读麦·讲演·人与媒介（1979）·037

At jet speed there is no rear-view mirror. What does one see in the rear-view mirror at motor-car speed? In the jet plane at jet speed, there is no rear-view mirror and nothing can be seen. What do you see in the rear-view mirror of a motor car? The foreseeable future. You don’t see what went past, you see what is coming. It is obvious, isn’t it? The phrase “rear-view mirror” tells you that you are looking at something that went past, but, in fact, you never do. All you can look at in the rear-view mirror is literally the foreseeable future.

在喷气式速度下，是没有后视镜的。一个人在汽车速度下从后视镜里能看到什么？在以喷气速度飞行的喷气式飞机里，没有后视镜，什么也看不到。你在汽车的后视镜里看到了什么？可预见的未来。你看不到走过的东西，你看到即将到来的东西。这很明显，不是吗？“后视镜”这个短语告诉你你正在看走过的东西，但事实上，你绝非如此。你在后视镜中所能看到的真的是可预见的未来。

按：后视镜只是一定速度区间里的暂时用具，后视镜模式的思想方法也是一定速度区间里的暂时方法。快到喷气式，后视镜就无用武之地了。

后视镜看到的是可预见的或即将来临的未来。那些走过的东西，一瞬间之前都是由可预见的、即将来临的东西。后视镜的预见、未来，是跟汽车速度相匹配的。

后视镜有助于思考未来和当下的关系。未来和当下之间的距离，与速度成反比，当信息速度快如光电，未来即当下，或者说未来已来，差别只在于人的信息能力。