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Finance and Economics
財經
Free exchange
自由交流
Better, stronger, faster
更好、更強、更快
Labour-monitoring technologies raise efficiency—and hard questions.
勞動力監督技術在提高效率的同時也帶來種種難題。
Bosses have always sought control over how workers do their jobs.
企業老板總是在找辦法來控制員工的工作方法。
Whatever subtlety there once was to this art, technology is now obliterating.
不論這種方法以前有多么微妙，如今的技術正在完全毀滅掉。
In February Amazon received patents for a wristband apparently intended to shepherd labourers in its warehouses through their jobs with maximum efficiency.
2月，亞馬遜獲得了一款腕帶多項專利——從表面上看，這款腕帶是用來指導員工在倉庫里最為高效地工作。
The device, were Amazon to produce and use it, could collect detailed information about each worker’s whereabouts and movements, and strategically vibrate in order to guide their actions.
如果亞馬遜生產并使用這一穿戴設備，它將收集每位員工詳細的行蹤和運動信息，并以巧妙地震動方式指導員工的行動。
Using such technology seems an obvious step for firms seeking to maximise productivity.
對于各家企業來說，使用這類技術表面上是為了追求最高生產率。
Whether workers should welcome the trend, or fear it, is harder to say.
員工對此技術是歡迎還是擔憂，現在還很難說。
Workplace discipline came into its own during the Industrial Revolution.
在工業革命時期就有了工作紀律。
As production came to depend ever more on expensive capital equipment, bosses, not keen to see that equipment sitting idle, curtailed their workers’ freedom,
隨著生產越來越依賴于昂貴的資本設備，老板們不愿看到設備閑置，便縮減員工的自由，
demanding they work during set hours, in co-ordination with other employees, at a pace dictated by the firm.
要求他們在固定的時間里工作，以及與其他員工協調一致，而工作節奏則由企業來控制。
Technology creates new opportunities for oversight.
技術為監督員工工作創造了新機會。
Editors can see which of their journalists attract the most readers (though many wisely focus on other measures of quality).
編輯能看到哪位記者吸引的讀者最多（雖然很多人明智地關注于其他衡量質量的辦法）。
Referees at sporting events are subject to reviews that check their decisions to within millimetres.
運動比賽的裁判常常要復查以確保他們的決策精確到毫米。
譯文來源余興宇
