The 21st century is full of vitality!

Highlights and associations of the postmodern ABC handsome boy

A few weeks ago, I drove to New York with my son, who is a freshman in college, to visit my parents. As soon as he got in the car, he couldn't wait to plug the iPod cable into the car's radio, adjust the channel, and play music. I asked him which one it was? How come I've never heard of this style of music station? He said, "Mom, this is my personal radio station." After he explained it repeatedly, I finally understood what it was all about.

So, let’s start with music. From neoclassicism and neoromanticism in the early twentieth century to modern music, jazz, country, blues, and rock music; from classical instruments to synthetic music; from Bartok to Gershwin, and Translated "Gaishin"). From the pop music of the 1950s and Elvis Presley's country rock to the Beatles and Broadway musicals of the 1960s, from the popular disco of the 1970s to the new wave music and punk music of the 1980s, and then to the ○The hip hop music of the ○ era.

Generally speaking, we exchanged opinions and had a great time talking. Inadvertently, I said casually: "I think the popular music of today's young people is not as good as ours back then." My son immediately asked, what did I mean by "good"? I talk casually, like melody, lyrics, rhythm, etc. The son was very dissatisfied and gave many counterexamples to prove his argument. In the end, it turned out that he gave me a solid lesson on "the worldview of modern young people."

turn out to be,Modern young people are truly postmodern products. They are no longer superstitious about the omnipotence of science and no longer believe in absolutes.The theory that postmodernity advocates is: the theory that rejects theory! They rejected social class and formalism. To them, nothing really matters. In the era of information explosion, this postmodern trend of thought has spread to become the mainstream trend of thought.

New trends in the 21st century

We discussed that the trend of the entire world is rapidly moving towards "globalization" and "personalization". So far, more than 80% of the world has been covered by electronic networks. The world is moving towards a strange phenomenon in which all countries, peoples, and races are becoming more and more "unified and similar", and at the same time, they are becoming more and more "individualized".

Wearing, fashion, using items, and enjoying life are all found in the United States and also in India. You love to listen to hip-hop music, but I can be immersed in my own medieval Gregorian Chant channel all day long. The Italian fashion brand Armani is not only available in the United States, but also in Lagos, Nigeria, the largest shopping mall in Africa. You use a Motorola mobile phone in the United States, and I use the same type of mobile phone in China, but you will never have a ringtone specially downloaded by me. This ringtone matches this model, and I am the only one in the world.

Obviously, the 21st century is moving towards the uniformity of globalization on the one hand, and the polar phenomenon of extreme personalization on the other. Postmodern people do not want to be "categorized" and do not want to give in to other people's comments - whether they are good or bad. Everything must have its own style, temperament, characteristics, and behavior. It is much more important than "cool", far more than "pretty", and more than "beautiful".

New challenges in the 21st century

Not only that, due to the advancement of science and technology, human lifespan has been extended and working years have also been lengthened. Many people are reluctant to retire. A few weeks ago, several young engineers in my department successfully made a presentation on the production capacity planning project using a very sophisticated and interesting computer simulation program.

After the meeting, everyone chatted together. I said casually: "I think about the same case back then, we practiced it in mathematical mode. We had to practice it on a computer, and the program also had to go through punch-in and card-reading. It was extremely complicated, and it still couldn't be done in the almost cartoon-like way it is now. The process is right in front of you.”

After hearing this, the young man still couldn't figure out what clocking in meant. Another colleague immediately said, "What's so surprising about that? We didn't even have computers back then, only slide rules. Have you ever used them?"

Suddenly, I was shocked to realize that in the department of my company, four generations of people were working side by side at the same time: the so-called traditional generation before the Second World War and after the Great Depression, and the babies after the Second World War (1946-1964). There is also the so-called Generation X from the Vietnam War period from 1964 to 1980, and Generation Y born after 1980. I have baby boomers, Generation

These four generations span the philosophies of different eras - from modernism to post-modernism; and due to the influence of the era in which they were born, they are alternately presenting very different values, outlook on life, outlook on work and ethics; everyone has their own They have different needs, so management and leadership are uniquely challenging.

The twenty-first century will bring many challenges to most people, but it will also bring many opportunities. Take the editorial team of "God's Kingdom Magazine" as an example. This is the first time in history that the magazine can be composed of a group of people with different professions, scattered across the United States, east, west, north and south, China and Taiwan, and including traditional generations, baby boomers and Generation X. , completely relying on computer networks to cooperate, communicate, and coordinate to complete each issue of a magazine of considerable quality.At the same time, it becomes a new challenge for every editorial colleague to have considerable computer language communication skills.

The 21st century is a century of diversity, which is the result of postmodern trends coupled with globalization and personalization. There are no longer so-called "standards" for many things. On the one hand, people will feel pressure in response to diversity, but also because of diversity, many original forms and requirements will no longer exist, and the pressure will be reduced.When the original standards no longer exist, how will the social system and ethical standards be determined? When free competition and diversified development continue to expand, leading to great disparities between rich and poor, how will world economic development respond?These are big issues that cannot be ignored.

New opportunities in the 21st century

Globalization and personalization not only bring about global competition, but also breed unlimited business opportunities. Many people no longer need huge investments to successfully start various businesses on the Internet. At the same time, globalization has made all parts of the world, regardless of east and west, nationality, China or India, have the situation and capabilities to compete with the Western world.

Where there are humans, there is competition; looking back on human history, the phenomenon of competition is not a unique product of postmodernity. In the past, to be able to compete with others in sports, business, academics, professions, and politics, one absolutely needed qualifications such as background, academic qualifications, and financial resources. In ancient Greece, only nobles could participate in the Olympic Games; in England in the 18th century, only certain classes had the right to vote; by the 20th century, certain professions and jobs still only required diplomas. But now, no matter who you are or where you are, you have almost equal opportunity to get ahead. There are too many people around the world who are striving to realize themselves and make their dreams come true because of this new opportunity!

Postmodern ABC handsome boy looks at faith

My son asked me, what impact will such trends of the times - postmodern trends of thought, globalization, personalization, and pluralism - have on faith?

As someone who grew up at the end of modernism, I was immediately concerned about the current loose, disintegrated, formless way of thinking. But his son had a very different view. He believed:This generation will be the most spiritual generation in human history!Because they no longer use science alone to demonstrate and measure everything, and their value judgments are no longer limited to practicality. On the contrary, they are very receptive to spiritual things and are very happy to experience them.

From this unintentional "mother-son conversation across the centuries", I saw:The era of scientific argumentation has passed. People can argue in many different ways. Humanistic methods and scientific methods have equal weight in proving truth.Therefore, faith no longer needs to be proven by scientific methods, and the spiritual dimension is now more accessible to this generation of young people. Of course, its challenges and dangers, such as the risk of falling into New Age religious beliefs, are also relatively high.

But it is undeniable that under the new trends and challenges of the 21st century, all aspects of culture, whether it is humanities, art, economy, business, and most importantly, faith, are presenting new opportunities. It depends on how you and I do Depends.

Dear friend, have you seized the opportunity?

Note:ABC (American Born Chinese) refers to American-born Chinese.