評(píng)論
打印
Leaders
來(lái)源于《社論》版塊
Pessimism v progress
悲觀VS技術(shù)進(jìn)步
Contemporary worries about the impact of technology are part of a historical pattern
當(dāng)代對(duì)技術(shù)影響的擔(dān)憂是歷史模式的一部分
Faster, cheaper, better—technology is one field many people rely upon to offer a vision of a brighter future. But as the 2020s dawn, optimism is in short supply. The new technologies that dominated the past decade seem to be making things worse. Social media were supposed to bring people together. In the Arab spring of 2011 they were hailed as a liberating force. Today they are better known for invading privacy, spreading propaganda and undermining democracy. E-commerce, ride-hailing and the gig economy may be convenient, but they are charged with underpaying workers, exacerbating inequality and clogging the streets with vehicles. Parents worry that smartphones have turned their children into screen-addicted zombies.
更快、更便宜、更好的技術(shù)是許多人所依賴的一個(gè)領(lǐng)域，以提供對(duì)更光明未來(lái)的展望。但在21世紀(jì)20年代即將來(lái)臨之際，樂(lè)觀情緒卻少之又少。在過(guò)去十年中占主導(dǎo)地位的新技術(shù)似乎讓事情變得更糟。社交媒體本應(yīng)讓人們走到一起。在2011年的阿拉伯之春，他們被譽(yù)為一股解放力量。如今，他們更出名的是侵犯隱私、傳播宣傳和破壞民主。電子商務(wù)、網(wǎng)約車和零工經(jīng)濟(jì)可能很方便，同時(shí)也受到批評(píng)：工人工資過(guò)低、加劇了不平等、車輛堵塞街道。家長(zhǎng)們擔(dān)心智能手機(jī)已經(jīng)把他們的孩子變成了沉迷于屏幕的低頭族。
The technologies expected to dominate the new decade also seem to cast a dark shadow. Artificial intelligence (AI) may well entrench bias and prejudice, threaten your job and shore up authoritarian rulers. 5G is at the heart of the Sino-American trade war. Autonomous cars still do not work, but manage to kill people all the same. Polls show that internet firms are now less trusted than the banking industry. At the very moment banks are striving to rebrand themselves as tech firms, internet giants have become the new banks, morphing from talent magnets to pariahs. Even their employees are in revolt.
預(yù)計(jì)將主導(dǎo)下一個(gè)十年的技術(shù)似乎也蒙上陰影。人工智能(AI)很可能會(huì)加深偏見(jiàn)和歧視，威脅到你的工作，支持獨(dú)裁統(tǒng)治者。5G是中美貿(mào)易戰(zhàn)的核心。自動(dòng)駕駛汽車仍然不能正常使用，但仍然可以殺人。民意調(diào)查顯示，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)公司現(xiàn)在比銀行業(yè)更不受信任。就在各大銀行努力將自己打造成科技公司的同時(shí)，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)巨頭卻成為了新型銀行，從吸引人才的“磁鐵”變成了“社會(huì)棄兒”。甚至其員工也在反抗。
The New York Times sums up the encroaching gloom. “A mood of pessimism”, it writes, has displaced “the idea of inevitable progress born in the scientific and industrial revolutions.” Except those words are from an article published in 1979. Back then the paper fretted that the anxiety was “fed by growing doubts about society’s ability to rein in the seemingly runaway forces of technology”.
《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》總結(jié)了這種蔓延的悲觀情緒。報(bào)告中寫道，“悲觀情緒”已經(jīng)取代了“科學(xué)革命和工業(yè)革命必然帶來(lái)進(jìn)步的觀點(diǎn)”。除了這些詞來(lái)自1979年發(fā)表的一篇文章。當(dāng)時(shí)，《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》擔(dān)心，這種焦慮“源于人們?cè)絹?lái)越懷疑社會(huì)是否有能力控制看似失控的科技力量”。
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