人类学往往被那些对它所知甚少的人说成是一门回顾往事的学科。然而,即便是最常回顾往事的考古学者和人类学者,都不会把自己局限于过去,同样,民族学者对人类文化的未来也并非不感兴趣。不仅如此,人类学者还特别关注人类未来及其可能带来的变化。与西方工业化社会的所有公民一样,他们也想知道将来将给西方文化带来什么样的变化。不管人类在生理方面将会产生什么变化,在将来,人类文化无疑仍将是人们赖以解决生存问题的机制。可是,有一些人类学家担心人类的生存问题会越来越多,以致于文化不能解 Anthropology is often said by those who know little about it as a recalled history. However, even the archeologists and anthropologists, who are the most recollection of the past, will not limit themselves to the past. Similarly, ethnologists are not without any interest in the future of human culture. Not only that, anthropologists pay special attention to the future of mankind and its possible changes. Like all citizens in the western industrialized society, they also want to know what kind of changes will be brought to the Western culture in the future. No matter what human beings’ physiological changes will take place, in the future, human culture will undoubtedly continue to be the mechanism by which people depend on survival issues. However, there are some anthropologists who worry that human beings will have more and more problems in living so that they can not understand the culture