美国国家公共电台 NPR 'World Without Mind': How Tech Companies Pose An Existential Threat

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

I'm Ari Shapiro with All Tech Considered.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SHAPIRO: Journalist Franklin Foer worries that we're all losing our minds as big tech companies infiltrate¹ every aspect of our lives. In his new book, Foer compares the way we feel about technology now to the way people felt about pre-made foods like TV dinners back when they were first invented.

FRANKLIN FOER: And we thought that they were brilliant because they did away with pots and pans. We didn't have to go to the store to go shopping every day. And then we woke up 50 years later and realized that these products had been basically engineered to make us fat. They disrupted the whole food economy in our world and made things entirely² concentrated. And I worry that the same thing is happening now to the things that we ingest through our mind.

SHAPIRO: Foer's book is called "World Without Mind: The Existential Threat Of Big Tech." He says one problem is that companies like Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon control so much of the market.

FOER: They pose as these neutral marketplaces, yet when they have their own things to sell, they give them special advantages. We saw this with Yelp³ and Google where Yelp was this great way to get recommendations about what restaurant to go to. And it used to be when you type in a restaurant name into Google, the Yelp review was the first thing that came up. Well, Google saw that this was a good business to be in, and so they started to publish their own user reviews of restaurants. And suddenly those leapfrogged over Yelp.

And so I think we accept these platforms as being neutral. They pose as neutral even if you look at their looks. A search engine seems like it's a mechanical thing, but it's not a mechanical thing. It imposes the economic interests of these companies on the platform, and it imposes their values on the platform as well.

SHAPIRO: Part of the underlying⁴ challenge seems to be that all of these companies - Amazon, Google, Facebook - use algorithms to decide what to show us. And we don't know what those algorithms are.

FOER: Yeah.

SHAPIRO: And if we don't think about those algorithms, we can assume that this is some kind of impartial⁵, objective analysis when really it's not.

FOER: Right. All these algorithms are constructed by human beings to serve human purposes. They're systems. And these systems are devised in order to create certain outcomes. And so the fact that they're so invisible I think actually enhances their power because most people have the dimmest awareness⁶, if any awareness at all, that Facebook is being patterned to try to give them some information above others. Right now Facebook is obsessed⁷ with promoting video because that's where money is to be had. So right now Facebook is loading up your news feed in order to give you much more video.

There are all these media companies - I bet NPR is one of them - that makes certain commitments to certain editorial processes and investments in editorial apparatus⁸ in order to achieve certain results on Facebook 'cause Facebook brings a lot of traffic. It's where users are. And then when Facebook somewhat capriciously decides to change its strategy, it hurts all the organizations that are dependent upon Facebook.

SHAPIRO: This is where I drop the now somewhat loaded editorial disclosure that NPR receives money from Facebook to produce video content which appears on NPR's Facebook pages.

FOER: But look how virtuous⁹ you are, having a critic of Facebook on air.

SHAPIRO: (Laughter) In this book, you don't just argue that we should be clear-eyed about the costs of these free services. You argue that this is actually an existential threat. Explain what that threat is.

FOER: So if you're of a certain age, you have a good appreciation¹⁰ for the ways in which we've all become a little bit cyborg. I grew up using maps and having a sense of direction, and now I have a phone. I used to try to remember numbers, and now I have - I can just call them up instantly. And that's great. But what's happening right now is that we're in a phase of human evolution where we're merging¹¹ with machines. And...

SHAPIRO: But why is that a bad thing? Like, so what?

FOER: So these companies - it's not necessarily a bad thing. But we're not just merging with machines. We've been merging with tools since the beginning of human evolution. And arguably, that's one of the things that makes us human beings. But what we're merging with are machines that are run by companies that act as filters for the way in which we interact and process the world. And so the values of those companies become our values.

We become dependent on these companies in a way in which we've never really been dependent on companies before. And this could all work out in a utopian, beautiful sort of way, or it could unfold as a dystopian sci-fi nightmare. And I just think that because the stakes are so high we have to be extra skeptical¹².

SHAPIRO: Are there regulations, are there checks to make sure that, for example, Facebook doesn't manipulate the outcome of an election or Amazon doesn't bury the search results for a book that's critical of Amazon?

FOER: So the Internet was invented in an age when our entire approach to regulation has been extremely lax. And so you'd think, OK, there must be a law on the books that governs how these corporations can handle our data. Well, you can kind of pull pieces of code - I mean U.S. code - from here and there...

SHAPIRO: Not digital code...

FOER: Not digital code.

SHAPIRO: ...But legal code.

FOER: Legal code that shows, you know, maybe instances where companies could potentially cross boundaries. But there really isn't a coherent approach that we have to regulating these companies. And so they have an incredible amount of freedom.

SHAPIRO: Europe is way ahead of the U.S. on regulating these companies. They've levied¹³ fines against Google for monopolies and other things like that. What's going on here?

FOER: In my view, the Europeans are acting¹⁴ more American than the Americans, that there's this proud American tradition of worrying about the power of communication companies, that going all the way back to the founding we've tried to limit the power of monopolies that played a role in our democracy. And so even with the U.S. Postal¹⁵ Service, to take the first communications monopoly in the United States, we didn't let them get into the telegraph business. And when Western Union got a monopoly in the telegraph business, we were careful not to let them get into telephony.

And so when I look at what the Europeans are doing and the concerns that they're showing for privacy, which is a concept that Americans essentially¹⁶ invented, when you look at their concern for preserving a competitive marketplace, which is a very, very American concept, I say bravo. Thank you for behaving in a very apple-pie-and-baseball sort of way.

SHAPIRO: Franklin Foer's new book is "World Without Mind: The Existential Threat Of Big Tech." Thanks for talking with us.

FOER: Thanks.

(SOUNDBITE OF JAMIE XX'S "OBVS")

1 infiltrate   

vt./vi.渗入，透过；浸润

参考例句：

• The teacher tried to infiltrate her ideas into the children's minds.老师设法把她的思想渗透到孩子们的心中。
• It can infiltrate as much as 100 kilometers into enemy territory at night.可以在夜间深入敌领土100千米。

2 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

3 yelp   

vi.狗吠

参考例句：

• The dog gave a yelp of pain.狗疼得叫了一声。
• The puppy a yelp when John stepped on her tail.当约翰踩到小狗的尾巴，小狗发出尖叫。

4 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

5 impartial   

adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的

参考例句：

• He gave an impartial view of the state of affairs in Ireland.他对爱尔兰的事态发表了公正的看法。
• Careers officers offer impartial advice to all pupils.就业指导员向所有学生提供公正无私的建议。

6 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

7 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

8 apparatus   

n.装置，器械；器具，设备

参考例句：

• The school's audio apparatus includes films and records.学校的视听设备包括放映机和录音机。
• They had a very refined apparatus.他们有一套非常精良的设备。

9 virtuous   

adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的

参考例句：

• She was such a virtuous woman that everybody respected her.她是个有道德的女性，人人都尊敬她。
• My uncle is always proud of having a virtuous wife.叔叔一直为娶到一位贤德的妻子而骄傲。

10 appreciation   

n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨

参考例句：

• I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
• I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。

11 merging   

合并（分类）

参考例句：

• Many companies continued to grow by merging with or buying competing firms. 许多公司通过合并或收买竞争对手的公司而不断扩大。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• To sequence by repeated splitting and merging. 用反复分开和合并的方法进行的排序。

12 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

13 levied   

征（兵）( levy的过去式和过去分词 )； 索取； 发动（战争）； 征税

参考例句：

• Taxes should be levied more on the rich than on the poor. 向富人征收的税应该比穷人的多。
• Heavy fines were levied on motoring offenders. 违规驾车者会遭到重罚。

14 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

15 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

16 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。