在都柏林一個(gè)清新的冬日，我和當(dāng)?shù)剀浖鮿?chuàng)公司Intercom的創(chuàng)始人德斯·特雷諾一起在圣斯蒂芬綠地公園漫步。1916年復(fù)活節(jié)起義中，這里曾經(jīng)被反叛者作為陣地，現(xiàn)在則是一片安靜而時(shí)髦的宜人處所，坐落在一條繁忙商業(yè)街的盡頭。37歲的特雷諾贊頌了愛(ài)爾蘭文化的美好：“他們只會(huì)叫我們圣人和學(xué)者。因?yàn)閷?shí)際情況證明，現(xiàn)在我們需要的就是圣人和學(xué)者?！?/p>

我們?cè)诠珗@小路上走著，這位科技創(chuàng)業(yè)者解釋了他為什么相信愛(ài)爾蘭最近的經(jīng)濟(jì)運(yùn)勢(shì)不會(huì)受到英國(guó)脫歐的阻礙。他說(shuō)：“我們真正的才能就是希望，還有善良。我們不會(huì)幸災(zāi)樂(lè)禍，對(duì)于命運(yùn)如何發(fā)揮作用，我們更多的是茫然。凱爾特之虎讓我們認(rèn)識(shí)到金錢(qián)并不適合我們。更確切的說(shuō)是套利、搶注網(wǎng)絡(luò)域名以及愚蠢金錢(qián)的那些蠢行不適合我們?！彼ь^看著一群天鵝在湖上悠閑地游著，然后深吸了一口公園里清新的空氣：“事業(yè)更重要，而不是數(shù)字。”

文化革命確實(shí)幫助愛(ài)爾蘭提高了國(guó)際吸引力。去年，愛(ài)爾蘭通過(guò)公投修改了憲法，使墮胎合法化；僅三年前，它也是通過(guò)公投將同性婚姻合法化。愛(ài)爾蘭政府去年禁止天主教會(huì)基于信仰進(jìn)行招生歧視，而天主教會(huì)控制著愛(ài)爾蘭90%的學(xué)校體系?？偫硗呃驴ū旧砭褪巧鐣?huì)進(jìn)步的完美標(biāo)識(shí)，他是同性戀，未婚，還是印度-愛(ài)爾蘭混血。在這個(gè)1993年才將同性戀合法化的國(guó)家，38歲的瓦拉德卡已經(jīng)成為政府首腦。在美國(guó)，這相當(dāng)于第一位黑人總統(tǒng)在1888年，也就是廢除奴隸制后不久就入主白宮。特雷諾說(shuō)：“那些正在為我們的未來(lái)而戰(zhàn)的都是依然記得過(guò)去生活的人?！?/p>

不過(guò)，愛(ài)爾蘭自己并非沒(méi)有問(wèn)題。收入差距正在擴(kuò)大（Facebook在愛(ài)爾蘭的平均年薪為15萬(wàn)歐元，是愛(ài)爾蘭普通工人的三倍）。愛(ài)爾蘭37%的外國(guó)投資來(lái)自于美國(guó)，而且仍然容易受到英國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)放緩的影響。同時(shí)，英國(guó)脫歐對(duì)愛(ài)爾蘭經(jīng)濟(jì)的推動(dòng)也不會(huì)永遠(yuǎn)持續(xù)下去。今年2月，歐盟委員會(huì)將愛(ài)爾蘭今年的經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)預(yù)期從4.5%下調(diào)至4.1%。罪魁禍?zhǔn)资钦l(shuí)呢？當(dāng)然是英國(guó)脫歐的影響存在不確定性。

On a brisk winter day in Dublin, I join Des Traynor, a founder of local business software startup Intercom, for a midday stroll through St. Stephen’s Green. A onetime foxhole for rebels in the 1916 Easter Rising, the public park is now a tranquil and tony oasis at the end of a busy shopping thoroughfare. Traynor, 37, is extolling the virtues of Irish culture: “Nothing but saints and scholars, they called us. As it turns out, saints and scholars are exactly what we need these days.”

As we walk along the path, the tech entrepreneur explains why he believes Ireland’s recent economic luck goes beyond a Brexit bump. “Our real talent is hope. And kindness. We don’t gloat, more like bemusement at how fate works its way out,” he says. “The Celtic Tiger had us thinking money didn’t suit us. It was more that arbitrage, marketing, cybersquatting, and the stupidity of stupid money didn’t suit us.” He cocks his head at a bevy of swans idling on a lake and pulls in a whiff of fragrant park air. “There’s more to business than numbers.”

A cultural revolution has certainly helped make Ireland more internationally attractive. By referendum, Ireland last year rewrote its constitution to legalize abortion, just three years after it legalized gay marriage, also by referendum. The Irish government last year barred the Catholic Church, which controls 90% of the school system on its behalf, from admissions discrimination on religious grounds. Look no further than Taoiseach Varadkar to mark social progress; he is a gay, unmarried, 38-year-old man of Indian and Irish descent who is the head of government in a country that only decriminalized homosexuality in 1993. In the U.S., this would be the equivalent of the first black president taking office in 1888, not long after the abolition of slavery. “It’s no coincidence,” Traynor says, “that the people fighting for our future here are the ones who can still remember living in its past.”

Ireland is, however, not without its problems. Income inequality is worsening. (At 150,000 euros, the average Facebook salary in Ireland is triple that of the average Irish worker.) With 37% of its foreign investment from the U.S., Ireland remains susceptible to an economic slowdown across the pond. And those Brexit-boosted numbers won’t last forever. In February, the European Commission revised downward its growth predictions for Ireland for the year, from 4.5% to 4.1%. The culprit? Uncertainty about the fallout from Britain’s exit from the EU, of course.