Reflection on Western Civilization

Abstract

Since human society has entered the 21st century, there have been many disturbing developments that are reflected on many levels. Firstly, at the civilization level, Western civilization, as one of the many civilizations created by mankind, has played a very progressive role in the history of human development, there is no doubt about it. However, since entering the 21st century, especially after the global financial and economic crisis of 2008, Western civilization, represented by the United States, has obviously fallen into a crisis of development, and the negative factors inherent in the capitalist system have begun to dominate. Modern Western developed countries must answer the questions of “progress or degradation” and “to be or not to be” at the level of human civilization. Secondly, at the level of nation-states, there is the question of what kind of relations should be built between countries, this question is inevitable for all countries. Consequently, each nation-state must answer the questions “competition or cooperation” and “peace or war”. Third, at the individual level, people’s alienation has become an important problem that cannot be avoided. With the further development of the Internet and artificial intelligence, the problem of people’s alienation has become more and more urgent. Will humans become an extension of computers? At the individual level, humanity needs to answer the questions “liberation or dependence” and “freedom or slavery”. How to save human civilization in the 21st century? “Formation of a community of unified destiny of humanity” sets the direction of thinking for further development of civilization.