pbs高端访谈:数字网络破坏就业加剧不平等?

 　　GWEN IFILL:Finally tonight: the collection of information online and its economic consequences.

　　The recent revelations about surveillance have raised numerous questions about the use of data by the government and service providers. We close with a look at another concern about the information that's gathered: Is it deepening a widening class divide?

　　Economics correspondent Paul Solman gets that take, part of his reporting on “Making Sen$e of Financial News.”

　　PAUL SOLMAN:In Berkeley, Calif., the studio of Jaron Lanier, author, composer, computer scientist and lately, leading critic of the digital technologies he himself helped invent.

　　They're widening the economic divide, he says, darkening our future by destroying paid jobs, like musicians, which is how he once supported himself.

　　JARON LANIER,Author, "Who Owns the Future?": This is a shakuhachi. It's classical Japanese bamboo flute².

　　PAUL SOLMAN:Can we hear that?

　　JARON LANIER:Yes, sure.

　　PAUL SOLMAN:Lanier has also long worked in technology, still does, as a telecommuting consultant³ to Microsoft research in Seattle.

　　But in recent years, he's grown skeptical⁴ of the Internet. In 2010, he published "You Are Not a Gadget⁵: A Manifesto," a critique of digital networks, like Facebook and Twitter, which he calls shallow and dehumanizing.

　　JARON LANIER:You don't do the "Begin the Beguine" or something like that?

　　I used to for money.

　　PAUL SOLMAN:But it was the computerization of the music industry that helped inspire his new book, "Who Owns the Future?" in which he argues that digital networks are destroying jobs and the middle class, exacerbating⁶ economic inequality by providing free stuff that's really paid for by the information the networks take from us and sell to other big companies.

　　What's the basic thing you worry about?

　　JARON LANIER:That we have used digital networks to organize our world, and digital networks have a certain negative side effect that none of us foresaw.

　　In a digital network, whoever has the biggest and best-connected computer is going to get all the power and all the money, and that centralizes the rewards so much, that it screws up the society and the economy eventually.

　　PAUL SOLMAN:So, this is the Googles, the Facebooks of the world?

　　JARON LANIER:Well, it's not just the usual suspects like the Googles and Facebooks.

　　So far, there are two kinds of industries that have been overtaken by the structure of digital networks. One is finance. And the other is what we call the creative industries, journalism⁷ and music and that sort of thing.

　　PAUL SOLMAN:Well, I can see the problem with respect to the concentration of power, but how does it affect the average person?

　　JARON LANIER:Well, what happens when you interact with somebody else's giant computer over a network is always at first there is some special treat for that you entices⁸ you to enter into their game.

　　In the case of finance, it was really easy to get cheap mortgages. In the case of consumer Internet services, it's free stuff. It's the coupons⁹. It's free social networking and search.

　　PAUL SOLMAN:Free music, flee blogs, free almost everything.

　　JARON LANIER:Exactly.

　　So, what happens is, there is initial free stuff. The market contracts, because a lot of what used to be paid is made free, so that the economy gets a little bit smaller. And just notice that while you're getting all these free treats, there's more income concentration.

　　And in finance, it's created incredible rewards for the people with the biggest computers. And in the media industries, it's done the same thing.

　　PAUL SOLMAN:But is it only happening in pockets, or this is going to be pervasive¹⁰?

　　JARON LANIER:It's coming to basically everyplace.

　　We already have self-driving cars. So, eventually, all the taxi drivers, all the truck drivers go out of work. We already have 3-D printers. We have robotic manufacturing tools. Eventually, manufacturing workers go away.

　　We will have automatic robotic mining of raw materials. We won't have all those people moving to the Dakotas to frack anymore. That will go away.

　　PAUL SOLMAN:Well, in economics, the cliched phrase is “creative destruction.”

　　JARON LANIER:Creative destruction is great, so long as there is enough rebuilding to make up for the destruction.

　　What's happening right now is all of the rebuilding, all of the wealth creation is happening around the biggest computers, and not out in the world.

　　PAUL SOLMAN:And Lanier thinks that's a recipe for disaster. There's plenty of creation in his world, of course.

　　What is this?

　　JARON LANIER:So, this was made by a guy who lived on the streets of Baltimore. And he made this out of garbage, some of the detritus¹¹ of a motel that was torn down in Baltimore.

　　He called it the Abutar, because his name was Abu, the master flute maker¹² of the ghetto¹³.

　　PAUL SOLMAN:But even master Abu wasn't making a living, a harbinger, Lanier fears, of a grim two-tier economy.

　　JARON LANIER:The problems I'm talking about with mass unemployment due to people being left out of the information economy, that is still a decade or two away. And the reason I'm talking about this now is, I think we have enough lead time to fix it.

　　PAUL SOLMAN:So, what do we do about this?

　　JARON LANIER:It turns out that the very first concept of digital networking actually solved this problem in advance.

　　So, the first person to talk about digitally networked culture was a guy named Ted¹ Nelson, who started his work in about 1960. And Ted's idea was that everybody who contributed over a digital network would get paid in little tiny micro-payments for whatever they did. And what that would do is, it would create an economy that would grow as things became more digital.

　　PAUL SOLMAN:So, for example, I'm driving, as I do now, and I'm part of a network. And I let people know if there is traffic up ahead. So, I would get paid for that?

　　JARON LANIER:A little bit, sure.

　　Or here is actually a better example. Right now, one thing that concerns a lot of people is that government agencies are putting up cameras everywhere. And so, as you walk around in a big city, you might be tracked constantly. I think the government should have to pay for whatever it does, including getting information from people, and should be constrained¹⁴ by its budget.

　　So, if they have to pay for collecting those images of you walking around, then they have to create a sense of balance about how often they do it.

　　PAUL SOLMAN:But you're not just talking about street corner surveillance cameras. You're talking about any computer network that is extracting information from me.

　　JARON LANIER:Right.

　　So, what we have right now is, we have thousands of computers, big computers around the world who are creating dossiers on all of us. Any information that exists because you exist should bring you rewards. You get ill, and you get better, and your medical case history and data gathered from your body becomes part of the medical databases that help other people. You get paid for that.

　　And, furthermore, it should be based on how valuable it turns out to be. So it might turn out that some -- something about your DNA¹⁵ turns out to help a lot of people 10 years later can be more valuable than expected. You should benefit proportionally to its value.

　　PAUL SOLMAN:But how do you force a computer network to pay me for something that they have been extracting from me for years for free?

　　JARON LANIER:I know when I talk about these ideas, it must sound as though I'm talking about this extremely complicated thing.

　　But you have to remember I have been through this once because I have been involved with the Internet from the beginning. And we -- a relatively¹⁶ small number of people brought about this pretty complicated thing already. What I'm talking about now to me is just a continuation of the same spirit.

　　And it doesn't seem any more complicated than what we have already done. It's just moving in a different direction that I think is more suitable to making a sustainable society.

　　PAUL SOLMAN:So, I have been naive¹⁷ when I have for number of years now thought, gee¹⁸, free is good. Free is communal¹⁹. Free may be the wave of the future.

　　JARON LANIER:Look, I helped make up the whole idea of free, open everything a long time ago. And there's a lot of great qualities to it.

　　However, if we create a world where everybody can benefit from the information economy, even if it's just pure information -- in other words, you actually get paid for your blog post or your social network activity if you're popular, that kind of stuff, then we can create a stronger middle class than we have ever had before as technology gets better. That is the big idea. That's the big possibility.

　　PAUL SOLMAN:Jaron Lanier, thank you very much.

　　JARON LANIER:This was great. I'm very happy that you're interested.

1 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

2 flute   

n.长笛；v.吹笛

参考例句：

• He took out his flute, and blew at it.他拿出笛子吹了起来。
• There is an extensive repertoire of music written for the flute.有很多供长笛演奏的曲目。

3 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

4 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

5 gadget   

n.小巧的机械，精巧的装置，小玩意儿

参考例句：

• This gadget isn't much good.这小机械没什么用处。
• She has invented a nifty little gadget for undoing stubborn nuts and bolts.她发明了一种灵巧的小工具用来松开紧固的螺母和螺栓。

6 exacerbating   

v.使恶化，使加重( exacerbate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• This pedagogical understretch is exacerbating social inequalities. 这种教学张力不足加重了社会不平等。 来自互联网
• High fertilizer prices are exacerbating the problem. 高涨的肥料价格更加加剧了问题的恶化。 来自互联网

7 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

8 entices   

诱惑，怂恿( entice的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The smell of food entices the hungry children into the hut. 食物的味道把饥饿的孩子们诱进小屋中。
• With her many persuasions she entices him; With her flattering lips she seduces him. 箴7:21淫妇用许多巧言诱他随从、谄媚的嘴逼他同行。

9 coupons   

n.礼券( coupon的名词复数 )；优惠券；订货单；参赛表

参考例句：

• The company gives away free coupons for drinks or other items. 公司为饮料或其它项目发放免费赠券。 来自辞典例句
• Do you have any coupons? 你们有优惠卡吗？ 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 口语

10 pervasive   

adj.普遍的；遍布的，(到处)弥漫的；渗透性的

参考例句：

• It is the most pervasive compound on earth.它是地球上最普遍的化合物。
• The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure.汽车尾气对人类健康所构成的有害影响是普遍的，并且难以估算。

11 detritus   

n.碎石

参考例句：

• Detritus usually consists of gravel, sand and clay.岩屑通常是由砂砾，沙和粘土组成的。
• A channel is no sooner cut than it chokes in its own detritus.一个河道刚被切割了不久，很快又被它自己的碎屑物质所充塞。

12 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

13 ghetto   

n.少数民族聚居区，贫民区

参考例句：

• Racism and crime still flourish in the ghetto.城市贫民区的种族主义和犯罪仍然十分猖獗。
• I saw that achievement as a possible pattern for the entire ghetto.我把获得的成就看作整个黑人区可以仿效的榜样。

14 constrained   

adj.束缚的,节制的

参考例句：

• The evidence was so compelling that he felt constrained to accept it. 证据是那样的令人折服，他觉得不得不接受。
• I feel constrained to write and ask for your forgiveness. 我不得不写信请你原谅。

15 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

16 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

17 naive   

adj.幼稚的，轻信的；天真的

参考例句：

• It's naive of you to believe he'll do what he says.相信他会言行一致，你未免太单纯了。
• Don't be naive.The matter is not so simple.你别傻乎乎的。事情没有那么简单。

18 gee   

n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转

参考例句：

• Their success last week will gee the team up.上星期的胜利将激励这支队伍继续前进。
• Gee,We're going to make a lot of money.哇！我们会赚好多钱啦！

19 communal   

adj.公有的，公共的，公社的，公社制的

参考例句：

• There was a communal toilet on the landing for the four flats.在楼梯平台上有一处公共卫生间供4套公寓使用。
• The toilets and other communal facilities were in a shocking state.厕所及其他公共设施的状况极其糟糕。