一詞日曆：一本科普書竟賣到2000萬美元

推薦人：來源: 閱讀: 1.52W 次大中小

2019.04.04

週四 Thursday

spiral /'spairəl/

v. 激增

圖片來源：視覺中國

I can still recall my surprise when a book by evolutionary biologist Peter Lawrence entitled The Making of a Fly came to be priced on Amazon at $23,698,655.93 (plus $3.99 shipping).

我依舊能回想起當時的驚訝，我看到進化生物學家彼得·勞倫斯寫的一本名爲《造出一隻蒼蠅》的書在亞馬遜上的定價爲23698655.93美元（外加3.99美元的運費）。

While my colleagues around the world must have become rather depressed that an academic book could achieve such a feat, the steep price was actually the result of algorithms feeding off each other and spiralling out of control.

一本學術著作能賣到這樣的天價，我世界各地的同事們肯定會感到抑鬱，不過這個高昂的價格實際上是算法相互疊加和失控地飆升的結果。

It turns out, it wasn't just sales staff being creative: algorithms were calling the shots.

事實證明，這不是個銷售人員的創意：是運算法則定的價。

This eye-catching example was spotted and corrected. But what if such algorithmic interference happens all the time, including in ways we don't even notice?

這個矚目的個例被發現並修正了。但是，如果這種算法干擾總是發生，並且還以我們注意不到的方式發生，那怎麼辦？

If our reality is becoming increasingly constructed by algorithms, where does this leave us humans?

如果我們的世界在逐漸被算法掌控，那我們人類又被置於何地？

Our exploration led us to the conclusion that, over time, the roles of information technology and humans have been reversed.

我們的探索得出這樣的結論：隨着時間的推移，信息技術和人類的作用已經顛倒。

In the past, we humans used technology as a tool. Now, technology has advanced to the point where it is using and even controlling us.

過去，我們人類把技術當做一種工具。而如今，技術已經發展到在利用甚至掌控我們人類的地步。

We humans are not merely cut off from the decisions that machines are making for us but deeply affected by them in unpredictable ways.

我們人類不僅被隔絕於機器爲我們所做的決定之外，而且以不可預知的方式深受這些決定的影響。

Instead of being central to the system of decisions that affects us, we are cast out in to its environment.

我們不是這些影響着我們的決定的產生機制的中心，而是被動捲入其中。

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