The Future of Humanity

Zhouying Jin, Ying Bai, Lane Jennings

Description

The Future of Humanity seeks to answer the question: “What kind of global civilization should human beings pursue and what do we have to do collectively?,” one a question that has preoccupied scholars, philosophers and politicians for centuries. In doing so, the book tackles concepts as monumental as the keys to happiness, alien nonconventional intelligence, immortality, morality and China’s possible role in bringing about a better worldjoining this global discussion.



To navigate these many and complex topics, Jin combines the spiritual insights of ancient Chinese thinkers with a deep respect for the accomplishments and discoveries of modern Western science, exploring and explaining her distinct vision for a what a better, global future civilization could be.

Preface

Theodore Jay Gordon

Preface

Guangbi Dong

Comment

Lane Jennings

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Where Are Human Beings Headed?

About human evolution

What is technology?

On the future of civilization

The sustainable development of human beings

Understanding China

Chapter 1: Deep Concern over the Direction of Technology Development

The technological revolution now unfolding

The syndrome of technology worship

Anxiety disorder due to technology

Concerns over the direction of human evolution

Chapter 2: What is Technology?

Technology in the broad sense

Soft technology has been ignored for a long time

The significance of understanding soft technology

What determines the direction of technological innovation?

Chapter 3: The Crisis in Human Civilization Driven by the Theory of Scientific and Technological Omnipotence

The imminent disaster facing science and technology

The crisis of human civilization

The integration of hard and soft technologies in the field of human life and its risks

Human progress as the ability to control their own destiny

Chapter 4: What Kind of Civilization Should Human Beings Pursue?

Exploring the future evolution of humanity from social-humanity perspectives

What kind of civilization should human beings pursue after industrial civilization?

The global civilization – the cultural foundation for jointly building future human happiness

Chapter 5: Future Civilization and Sustainable Human Development

Redefining sustainable development

Human sustainability depends on what civilization we choose

Realizing sustainable development by adopting a systemic solution (the example of China)

Chapter 6: The Difficult Task of Creating a ‘Global Civilization’

The transformation of civilization has a long way to go

The development mode of each country can and should be unique basic principles

Beyond Global Civilization – the most worthy goal for human beings

Prospect of the Great Civilization

Chapter 7: Can Humans Eventually Create a Great Civilization?

Education and the power of persuasion

Human beings can and should agree on common values

Ideal human societies have certain characteristics in common

Human beings have never stopped striving to realize the ideal society

Chapter 8: Global Civilization and China’s Rejuvenation

Promoting green and innovative production activities (the transformation of economic development)

Protecting and Recycling Natural Resources and Economizing to Attain Reasonable Development (transforming the resource application model)

Repairing, restoring, and protecting the environment (transforming the ecological protection model)

Promoting social progress, building a harmonious society (transforming the social development model)

Population trial (transforming the population development model)

Striving to build an innovative country (from imitative innovation to independent innovation)

Institutional experiment (implementing a socialist system with Chinese characteristics)

China 2050: A splendid future lies ahead, but dangers still exist

Chapter 9: The Responsibility of Our Generation

Reaching consensus is key

Changing how we think is the precondition for achieving consensus education

A better future cannot be predicted, but it can be created tolerance and visionary thinking

Be bold to take responsibility

Transmitting the goal of realising the Great Civilisation to the next generation

Sujets

• Sustainable Development
• PHILOSOPHY
• Philosophie et théologie
• ReNew
• Immortality
• General officer
• Cultural studies
• Morality
• Anthropology
• General
• Happiness
• Alien
• Progress
• Intelligence

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 15 janvier 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783209262
• Langue: English

Extrait

First published in the UK in 2018 by
Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2018 by
Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street,
Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright © 2018 Intellect Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.
Translated by Lane Jennings and Ying Bai from the first Chinese edition, What Kind of Future Does Humanity Need—Global Civilization and China’s Rejuvenation (Changsha: Hunan Science and Technology Press, October 2016, ISBN 978-7-53578-569-5).
Dr. Lane Jennings is the former managing editor of World Future Review , World Future Society. Ying Bai, Ph.D., is vice president of Beijing Academy of Soft Technology.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Copy-editor: MPS Technologies
Cover designer: Aleksandra Szumlas
Production manager: Naomi Curston
Typesetting: John Teehan
This is part of the Intellect China Library series.
ISSN: 2059-1985
Series editor: Hiu M. Chan
ISBN 978-1-78320-925-5
ePDF ISBN 978-1-78320-927-9
ePUB ISBN 978-1-78320-926-2
Printed and bound by TJ International, UK
Contents

Preface
Theodore Jay Gordon
Preface
Hazel Henderson
Preface
Guangbi Dong
Comment
Lane Jennings
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Where Are Human Beings Headed?
Where is humanity headed?
Concerning human evolution
What is technology?
On future civilization
Sustainable development and human beings
Understanding China
Chapter 1: Deep Concern Over the Direction of Technology Development
The technological revolution now unfolding
The syndrome of technology worship
Anxiety disorder due to technology
Concerns over the direction of human evolution
Chapter 2: What Is Technology?
Technology in the broad sense
Soft technology has been ignored for a long time
The significance of understanding soft technology
What determines the direction of technological innovation?
Chapter 3: The Crisis in Human Civilization Driven by the Theory of Scientific and Technological Omnipotence
The imminent disaster facing science and technology
The crisis of human civilization
The integration of hard and soft technologies in the field of human life and its risks
Human progress as the ability to control their own destiny
Chapter 4: What Kind of Civilization Should Human Beings Pursue?
Exploring the future evolution of humanity from social-humanity perspectives
What kind of civilization should human beings pursue after the Industrial Civilization?
The Global Civilization: The cultural foundation for jointly building future human happiness
Chapter 5: Future Civilization and Sustainable Human Development
Redefining sustainable development
Human sustainability depends on what civilization we choose
Realizing sustainable development by adopting a systemic solution (the example of China)
Chapter 6: The Difficult Task of Creating a Global Civilization
The transformation of civilization has a long way to go
The development mode of each country can and should be unique
Basic principles
Beyond Global Civilization: The most worthy goal for human beings
Prospect of the Great Civilization
Chapter 7: Can Humans Eventually Create a Great Civilization?
The power of education and persuasion
Human beings can and should agree on common values
Ideal human societies have certain characteristics in common
Human beings have never stopped striving to realize the ideal society
Chapter 8: Global Civilization and China’s Rejuvenation
Promoting green and innovative production activities (transforming the economic development model)
Protecting and recycling natural resources and economizing to attain reasonable development (transforming the resource application model)
Repairing, restoring, and protecting the environment (transforming the ecological protection model)
Promoting social progress, building a harmonious society (transforming the social development model)
Population trial (transforming the population development model)
Striving to build an innovative country (from imitative innovation to independent innovation)
Institutional experiment (implementing a socialist system with Chinese characteristics)
China 2050: A splendid future lies ahead, but dangers still exist
Chapter 9: The Responsibility of Our Generation
Reaching a consensus is key
Changing how we think is the precondition for achieving consensus
Education
A better future cannot be predicted, but it can be created
Tolerance and visionary thinking
Be bold to take responsibility
Transmitting the goal of realizing the Great Civilization to the next generation
Bibliography
Notes on the Author
Preface

Theodore Jay Gordon 1
I n this colossal work, professor Jin pursues the answers to a simple question: what kind of Global Civilization should human beings pursue? This question has preoccupied scholars, philosophers, and politicians for centuries. The question may be simple, but the answers are certainly not simple at all. Answers may lie in the domain of soft technology, a field that professor Jin has pioneered. Soft technology is that field of human endeavor outside of the world of things. Our world’s future will be derived from both hard and soft technology, but until recently at least, we have been preoccupied with the hard side that has not only given us great conveniences and luxuries, but also disaffection, uncertainty, and insecurity.
The book does not deal with the building of mere nations; rather it deals with the building of whole new civilizations, spanning centuries, asks what is important to happiness and, in the process, touches on subjects as diverse as alien intelligence, immortality, morality, and China’s possible role in bringing about a better world.
Hard technology is the domain of tools, machines, and equipment. Soft technology is focused on thought and non-scientific knowledge; it is the realm of motivation, values, and behavior. Knowledge about the brain is hard technology; knowledge about the mind is soft technology. The weapons of terrorism are hard; techniques for making their use less compelling are soft. Hard and soft technologies have contributed to the current state of social affairs; both are essential to professor Jin’s search for what she calls the “Great Civilization.”
Civilizations evolve, shaped by the past, shaped by billions of decisions – trivial and monumental, by science, by random and unexpected events, by the changing aspirations of humankind and its institutions, and by appetites holy and secular, vectored towards some unknowable future state. The path has often been driven by avarice, the quest for power, and unreasoned ideology. In nature, organisms evolve and survive by adapting; at the scale of civilizations, simply adapting to our evolutionary fate may give us survival, but is that sufficient?
To change from that fate to something better requires images of what society could be and ought to be, and a determination to set out in that direction. Assuming we have a helm, by what star do we navigate? We need ambitious goals and steering mechanisms to get us there.
Professor Jin asks if we can do better than simply accepting our fate by deliberately choosing goals and policies to shape our future; this has long been the mantra and promise of futures research but rarely has anyone attempted it at the scale of civilizations.
Can we ever agree about the attributes of a Great Civilization? Scholars and poets have tried. James Hilton’s Lost Horizon described a fictional Shangri La, an Asian lost paradise cut off from the world, where the world’s wisdom was preserved; Thomas More’s Utopia was a tolerant and lawful place where rationality prevailed; Plato’s Republic focused on educated philosopher kings, justice, and moderation; and Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis described a utopia that valued knowledge, dignity, and research.
In today’s literature, dystopias are more common, from Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World to George Orwell’s 1984 , perhaps reflecting the fast pace of material invention and our slowness in developing policies regarding their use, and of our generally more uncertain times. A common theme since Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock in 1970 has been that hard technology is advancing so quickly that there is no time to adapt, but today that notion seems a bit quaint. There is a much more ominous note sounding as the threats of nuclear proliferation and terrorism capable of mass destruction become real in a world that still lacks any unified political or moral structure, enlightened foreign policy, or rational decision making to mitigate such threats. We seem to be stuck in an industrial society that responds only to power, greed, hedonism, and self-preservation.
So how can the Great Civilization be achieved? Professor Jin focuses on soft technology as the engine for change; in this search, she includes ideas as simple as the golden rule and as complex as the future of science, applied on a timescale ranging from tomorrow to centuries hence. She asks about the possible dangers of failing to control our trajectory, about the role of Eastern thought and traditions, and the consequences of awakening China, the “sleeping lion.”
It is a normative work, rather than prescriptive; it asks, if you could design an ideal world, what would it be? Whose values would it reflect? And what would be the role of people who live in that ideal world or strive to achieve it? It asks about government and religion, and about the other institutions and beliefs that help define civilization.
This is a book about morality and its future. It is an argument for rationality and the self-determination of social evolution. In the end, J