內容簡介
只有當今天變成明天,我們才有可能理解當今的世界
我們如何知道我們是對的?如果我們都錯了呢?
過了好幾百年後,究竟誰會被銘記?誰又會被遺忘?
許多過往被視為科學常識的概念,可能在幾百年後被推翻;不受重視的文學作品,可能在幾十年後成為經典;沒沒無聞的藝術家,可能在過世多年後才被世人發掘……以這樣的邏輯推論,我們憑什麼確定現在人類所理解的世界,是我們所相信的樣子?也許過了許多年,這些被視為理所當然的常識與認知,在未來都被推翻:我們對於重力的理解是正確的嗎?我們對於時間的理解是正確的嗎?五百年後,什麼樣的搖滾音樂會被視為經典?會不會這個年代最偉大的藝術家,現在根本沒沒無聞?我們是否高估了民主?
作者與各領域的創新思想家對談,包括《十二月十日》作者喬治.桑德斯(George Saunders)、音樂家大衛.拜恩(David Byrne)、《犯錯的價值》作者兼新聞工作者凱薩琳.舒茲(Kathryn Schulz)、天文學家尼爾.德葛拉司.泰森(Neil deGrasse Tyson)、理論物理學家布萊恩.葛林(Brian Greene)、《超智慧》作者兼哲學家尼克.伯斯特隆姆(Nick Bostrom)、電影導演李察.林克雷特(Richard Linklater)等等,將現在視為過去,試圖探討未來世界的樣貌。
即使每一個年代的人都確信他們所相信的現實,將維持恆久不變,但隨時光流逝、意見產生改變、新發現不斷出現,曾經被視為事實的概念變得荒謬,被現代的新想法所取代,直到這些新想法,也在未來的某個時間點被取代為止。作者以幽默的筆觸與好奇心,帶領讀者擱置對於現實的天真自信,一起思考未來的可能樣貌。
The tremendously well-received New York Times bestseller by cultural critic Chuck Klosterman, exploring the possibility that our currently held beliefs and assumptions about the world will eventually be proven wrong -- now in paperback.
But What If We're Wrong? is a book of original, reported, interconnected pieces, which speculate on the likelihood that many universally accepted, deeply ingrained cultural and scientific beliefs will someday seem absurd. Covering a spectrum of objective and subjective topics, the book attempts to visualize present-day society the way it will be viewed in a distant future.
Klosterman cites original interviews with a wide variety of thinkers and experts -- including George Saunders, David Byrne, Jonathan Lethem, Alex Ross, Kathryn Schulz, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Brian Greene, Junot Diaz, Amanda Petrusich, Ryan Adams, Dan Carlin, Nick Bostrom, and Richard Linklater. Klosterman asks straightforward questions that are profound in their simplicity, and the answers he explores and integrates with his own analysis generate the most thought-provoking and propulsive book of his career."