 4th, 2012, thousands crowded outside an auditorium 63 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:52,000 at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, 64 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:56,000 to hear the announcement of the LHC's first major finding. 65 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:59,000 Streaming the event live across the world, 66 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:07,000 scientists prepared to reveal the discovery that could solve a decades-old mystery about the nature of our universe. 67 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:12,000 The atmosphere in the room was incredible. 68 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:17,000 It was not like a normal physics symposium or seminar. 69 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:22,000 It was truly something of completely different magnitude 70 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:28,000 that was going to be announced, that it is completely extraordinary, which it was. 71 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:33,000 As a layman, I would now say, I think we have it. 72 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:46,000 What the scientists at CERN had discovered was a tiny bit of matter that some call the God Particle. 73 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:52,000 Scientists around the world celebrated the discovery of the God Particle as a milestone in human knowledge 74 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:58,000 and thought that it's going to open up new layers of our understanding of reality. 75 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:02,000 But just what is the so-called God Particle? 76 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:06,000 And what is it telling us about the universe? 77 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:10,000 Known in the scientific community as the Higgs boson, 78 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:17,000 the particle was first theorized by physicist Peter Higgs in 1964. 79 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:25,000 Its discovery confirms the existence of an invisible force throughout the universe, known as the Higgs field. 80 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:32,000 Scientists believe when particles interact with this field, they acquire mass, which slows them down 81 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:37,000 and allows them to form matter such as planets and stars. 82 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:42,000 An image that's often used is ping-pong balls moving through sand or sugar. 83 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:46,000 Sometimes they're pushed down real deep, sometimes they're on top of the sand. 84 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:50,000 If you're on top, you move around quickly, if you're deep in, you move slowly. 85 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:56,000 And that interaction with this other Higgs particle is what gives other particles their mass. 86 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:03,000 You really can't overemphasize the importance of finally saying there is a Higgs particle 87 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:08,000 and that you really are on the right track. 88 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:14,000 There's great excitement in the scientific community because the Higgs field permeates all of space-time. 89 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:25,000 It's possible, theoretically, to effectively switch off the mass of particles and achieve near-light speed very easily. 90 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:32,000 This could open up not only the planets but the stars to human exploration. 91 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:40,000 Whether it's through science, religion, philosophy, or the ancient astronaut theory, 92 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:45,000 the fact is we are all seeking answers to the same questions. 93 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:50,000 Who are we? Where do we come from? And ultimately, where are we going? 94 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:55,000 And so we celebrate a discovery like the Higgs boson or God particle 95 00:09:55,000 --> 00:10:02,000 because it brings us that much closer to answering the questions that have fascinated humanity 96 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:05,000 for thousands of years. 97 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:17,000 Scientists believe that the discovery of this tiny particle could represent a quantum leap in our understanding of the universe. 98 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:25,000 Some have even proposed that it could open the door to anti-gravity technology, 99 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:30,000 travel at the speed of light, and the creation of wormholes. 100 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:41,000 However, ancient astronaut theorists propose that the God particle is not a new discovery, but rather a rediscovery. 101 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:49,000 Chandigarh, India. 102 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:58,000 This thriving city at the foot of the towering Himalayas is the capital of India's Punjab state. 103 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:06,000 It was in this region of northwest India that scholars believe a series of religious texts called the Vedas 104 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:11,000 were compiled from oral stories that had been passed down for centuries. 105 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:19,000 The Vedas, according to the Indian tradition itself, were put together in the final form about 5,000 years ago. 106 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:25,000 But these hymns had been circulating in the Indian region for a long time. 107 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:34,000 We do know that not a single letter of the four Vedas has changed, unlike any other texts in the world. 108 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:44,000 So there was a belief that the texts of the Vedas should not be tampered with because they represent the entire cosmos. 109 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:50,000 In the Hindu lore, the Vedas are not of earthly origin. 110 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:54,000 They are from mysterious sources and they are from before time. 111 00:11:54,000 --> 00:12:00,000 They are from before human history and are said to be from before even the gods. 112 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:05,000 Major figures in modern science were ardent students of the Vedas. 113 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:11,000 Boris and Schrodinger read arduously, Oppenheimer could read it in Sanskrit. 114 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:18,000 Even Einstein and Tesla were known to have read it, had a profound influence on modern thinking. 115 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:26,000 Inside these ancient tomes are Hinduism's first stories of creation. 116 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:38,000 In one Vedic text called the Rig Veda, creation was said to have begun suddenly and explosively from an infinitesimal point of pure energy. 117 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:51,000 It describes this strange cosmic egg that begins as a single concentrated point and everything expanded from this single concentrated point to form the universe. 118 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:59,000 Now if you look at this from a modern perspective, this actually reflects modern science's Big Bang theory, 119 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:07,000 where the universe began as a singularity and expanded to form the universe as we know it today. 120 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:10,000 To me, the similarities are astounding. 121 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:16,000 It's not like this idea was just banging around for anybody to see. 122 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:21,000 It was a concept that our scientists didn't start to embrace until the 20th century 123 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:29,000 and yet it was already there in these texts that are at least 3,000 years old, if not much older. 124 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:38,000 What is remarkable in the Vedas is that they were able to come to an understanding 125 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:48,000 which is very similar to the understanding that modern science has reached through the intuitions of our great contemporary scientists. 126 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:58,000 Is it really possible that the Hindu creation story from the Rig Veda is evidence that people living thousands of years ago 127 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:05,000 may have had knowledge of the precise scientific process involved in the creation of the universe? 128 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:11,000 A process modern scientists are only just beginning to understand. 129 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:24,000 Ancient astronaut theorists say yes and believe that further proof can be found in another early creation story, the Hebrew Bibles, Book of Genesis. 130 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:31,000 One of the first phrases in Genesis, let there be light. 131 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:34,000 And this is like the moment of the Big Bang. 132 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:39,000 The whole universe began effectively as light, as energy. 133 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:47,000 We're speaking of moments of existence that humans would experience just as a great flash of light. 134 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:54,000 And in that sense, the story of Genesis and the Bible in science converge. 135 00:14:55,000 --> 00:15:02,000 We have in this verse the description of the very first light, the light out of which all things came, 136 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:08,000 the light which led finally to match to things of substance to the universe itself. 137 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:14,000 In current scientific theory, fractions of a second after the Big Bang, the Higgs field, 138 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:20,000 transformed what had been particles of light into mass, matter, into creation itself. 139 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:24,000 We have very strong parallels with the scriptures. 140 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:28,000 First light and then matter. 141 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:40,000 Similar descriptions of the universe beginning from a single point of light can be found in cultures throughout the ancient world. 142 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:45,000 From Egypt to China and to the American Southwest. 143 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:52,000 In the Egyptian creation narrative, the very first God was Atum. 144 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:57,000 He emerged from the darkness to create Egyptian civilization. 145 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:04,000 The Sumerian, the Egyptian, the Norse, something emerges out of darkness. 146 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:10,000 Order emerges out of chaos. Where there was no form, form begins. 147 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:19,000 There is something about these stories that is beyond any one of them that seems to elude to a greater reality. 148 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:33,000 But how is it that the ancient world's most sacred texts all describe creation in much the same way as our current scientific theory? 149 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:41,000 And where did our ancestors get this seemingly advanced understanding of the origins of the universe? 150 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:50,000 Ancient astronaut theorists believe the answers may lie in the stories of the man who compiled the Vedic texts in written form, 151 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:54,000 a mysterious sage named Veda Vyasa. 152 00:16:55,000 --> 00:17:01,000 In the Hindu mythologies, Vyasa is believed to be a reincarnation of the God Vishnu, 153 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:09,000 and that Vishnu specifically took on a human embodiment to be able to write down these classic texts. 154 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:20,000 This sage Vyasa was the author of the Vedas, said to be an immortal and ultimately one of the Gods himself. 155 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:27,000 Some have suggested that Vyasa came to Earth to record and impart this Vedic knowledge to mankind. 156 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:37,000 Now could it be possible that he was in fact an extraterrestrial who came here with a direct mission to bring knowledge to mankind 157 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:41,000 and guide them in their understanding of science and physics? 158 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:48,000 Could Veda Vyasa really have been an extraterrestrial? 159 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:53,000 And mighty of educated mankind about the workings of the universe, 160 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:59,000 thousands of years before the Large Hadron Collider was ever even constructed. 161 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:02,000 But if so, why? 162 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:14,000 Ancient astronaut theorists believe further evidence can be found in the stories of a Greek scientist 2,500 years ahead of this time. 163 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:23,000 The Thracian Coast, Greece. 164 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:29,000 At the northern end of the Aegean Sea lie the ruins of an ancient metropolis. 165 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:36,000 2,500 years ago, Abdera was a thriving seaport and trading center. 166 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:44,000 It was a wealthy hub of commerce between empires and the home of one of history's greatest thinkers, 167 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:47,000 Democritus. 168 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:52,000 A Democritus was a Greek philosopher in the 5th century before the Common Era. 169 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:56,000 He was not just a philosopher but a scientific theorist. 170 00:18:56,000 --> 00:19:02,000 In fact, his great gifts have led him to be revered as the father of modern science. 171 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:11,000 Democritus was born to a wealthy family and educated by Persian magi. 172 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:16,000 Learned priests who were said to control the faiths. 173 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:22,000 It was believed that he was trained by the magi, these priests of the East, 174 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:35,000 and that he also traveled to Egypt and to Babylon and studied with the secret masters who had these ancient wisdom teachings hidden in their lineage. 175 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:42,000 Democritus traveled quite a bit and through his travels learned quite a lot. 176 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:49,000 Traveling east through what we call the ancient Near East, studying with the magi 177 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:55,000 and studying with Chaldeans who were known for their magical mysterious learnings 178 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:59,000 and their magical mysterious knowledge as well. 179 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:09,000 Through his travels and his interactions with people said to have mysterious knowledge, 180 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:16,000 the young philosopher and mathematician came up with a radical theory concerning all matter in the universe. 181 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:26,000 Democritus theorized that everything, people, plants, stone and sun were made of the same stuff. 182 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:30,000 Tiny particles he called a tomos. 183 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:34,000 He developed an early version of the atomic theory. 184 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:44,000 It is an early theory of everything in the world being made up of these very, very small invisible particles which Democritus had called atoms. 185 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,000 Democritus argued that there's a fundamental building block. 186 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:54,000 Even though we couldn't see them, that was the philosophical theory that was in ancient Greece. 187 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:56,000 This is long before science. 188 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:02,000 When Democritus was talking about atoms, it's amazing how close he got to what we really know. 189 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:09,000 What he was motivated by was the idea that if you cut something up, the pieces still have the same properties. 190 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:11,000 And so he just did the thought experiment. 191 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:17,000 Well, if I keep cutting it smaller, then eventually I'll have the smallest possible piece and that's the atom. 192 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:19,000 And that's what gives it its properties. 193 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:21,000 That's basically our picture of matter now. 194 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:26,000 That smallest piece is the protons, neutrons and the electron that make up the atom. 195 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:39,000 What Democritus articulated 2,500 years ago is remarkably similar to today's standard model of physics. 196 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:44,000 The basis of our search for the Higgs boson, or God particle. 197 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:50,000 But how could Democritus have known about the atom and the forces that govern it? 198 00:21:51,000 --> 00:22:00,000 Could it be that Democritus had access to advanced and perhaps even extraterrestrial information about the quantum realm? 199 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:11,000 Some ancient astronaut theorists believe that the answer may lie in an even more radical suggestion Democritus made about the cosmos. 200 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:20,000 In his writings, Democritus proposed that there are many worlds and that these worlds even sustained life. 201 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:27,000 Now could it be that by other worlds he was maybe even referring to parallel universes? 202 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:40,000 As we fast forward from Democritus to the more current era, where the idea of parallel universes has really taken off is the multi-universe view, where all possible universes has occurred. 203 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:50,000 This is very similar to Democritus's idea of making all possible universes, but now they're very much next to each other, parallel in space as well as occurring in time. 204 00:22:53,000 --> 00:23:04,000 Some cosmologists today believe our universe is one of many, and that the God particle could lead us to discovering these other universes. 205 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:12,000 Is it possible that Democritus had knowledge of this 2,500 years ago? 206 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:21,000 And might that information have come to him not only from a different world, but perhaps a different universe? 207 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:27,000 Democritus claimed to communicate with what he thought were parallel worlds. 208 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:37,000 He sometimes would exercise his energy by going into places of the dead and would receive what he thought were voices and information which would predict the future. 209 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:48,000 Some accounts of Democritus describe him as having access to magical powers with which he could control the weather and predict natural disasters. 210 00:23:49,000 --> 00:24:01,000 He also allegedly communicated with what he referred to as other worlds, and he described images and voices that came to him giving him all sorts of information. 211 00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:22,000 Is it possible that the priests of the Magi, the priests of the Egyptian Mystery Schools and the priests of Babylon taught him some form of ancient practice that allows the human body to become an instrument to connect directly on a telepathic level with extraterrestrial beings? 212 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:31,000 The more that we draw forth in science, we're going to discover the truths of the past that have long been hidden from us. 213 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:34,000 Yes, mankind has been directed from the beginning. 214 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:48,000 But did Democritus truly understand atomic theory and the concept of multiple universes all the way back in the fifth century BC? 215 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:59,000 Or is it possible, as some ancient astronaut theorists suggest, that he was simply documenting information passed on to him by more advanced beings? 216 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:06,000 Clues about our universe deliberately left for us to discover over time. 217 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:16,000 Perhaps the answer can be found by looking at the discovery of the God Particle and its connection to the Mayan calendar. 218 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:21,000 Palenque, Mexico 219 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:29,000 These majestic stone ruins are all that remain of the one's powerful Mayan city. 220 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:40,000 With its towering stone pyramids and ornate plazas, Palenque reveals the true sophistication of the Mayan civilization. 221 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:50,000 In terms of scientific and artistic achievements, the Maya were among the world's best ancient civilizations. 222 00:25:51,000 --> 00:26:01,000 Their advancements in math, engineering, astronomy, geometry were unparalleled in the entire Americas. 223 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:19,000 It was in this ancient Mayan city that researchers have unearthed one of the best examples of a remarkable calendar that tracked not only days and months, but also ages spanning thousands of years. 224 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:32,000 The Maya were very, very intent on recording the passage of time, so much so that early scholars called the entire culture esoteric time worshippers. 225 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:35,000 They had a number of calendrical cycles. 226 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:39,000 One of the last ones they made we call the long count. 227 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:44,000 To the western mind you could look at it as the odometer on your card. 228 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:46,000 It clicks through time. 229 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:57,000 And scholars have a difference of opinion whether it is a cycle that will reset itself or whether it is a system that can go backwards and forwards into perpetuity. 230 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:07,000 The Mayans were obsessed with the idea of time cycles and worlds. 231 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:14,000 They believed that we had existed in three previous worlds and that they could forecast or predict the emergence of a new world. 232 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:23,000 And that was the purpose of the Mayan calendar was to pinpoint a specific date and time when one world would end and a new world would begin. 233 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:33,000 The Mayan calendar last turned on December 21st, 2012. 234 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:40,000 Thousands of people from around the world descended on Mayan sites to mark the event. 235 00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:46,000 Some, however, saw dire omens in the occasion. 236 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:58,000 The Mayan prediction of the end of the world in December 2012 caused a firestorm of prophecy, watchers and people believing that it was actually doomsday. 237 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:04,000 But as we know now, nothing of that nature actually happened at that time. 238 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:14,000 If it wasn't a doomsday clock as many believed, then just what was this ancient calendar predicting? 239 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:17,000 The Mayan calendar was the same. 240 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:30,000 Ancient astronaut theorists suggest it may have in fact been counting down, not to the end of the world, but to the dawn of a new era in human history. 241 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:37,000 The Mayans never said it was going to be doomsday. They simply said it would be a new moment of creation. 242 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:49,000 Maybe the Mayan calendar predicted a monumental leap forward, a transition that would lead us into a whole new era of scientific understanding and possibility. 243 00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:55,000 What did happen was we discovered the God particle, the Higgs boson. 244 00:28:56,000 --> 00:29:06,000 So perhaps what the Mayan calendar was trying to predict was not some terrible catastrophe, but our own very important discovery 245 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:14,000 of the God particle and how we can use this to understand our place in the universe. 246 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:28,000 If the Maya did indeed predict the discovery of the God particle, did they also leave a clue as to where this knowledge will take us? 247 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:43,000 Some ancient astronaut theorists believe the answer may be found 480 miles north on carved blocks of hard volcanic andesite at another Mayan archaeological site in Isapa. 248 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:53,000 On Stella 5, there is a depiction of a mythological tree that the Maya believed connected the cosmos and the earth. 249 00:29:53,000 --> 00:30:03,000 For the Maya, the world tree bridged the seen and the unseen, the celestial and the earthly. 250 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:09,000 The Mayans believed the tree exuded a kind of syrup or sap called the it. 251 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:20,000 It had qualities that allowed portals to open to make contact with unseen dimensions. It was the key, if you will, to other worlds. 252 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:30,000 The Mayans talked about this type of cosmic ooze that they thought literally emanated from the world tree. 253 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:44,000 It's actually opened up portals to other worlds. Maybe they're talking about some type of advanced energy that they didn't directly have access to, but had the understandings and teachings possibly taught to them by extraterrestrials. 254 00:30:45,000 --> 00:31:04,000 When I looked at the symbolism of the sacred tree, I got to thinking, what if that sap is the Higgs boson, the god particle, and you have scientists saying that it could potentially lead to time travel and our ability to create tiny wormholes. 255 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:20,000 Now is it possible that we can use the discovery of the god particle and the Higgs boson to understand our place in the universe and even to teleport and travel through time and space? 256 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:28,000 Was the Mayan calendar devised to predict the discovery of the god particle? 257 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:39,000 And if so, could this mean that we are getting closer to a reconnection with alien beings that visited Earth long ago? 258 00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:53,000 Some ancient astronaut theorists believe another clue may be found just outside the entrance to the Large Hadron Collider with the statue of Shiva. 259 00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:00,000 Geneva, Switzerland 260 00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:15,000 Outside the headquarters of CERN's Large Hadron Collider is a 12 foot statue of the Shiva Nataraja, or the Dancing Shiva, one of Hinduism's most powerful gods. 261 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:29,000 Lord Shiva is one of the three great gods of the Hindu teaching. He is the god of destruction. His job is to destroy, but it is in order to renew, he destroys and creates. 262 00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:40,000 His energy, the dance, he is considered the lord of the dance, a cosmic dance, and it is the dance of destruction and recreation. 263 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:53,000 God Shiva is a complex character. It's very difficult to understand Shiva in one word because he is the god of procreation. 264 00:32:53,000 --> 00:33:01,000 And he is also the god of destruction. He is also the god that destroys everything because everything that is created must come to an end. 265 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:15,000 According to Hindu mythology, Shiva is the god who will one day destroy the universe to make way for a new one. 266 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:21,000 Shiva's cosmic dance is not seen as a negative even though it is greatly destructive. 267 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:37,000 It is destroying in order for something new to be created. So it is an essential part of the process of life that things are cleared away so new things, new possibilities, better possibilities can emerge. 268 00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:53,000 But could the various attributes associated with this Hindu god be connected to a recent discovery made at the Large Hadron Collider about how our universe could suddenly and catastrophically end? 269 00:33:54,000 --> 00:34:14,000 One of the intriguing outcomes of the Higgs boson mass measurement is the realization that the Higgs boson and the top quark may put us right on the ragged edge of an instability condition in the universe. 270 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:26,000 The universe can exist in several different states. Water, it can exist as steam, as liquid water, as frozen ice. 271 00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:42,000 If the universe changes state, it will produce bubbles of space-time expanding at the speed of light that could destroy everything, all normal matter, all everything in the universe as we know it. 272 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:52,000 Some people are seeing theories that say there's going to be expanding bubbles of nothingness that will create new, whole new universes. 273 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:58,000 And in a sense, we know that the universe has to be unstable because it made the big bang in the first place. 274 00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:22,000 Could Shiva not only be a mythological deity that represents the ancient Hindu's understanding of the universe, but might he also have been an otherworldly being who passed on information to our ancestors that we are only now rediscovering? 275 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:38,000 Maybe the great god Shiva, the destroyer, was actually trying to communicate in ancient times things that we're learning today about breaking things down to the finest particles and understanding that these are how we understand the basis of life at a subatomic level. 276 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:46,000 In Hindu tradition, Shiva was often portrayed as blue-skinned with a third eye in the middle of his forehead. 277 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:57,000 And if you look at the different depictions of Shiva's dance, you see that he is almost always surrounded by some type of a circular structure with flames. 278 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:05,000 We see parallels to technology where he's always depicted in the circle when he's doing his cosmic dance. 279 00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:12,000 It seems very similar to what we see at the Hadron Accelerator in this large circular particle accelerator. 280 00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:20,000 Maybe there's some tie-in between Shiva being depicted in a circular device and the way we're smashing particles now in the Hadron Accelerator. 281 00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:26,000 Now what did our human ancestor artists try to depict here? 282 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:38,000 Do the accounts of his cosmic dance refer to some type of misunderstood technology very much similar to the large Hadron Collider? 283 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:45,000 In the Catholic mass, there is a ceremonial artifact called a monstrance. 284 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:56,000 If you look at this image, if you look at this item, it has a burst of light very similar to the pattern of Shiva's light, this dance of creation. 285 00:36:56,000 --> 00:37:03,000 Some say this shape can be seen in the Hadron Collider at CERN. 286 00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:14,000 Does this suggest that the invention of tools like the Large Hadron Collider are happening as part of a plan? 287 00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:23,000 Did celestial beings who came to Earth in the distant past give early humans' insights into the origin of existence? 288 00:37:24,000 --> 00:37:35,000 Ancient astronaut theorists believe the answers may be found not in what CERN has already uncovered, but in discoveries yet to come. 289 00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:42,000 CERN Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland 290 00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:55,000 The Large Hadron Collider was heralded as a monumental success when it helped to discover the Higgs boson, or God particle, in 2012. 291 00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:58,000 But that was only the beginning. 292 00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:07,000 Since then, researchers have embarked on a multi-year project to upgrade what is already the most powerful machine on Earth, 293 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:12,000 by retrofitting it with bigger, better and more efficient systems. 294 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:23,000 When the Large Hadron Collider is activated again in 2015, it will wield at least double the power it did in 2012, 295 00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:28,000 and could boast even ten times more by the end of the decade. 296 00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:40,000 When you look at the size of the detectors of the Large Hadron Collider, you realize that we really are pushing the limits of technology. 297 00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:48,000 The Large Hadron Collider is something like seven times more powerful than anything else that existed before. 298 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:57,000 We'll be even able to get even closer to conditions in time, even closer to the beginning of the Big Bang. 299 00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:12,000 The work that is happening right now during the LHC shutdown is to prepare the detectors and the experiments for the big energy step. 300 00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:25,000 We are going into even more higher energy, and that means that we are probing deeper and we can be just around the corner of discovering something which is completely blowing our minds. 301 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:36,000 The human race is going to be focusing more energy in a small area than we've ever done before, so we're looking for a whole new phenomenon. 302 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:49,000 The scientists at CERN hope that by increasing the power of the Large Hadron Collider, they will not only be able to learn more about the God Particle, 303 00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:55,000 but also uncover other, perhaps even more profound secrets of the universe. 304 00:39:56,000 --> 00:40:10,000 But some scientists have voiced concerns that the Large Hadron Collider could create a black hole that would swallow up the Earth, set off a massive nuclear explosion, 305 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:16,000 or even form a vacuum bubble that could tip the balance of the entire universe. 306 00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:25,000 Perhaps this is a little hubris, and we all know what happens when physicists get full of hubris, 307 00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:32,000 but there's always a little bit of fear when you're pushing back the frontiers of science. It's part of the frontier spirit. 308 00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:40,000 We have to admit that we don't know how the universe started, and as we go into higher and higher energies, 309 00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:48,000 we don't know what we're going to find, because physics at these levels is an experimental, completely experimental science. 310 00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:55,000 We don't have the complete understanding and description of the universe that can create this anxiety and fear, 311 00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:59,000 that we might create something that will end the universe. 312 00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:06,000 When we look at the experiments that have been conducted at CERN with the Large Hadron Collider, 313 00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:15,000 it may be that humanity is taking its first baby steps towards the actual construction of the universe. 314 00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:24,000 We're manipulating matter at the subatomic level, and we are literally harnessing the forces of creation themselves. 315 00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:37,000 The amount of the universe that we see and know that is part of the standard model of physics is only like 4% of the mass of the universe. 316 00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:45,000 We're going into vast, unknown territory. We're going to be witnessing events that no human being has ever witnessed before, 317 00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:51,000 at energy density scales no human being has ever been able to create before, so it's very exciting. 318 00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:54,000 Who knows what we'll find? 319 00:41:57,000 --> 00:42:08,000 By wielding the incredible power of the Large Hadron Collider, could we one day recreate the Big Bang to form an entirely new universe, 320 00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:12,000 and at the same time destroy our own? 321 00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:19,000 Or might we instead be reaching the threshold of a new age for mankind? 322 00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:32,000 If ancient astronauts came to our planet hundreds of centuries ago, perhaps they deliberately planted the seeds of knowledge that would eventually lead us to where we are today. 323 00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:42,000 Perhaps finding the so-called God Particle will allow us to finally answer mankind's most persistent questions. 324 00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:52,000 Who are we? Where did we come from? And the most persistent of all, are we alone?