面对技术挑战的中庸之道

A Moderate Solution to the Technological Challenge to Human Existence

虽然我们经常"科学"与"技术"并用,但是二者之间有着重大区别,对人类生活直接构成挑战的,是现代技术。虽然启蒙以来,技术进步常被当成解决人类痛苦的福音,但是有些思想家很久以前就已经意识到,技术进步对人物质生活的正面影响,常常伴随着对人的德性与生活之价值的伤害。当代技术给人类提供的新挑战,是直接展示了人类在肉体上自我消灭的可能性。"回归自然"是针对技术挑战的一种解决。但如果认真落实,因为人性的不"自然",其代价是拒绝所有知识的追求,并且政治上要保持小国寡民社会。一个中庸的解决,是在当代技术的基础上,尽可能地识别和控制技术的危险。为了达到这个目标,要让民众真正的知情,并且鼓励民众的参与。但是,我们对民众参与的局限,也要有所认知。

There are significant differences between（basic） science and technology.What poses a grave and direct challenge to human life is technology.Although technological advancements have often been viewed in a positive light since the Enlightenment,the negative influence on the cultivation of virtue and the worth of life has also been identified for ages.The new challenge brought by contemporary technologies to human beings is that they demonstrate a ＂clear and present danger＂ to the very existence of the human species.One answer to the technological challenge is ＂to return to nature.＂If carried through,it means that we will have to give up not only technologies,but also every kind of pursuit of knowledge,and politically,we will have to keep our state small and isolated.The price is impossibly high because human beings by nature are not natural.A moderate solution is to establish mechanisms to identify and control the risks of new technologies.Through them,people need to be made truly informed,and to be encouraged to participate in policy making.But at the same time,a full democratization in policy making is also problematic,and an ideal mechanism is a hybrid that combines the democratic elements with the meritocratic ones.