首页
登录
职称英语
Imagine a chart that begins when man first appeared on the planet and tracks
Imagine a chart that begins when man first appeared on the planet and tracks
游客
2023-12-17
14
管理
问题
Imagine a chart that begins when man first appeared on the planet and tracks the economic growth of societies from then forward. It would be a long, flat line until the late 16th or early 17th century, when it would start trending upward. Before then the fruits of productive labor were limited to a few elites — princes, merchants and priests. For most of humankind life was as the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes famously described it in 1651 — "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short". But as Hobbes was writing those words, the world around him was changing. Put simply, human beings were getting smarter.
People have always sought knowledge, of course, but in Western Europe at that time, men like Galileo, Newton and Descartes began to search systematically for ways to understand and control their environment. The scientific revolution, followed by the Enlightenment, marked a fundamental shift. Humans were no longer searching for ways simply to fit into a natural or divine order, but they were seeking to change it. Once people found ways to harness energy — using steam engines — they were able to build machines that harnessed far more power than any human or horse could ever do. And people could work without ever getting tired. The rise of these machines drove the Industrial Revolution, and created a whole new system of life. Today the search for knowledge continues to produce an ongoing revolution in the health and wealth of humankind.
If the rise of science marks the first great trend in this story, the second is its diffusion. What was happening in Britain during the Industrial Revolution was not an isolated phenomenon. A succession of visitors to Britain would go hack to report to their countries on the technological and commercial innovations they saw there. Sometimes societies were able to learn extremely fast, as in the United States. Others, like Germany, was benefited from starting late, leapfrogging the long-drawn-out process that Britain went through.
This diffusion of knowledge accelerated dramatically in recent decades. Over the last 30 years we have watched countries like Japan, Singapore, South Korea and now China grow at a pace that is three times that of Britain or the United States at the peak of the Industrial Revolution. They have been able to do this because of their energies and exertions, of course, but also because they cleverly and perhaps luckily adopted certain ideas about development that had worked in the West — reasonably free markets, open trade, a focus on science and technology, among them.
The diffusion of knowledge is the dominant trend of our time and goes well beyond the purely scientific. Consider the cases of Turkey and Brazil. If you had asked an economist 20 years ago how to think about these two countries, he would have explained that they were classic basket-case, Third World economies, with triple-digit inflation, soaring debt burdens, a weak private sector and snail’s-pace growth. Today they are both remarkably well managed, with inflation in single digits and growth above 5 percent. And this shift is happening around the world. From Thailand to South Africa to Slovakia to Mexico, countries are far better managed economically than they have ever been. Even in cases where political constraints make it difficult to push far-reaching reforms, as in Brazil, Mexico or India, governments still manage their affairs sensibly, observing the Hippocratic oath not to do any harm.
We are sometimes reluctant to believe in progress. But the evidence is unmistakable. The management of major economies has gotten markedly better in the last few years. Careful monetary policy has tempered the boom-and-bust economic cycles of the industrial world, producing milder recessions and fewer shocks. Every day one reads of a new study comparing nations in everything from Internet penetration to inflation. All these studies and lists are symbols of a learning process that is accelerating, reinforcing the lessons of success and failure. Call it a best-practice world.
I realize that the world I am describing is the world of the winners. There are billions of people, locked outside global markets, whose lives are still accurately described by Hobbes’s cruel phrase. But even here, there is change. The recognition of global inequalities is more marked today than ever before, and this learning is forcing action. There is more money being spent on vaccines and cures for diseases in Africa and Asia today than ever before in history. Foreign-aid programs face constant scrutiny and analysis. When things don’t work, we learn that, too, and it puts a focus either on the aid program or on local governments to improve.
This may sound overly optimistic. There are losers in every race, but let not the worries over who is winning and losing the knowledge race obscure the more powerful underlying dynamic: knowledge is liberating. It creates the possibility for change and improvement everywhere. It can create amazing devices and techniques, save lives, improve living standards and spread information. Some will do well on one measure, others on another. But on the whole, a knowledge-based world will be a healthier and richer world.
The caveat I would make is not about one or another country’s paucity of engineers or computers. These problems can be solved. But knowledge is not the same thing as wisdom. Knowledge can produce equally powerful ways to destroy life, intentionally and unintentionally. It can produce hate and seek destruction. Knowledge does not by itself bring any answer to the ancient Greek question "What is a Good Life?" It does not produce good sense, courage, generosity and tolerance. And most crucially, it does not produce the farsightedness that will allow us all to live together — and grow together — on this world without causing war, chaos and catastrophe. For that we need wisdom. [br]
选项
答案
B
解析
推断题。第二段第三句开始,作者说在Enlightenment期间,西欧国家的人不再满足于适应自然环境,而是寻找改变它的方法,可见他们对于以往取得的成就并不满足,故B正确。选项C、D与原文直接相反,选项A原文中未提及。
转载请注明原文地址:https://www.tihaiku.com/zcyy/3281701.html
相关试题推荐
[originaltext]Ahard-linenationalistandpro-Westernreformerappearedhea
Imagineachartthatbeginswhenmanfirstappearedontheplanetandtracks
Imagineachartthatbeginswhenmanfirstappearedontheplanetandtracks
Imagineachartthatbeginswhenmanfirstappearedontheplanetandtracks
Imagineachartthatbeginswhenmanfirstappearedontheplanetandtracks
Imagineeatingeverythingdeliciousyouwant-withnoneofthefat.Thatwould
Imagineeatingeverythingdeliciousyouwant-withnoneofthefat.Thatwould
Imagineyoufoundoutthatideasinventedbyacomputerwereratedhigherby
Imagineyoufoundoutthatideasinventedbyacomputerwereratedhigherby
WhenIappearedbeforeyouonapreviousoccasion,IhadseennothingofAmeri
随机试题
WorldWaterShortageAnews
男,25岁,因左前胸穿入伤半小时急诊入院,病人烦燥不安,四肢湿冷,面色苍白,呼吸
2009—2019年,城镇私营单位平均工资年均增长率最高的是:A.科学研
关于操纵证券期货市场罪的刑事责任,下列说法正确的有()。 Ⅰ.不处罚单位,
药品不良反应监测报告范围下列哪项是错误的A.中药饮片不良反应监测的问题较复杂,
能反映骨髓造血功能的是A.红细胞数 B.网织红细胞数 C.血红蛋白量 D.
旅游需求规律是指在影响旅游需求量变动的其他因素不变的情况下,旅游需求量与( )
学与教相互作用过程是一个系统过程,该系统包含的要素有( )。A.学生、教师、教
湖泊、水库水质箱模式水质基本方程 中,γ(c)代表( )。A.如非点源一
急性糜烂性胃炎的确诊应主要依据A、X线胃肠钡餐检查 B、胃液分析 C、上消化
最新回复
(
0
)