For example, our generation grew up in a western-oriented historical background, and we naturally live in a western-dominated world. /kloc-The 20th century and the early 20th century were the times when the West enjoyed political, economic and cultural hegemony. However, the Second World War and the subsequent colonial revolution quickly ended this hegemony, as evidenced by the disappearance of some huge European empires on the world map. The names and colors of many places on the map have undergone fundamental changes, thus reflecting the new world that appeared before the middle of the 20th century.
We gradually realize reluctantly that in today's world, the traditional western-centered view of history is outdated and misleading. To understand the changed situation, we need a new global perspective. Although accompanied by all kinds of mental pain, the world has completed the transformation from the old to the new. In the 1960s, the emergence of the World History Association, the publication of the Journal of World History and the first edition of this book all confirmed this change.
This brings us back to the original question: Why is the 1 version of this book published for 2 1 century only a few decades after its publication? The answer is the same as the reason for publishing the 1 edition, or the same sentence: the new world needs new historiography. The post-colonial world in 1960s made a new global history necessary. Today, the new world of 1990s and 2 1 century also requires us to have a new historical method. The new world of1960s was mainly the product of the colonial revolution, while the new world of1990s, as Pope Paul VI said, was the result of "the magical influence of science and technology". This influence is everywhere, and it is obvious in the "huge problems" it brings to all aspects of our lives. For example, at the end of the 20th century, students may have had this experience, lying on wooden desks with a puzzled face, thinking, if these fragile wooden things are attacked by nuclear bombs at this time, how can they resist?
Mother Earth gave birth to human life; This generation of students must face not only new dangers that threaten human life, but also unprecedented dangers that threaten Mother Earth. Custao, a marine geographer, warned: "In the 20th century, human beings may have done more harm to the earth than all the harm in human history." Similarly, the environmental protection organization "World Watch" also concluded in 1989: "By 1999, the moment that really determines the fate of mankind will come. As the world enters the 2 1 century, the international community will either unite to reverse the crisis or fall into a vicious circle of environmental degradation and social disintegration. " .
Due to the bleak prospect of the destruction of species and planets, a series of books with the titles of The End of the American Century, The End of the World, The End of the Future and The End of History have been published one after another. If we think we are just a small link in a long list of species, then these depressing titles may be right. There are about 40 million different plant and animal species on the earth now, compared with 5 billion to 40 billion species in different periods before that. In other words, only 1‰ species survived, while 99.9% species became extinct. This record seems to provide statistical support for the current sales of the above-mentioned "End" series of works.
However, this statistic is misleading because there are fundamental differences between human beings and all extinct species. The extinction of the latter is mainly due to their inability to adapt to environmental changes, such as those during the ice age. On the contrary, human beings endowed with advanced intelligence can adapt the environment to their own needs by using kindling, sewing clothes and building houses. Therefore, human beings are a unique species, and can adapt the environment to their own needs, thus becoming masters of their own destiny rather than slaves.
The decisive difference between master and slave can be dramatically explained by the change of the relationship between human beings and smallpox. Smallpox virus is one of the most terrible diseases. It first appeared in the Far East at least 2000 years ago, spread to Europe in the 8th century, and spread to America after Columbus discovered America. As Europeans migrated to other continents, smallpox virus killed countless overseas residents who lacked immunity. Indians in America, aborigines in Australia and islanders in Polynesia and the Caribbean have all suffered genocide. In fact, smallpox virus once raged in Europe, eventually devouring one-third of the population on the European continent, and its harm was equivalent to the plague.
The conquest of smallpox virus began at1796; That year, Edward. Jenne, a British doctor, found that patients who had been vaccinated or infected with vaccinia were immune to smallpox. Now several smallpox viruses have been isolated in the laboratories of American and Russian scientists, so the relationship between smallpox and human beings is completely reversed. The last known case of smallpox occurred in Somalia in 1977. 1980, mankind announced that the natural smallpox virus had been eliminated.
Scientists have suggested that several samples of smallpox virus left in the laboratory should be completely destroyed to prevent its spread. But people put off making this final decision, because these viruses may be useful for future research. Now, scientists have made harmless smallpox DNA fragments and have a complete gene sketch for research, so it doesn't matter whether the samples of smallpox virus are preserved or not. 1996 65438+ 10, the Executive Committee of the United Nations World Health Organization unanimously agreed to set 1999 as the date for destroying all remaining smallpox viruses. At this point, this virus killer who has tortured mankind for a long time has been locked in chains, waiting for its former victims to set a date to execute (and destroy) it. It can be seen that human beings have become the supreme ruler of the biological and abiotic worlds.
Physicist Werner Heisenberg concluded: "For the first time in history, human beings only face themselves in the world, without other partners or enemies." However, for our time, it is ironic that this primacy of human beings is the root of our current global worries and fears. After destroying all possible opponents, human beings no longer face any enemies, and we only face ourselves.
This new confrontation with our inner self rather than the outside world is an arduous task. It not only requires human beings to acquire more knowledge and technology; Facts have proved that our ability in this respect is unparalleled. At the same time, it also needs a correct ethical orientation to ensure that knowledge is used in the right direction and purpose. In the17th century, the British philosopher Francis Bacon mentioned the potential of the scientific revolution and warned of its possible dangers. He enthusiastically praised the pursuit of "knowledge and skills" through science, but he also mentioned that this pursuit needs to be guided by "humanity and charity", and this pursuit should not be "for self-enjoyment, competition, superiority, pursuit of fame and fortune, power struggle or any other similar humble purpose, but for improving life".
We can painfully find out to what extent we ignored Bacon's warning in the daily TV programs and the annual report "Social Health Index" of I~~ordham University (I ~ ~). The above report is based on the statistics of adolescent suicide rate, unemployment rate, drug abuse rate, high school dropout rate and housing occupancy rate, and reflects the basic situation of American society. The results show that the American social health index dropped from 75 points in 1970 to 36 points in 199 1-even the editor-in-chief of the annual report called the decline "terrible".
This "terrible" deterioration of social health is not limited to the United States. Jacques Coustau, a marine geographer, discovered this when he was walking in Paris from 7 am to 7 pm. He walks with a counter. "Whenever I meet someone who sells me something I don't need, I press the counter. As a result, I pressed 183 times a day. "
Cousteau's experience can be seen everywhere. This happened in Paris, Athens, Los Angeles and Mexico. However, as a thoughtful scientist, Cousteau began to explore the social significance of this personal experience. He concluded in his investigation: "It is not an individual's obligation to control this destructive consumerism, but the responsibility of the whole society. I'm not an ecologist, by no means. But when you drive in the street and see a red light, you will stop. You don't think the red light is trying to limit your freedom. On the contrary, you know it's protecting you. So why can't the same thing happen in economics? Responsibility depends on social mechanisms rather than personal virtues. " .
This conclusion drawn by Coustau in the article Consumer Society is Our Enemy is very important, because consumer society is becoming a common phenomenon all over the world. For example, in China, 1949, when Mao Zedong came to power, the "four big things" were popular in society: bicycles, radios, watches and sewing machines. Later, the items expected by consumers gradually rose to the "eight major items", adding color TVs, refrigerators, motorcycles and so on. Today, the list is getting longer and longer, and the most recent addition is the car. Cars have become a symbol of the social status of hundreds of millions of "poor people" in the third world. During 1990-2000, the number of cars in Indonesia increased from 272,524 to about 675,000, in India from 354,393 to1/00000, and in China from 420,670 to 22 10000.
Environmentalists are very worried about the impact of these increasing millions of cars on the global air. However, former Norwegian Prime Minister Brundtland pointed out that it was Western Europeans who started the industrial revolution and then polluted the global air. Now they can't keep these "poor people" as "poor people forever".
Today and in the foreseeable future, these developments have brought profound problems to individuals and society. Now it's time to face the basic principles. So, what is the meaning of life? What is the purpose of human existence? Bacon has faced up to this problem when he emphasized that emerging science must be used to "improve life" rather than "seek fame and gain, power and gain" and other "humble purposes". Bacon also hit the nail on the head and put forward the following question: must human beings become economic animals and only focus on bulging bank accounts?
The primary goal of any society must be to meet the basic needs of human beings-food, shelter, health and education. Therefore, we must first improve economic efficiency to meet these basic needs. However, if these basic needs have been met, should people still ignore personal, social and ecological costs and blindly emphasize economic productivity? Mankind has not given due consideration to this basic problem. It is because of this negligence that blind consumerism and materialism spread all over the world, as Coustau discovered when he was walking in Paris.
This state of escape cannot be maintained indefinitely. Therefore, mankind is now trying to find a way to avoid becoming an "economic animal", or more accurately, to find an "ethical compass" to guide the development of technology. This is a great challenge to mankind-the biggest challenge in the short life of mankind. So far, mankind has ruled the environment with its outstanding wisdom, thus gaining the primary position on the earth at present. However, with the acquisition of this status and the rapid disappearance of this status in today's worldwide social and environmental deterioration, mankind is now facing new challenges. This challenge requires him to change from a smart primate to a smart human-that is, from smart to smart.
In the next chapter, we will see that just as we have repeatedly experienced and successfully dealt with various challenges in the past, human beings are also dealing with today's challenges. Therefore, the world on the eve of 2 1 century is experiencing an unprecedented social experiment and innovation, and the changes around the world today have proved the breadth and importance of this innovation. For example, in China, determined revolutionaries are exploring "socialism with China characteristics". In the former Soviet Union, economist Nikolai Shmelev advised his compatriots not to be afraid of losing their "ideological purity". Even in the dominant market economy, capitalism itself is emerging in various forms. These forms include the American form that emphasizes the unfettered free enterprise system, the German and Scandinavian forms that emphasize the welfare state and workers' participation in decision-making, and the Asian economic forms that combine the national planned economy, the interconnected joint large enterprises, the lifelong employment system of large companies and the spread of government subsidies to domestic industries for export purposes to varying degrees.
This diversity shows that 2 1 century is not only facing great danger, but also has great potential. Although historians can't predict the future with certainty without a magician's crystal ball, they can definitely predict that 2 1 century is neither a utopia nor a hell, but a century with various possibilities. As for which of these possibilities can be realized, it depends on the readers of this book. What you do in the next few decades is decisive.
Considering these factors, we can neither make self-deceiving utopian fantasies nor make alarmist pessimistic predictions. It's time for a sober reassessment of the existing practices and systems. We should keep what is effective and discard what is outdated-this is exactly what the whole world is trying to do at present. It is in this spirit that a new edition of this book was created. I hope it can help the process of repeated evaluation, so as to realize the "improving life" advocated by Bacon and abandon the "humble purpose" he opposed.