542
F. Lu
4 Conclusion: Vision of the New Civilization
Civilization encompasses all that is created by man as a creature other than unhuman
animals and is therefore enormously rich and complicated. Some divide civilization into three dimensions—object, institution and idea. China divides it into
five synchronic dimensions—material, cultural, political, social and ecological.
According to Samuel Phillips Huntington, civilization comprises such dimensions as
language, history, religion, custom and system. An Iranian scholar who has devoted
long years to the study of civilization believed civilization includes two inseparable
parts. One is a clear world outlook that could be presented as a cultural system,
an ideology or a religion; and the other part is reflected via a consistent political,
military and economic system, which usually takes the form of an empire or a historical institution. Each way of division only represents one angle for understanding
civilization, but none of them has a comprehensive picture of it. Civilization is so
complicated, multi-dimensional and multi-faceted that there isn’t a single noun or
adjective convincing enough for all to recognize it as the right term for the emerging
new civilization. People have different judgments of the reality, different expectations
for the future, and naturally different definition for a new age or civilization.
According to the ecological civilization theory, in the future civilization, we must
change the energy structure so more clean energies like solar and wind power will
be employed, change the industrial structure so all heavily polluting industries will
be kicked out, change the economic growth mode from linear economy to circular
economy, and promote the de-materialization of economy. We must apply ecological
rules to institutional development and innovation, go beyond the “capital logic” and
abandon the GDP-oriented policy. We must create a thriving and diversified ecological culture, strongly advocate green consumption against materialistic consumerism,
and fundamentally change our values and outlook on the world and development
like a new enlightenment. In sum, we must completely give up the way of production and way of life featuring massive development, massive production, massive
consumption and massive emission.
According to information civilization theory, the future civilization will be one
based on information, when knowledge and information are the most important
factors of production and living necessities, and de-materialization of economy is
one aspect of economic informatization. If we want to buy a new book published
in the United Sates, it is unnecessary to ship the book to China all across the vast
ocean because we can download the electronic version from Kindle. If, as Floridi
and others predicted, the future world will be online and offline at the same time with
the virtual world and physical world integrated in one, we wouldn’t need to take the
plane or train to visit Jiuzhaigou, Mount Huangshan or other scenic areas—it will
only take a click of the mouse. Information technology will indeed change our way
of production, of living and of thinking profoundly.
The two theories of new civilization delineate the vision of the future civilization
or new age, and both will be tested through human practices. Since both theories
attempt to replace the modern civilization theory that currently remains in a dominant
F. Lu
4 Conclusion: Vision of the New Civilization
Civilization encompasses all that is created by man as a creature other than unhuman
animals and is therefore enormously rich and complicated. Some divide civilization into three dimensions—object, institution and idea. China divides it into
five synchronic dimensions—material, cultural, political, social and ecological.
According to Samuel Phillips Huntington, civilization comprises such dimensions as
language, history, religion, custom and system. An Iranian scholar who has devoted
long years to the study of civilization believed civilization includes two inseparable
parts. One is a clear world outlook that could be presented as a cultural system,
an ideology or a religion; and the other part is reflected via a consistent political,
military and economic system, which usually takes the form of an empire or a historical institution. Each way of division only represents one angle for understanding
civilization, but none of them has a comprehensive picture of it. Civilization is so
complicated, multi-dimensional and multi-faceted that there isn’t a single noun or
adjective convincing enough for all to recognize it as the right term for the emerging
new civilization. People have different judgments of the reality, different expectations
for the future, and naturally different definition for a new age or civilization.
According to the ecological civilization theory, in the future civilization, we must
change the energy structure so more clean energies like solar and wind power will
be employed, change the industrial structure so all heavily polluting industries will
be kicked out, change the economic growth mode from linear economy to circular
economy, and promote the de-materialization of economy. We must apply ecological
rules to institutional development and innovation, go beyond the “capital logic” and
abandon the GDP-oriented policy. We must create a thriving and diversified ecological culture, strongly advocate green consumption against materialistic consumerism,
and fundamentally change our values and outlook on the world and development
like a new enlightenment. In sum, we must completely give up the way of production and way of life featuring massive development, massive production, massive
consumption and massive emission.
According to information civilization theory, the future civilization will be one
based on information, when knowledge and information are the most important
factors of production and living necessities, and de-materialization of economy is
one aspect of economic informatization. If we want to buy a new book published
in the United Sates, it is unnecessary to ship the book to China all across the vast
ocean because we can download the electronic version from Kindle. If, as Floridi
and others predicted, the future world will be online and offline at the same time with
the virtual world and physical world integrated in one, we wouldn’t need to take the
plane or train to visit Jiuzhaigou, Mount Huangshan or other scenic areas—it will
only take a click of the mouse. Information technology will indeed change our way
of production, of living and of thinking profoundly.
The two theories of new civilization delineate the vision of the future civilization
or new age, and both will be tested through human practices. Since both theories
attempt to replace the modern civilization theory that currently remains in a dominant