Reading

Vocabulary:

1. at the turn of - наприкінці сторіччя

2. major - головний

3. to celebrate - святкувати

4. advance - успіх, ріст, підвищення

5. inevitable - неминучий

6. scholar - вчений

7. to accomplish - досягти, доводити до кінця, завершувати

8. remarkable - вражаючий

9. to foresee - передбачати

10. to tackle - опановувати

11. poverty - бідність

12. city dwellers - мешканці міста

13. proceeding - наукова праця

14. frontier - грань, рубіж

15. to review - робити огляд, рецензувати

16. tentative forecasts - експериментальні прогнози

17. scenario(s) - сценарій

18. to evolve - розвиватися

19. to sketch - зображувати в загальних рисах

20. to be embedded - бути закладеним

21. to adjust oneself - звикати, пристосовуватись

22. environment - довкілля

23. boundary - межа

24. to fade - поступово зникати

25. rigid ideology - стійка ідеологія

26. to weaken - становитися слабким

27. to convert - трансформуватися

28. human lifespan - людські ресурси

29. to lengthen - подовжуватися, збільшуватись

30. health maintenance - збереження здоров’я

31. psychological maturity - психологічна зрілість

32. identity - ідентичність, однаковість

33. to resemble - походити, бути схожим

34. disparities of wealth - нерівність багатства

35. consumerism - стимулювання (захист) інтересів споживачів

36. to spread via movies - розповсюджувати за допомогою фільмів

37. benefit - зиск, користь

38. to afford - дозволяти собі що-небудь

39. power blocks - силові блоки

40. to be obsessed - бути одержимим

41. to be humiliated - бути приниженим

42. to retain - підтримувати, зберігати

43. seemingly irresolvable dispute - на вигляд дискусія, що не може бути вирішена

44. refugees - емігранти, біженці

45. decisive role - вирішальна, очевидна роль

46. crucial force - вирішальна сила

47. to reshape the future - надавати нову форму майбутньому

Read the text below and find out:

1) why people in the past seemed very much the same;

2) why people have had to change their own self;

3) which predictions were made about the way our world and the self will evolve in the future.

At the turn of the last century, major cities in Europe and the United States organized a number of large exhibitions and conferences to celebrate the advance of knowledge and the inevitable march of progress. Hundreds of scholars spoke not only about what their field had accomplished but what they most likely would turn to in the new century. Remarkable, many foresaw the future in the subjects they tackled, for example, the poverty of city dwellers, information technologies and other things.

So what would happen if such a conference were held today and what would its proceedings show about the current and the future state of culture and society?

An answer came in the form of "Frontiers of the Mind in the 21st century", a symposium on the state of knowledge in our time hosted by the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. held at the end of 1999. There some fifty scholars reviewed developments and made tentative forecasts in 24 broad areas of knowledge ranging from cosmology, physics and genetics, music, moral philosophy, psychology and city planning.

A few scenarios on a possible way that the world and the self might evolve in the not so distant future were sketched.

It was suggested that most people in the past were probably not individual themselves in the modern western sense. They did not think of themselves as unique but rather as more or less identical to others of their kind, as they were embedded in their ecosystems. Nowadays people have to adjust themselves to complex changes in their environment. So they find it necessary to change radically in the cause of their lives, although their efforts are often stressful and unsuccessful. They will probably live in a different society. Human rights advocates now propose that people should have the same freedom of movement internationally as that they have in their own countries. Boundaries of class and caste that shaped most so cities continue to fade in the global civilization. Rigid ideologies are weakening. Major organized religions still exist but people everywhere feel they are free to convert to other religions. Active human lifespan have been lengthened through various advances in health maintenance and this allows more people reach higher level of psychological maturity. Many people have many social roles none of which depends too much on who and what they are. The postmodern self is becoming changeable. He lives in a world in which a different sense of identity has become an important part of our personal, political, social, economic and spiritual lives. This particular future would probably be the most far changing and rapidly evolving one.

Another possible type of social community is viewed as a combination of economic growth, technological progress but little psychological progress. It resembles the world we are living in now with its disparities of wealth, opportunities and a global tension. Economic globalization proceeds rapidly. Consumerism and other forms of popular culture are spreading via movies, television, music and other forms of mass entertainment. Thanks to technological progress many people live longer and experience less diseases. But these benefits are often expensive and available to those who can afford them. The world is no longer divided between two great power blocks and two ideologies as in the mid 20th century. It is a world of postmodern people happily doing their things. There are people who are obsessed with progress and those who are being humiliated and getting angry. Fundamentalists and other groups prefer to retain their traditions, language, rituals and power structures. Religious groups and women's organizations are involved in the huge and seemingly irresolvable dispute. People move by the millions — sometimes because of ecological and political chaos. These migrants often become home fewer refugees.

Two other possible futures were also mentioned. Every society large and small has had its concept of the self. But one can't deny that in all of them it has played a decisive role and that the human factor is a crucial force in reshaping the future. But what particular form the evolution of society and the changing of the self would take is still to be seen.