Throughout history, man’s view of himself and his place in the universe is not only fascinating, it’s endlessly informing. Since the decisions we humans make are based upon perception, we are victims of our ignorance. The notion that the earth was flat was as wrong as the notion that HIV could be transmitted by a simple handshake. Yet it’s best not to judge either perception too harshly – for a long time there, we simply didn’t know.

What moves us forward is science and technology. The knowledge they generate influences both the decisions we make and our vision of the future. It’s what has enabled HIV-positive children to attend school like every other child and what inspired Magellan to believe he could sail around the world.

I always look for these shifts in perception, and if you look, they’re fairly easy to spot. The last few years brought about the consciousness of DNA, while the last decade forever embedded the expectation of a worldwide Internet and the ubiquitous cell phone.

I’m beginning to think that the next big paradigm shift will lead us to the oceans. Centuries ago, Magellan could only skim across its surface, yet even today, going beneath the waves remains an exceptional activity. Yet while the oceans are essentially free of humans, that doesn’t mean they’re empty. For one thing, we have now met Nicole.

It’s only been a few years, since technology advanced to the point where scientists could tag creatures in the oceans and watch their behavior, and that’s where Nicole comes in. This great white shark made news, when much to the scientists’ astonishment, she swam from the coast of Africa, across the vast Indian Ocean, to Australia. And then, she swam back again. It’s a roundtrip of some 12,000 miles, and in one leg she clearly put in an impressive 60 miles every day.

So, think about it. You can’t possibly think she had nothing to eat along the way. And you can’t possibly think she didn’t know where she was going.

Before smart satellite tags and sensing devices, no one really knew what a shark might do. Yes, some blue sharks recently studied appear to hang just off the coast of Mexico, while a crowd of salmon sharks migrated back and forth between the arctic fjords of Alaska and the warm waters of Hawaii.

But Nicole demonstrated to us that we must look further. You see, she was only one of some 32 sharks tagged, and the others all stayed close to where they began. It was only luck that the scientists tagged Nicole. And more luck that she swam to Australia. And even more luck when they recognized her again back on her home surf in Africa. The adventure of Nicole tells us that while we’ve tracked a few other sharks, it’s likely to be too few.

It begs a simple question about all ocean life: What’s going on down there? Just as it points to a bigger reality: While we humans don’t go down there very often, it doesn’t mean our presence isn’t felt … especially from technology gone awry. From oil leaks to high-decibel sonic testing, from discarded plastics to the agricultural run-off creating Gulf of Mexico dead zones.

I think our sensibilities will soon be changing. For one thing, Nicole is out there right now, tag-free and fin-loose. Who wouldn’t want to cheer her on?

I'm Moira Gunn. This is Five Minutes.