T IMES OF OUR L IVES Time is the element in which we exist. ... We are either borne along by it or drowned in it. Joyce Carol Oates, "Marya" Much can be made of Bob Dylan's "the times, they are a changin'." According to William Irwin Thompson, we're now AT THE EDGE OF HISTORY , buffeted about by John Naisbitt's MEGATRENDS , and with millions suffering from Alvin Toffler's FUTURE SHOCK . In the lifetime of one born in 1976, America's bicentennial year, the population of the world has increased by over one and one-half billion individuals, hundreds of thousands have died in the name of nationalism or religion, trillions of dollars have been spent perfecting doomsday weaponry, and the revolutions in minority, gender, and old age relations have shaken the traditional foundations of social life. To make matters even more interesting, we are told that the pace of such change is accelerating. And with people living ever longer, the historical changes that used to be absorbed by several generations now must be coped within a single lifetime. Largely forgotten are the principles and values on which society's oldest members based their lives. With the accelerating push forward generated by technological and scientific innovations, the future is supposedly coming closer. However, as a society, we seem unable to conceive of great enterpriseslike the medieval construction of the great cathedrals of Europethat can link generations together into a common project spanning several centuries. Simultaneously, the pastthe wake in the water produced by the bow of the future and the hull of the presentis growing longer, thanks to technology replacing personal memories: on celluloid for instance, we can see and hear George Bernard Shawa man born a decade before the outbreak of the American Civil Wartalk to us about first hand experiences with the Victorian sexual mores. Ironically, the extent of our | |
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