Intelligent beings?

James Beichler, a Professor of Physics from W. Virginia University, says in this documentary (at about the 1:39:27 mark): "You look at the whole earth, the earth is 4 and a half billion years old. And yet, we've only had intelligent beings for two thousand."
Really? We've only had intelligent beings since 14 A.D.?? That statement is way off. I almost turned it off at this point. It makes me wonder (and it should make you wonder, too) how much more these "scientists", in this documentary, are passing off as truth.