Chapter 6 Chapter 3 Future Postfigurative Culture and Uncertain Juniors

Much of our present crisis can be attributed to the upheaval of the times, the disintegration of the family, the disintegration of capitalism.Soulless machines have replaced human emotions, and all traditions have been mortgaged on the auction block of history, all of which have led to the total collapse of the existing system.Behind these many reasons lies another more fundamental conflict, which occurs between two kinds of people.One kind believes that reality is at best a reinforcement of our existing cofigurative culture, in which peers, not parents, are the normative models of behavior; The world is already in another brand-new historical era of human cultural revolution.

Those critics who say long and short, although opinions vary, most still see the future as an extension of the past.They believe that the disasters brought by nuclear war to mankind are no more terrible than the ravages of Eurasia by Genghis Khan's iron hooves.When it comes to the present crisis of mankind, moralists always blame the decay of past religious institutions, while historians point out that human civilization has been able to perpetuate from the collapse of empires again and again. Similarly, critics see the total denial of the present and the past by young people of different beliefs and opinions in all societies of the world as merely an extreme form of adolescent rebellion.Thus, Max Lerner could say: "Every young person has to pass through two periods of crisis: the first when he identifies with a role model—parents, older brothers, teachers—and the second when he When he breaks away from this model, rebels against this former idol, and reassesses himself." This view is not substantially different from that of David Riesman, who in his description of autonomous man It is believed that such a person is the child of a reality that is not completely separated from the past.

Theorists always emphasize the parallel between the past and the present when explaining the generation gap, but they often ignore the inevitability of a series of changes since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.Although this change has been particularly pronounced since the modern technological revolution, it has been mistakenly equated with when one ancient civilization absorbed from another civilization forms of organization such as agriculture, printing, navigation, and labor and law. resulting changes. Of course, one can discuss prefigurative and cofigurative cultures in terms of slow or rapid change without getting into the nature of the process of change.For example, when the children of farmers or craftsmen first entered factories, it was the prelude to an irreversible change.But because the change spanned generations of experience, the fact that they adjusted to the new way of life was very slow means that the changes people experienced were no more dramatic than those that were conquered by invaders in ancient times. The peoples of the Roman Empire underwent even more dramatic changes.So, while we are keenly concerned with intergenerational relations and the types of behaviors that transmit culture, it is quite possible to compare the ancient situation of land-dwelling people learning the art of fishing with the modern situation of immigrant children from Haiti learning about computers.

But the distinction between past and present changes can only be made clear when we have exhausted the nature of the process of change.I am convinced that the most pressing issue is to elucidate the changing nature of the contemporary world, both its speed and its scope, so that we can better understand the relationship between past changes and changes that are still ongoing today essential difference. There is nothing comparable to it in the past history, and it is a very striking feature in our present life that the generation gap has occurred worldwide.China, Britain, Pakistan, Japan, the United States, New Guinea—none of the particular events in any one country can adequately explain the turmoil being unleashed by contemporary youth around the world.The development of modern science and technology and the difficulties arising from technological backwardness, revolutions and the suppression of revolutionary actions, the disappearance of old beliefs and the obsession with new beliefs, all these can only partly explain the differences. The unique defiance of young people in the country.In short, the speed of change is more pronounced and more perceptible in the extremely backward and highly developed countries than in the countries in the middle.But if we focus on the rebellion of the younger generation, in a sense all of the above are peripheral to contemporary society, because the rebellion of the younger generation is global in its scope.

Limiting our attention to particular events only hinders our understanding of underlying principles.We should, on the contrary, exclude from the external, national, and momentary phenomena of each country those elements of chance.Czechoslovakia's longing for liberal communism, America's quest for "racial" equality, Japan's yearning for freedom from American military influence, Cuba's communist movement in full swing, and support for ultraconservatives in Northern Ireland and Rhodesia, all Everything is a special event.But one thing that all these events have in common is the activism of young people.

Under various rapidly changing conditions, using anthropological analysis methods to describe the prefigurative mode and various cofigurative modes has brought us a new turning point.I am convinced that our descriptions of these cultural patterns, along with the insights gained from our study of ancient cultures, will help us to gain a clear understanding of what is happening in the contemporary world. The key question here is: What are the new factors that lead to the rebellion against tradition by the younger generation all over the world? All of this is first of all due to the emergence of the world-community of the philosophers.For the first time, the entire human race lived together in a society capable of communicating with each other, exchanging responses, sharing knowledge and concerns.Today we cannot be sure at any time in history that a single community of many small societies existed where the members of the society knew each other and the knowledge of the differences between the various small societies strengthened the group consciousness.As far as I know, no such single, interacting society has existed in the long history of archaeology.Those larger groups of interacting humans are but a drop in the bucket for a larger as yet unknowable whole of humanity.A powerful empire expands its territory to a new area, but they don't understand the language, customs, and even the voice and smile of the people there.In the limited world of ancient times, people's ideas were often false or mythical beliefs.Human beings can conceive of God's fatherhood, and think that everyone is a brother, and biologists can also argue endlessly over the issue of monogenesis and pluralism of human beings; however, what is the commonality of human beings is still a question that needs to be researched and debated. thorny issue.

The changes that have taken place in the past 25 years have greatly changed the above situation.The complete and detailed investigations carried out by human beings have proved that there is no other human-like creature on this planet except ourselves.High-speed air travel can take us all over the world, and human global television communication satellites can quickly and simultaneously broadcast what happened somewhere on the earth to all parts of the world.Events such as the assassination of a leader or the planting of a human flag on the moon can be made known in an instant, robbing artists and politicians of the possibility of distorting and altering the truth of the event.Today's world is a unified social community, although it still lacks organizational forms and legal provisions that can be managed politically.

The Industrial Revolution of the 19th century replaced crude forms of energy. The scientific revolution in the 20th century led to the rapid development of agricultural production, but it seriously threatened the ecological balance of the entire earth, and many creatures were on the verge of extinction.Through the application of electronic computers, science has made possible the reintensification of human intellect, thus enabling us to exploit the solar system and opening a path to artificial simulation.In this way, people, especially those working in highly organized groups, were well able to surpass the intellectual achievements of early human societies.

The revolution in developing food resources is global.Today, in many parts of the world, due to the rapid growth of population due to the progress of medical science, the ever-increasing food production is only enough to barely survive the famine.But if we can bring population growth into a new balance, the entire human race will be well nourished for the first time.The revolution in medicine by reducing the pressure of population growth has already begun.In turn, it will be possible to free women from a life-long reproductive situation, which will completely change the way women live, and will also redefine new prospects for parenting.

What's more, all these changes happened almost simultaneously, within the short lifetime of one generation, but the impact of this earth-shaking change was global.Only yesterday, an aborigine in New Guinea could only contact modern civilization through the plane seen in the sky and the blade that was exchanged to him after several changes of hands; but today, even if he lives in a small village in a remote area, Access to semiconductor radios is also possible.Until yesterday, those living in the backcountry lived a life completely isolated from the urban civilization of their own country; but today, with the help of radio and television, they can bring the hustle and bustle and landscape of cities all over the world to their own lives. middle.

People with completely different cultural traditions have stepped into the present era at the same time.People all over the world seem to be moving to the same immigrant neighborhoods, each with a prominent sign on the door: "Citizens, you are now going through gate 1 (or gate 23, or gate 2003, or whatever) ) into the post-World War II world." No matter who they are, no matter where they will enter the new era, all people are like immigrants - some like post-war refugees, some like survivors of shipwrecks , shoulder to shoulder into this new world. Like the pioneers of new lands, they lack all the knowledge necessary to cope with the new circumstances of life.Latecomers model their behavior by those who came first.But among the first newcomers, the young adults in the prime of their lives are the models to emulate, with their resilience and innovation.But their past, the culture that shaped their entire understanding—their thoughts, feelings, and ideas—doesn't necessarily make them a bridge to modern life.And the elders among the newcomers, entangled in tradition, are also unable to provide new models for the future. Today, everyone who was born and raised before World War II is an immigrant in time, just as their ancestors were immigrants in space. In the new world, they are struggling with various strange living environments. struggle.Like all immigrants and pioneers, these temporal immigrants are the bearers of the old culture.The only difference is that they represent various cultures in today's world.All these men, whether he was a sophisticated French scholar or a savage from a remote New Guinea tribe, whether he was a traditional Haitian farmer or an atomic physicist, had certain characteristics in common. Whoever they were, these immigrants grew up in a time when satellite tracks had not yet been left in the sky, and their understanding of the past was only based on imperfect descriptions made by previous generations.Whether they rely entirely on oral memory, art, drama, or even have access to printing, photography, film, etc., everything they can learn has been processed and transformed by these information carriers.Their understanding of current things is also completely controlled by their own senses, and is limited by the imperfect descriptions made by others of their own sensory experience and memory.They understand the future as a process in which all superficial changes will be eroded by deep unchanged.The aborigines of New Guinea, entering the complex modern world, imitated the cultural patterns of the Europeans, looking forward to sharing the future of the Europeans in one way or another.Industrialists and military strategists were still imagining what the electronic computer was, and had no time to consider its construction and application value. They regarded it as just another invention among countless inventions that could enhance human skills.In their view, electronic computers have expanded the space for human beings to show their talents, but they cannot change the future of human beings. Science fiction written by young, inexperienced twentieth-century writers presents inaccuracies to sophisticated minds, but most educated people compare them to the likes of Ica Greek myths like Los and Daedalus are even less interesting.Not only people and gods are described in these Greek myths, but even flying objects in the sky are described.It's an interesting phenomenon that people would rather share the same lack of foresight as other members of their own contemporaries than share in the magical dreams of contemporary science fiction writers. When the first atomic bomb exploded at the end of World War II, few people realized that the whole of mankind would enter a new era.At the time, most people over the age of twenty-five, while able to understand intellectually, could not emotionally accept the difference between past wars and future wars—that no matter how terrible the past wars were, humans would still survive after all. But future wars are enough to destroy the entire human race.People still see a war with more lethal weapons as just a more brutal war, and they still don't understand the meaning of scientific weapon dehumanization.Even when scientists formed associations, their purpose was to prevent the particular kind of war for which they felt an inescapable responsibility—such as the US chemical war in Vietnam—rather than to eradicate All wars. It is in this sense that at that time, as we entered the present age, no one could understand the past, explain the present, and discern the future.All of us who grew up before World War II were pioneers and immigrants in time, we left the world we knew behind us and began to live in a new era that was very different from everything we knew.But the past, all that existed in the world of our childhood and youth, still haunts our souls.Most people who were born and raised before the electronic revolution did not understand what this revolution really meant. We still control the power, the resources and the skills necessary to hold and organize the kind of society we know, the old order.We manipulate the education system, the apprenticeship system, and the ladder of life for young people who can only move up one step at a time.The elders in those developed countries control all kinds of resources needed for the growth of young people and the development of underdeveloped countries. However, there is no turning back.We are doomed to live in unfamiliar surroundings: we have to deal with sudden changes with our existing knowledge in haste.We build temporary shelters in the new world, using new materials that are known to man, but still following ancient patterns. However, in the whole world, the resistance of the younger generation is surging.They were like the first generation of unrestrained newcomers born in a new country, struggling to break free of all the fetters that held them.They know this era, and they are familiar with the artificial satellites that travel in space.They have never heard that war can prevent human beings from being destroyed.They know how to use an electronic computer, but they don't naively anthropomorphize it; they understand that the computer is completely under human control.In the face of the facts, they will immediately realize that the continuous pollution of air, water and land means that the earth will no longer be suitable for human habitation, and the earth will not be able to support the rapidly growing world population.They can understand that control of ideas is not only possible but necessary.Like people in backward countries, they recognize that the abhorrent differences of race and class are anachronistic.They argue that the world is in complete need of some form of new order. Growing up in this complex world, the younger generation no longer accept the knowledge from books one-sidedly. In their view, there is no essential difference between killing an enemy and murdering a neighbor.There was no reconciliation in their minds of people trying to save their own children while Molotov cocktailing other people's children.The distinctions between peace and war, friend and foe, "our group" and "other group" (allies and enemies) have lost their meaning.They understand that their offspring cannot be saved by the strength of one nation alone; each nation has an inescapable responsibility for the upbringing of the children of other nations. Rather than saying that young people "know these things", it is better to say "they feel so".Like the first generation born in a new country, they know little of what their parents talked about about the past.Just as the descendants of the pioneers of the New World were unable to understand the events that brought their parents to tears, so today's younger generation cannot share in their parents' experiences of those nostalgic subjects.However, this is not all that separates the younger generation from their elders.At the same time, they have also witnessed their elders struggling to find their way in the new world, being clumsy and often unable to shoulder the historical responsibilities imposed on them by the new environment.They know very little about the way their parents survived across the ocean, and they don't even know what kind of tree is suitable for what kind of tool, what kind of land should be used with what kind of hoe.However, they feel that the method of their parents is not suitable, their operation is clumsy, and the harvest is extremely unstable.The younger generation, though they don't know how to do it, feel that there must be a better way. A short essay by Ernon Dixon, a 15-year-old in Texas, expresses the thoughts of young people: The minds of our generation are full of turmoil and restlessness, and we intend to The picture shows ourselves, looking for a bright path for this world. We see that because of war, poverty, discrimination, because of people Lack of sincerity and understanding between nations, between nations, the whole world There was turmoil and turmoil. Standing in front of this chaotic world, we stare intently Thinking: There must be a more ideal way of survival, we should be struggling looking for. We have witnessed the cruelty of this world, people are like gambling losers Competing fiercely like gangsters, trying to put the latecomers to death.this one Everything is constantly intensifying international contradictions and conflicts, leading to domestic turmoil and unrest.In this world, we are like Manipulated like a machine, forced to learn a set of established rules of behavior Fan, strive to receive a good education so that in the future I can be like my parents Live like that.But why?if we only is a simple copy of the parent's generation, then the situation will be even worse. But how can we change it?we need to impose on people Sincere love requires trust and understanding between each other, and needs to think about oneself. to express oneself, to express one's true feelings, but all this alone is still far from enough.I have to go further and think about what else we need Well, and what I should do has not yet been fully paid.because Because when I was eager to try, the elders and those who refused to listen, or were cold People who are on the sidelines always cast contemptuous glances.computer replaced The human mind, electronics are omnipotent, but the chaos of the world remains Plus and minus. I admit that we should abide by some basic rules, but, We should first look at who is making the rules. Sometimes I wander on the beach of golden sand and listen Listening to the noise of the sea waves and the singing of seabirds, I hear them always calling calling, shouting; sometimes I glimpse a lost road, but Everyone on the road took a rigid step, they were afraid that if they Stopping will crush shells underfoot. The answer is somewhere, and we have to find it. As Dixon puts it, the younger generation realizes that there must be a better way of being, and they must find it. Today, no matter how remote and simple the society in which young people live; there is nowhere in the world where elders know everything younger generations know.In the past there were elders who, by virtue of their growing experience in a particular cultural system, knew more than the young.But that is no longer the case today.Not only are the fathers no longer the guides of life, but there are no guides at all, neither in one's own country nor in the whole world can one find a guide to guide life.No elder can know what the younger generation who have grown up in these 20 years know about the world in which they live. The fact that the elders are an impossibly isolated generation creates a divide between the old and the new.Throughout the ages, no generation has ever witnessed the changes in energy forms, the replacement of communication methods, and the repetition of the definition of human nature. , experience and absorb such rapid change happening before their eyes.Today's elders have experienced more changes than any previous generation, and therefore try their best to restrict and oppose the younger generation, and are out of tune with the younger generation; while the young people rely on their natural endowments and youthful advantages to fiercely oppose the elders past. In the same way that early Americans taught themselves not to indulge in nostalgic daydreams but to actively engage in real life, they taught their children less fantasy and more action.Today's elders should also do the same, realizing that their past has long lost the value of legend; even in the face of the pain of being denied, they should warn their children: don't ask questions, everything is like this, because the elders also cannot understand what is happening in front of them.It should be clear to us that no generation will ever experience what we have experienced.It is in this sense that we have no descendants any more than our children have ancestors. The situation that led to such rapid changes in the entire society will not appear in such a drastic way again in the foreseeable future of mankind.Once we find out one day that no other creature can survive on this earth except human beings, then everyone will bear an inescapable responsibility.Once we have shouldered the burden of survival in the whole world on our thin shoulders, we will not be able to shake off this heavy sense of responsibility.Young people will hopefully guide their children to the changes.However, the future of the elders is difficult to be so optimistic.It is precisely because the phenomenon of the generation gap is so unique (it can be called a unique landscape in human history), the elders are not only incompatible with the younger generation after them, but also completely different from each previous generation. This sense of distance, this sense of lack of living contact with members of other generations, manifests itself sometimes in quite grotesque ways. In 1968, a group of American pastors gathered in Uppsala spoke to some young American conscientious objectors who had taken refuge in Sweden.Afterwards, they wrote deeply in the investigation report: "We really can't believe that these people are our children." They couldn't believe that these young people had a common cultural origin with them, but after a long conversation , they had to convince themselves that it was so.It is hard to believe that anyone would flee America, the land that European victims of yesteryear considered paradise.These American recruiters simply want to say that only through a process similar to blood typing can the spiritual blood of these American youths be confirmed. In most discussions of the generation gap, the alienation of the younger generations is emphasized, while the alienation of their elders is completely ignored.Critics forget that real communication is a dialogue, and today the two parties involved in the dialogue lack a common language. We know how difficult it is for people who grew up in two completely different cultures and speak different languages ​​to communicate with each other.For example, a Chinese communicates with an American.Not only do they speak different languages, but their experiences are also very different, which will prevent people from understanding each other.But if the communicators are willing to learn the other's language and explore the basic premises of both cultures, then it is possible to find a way to communicate.It can be done, but often people don't do it. Communication is more difficult and elusive when the speakers are from two different cultures but speak the same language—such as English-speaking Americans and British, Spanish-speaking Spaniards and Latin Americans .True communication is possible only when both parties to the conversation are aware that they are speaking not one language, but two languages ​​in which the "same" words mean different, and sometimes quite different, meanings. accomplish.Unless they are willing to listen and ask questions, they cannot start talking, start talking from the bottom of their hearts. This is also a problem that exists between the two generations.Once this deep and unprecedented worldwide generation gap becomes a solid fact, it is still possible to realize spiritual communication between the new and old generations.But whoever among adults thinks that, like those old teachers and his own fathers, he can reflect on himself, use his own youth to speculate and understand the young people before them, he will be poorly outdated. By. However, most elders are still doing this.Fathers send their sons to schools to receive new ideas, older scientists send their students to other people's laboratories to study new subjects, ... They delegate the right to educate young people to others without changing the essence of the matter in the slightest.This simply means that parents and teachers continue to turn to and figure out the basic mechanisms of learning.In cofigurative cultures, parents abdicate the right to teach their children, expecting them to learn from other adults and more knowledgeable peers.Even in science, where we look forward to discoveries and innovations, students are learning from archaic paradigms, and young scientists in the prime of life seek to fill in the gaps while embracing old knowledge.In today's accelerated growth of scientific discovery, older generations are quickly eliminated and replaced by younger colleagues, but they still hold real power. In the deepest sense, now, as in the past, the elders are still at the center of power.Partly because they still wield power, they have not yet recognized that the conditions are not yet ripe for a new dialogue with young people. It is ironic that these are the very people who, as teachers, loved their earlier pupils so much that they now feel that the generation gap is insurmountable, that their devotion to the cause of education has suffered from those who do not like it. Fools of students who are willing to follow the steps. There is an argument that we are now in a crisis of faith situation where people have lost faith not only in religion but also in politics and science.It is felt that they deprive human beings of their sense of security.I think if this crisis of faith can be traced, it can be at least partly attributed to the fact that there are no elders who understand what they are going through better than the younger generation themselves. C·H．Waddington had hypothesized that human evolution and selection stemmed in part from the ability of young children to receive permission from their elders to judge right from wrong.The child's acceptance of the standard of right and wrong is entirely the result of his over-reliance on the identity of his parents.Parents are always so believable, formidable, and lovable when it comes to acknowledging their children, and they run their entire lives.But today's elders can no longer provide the younger generation with an unmistakable code of ethics. Yes, in many parts of the world, fathers still live by a whole set of prefigurative cultural values.Children learn from their parents in this culture that there are unquestioned absolute norms in the world.People always hope that those absolute value norms can and should be re-established, and with this expectation, the learning of absolute norms acquired by children from parents can continue into later experience.Xenophobic tendencies and religious and political movements flourished most recently during the collapse of prefigurative cultures; but in cultures that hoped for orderly change, preferably without going beyond a set of highly abstract fixed values, there were few This kind of movement will be born. The established western industrialized countries have absorbed the concept of change without revolution in their cultural assumptions, that is, to solve various problems brought about by economic changes and technological progress through the development of new social skills.In these countries, people tend to regard obsolete as a kind of relic, and they like or dislike it according to the specific situation.The couriers in England who carried documents to France continued long after letters could be sent by the post office: England again, where the majestic royal family remained with Parliamentary government exists side by side.In Swedish society, the most modern legal provisions on sexual behavior are compatible with the most rigid absolute moral commandments of the Orthodox Church. Similarly, in the United States there are strong believers in incipient change (which is interpreted as progress) and continuing recourse to various forms of absolutism.There are religious sects and political groups that take dogmatism about right and wrong as their basic beliefs, and there are also utopian communities that have always been the vision of human social, political and intellectual development.Although we try our best to advocate that all people are created equal, racial discrimination is still everywhere. Changes occurring today in every part of the world are rapid, sudden, and often violent.Those who imagine change as an orderly process are naive.The great social upheavals one after another are often like the undercurrent of a volcano, rising and erupting in an instant. They may take the form of opposition between revolution and counter-revolution (as in most Latin American countries), or they may be completely retrograde, using a new Restoration of the ancient autocratic system in the form of heretics and heresies will be brutally persecuted, treated inhumanely, and even burned alive.Today's younger generation, who see themselves as the bright torches of the times, reflect in complex ways people's attitudes towards traditional authoritarianism and anti-authoritarianism.Although they try to emulate Buddhists who can approach communist and anti-communist creeds in complete violation of their own tolerance and relative religious values, their behavior sometimes runs counter to an authoritarian system that tolerates no dissent. The attitudes of heretics and skeptics are not much different. why do i have to sleepWhy do I have to eat vegetables?Why can't I suck my finger?Why do I have to go to school?Some parents still give simple instructions to these questions raised by their children: because it is right to do it, because God said it should be done, or because I said it should be done.These moments of parenthood are poised to open the way for rebuilding the foundations of prefigurative culture in the present culture.But the basics of prefigurative culture will be more dead and unacceptable than ever.Because in today's world, it is no longer traditional concepts that make people forget their souls and make their blood boil. All kinds of conflicting and contradictory concepts are prevalent in the world. The prefigurative culture is destined to have conflicts with this world. But most parents don't believe in those old dogmas because they don't know what's in front of them.They don't know how to educate these children who are completely different from them, and most of the children don't bother to learn from their parents and elders, let alone live like them in the future.In the past, the children of immigrants living in the United States begged their parents not to speak their native language in public, nor to wear curious national costumes, so as not to humiliate them in public. They could neither deny their parents, but at the same time They cannot simply and obediently accept their parents' manners and behaviors.In this way, they learn to look for new teachers as guides in life, learn to model their behavior in those adaptable peers, and after a long time, they quietly disappear from the group that only their parents can bear. 今天，持不同观点的年轻人很快发现，以往那种解决方法不再可行。他们与自己父母之间的隔阂，同样存在于他们的朋友与朋友的父母之间、他们的朋友与自己的老师之间。而这类问题在父辈要求他们认真去读的经典书籍或色彩鲜艳、装璜漂亮的新教科书中，都没有现成的答案。 有些人开始面向国外寻找人生的楷模。他们被生在阿尔及利亚但却深受法国文化熏陶的哲学家加缪所表达的内心冲突深深地吸引着。他们试图从当代的马克思主义者马尔库塞的词句中或存在主义的作品中，确立人生的目标。他们狂热地崇拜其他国家的青年革命团体的领袖。白人学生和黑人分离主义者结为联盟。而黑人学生则致力于通过改变现状重写他们以往受屈辱的历史。 这些持不同观点的年轻人已经开始领悟，若要解决那些影响整个世界的诸多问题，迫切需要在世界范围内采取统一的行动。他们希望能够通过某种途径使一切从头开始。年轻的一代抛弃了那种井然有序的发展变化的观点，他们无法从长辈那里原封不动地接受过去，他们只能否定长辈现在正在做的一切，在年轻人的眼中，过去是一个惨痛的、无理智的失败，而未来除了地球的毁灭别无他路。有鉴于此，他们准备通过一种社会推土机式的行动，为新生事物开辟前行的道路——即象推土机那样，以摧枯拉朽之势，彻底清除大地上的树木和废墟，为建设新的社会创造条件。他们认为老一代不能理解为了有计划地改造社会而出现的反叛之举，因而不能够从根本上理解当代社会。他们对长辈的看法以及对现实所抱有的强烈的危机感（事实上，那些富于洞察和预见能力的长辈要比年轻人更能准确地把握这种感受），简直令人难以想象。 然而，那些没有权力的人，除了反对当枚者，别无其他获取权力的途径。究其结果，给予妇女选举权的正是男子，能够投票废除上院的只有上院，决定18岁以下的人能否有选举权的是18岁以上的人。与此相似，能够限制国家主权的归根结底还是国家自身。那没有人惨遭杀害或被迫流亡的卓有成效的进化式变革，有赖于当权者和那些渴慕权力的被剥夺者之间的泛合作。变革的观念能够来自于其他方面，但富有成效的行动却必须发端于那些现在被认为业已落伍。将来势必会遭淘汰的特权阶级。 在那些持不同观点的年轻人中，有一些人认识到了这点。他们希望父母或那些代表父母立场的人（学院院长、大学校长和专栏作家）能够站在他们一边，赞同他们的观点，或者至少给予他们以诚挚的祝福。他们的要求中包含着这样的期望，在他们反对学校当局时，校长能够亲自出面和他们谈谈，并加以适当的引导。当然，并不抱有这种期望的人也绝不少见。 这里，我所谈的主要是那些思想温和的年轻人，他们主张置身于整个社会制度之外，或者主张干脆撇开这现有的制度。Start all over again.但是，有关过去的一切都毫无意义、徒劳无益的看法却是十分普遍的。那些思想激进的年轻人的反抗，采取了诸如罢课、拒绝合作、反对走合法的政治道路等一系列行动。这类消极反抗或许是最为顽强的。那种由隐匿在活跃的同伴背后的学生们组织的周期性聚会表明，消极的抵抗有时反倒最易一触即发，酿成无法想象的动乱。 年轻人的消极反抗也可能表现为出于私利而顺从那些他们本来视为多余的规则，或者干脆表现为盲目地顺从这些规则。采取这类立场的人或许是最令人担忧的。那种人们沿袭了无数代、但现在已不再适用的教学方法，只能够教育学生完全根据自己的利益去对待一切社会制度。 但是，无论他们采取什么样的立场，无比他们是神圣的理想主义者，还是冷漠的愤世嫉俗派，每一个年轻人都不能不感到，在这个世界上已没有任何一位成人能够告诉他们，下一步该如何走。 简言之，这就是我们这个时代的基本现状。在这个时代里生活着这样两代人：新世界的开拓者和这些开拓者的后代。尽管他们对共同生活于其中的世界所持的看法全然不同，但他们却必须继续寻找相互间进行沟通的甬道。没有人知道下一步该如何走。一切就是如此。我想，能够意识到这点，本身就是对未来作出回答的美好开端。 我相信，我们将要创造出一种全新的文化，这一文化相异于并喻文化，正如并喻文化经过有序的或无序的变化异于前喻文化一样。我将这种新型的文化称之为“后喻文化”，因为在这一文化中，代表着未来的是晚辈，而不是他们的父辈和祖辈。在前喻文化中，人们通过白发苍苍的长辈所具有的个人尊严和历史连续感来体现过去和未来。但是，今天人们却希望那些尚在母腹中不安地躁动着的孩子（尽管人们对他的性别、相貌和能力还一无所知）能够成为未来生活的象征。不论这个孩子是盖世的天才、或是严重的残疾人，他都需要想象力丰富、创新精神强，同时又勇于献身的成人来哺育，而这一切是我们今天所无法给予的。 关于这位尚未降世儿童的情况，我们的了解还微乎其微。我们可以借助精密的仪器弥补感官的不足，获知孩子是活着的，他的心脏正在有节律地跳动着。另外一些更为精密的仪器能够告诉我们孩子的生长状况如何。我们能够预知正确的产期，我们也知道，如果产妇不能得到应有的保护、营养和照料，母亲和新生的孩子都有丧失生命的可能；如果母亲身心染疾或魂归黄泉，孩子的生命之花也将随之凋谢。但是，有关这孩子的其他情况我们确实无法得知。 没有人能够进一步得知，这孩子将会成为什么样——比如，他的四肢是否灵活，他的双眼喜欢看什么，他的发育速度快不快，他是时刻警醒着准备去应付这稍纵即逝的世界，还是当人们都疲倦以后才神情亢奋呢？同样没有人能够得知他的思维将会怎样——他是否善于利用视觉、听觉、触觉和动觉来了解这个世界？但是，能够了解我们所不知道的和所不能预测的事物，我们就能够建立这样一种生活环境，使那些前途未卜的孩子能够安全地成长，更好地发现自己，发现未来的世界。 在发生难产的时候，设备精良的环境中应该有高超的护理手段，通过麻醉、输入氧气和血液挽救母亲和孩子的生命。对于那些神情忧郁或受了惊吓的母亲应该给予特殊的扶持性护理。对于那些不能通过母乳哺育的孩子，可以借助代乳品喂养。对于那些夜间啼哭、无法入睡的孩子，应该让房里透进一丝温柔的光线。而对于那些对声音过分敏感的孩子，则应该想方设法消除声音。 当孩子开始接触人群时，大人应该抱着、搀扶着或用摇篮车推着他。呈现在他眼前的是一个色彩斑斓的世界，一定会有许多色调不同、饱和度不同、明暗度不同的颜色供他自由地选择，他开始学着分辨各种不同的物体，跟着悠扬的旋律翩翩起舞。当他们开始形成有关这个世界的幻想时，他们应该借助前人的经验，应该有能够为他们所想象的世界造形的蜡笔、颜料和泥土。 即使我们这里所例举的孩子们的需要是如此的简单，但是，我们都会明白，为了获得孩子们的喜爱、依靠和信赖，做父母的凭空增添了多少烦恼。人们也都知道，孩子对成人的依赖缺乏主动灵活性，但成人给予的照料却具有较大的灵活性。没有父母的照料，孩子很快就会夭折。没有父母的照料，孩子也永远学不会说话。没有相信他人的经历，孩子将无法成为一个值得信赖的社会成员，他既不会爱别人，也不会照顾别人。孩子在最初的生活中完全是依赖他人的，依赖成人的影响、照顾、告诉他生活的经验，一代一代绵延传递了数千年之久的人类文化，正奠基于这种后代对于前代的依赖之上。正如朱利安·赫胥黎和c·H·华汀顿的雄辩所证实的那样，从这种依赖之中产生了人类的道德心，道德井非外在于人类的本性，相反，它是人类进化的关键所在。 文化的连续性和人类对每一创新的吸收都有赖于前喻文化体系的成效，通过前喻文化的方式，人们告诫年轻人去模仿、复演他们祖辈的生活。此后，随着人们在不同的生存环境中生活，随着他们四处迁徙，和其他民族进行交换、贸易，形态殊异的前喻文化相互间的比较和对照，为人们进行变革、发展并喻文化提供了必要的条件。在并喻文化中，在某种承诺中成长起来的人，可以在不失其绝对的承诺的前提下，使自己适应其他形式的承诺。 再往后，随着变革的观念被当成一种前喻成份为许多文化所吸收，年轻人从他们长辈那里也可能领悟，他们应该超过长辈——取得更多的成就，干一番轰轰烈烈的事业。但是，这种超越仍然停留于长辈所能想象的范围之内：父亲可能会希望儿子去横渡他从未漂泊过的海洋，只受过小学教育的父亲可能会希望儿子去学习原子物理学，驾驶他只是在大地上翘首仰望过的飞机。于是，农夫的儿子成了学者，穷人的儿子横渡了他父亲一上中连见都没见过的海洋，教书匠的儿子成了卓越的科学家。 基于对长辈的依赖以及因受到父母的悉心照料而产生的挚爱和信赖，在一种文化中长大的个人得以进入另一文化，这种改变无需摧毁个人以往的学习。第一代移民和新大陆的开拓者们很少能够不遭受新的环境的挑战。凭着他们以往的经验往往能够暂渡难关。但是，除非他们的吸收完全凭借的是一种新型的前喻方式，否则他们将无法向孩子们传喻他们通过自己的早期训练所获得的一切，尤其是那种向其他人学习父母们所不能给予的知识的能力。 现在，在这个世界上已没有任何学识渊博的人能够向父母们允诺；他能够教育那些他们已无法管教的孩子，这使得父母们惶惶不安、沮丧万分。父母们仍然确信应该会有答案。他们扪心自问：我们该怎么告诉我们的孩子什么是正确的呢？于是，有的父母想通过劝导孩子的方法来解决问题，他们非常含糊地反问：你应该自己想想该怎么做。还有一些父母则问道：别人在做什么呢？但是，并喻文化的方法对父母们来说正变得毫无意义，他们感到如果自己的孩子盲目地仿效“他人”——孩子们的同龄伙伴的生活方式是十分危险的，他们发现自己对于孩子该如何自我解决问题也不甚了解。 长辈仍然确信，存在着一种既安全、又为社会赞许、但他们却未经历过的生活方式。但是，也正是这些人，当他们一旦发现孩子们没有按照他们所期望的方式行事时，便暴跳如雷、悲痛欲绝。父母、托管人、法律监护者、专栏作家、评论家都将他们对下一代的希望寄托于学校、学院和大学，因此，他们对这些地方发生的各种事端的指责总是显得义愤填膺。 今天，伴随着我们对文化发展和传递的循环过程的进一步理解，我们发现，人的最为显著的人性特征并不是其它许多生灵也都具有的学习能力，而是教育他人和贮存通过学习而从他人那里获得的知识的能力。学习、源于人类的依赖性，这是件相对简单的事。但是，人类创设博大而便于学习的教育制度的能力，了解和利用自然资源的能力，以及管理社会、建立理想世界的能力，却是非常复杂的。过去，为了文化传递的继续和吸收新的知识，人类依赖着这周而复始的循环教育制度的最为简单的部分——儿童的依赖性学习。现在，因为我们已经对这一过程有了深刻的理解，我们必须培养、弘扬这一制度中最具可塑性、最为复杂的部分——成人的行为。事实上，我们必须教会自己如何改变成人的行为，以使我们能够放弃前喻文化的养育方式，保留其中可资借鉴的并喻文化成份，发现那种能够通往未来世界的教育和学习的后喻之路。我们必须为成年人创设新的行为楷模，使他们能够告诫自己的孩子，怎样去学，而不是学些什么；告诫孩子承诺的价值。而不是应该对什么做出承诺。 前喻文化重视长辈，因为他们知道的最多，并且对许多事情完全能够胜任。但是，这一文化从本质上来说却是一个只能不断地复演过去的封闭系统。现在，我们必须着手创设开放性的系统，这种系统着眼于未来，并因而着眼于晚辈，他们的能力至今尚鲜为人知，但他们的选择却必须公布于世。 如此，我们应该清醒地认识到，我们将永远不会再度踏上那引导我们迈入现代的文明路径。过去是一条我们已经沿着它到达今天的道路。人类文化的古老形式已经为我们提供了当代文明所需要的知识、技能和工具。人们在不同的十字路口告别过去，整个人类现在都正在向新的世界性社区迈进。我们不必弃绝任何一条从过去走向今天的道路，也不应该忘却任何一种先前的生活方式，那纷繁多样、形态殊异的过去，我们自己和其他人，都应该被看成是创造新时代的先驱。 值得注意的是，想象和接受一个前途未卜的未来，即使对科幻小说家们来说也是十分困难的。在《孩提时代的结束》一书的结尾处，作者克拉克意味深长地写道：“日月星辰不是为了人类而存在的。” 太空歌剧描写了最后一艘破损的太空船返回太阳系中地球的“出发地”的情景。在《米德威奇的布谷鸟》中，约翰.温德姆杀死了一位来自外星球、由地球上的女人哺育的感觉灵敏的金瞳儿童。而电影《公元2001年，来自太空的奥德赛》也是以失败为结尾的。如此种种都说明人们并不希望孩子们过多地挚信于未来；这一情景同时昭示，成人的想象和他们孤独的行动仍然受着过去的多重羁绊。 我相信，要消除人类过分沉溺子过去的痼疾，只能依靠发展一种和那些代表着未来的年轻一代进行沟通的新的途径，他们是在新世界中成长的一代。也就是说，依赖那些至今为止仍然未能掌握权力、但我们却无法充分估量其能力的年轻一代对这世界的直接参与。过去，在并喻文化中，长辈逐渐放弃了对孩子们前途的干涉。今天，依我所见，后喻文化的发展将依赖两代人之间的持续不断的对话，通过这种对话，已经能够积极主动地自由行动的年轻一代，一定能够引导自己的长辈走向未来。这样，年长的一代就能够获得新的知识。我确信，除此之外别无选择，只有通过年轻一代的直接参与，利用他们广博而新颖的知识，我们才能够建立一个富于生命力的未来。 我们必须和年轻人共同学习，了解如何走未来之路。如果无视他们的新的知识（对世界来说是新的，对我们来说也同样是新的知识），那些受过教育、经验丰富的长者们在寻找新世界的答案时势必会感到困难重重。 阿奇博尔德·麦克里奇在《A·麦克里奇的村庄》中写道： 我们已经找到了答案， 找到了所有答案： 问题就是我们一无所知。 1928年，当我接到他这本书时，我正在阿德米洛底群岛研究马奴人。当时，人们似乎都认定，仍然以自己的石器时代文化为荣、对文明的唯一了解就是这种原始的衰朽的接触文化的马奴人，不可避免地将会成为世界上最无教养的人，他们对于自己生活的世界既不了解，也不会产生影响。 但是，40年后的今天，马奴人却一下子飞跃了数千年的文明进程，并且能够自己掌握自己的命运。他们不再象石器时代那样，蛮横地欺凌、抢劫那些侵犯性很弱的毗邻村庄。今天，随着他们从一个原始部落跨入发展中民族的广阔天地，他们开始送孩子们去上大学，攻读法律或者医学，并对他们的松散组织和在这个小小的群岛上行使的领导权予以某些改革。今天，当我重新面临这些问题时，我将借用完全不同的措辞，因为现在我们能够说，如果我们想要回答这些问题的话（以往我们总是随心所欲地回答），那么我们至少得了解谁将问这些问题。晚辈，也就是年轻的一代，将会问那些我们从来不曾想过的问题。但是，只有在两代人之间重新建立起理解和信任，年轻人才会同意和长辈去共同寻找答案。正如到一个新的国家里，人们总会仓促地按照旧的式样建造临时的栖身之所，而孩子们一定会嚷嚷。屋里太冷，风正从什么地方呼啸而入；父亲毕竟是大人，他有技术也有力量砍倒大树，为孩子们建造一座完全新型的房屋。 在最近的几年中，我已经开始产生了起初自认为是受了诱惑的感觉。当我和年轻人为了共同的目标积极地合作时，有时他们会求助于我，并且对我说：“你属于我们这一代。”我感到欣慰，但同时又感到这是一个必须付出全部代价予以抵制的诱惑，尤其在一个中年人和老年人都把年轻看成是诱人的慰藉的国家中更是如此。所以我常常回答道：“不，我不属于你们这一代。你们所以这样认为，只是因为你们现在赞成我为之奋斗了40年的事业。但这并不足以使我成为你们这一代的成员。我怎么能够知道，10年以后你们不会转而反对今天的目标？”但是我想，我的回答可能又正是我们这一代过于留恋过去的明证，我们坚信未来将和过去一样，坚信大多数人总是沿袭着从革命走向保守的道路，坚信过去的经验将来一定也适用。因为我已经假定，我无法预见人们可能已经说出的东西。年轻人羡慕我的生涯，我的祖母和双亲从不限制我的自由发展。现在，我已快进入古稀之年，但我的观点却和今天刚届弱冠之年的年轻人相同，抚育孩子应该让他们自由地成长，长得高大强健，积极地投身于开放和自由的未来。正是在这个意义上，作为对这种理想的儿童时代的一种馈赠，我敢于肯定，我们能够将目前的文化推向后喻文化，我们同样能有意识地、愉快地、勤勉地为前途未卜的世界哺育前途未卜的后代。 但是，要想做到这一点，我们，全世界的人部必须重新为未来确定方向。对于西方世界来说，未来已经展现在我们面前，有的时候只离我们几个小时，有时候又差1000年之久，但总是在我们前面，我们现在尚未达到、仍然觉得不可企及。对于大多数大洋洲民族来说，未来尚在后面，还不在眼前。而对于巴厘人来说，未来却象一部尚未开演、但已揭开序幕的电影，人们都伫立着翘首以待，看看究竟会演些什么。当我们目睹这一切之时，一句老话不由得又浮现在脑海之中：时间老人无情的脚步就在我们身后。 如果我们能够建立起后喻文化，在那种文化之中过去就将是一种有效的工具而不是强制性的历史。而为了达到这点，我们必须改变未来的取向。这里，我们可以从挚着地追求乌托邦理想的年轻人身上再次获得启示。他们说：未来就是现在。这样说似乎不合情理而且过于激进，从某种要求来看，这种说法在具体细节上或许会使人疑虑不解。但是，我却认为，这种说法又一次使我们迸发出思想火花。它告诫我们，必须将未来培植于现实之中，培植于由男人、女人和孩子组成的社会之中，培植于我们每一个人之中，这有如孩子尚未出生已经躁动于母腹之中，承受着母体的营养和保护，人们已经为他日后的出生做了充分的准备，如果不在孩子出生之前有所准备，那么将来势必会措手不及。因此，正如年轻人所说的那样，未来就是现在。