2018年经济学人 自由交流:数字无产者(1)

 

Finance and Economics

财经

Free Exchange: The digital proletariat

自由交流：数字无产者

Economists¹ propose a radical² solution to the problems posed by artificial intelligence.

针对因人工智能而造成的各种问题, 经济学家提出一项激进的建议。

You have multiple jobs, whether you know it or not.

不管知道与否，人们身兼多项工作。

Most begin first thing in the morning, when you pick up your phone and begin generating the data that make up Silicon³ Valley's most important resource.

大多数人是在早晨拿起手机并开始生产构成硅谷最重要资源的数据时开始第一项工作的。

That, at least, is how we ought to think about the role of data-creation in the economy, according to a fascinating new economics paper.

据一篇引人入胜的新经济学论文，这至少是我们应当怎么去思考数据创造在经济中的角色的方式。

We are all digital labourers, helping⁴ make possible the fortunes generated by firms like Google and Facebook, the authors argue.

作者指出，我们全是数据劳动力，致使由谷歌和脸书等公司所创造的财富成为可能。

If the economy is to function properly in the future—and if a crisis of technological⁵ unemployment is to be avoided—we must take account of this, and change the relationship between big internet companies and their users.

如果经济要想在未来正常地运转——如果一场技术性失业要想得以避免——我们必须对此有所重视，并改变大型互联网公司与其用户之间的这种关系。

Artificial intelligence (AI) is getting better all the time, and stands poised⁶ to transform a host of industries, say the authors (Imanol Arrieta Ibarra and Diego Jimenez Hernandez, of Stanford University, Leonard Goff, of Columbia University, and Jaron Lanier and Glen Weyl, of Microsoft).

这篇论文的作者们（斯坦福大学的 Imanol Arrieta Ibarra 和 Diego Jimenez Hernandez，哥伦比亚大学的 Leonard Goff 和 微软公司的 Jaron Lanier and Glen Weyl）写道，人工智能(AI)一直都在完善之中并将彻底改变一些行业。

But, in order to learn to drive a car or recognise a face, the algorithms that make clever machines tick must usually be trained on massive amounts of data.

但是，为了学习开车或是识别人脸，让聪明机器运行的算法必须通常接受海量数据的培训。

Internet firms gather these data from users every time they click on a Google search result, say, or issue a command to Alexa.

互联网公司从用户对谷歌搜索结果的每一次点击或是向Alexa发出的每一个指令中那里收集这些数据。

1 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

3 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

6 poised   

a.摆好姿势不动的

参考例句：

• The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋，准备俯冲。
• Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张，手悬在电话机上。