〈经济学人〉经济学人杂志

2023-04-24 19:16 27次浏览 财经

The great hope of the 1990s and 2000s was that the internet would be a force for openness and freedom. As Stewart Brand, a pioneer of online communities, put it: “Information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time.”

It was not to be. Bad information often drove out good. Authoritarian states co-opted the technologies that were supposed to loosen their grip.

Information was wielded as a weapon of war. Amid this disappointment one development offers cause for fresh hope: the emerging era of open-source intelligence (osint).

New sensors, from humdrum dashboard cameras to satellites that can see across the electromagnetic spectrum, are examining the planet and its people as never before.

The information they collect is becoming cheaper. Satellite images cost several thousand dollars 20 years ago, today they are often provided free and are of incomparably higher quality.

A photograph of any spot on Earth, of a stricken tanker or the routes taken by joggers in a city is available with a few clicks.

And online communities and collaborative tools, like Slack, enable hobbyists and experts to use this cornucopia of information to solve riddles and unearth misdeeds with astonishing speed.


这是《经济学人》2021年8月刊的一篇文章'The people’s panopticon'第1段,共7句。

0、

{'panopticon':'圆形监狱'}

'The people’s panopticon'是整篇文章的标题,译作:人民的全景监控

圆形监狱(panopticon),又称环形监狱,由英国哲学家杰里米·边沁(Bentham)于1785年提出。这样的设计使得一个监视者就可以监视所有的犯人,而犯人却无法确定他们是否受到监视。

1、

{'pioneer':'开拓者'}

20世纪90年代和21世纪最大的希望就是互联网将成为开放和自由的力量。正如一位线上团体的开拓者Stewart Brand说到:信息要变得免费,因为获取信息的成本在越来越低。

2、

{'Authoritarian':'独裁主义者'}

本来不是这样的。不良信息经常驱逐优质信息。独裁主义国家选择了本应该放松控制的科技。

3、

{'wielded':'使用,操作'}

信息被当作战争中的武器。在失望之中,一项发展提供了崭新的希望:开源智能时代(osint)的兴起。

4、

{'sensors':'传感器'}

{'humdrum':'单调的、乏味的'}

{'spectrum':'光谱'}

新的传感设备,从单调的仪表式相机到能够看到光谱的卫星,正在以前所未有的方式监视着这个星球和人类。

5、

他们获取的信息越来越便宜。20年以前卫星图像要花掉上千美元,如今他们经常免费提供,而且还都是非常高质量的图像。

6、

{'stricken':'撞击'}

{'joggers':'慢跑者'}

地球上任意一点的画面,像受损的油轮或者城市中慢跑者的路线,只要轻点几下鼠标就可以获得。

7、

{'collaborative':'合作的、协作的'}

{'cornucopia':'丰富的'}

{'riddles':'谜语'}

{'misdeeds':'不义之举'}

线上团体和协同工具,比如Slack,可以让爱好者和专家能够利用丰富的信息以惊人的速度来解决谜题并且发现一些不义之举。

Slack 是聊天群组 + 大规模工具集成 + 文件整合 + 统一搜索。截至2014年底,Slack 已经整合了电子邮件、短信、Google Drives、Twitter、Trello、Asana、GitHub 等 65 种工具和服务,可以把各种碎片化的企业沟通和协作集中到一起。

–总结–

【词汇部分】

{'pioneer':'开拓者'}

{'Authoritarian':'独裁主义者'}

{'wielded':'使用,操作'}

{'sensors':'传感器'}

{'humdrum':'单调的、乏味的'}

{'spectrum':'光谱'}

{'stricken':'撞击'}

{'joggers':'慢跑者'}

{'collaborative':'合作的、协作的'}

{'cornucopia':'丰富的'}

{'riddles':'谜语'}

{'misdeeds':'不义之举'}

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