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。
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