From the standpoint of cultural development, some people contemplate the present and future accumulation of scientific achievements with complacency, while others sigh with regret over the irrevocable disappearance of "the good old days." And historians such as Oswald Spengler and Arnold Toynbee believe that cultural change is periodic, proceeding according to a cycle of growth, apogee, and decline.
從文化發展的角度而言，有人沾沾自喜於人類科技成果累積的現況和遠景；但也有人慨嘆「美好的過去」一逝不回；此外，如史學家斯賓格勒（O. Spen_gler）和湯恩比（A. Toynbee）等人則相信，文化變遷是循環而行的，依循著成長、巔峰、衰退的周期在進行。