不要忘记科技的两面性

随着新技术的出现，人们应该考虑一下下面的问题：仔细地考虑科技所可能带来的双重影响。

With the emergence of new technology, people should consider the following problems: carefully consider the possible double effects of technology.

什么将会得到加强？什么将会被削弱？什么将会被取代？它会给我们带来什么样的新机遇？

What will be strengthened? What will be weakened? What will be replaced? What new opportunities will it bring us?

我们从高情感到高科技，从手写到电脑打字的转变与人们对于电脑的神化有很大关系，电脑似乎已经成为我们这个时代解决一切问题的万能良方。当然，它一定能够弥补我们在教育方面的不足。美国中小学的教育质量在下降？那就在每个教室里都放上一台电脑这个信息时代的伟大标志吧。这样问题就解决了。几十年来，人们对于为每个教室都配置一台电脑的呼声就一直没有停止。但是人们是否已经仔细思考过电脑会给教育的真正目的带来的影响呢？教育的真正目的应该是让孩子学会如何学习，这是他们可以继续终生学习生涯的惟一方式。我们在一直呼吁引入先进科技，但是却没有考虑过它的教育价值。

Our transformation from high emotion to high technology, from handwriting to computer typing has a lot to do with people's deification of computers. Computers seem to have become a panacea for all problems in our era. Of course, it will certainly make up for our deficiencies in education. Is the quality of primary and secondary education declining in the United States? Then put a computer in every classroom, the great symbol of the information age. This will solve the problem. For decades, people have been calling for a computer in every classroom. But have people thought about the impact of computers on the real purpose of education? The real purpose of education should be to let children learn how to learn, which is the only way for them to continue their life-long learning career. We have been calling for the introduction of advanced technology, but we have not considered its educational value.

在不久的将来，某个产品所包含的高情感，比如它的设计和所包含的艺术价值，将会逐渐把它与其他相似科技含量产品区分开来。

In the near future, the high emotion contained in a product, such as its design and artistic value, will gradually distinguish it from other similar technology products.

这个对于电脑和诗人的比喻代表了我对于社会发展的观点：我们不仅需要大力推进智力发展，而且还要支持和培养情感与精神能力。我们非常需要在它们之间达到平衡——高科技与高情感之间的平衡。这个世界的科技水平越发达，我们就越需要艺术家和诗人。

This metaphor for computers and poets represents my view on social development: we need to not only vigorously promote intellectual development, but also support and cultivate emotional and spiritual abilities. We really need to balance them - the balance between high technology and high emotion. The more advanced the technology in the world, the more we need artists and poets.

今年年初，有一次我在波士顿洛根机场（Boston’s Logan Airpor）乘飞机。由于飞机晚点造成了航班延误，我们这群同病相怜的乘客只好坐下来等待。我的对面坐的是一家人：年轻的父母和他们的两个孩子。他们很少说话，至少那位年轻的父亲是这样的，他看起来极度不耐烦。突然，他的手机响了起来。他立刻直起身来，一下来了精神，接电话的声音十分响亮：“你好，你好。”

At the beginning of this year, I was flying at Boston's Logan Airport. Due to the delay of the flight, our group of fellow passengers had to sit down and wait. Opposite me is a family: young parents and their two children. They seldom spoke, at least for the young father, who looked extremely impatient. Suddenly, his cell phone rings. He got up straight at once, refreshed, and answered with a loud voice: "Hello, hello."

我看着他，意识到他被这个电话拯救了，从百无聊赖中被拯救从来，从家庭责任中被拯救出来。在我看来，这个年轻的父亲与科技的关系似乎出现了问题。当目睹这一过程时，我想全美国肯定有许多人们在等待他人把自己从面前的事务中拯救出来。

I looked at him and realized that he had been saved by the phone, from boredom, from family responsibility. In my opinion, there seems to be something wrong with the relationship between this young father and technology. When witnessing this process, I think there must be many people in the United States waiting for others to save themselves from the affairs in front of them.

盲目冲动

Blind impulse

许多公司由于担心新技术会给竞争对手带来新的机遇，因此都在不停地更新自己。而更新需要资金，而且所需的资金总是要比他们预计的要多。人们总是会在科技方面投入大量人力和物力，却忽视了自身的作用。IBM第一代大批量生产的主机360在20世纪60年代初炙手可热，就是因为所有的公司都认为主机对于公司来说是必需品。IBM销售人员戏谑地说自己的顾客都是由于“担心、不确定和疑惑”（或者简称为FUD）而购买产品的。人们往往觉得：“我们总不能无所事事。不管是对是错，我们都必须做点什么。”当时公司间普遍流传的一种观点就是，要想在新的技术时代的竞争中获胜，公司必须配备自己的主机。人们经常会因为担心落伍而盲目花钱，过去和现在都是如此。

Many companies are constantly updating themselves for fear that new technologies will bring new opportunities to their competitors. Renewal requires money, and it always requires more than they expected. People always invest a lot of human and material resources in science and technology, but ignore their own role. IBM's first mass-produced mainframe 360 became popular in the early 1960s, because all companies believed that the mainframe was a necessity for the company. IBM salesmen jokingly say that their customers buy products because of "worry, uncertainty and doubt" (or FUD for short). People often think: "we can't do nothing. Whether it's right or wrong, we have to do something. " At that time, there was a popular view among companies that in order to win the competition in the new technology era, companies must be equipped with their own mainframe. People often spend money blindly for fear of falling behind, both in the past and now.

科技是巨大的推动力，但并非真空状态下的推动力

Technology is a great driving force, but not a driving force in a vacuum

科技是巨大的推动力，但是必须是在与人们的需求和人性达到平衡的时候！

Technology is a huge driving force, but it must be in balance with people's needs and human nature!