《权力的游戏》IT公司版[1]

HBO’s “Game of Thrones” will return next month for the fifth season of epic battles, exhilarating wordplay, and surprisingly well-groomed stars. But beyond the show’s unmatched ability to balance high- and low-brow entertainment, what makes “Game of Thrones” and its source material “A Song of Ice and Fire,” so great is how accurately it reflects our own world (minus all the dragons).

《权力的游戏》第五季将于下月回归荧屏。这部场面火爆、妙语连珠、明星大放异彩的美剧深受大家喜爱最大的原因，也许就是它如实的反映了世界的残酷吧 So what about the tech world? Read on the piece written in 2013 to learn what the biggest tech companies tell us about “Game of Thrones,” what “Game of Thrones” tells us about the biggest tech companies.

那么科技界的情况如何呢？重读这篇2013年的旧文，看看几大科技公司与《权力的游戏》之间有什么相似之处。

Google / House Stark

谷歌 / 斯塔克家族

Google’s motto is “Don’t be evil,” and if there’s one family that at least claims to operate under non-evil principles, it’s House Stark.

Google的行事准则就是：不为恶。剧中唯一能与这个准则匹配的就是斯塔克家族。

But in Westeros as in Mountain View, reality doesn’t always match perception. And after the Lannister-led execution of the family’s patriarch Ned, his son Robb falls just short of the family ethos, breaking an oath to a crucial ally.

但是，无论在剧中的维斯特洛还是现实中谷歌总部所在地山景城，理想与现实总无法契合。在兰尼斯特家族处死家族首领奈德后，其子罗勃未能继承家族精神，对一位重要盟友失信。

Meanwhile, the last year hasn’t exactly been evil-free for Google. The company admitted its Street View project had violated unsuspecting users’ privacy.

同时Google在过去的一年也的确干了点坏事，比如，承认谷歌街景侵犯了用户的隐私。

In the coming months, both Robb and Google may be forced to deal with the consequences of their betrayal. But in the meantime, both families continue to make strides in key battlegrounds, as Robb keeps up his winning record on literal battlefields, and Google’s Android OS takes chunks out of Apple’s mobile market share .

接下来的一个月，Google和斯塔克家族的罗勃都要为自己违背诺言而付出代价。好消息是，正如斯塔克家族在战场上节节进取，谷歌的安卓系统也再度开始蚕食苹果的移动手机市场份额。

But just as the rulers in King’s Landing still pose an existential threat to the Starks, there’s one area where Google has failed to contend: Social.

不过，在斯塔克家族面临来自君临城实际威胁的同时，谷歌也有一个弱点：社交。

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Facebook / House Lannister

Facebook / 兰尼斯特家族

Both Facebook and House Lannister are led by boy kings who are feared and mocked in equal measure. Both have a ton of cash, but also a ton of expenses (war isn’t cheap whether it’s fought with wildfire or lines of code). And while both ruling houses have a huge number of subjects, those subjects don’t always have a whole lot of trust in their overlords.

Facebook和兰尼斯特家族有很多的相似点，比如说他们的统治者都很年轻，有人畏惧也有人嘲笑；他们都很有钱，花钱也非常大方 Like the Lannisters, Facebook is arguably better at conquering than at ruling. It’s got all those users, sure, but Facebook needs to make sure its product is compelling enough that people keep coming back for more (not a simple proposition). “Power resides where men believe it resides,” says the eunuch Varys in the show’s second season. And if Facebook can’t make its billion users into true believers again, that 10-digit figure will be nothing more than a number.

正如兰尼斯特家族一样，Facebook也是更加善于征服而不是统治。虽然用户很多，但是Facebook还应该想多点办法留住他们。正如阉人瓦里大人在第二季说的：“众望所指，权力所栖。”如果Facebook不能赢回用户的信任，那么巨大的用户群只是一张空头支票。

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Apple / Stannis Baratheon

苹果 / 斯坦尼斯•拜拉席恩

When Tim Cook, successor to the throne of Steve Jobs, gave his first TV interview as Apple CEO in Grand Central Station, hardly anyone noticed him. Obviously, a recognizable face and a dose of charisma is hardly a prerequisite for being a good CEO. But the iconography of Steve Jobs was so tied to Apple’s identity, many felt that when Jobs died, a little piece of Apple died with him.

当苹果的新任总裁提姆•库克出现在中央车站接受首个电视采访时，没几个人能认出他。虽然说领袖魅力并不是统治一个科技帝国的最重要因素，但是随着苹果标志人物乔布斯的去世，苹果的光辉也暗淡了一点。

This no-win situation for Cook is echoed perfectly in “Thrones.” After the death of the popular, charismatic Robert Baratheon, nobody could muster much excitement for his brother Stannis, nevermind that he was the rightful heir to his throne. Icons simply aren’t replaceable. So as Stannis suffered repeated indignities from those who would deny him the throne, Cook faced his own revolt from lordlings (read: shareholders). Then there was Apple’s disastrous Maps launch, and the company’s plummeting share price.

这种落败的场景在剧中也有完美呼应。在受人爱戴、颇具魅力的罗伯特•拜拉席恩死后，没有人对斯坦尼斯•拜拉席恩的继位表示欣喜，虽然他是合法的继承者。标志人物都是不可替代的。所以斯坦尼斯不断受到反对他继位者的侮辱，而库克也因为苹果发布了问题重重的苹果地图受到了股东的指责，股价一路下跌。

But don’t count either of them out yet. Just as Apple still has the best-selling smartphone in the world, Stannis still has that crazy witch lady who makes shadow monsters come out of her uterus.

但是不要对他们灰心丧气，正如斯坦尼斯还有那个红头发巫师助他一臂之力，苹果的手机仍然是世界上最受欢迎的。

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Amazon / Daenerys Targaryen

亚马逊 / 丹尼莉丝•坦格里安

On first glance you may not see much in common between Jeff Bezos and Daenerys Targaryen. But take a closer look, and you’ll see that both belong to clans that have been around forever. Both are continually written off and yet keep finding unlikely ways to stay relevant. And they both use the same approach when dealing with rival merchants, which comes down to, “Join us, or I’ll vanquish you and your undying souls with dragonfire.” (Or in Amazon’s case, “Join us or you can’t use our API anymore.”)

也许一开始看不到Jeff Bezos和丹尼莉丝之间有什么相似点，不过细看之下，你会发现他们都属于永远打不倒的。亚马逊和塔格利安家族一样总是在惨败之后通过不可思议的方式存活下去。他们对付敌人的方法都差不多：加入我的阵营则生，反对我则死。 Just as the dragon mother rewards her subjects for their loyalty, Amazon makes its customers feel loved with streaming movies that rival Netflix, free shipping, and affordable tablets.

亚马逊和丹尼莉丝都能让他们的用户Yahoo / House Greyjoy

雅虎/ 葛雷乔伊家族

When Marissa Mayer took over as Yahoo’s CEO, it left many people scratching their heads. Why would a woman at the height of her career as a Google executive leave for such a maybe-doomed train-wreck?

很多人无法理解为什么Marissa Mayer选择在职业高峰期离开Google投奔即将灭亡的雅虎。

That’s the same way readers of the “Song of Ice and Fire” series felt when Theon Greyjoy betrayed his adopted clan by joining up with the deluded, backwards-thinking jackasses of the Iron Islands. For Theon, the move ended in ridicule, accidental incest, and betrayal at the hands of his own men. Of course Mayer is much more clever than poor Theon Greyjoy. But if Yahoo’s prior history with CEOs is any indication, she could suffer a similar fate.

就如很多人无法理解，为什么希恩要叛变收养他的斯塔克家族，与落后孤立的铁群岛为伍。希恩的叛变是一个不明智的选择，最终栽在自己部下的脚下；Marissa虽然聪明得多，但是鉴于雅虎之前CEO的命运，Marissa也有可能面临相同的命运。

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Buzzfeed / Tyrion

Buzzfeed / 小恶魔提瑞昂

His whole life, people have underestimated him, laughed at him, called him names. And yet the dwarf son of Tywin Lannister has proven himself to be the most cunning of all of Westeros’ schemers. Meanwhile, Buzzfeed’s Jonah Peretti continues to fight conventional wisdom, proving that funny, viral listicles, and investigative journalism can coexist (and rack up millions of pageviews).

小恶魔一生都被人看低、被嘲笑、被辱骂，然而他最终却证明自己是最精明的阴谋者。Buzzfeed的总裁Jonah Peretti也仍在走非常规路线吸引眼球，证明搞笑与严肃的调查资讯能共存 -------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twitter / Ravens and crows

推特 / 信鸦

Exhibit A for why Westeros is way cooler than our universe: Here, we send short messages named after the sound birds make. In Westeros, they send actual birds.

维斯特洛各国传递消息的方式比我们酷多了。我们通过一个用鸟叫声命名的平台发送信息，人家用的是真鸟。

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The Paypal Mafia / Varys, Littlefinger, Pycelle

Paypal / 黑手党、瓦里、小指头、派赛尔

Despite everyone else’s fighting and scheming, these are the guys who really run the show.

其他人的谋划、战斗都算不了什么，这些人才是真正撑起这部剧的骨干。

Vocabulary:

epic: 史诗般的

unmatched: 难以匹敌的

patriarch: 首领

betrayal: 背叛

conquer: 征服

charisma: 魅力

underestimate: 低估

cunning: 狡猾的