如果人类更加积极地思考死亡的必然性,就会排斥一些社会强加的目标,而将注意力更多地集中在个人成长或培养上。无论身居高位,还是身份卑微;无论是富裕,还是贫穷;无论幸福,还是悲惨,最终每个人都将面临同样的结果,这便是死亡。而这也是唯一一件在我们生命中确信无疑的事情。尽管科技不断地进步,极大地延长了人类的寿命,但是对于人类而言,死亡仍是一件将要发生在未来的恐怖事件。终有一天我们的生命将完结,这是人类生存条件中重要的特点。而且,就我们的认知范围而言,仅有人类有能力来考虑未来将要发生的灭亡。《新科学家》的封面报道试图围绕死亡展开探讨:死亡究竟是什么?死亡如何催生了文明?如何分析严峻的现 If humans think more positively of the inevitability of death, they will exclude some of the socially imposed goals and focus more on personal growth or development. Whether in high office or in humble status, whether wealthy or poor, whether happy or miserable, eventually everyone will face the same result, which is death. And this is the only thing that is surely in our lives. Despite the continuous advances in science and technology, which have greatly prolonged the life expectancy of mankind, for mankind, death is still a horrifying event that will take place in the future. One day our life will come to an end, which is an important feature of human existence. And, as far as we know, only humans have the ability to think about the demise that will happen in the future. The cover story of “New Scientist” attempts to probe the issue of death: what exactly is death and how does death lead to civilization? How to analyze the grim reality