Why tech needs the humanities | Eric Berridge

翻译人员: David Tang 校对人员: Yanyan Hong

You've all been in a bar, right?

大家都去过酒吧，对吧？

(Laughter)

（笑）

But have you ever gone to a bar

但你们有没有去了酒吧，

and come out with a $200 million business?

然后带着两亿美金的生意出来了？

That's what happened to us about 10 years ago.

这就是十年前， 发生在我们身上的故事。

We'd had a terrible day.

那天我们过得特别糟糕，

We had this huge client that was killing us.

有个极其难搞的大客户。

We're a software consulting firm,

我们是个软件咨询公司，

and we couldn't find a very specific programming skill

却找不到一个具体的编程技术

to help this client deploy a cutting-edge cloud system.

来帮这位客户配置 一款新研发的云系统。

We have a bunch of engineers,

我们有一大帮工程师，

but none of them could please this client.

但谁都没办法让客户满意。

And we were about to be fired.

我们眼看就要被解雇了，

So we go out to the bar,

于是就去了趟酒吧，

and we're hanging out with our bartender friend Jeff,

和酒保朋友杰夫闲聊，

and he's doing what all good bartenders do:

他挺有职业操守：

he's commiserating with us, making us feel better,

一直在宽慰我们， 想让我们心里好受些，

relating to our pain,

针对我们的烦恼，

saying, "Hey, these guys are overblowing it.

他说： “哎呀，这几位想得太多了，

Don't worry about it."

别那么担心。”

And finally, he deadpans us and says,

最后，他轻描淡写地说：

"Why don't you send me in there?

“你要不让我试试？

I can figure it out."

我能解决”。

So the next morning, we're hanging out in our team meeting,

第二天早上，我们团队开了个会，

and we're all a little hazy ...

大家还都晕乎乎的......

(Laughter)

（笑）

and I half-jokingly throw it out there.

然后我半开玩笑地说，

I say, "Hey, I mean, we're about to be fired."

“反正我们都要被炒鱿鱼了，”

So I say,

我就说，

"Why don't we send in Jeff, the bartender?"

“那要不就把杰夫， 那调酒师请进来吧。”

(Laughter)

（笑）

And there's some silence, some quizzical looks.

会议室出现了令人尴尬的沉默， 也有些人一脸茫然。

Finally, my chief of staff says, "That is a great idea."

终于，我们的人事主管说， “这真是个好主意。

(Laughter)

（笑）

"Jeff is wicked smart. He's brilliant.

杰夫特机灵，他棒极了，

He'll figure it out.

他会想出法子的，

Let's send him in there."

请他来试试吧。"

Now, Jeff was not a programmer.

不过话说，杰夫可不是个程序员。

In fact, he had dropped out of Penn as a philosophy major.

事实上，他从宾州大学 辍学时主修的是哲学。

But he was brilliant,

不过他的确很有卓见，

and he could go deep on topics,

可以聊一些非常深的话题，

and we were about to be fired.

更何况我们都要被解雇了。

So we sent him in.

于是我们就把他请进来了。

After a couple days of suspense,

过了让人提心吊胆的几天，

Jeff was still there.

杰夫依然在我们的团队里，

They hadn't sent him home.

对方竟然没让他走。

I couldn't believe it.

我完全不敢相信。

What was he doing?

他在干什么？

Here's what I learned.

我了解到的是：

He had completely disarmed their fixation on the programming skill.

他完全消除了客户 对编程技术的关注点，

And he had changed the conversation,

并且转移了话题，

even changing what we were building.

甚至改变了我们的产品目标。

The conversation was now about what we were going to build and why.

现在的话题成了—— “我们要做什么，以及为什么这样做”。

And yes, Jeff figured out how to program the solution,

是的，杰夫找到了解决方案，

and the client became one of our best references.

并且这位客户也成了 我们后来最佳的参考案例之一。

Back then, we were 200 people,

那个时候，我们团队一共有两百人，

and half of our company was made up of computer science majors or engineers,

公司一半的员工都是计算机 背景的毕业生或工程师，

but our experience with Jeff left us wondering:

但自从有了和杰夫的 那次经历，我们就在想：

Could we repeat this through our business?

“我们能在商业上 重复这样的模式吗？”

So we changed the way we recruited and trained.

于是我们改变了 以前的招聘和培训方法。

And while we still sought after computer engineers and computer science majors,

虽然我们依然需要 计算机科学的专业人员和工程师，

we sprinkled in artists, musicians, writers ...

我们还加进了一些 艺术家，音乐家，作家......

and Jeff's story started to multiply itself throughout our company.

杰夫的故事也在我们公司里传开了。

Our chief technology officer is an English major,

我们的首席技术官是英语专业的，

and he was a bike messenger in Manhattan.

他在曼哈顿的时候 还当过自行车送货员。

And today, we're a thousand people,

如今，我们一共有一千人，

yet still less than a hundred have degrees in computer science or engineering.

然而只有不到一百个人 有计算机方面的专业背景，

And yes, we're still a computer consulting firm.

但我们依然是一个计算机咨询公司。

We're the number one player in our market.

我们是市场里的领头企业。

我们的软件产品业务飞速发展，

We work with the fastest-growing software package

to ever reach 10 billion dollars in annual sales.

年销售额达到了100亿美元。

So it's working.

新模式效果显著。

Meanwhile, the push for STEM-based education in this country --

同时，我国对理工科背景的教育——

science, technology, engineering, mathematics --

科学、技术、工程、数学——

is fierce.

非常重视，也在极力推广。

It's in all of our faces.

现状就摆在我们面前。

And this is a colossal mistake.

然而这是个巨大的错误。

Since 2009, STEM majors in the United States

自2009年起，在美国， 具有理工科背景的人数

have increased by 43 percent,

增长了43%，

while the humanities have stayed flat.

然而人文领域却几乎停滞不前。

Our past president

我们的前任总统，

dedicated over a billion dollars towards STEM education

从其他项目中抽出资金，

at the expense of other subjects,

向理工科领域投了十亿美金。

and our current president

而我们的现任总统，

recently redirected 200 million dollars of Department of Education funding

最近从教育部门 调了两亿美金的资金，

into computer science.

投入计算机科学领域。

And CEOs are continually complaining about an engineering-starved workforce.

许多公司的大佬们不停地抱怨 劳动市场急缺工科背景的劳动力。

These campaigns,

这些动作

coupled with the undeniable success of the tech economy --

都与科技界不可否认的经济成果有关。

I mean, let's face it,

我们得面对现实，

seven out of the 10 most valuable companies in the world by market cap

全球十强的企业中，有七个都是

are technology firms --

科技企业——

these things create an assumption

这一件件的事导致了一种假想：

that the path of our future workforce will be dominated by STEM.

我们未来的劳动人口 将被理工科所占领。

I get it.

我懂，

On paper, it makes sense.

在字面上的确是这么一回事，

It's tempting.

这很有诱惑力。

But it's totally overblown.

但一切都是被夸大的。

It's like, the entire soccer team chases the ball into the corner,

就好比，一整个球队的人 都挤到一个角落，

because that's where the ball is.

仅仅因为球被踢到了那儿。

We shouldn't overvalue STEM.

我们不该高估理工科。

We shouldn't value the sciences any more than we value the humanities.

我们不该认为科技高于人文。

And there are a couple of reasons.

原因如下：

Number one, today's technologies are incredibly intuitive.

第一，现今的科技都十分直接明了。

The reason we've been able to recruit from all disciplines

我们能从各个领域都招募到员工

and swivel into specialized skills

并且转向特殊技能的原因，

is because modern systems can be manipulated without writing code.

就是当下的系统可以 在不需要编程的情况下搭建起来。

They're like LEGO: easy to put together, easy to learn, even easy to program,

他们就像积木：易搭、易学，

甚至在如今大量的知识已经 触手可及的情况下，编程也更容易了。

given the vast amounts of information that are available for learning.

Yes, our workforce needs specialized skill,

没错，我们的劳动人口 是需要专门的技术，

but that skill requires a far less rigorous and formalized education

但是这样的技术不再需要以往那样

严格且形式化的教育。

than it did in the past.

Number two, the skills that are imperative and differentiated

第二，那些在科技世界里被迫切需要

in a world with intuitive technology

和细分过的技术，

are the skills that help us to work together as humans,

其实是帮助人类团结合作的技术。

where the hard work is envisioning the end product

辛苦的劳作可以 映射出最后的产品

and its usefulness,

以及它的实用性，

which requires real-world experience and judgment and historical context.

然而这些都需要真实世界的经验、 判断力以及历史基础。

What Jeff's story taught us

杰夫的故事告诉我们的是：

is that the customer was focused on the wrong thing.

客户们把关注点放错了地方。

It's the classic case:

这是非常经典的情况：

the technologist struggling to communicate with the business and the end user,

科技人员与客户 和公司之间沟通的障碍，

and the business failing to articulate their needs.

导致公司无法满足 客户需求，最终走向倒闭。

I see it every day.

我每天都看着这种事情发生。

We are scratching the surface

我们在人际沟通和

in our ability as humans to communicate and invent together,

协作创新方面的能力， 还停留在肤浅的表面。

and while the sciences teach us how to build things,

即使自然科学教会了 我们如何创造事物，

it's the humanities that teach us what to build and why to build them.

却是人文告诉了我们要创造什么， 以及为什么而创造。

And they're equally as important,

这两个领域缺一不可，

and they're just as hard.

但却很难彼此融合。

It irks me ...

我对此很担忧——

when I hear people treat the humanities as a lesser path,

特别是当一些人 把人文当做一条门槛较低，

as the easier path.

较简单的道路。

Come on!

清醒点儿吧！

The humanities give us the context of our world.

人文让我们能够了解 这个世界的来龙去脉，

They teach us how to think critically.

给予了我们做批判性思考的能力。

They are purposely unstructured,

它是无意构造出来的，

while the sciences are purposely structured.

然而自然科学是有意构造出来的。

They teach us to persuade, they give us our language,

它给予了我们说服别人的能力， 以及我们的语言工具，

which we use to convert our emotions to thought and action.

来帮我们把情绪转换成思想和行动。

And they need to be on equal footing with the sciences.

它必须和自然科学一样被同等对待。

And yes, you can hire a bunch of artists

没错，你可以招聘一大帮艺术家，

and build a tech company

来创立一家科技企业，

and have an incredible outcome.

然后日进斗金。

Now, I'm not here today to tell you that STEM's bad.

当然，我并不是来这儿 告诉你理工科弊大于利，

I'm not here today to tell you that girls shouldn't code.

也不是来宣传女孩子 不应该学编程的。

(Laughter)

（笑）

Please.

千万别误会。

And that next bridge I drive over

我开车要经过的下一个高架桥，

or that next elevator we all jump into --

或是要踏入的下一个电梯——

let's make sure there's an engineer behind it.

我们一定要确保背后 是有个工程师在负责的。

(Laughter)

（笑）

But to fall into this paranoia

但陷入这样一种执念，

that our future jobs will be dominated by STEM,

即相信未来的工作 将被理工科劳动力所代替，

that's just folly.

是十分愚蠢的。

If you have friends or kids or relatives or grandchildren

如果你有朋友、孩子、亲戚、孙辈、

or nieces or nephews ...

或者侄子、侄女......

encourage them to be whatever they want to be.

请鼓励他们追寻 他们想要的未来。

(Applause)

（掌声）

The jobs will be there.

工作总会有的。

Those tech CEOs

那些争着吵着要招

that are clamoring for STEM grads,

理工科毕业生的科技老总们，

you know what they're hiring for?

你知道他们招聘员工来做什么工作？

Google, Apple, Facebook.

谷歌、苹果、脸书，

Sixty-five percent of their open job opportunities

这些公司 65% 的工作岗位，

are non-technical:

都是非技术类的：

marketers, designers, project managers, program managers,

市场营销、产品设计、 项目管理、方案管理、

product managers, lawyers, HR specialists,

产品管理，公司律师，人力资源、

trainers, coaches, sellers, buyers, on and on.

培训师、教练、销售、买家等等。

These are the jobs they're hiring for.

这些才是他们大肆招聘的职位。

And if there's one thing that our future workforce needs --

如果未来的劳动人口 需要一样东西——

and I think we can all agree on this --

一样大家都能认可的东西——

it's diversity.

那就是多样性。

But that diversity shouldn't end with gender or race.

但多样性并不该止步于性别和种族。

We need a diversity of backgrounds

我们需要多样的背景

and skills,

和技术，

with introverts and extroverts

包括内向和外向的人，

and leaders and followers.

追随者和领导者。

That is our future workforce.

这才是我们未来的劳动力构成。

And the fact that the technology is getting easier and more accessible

科技变得越来越简单、 越来越容易获得这一事实，

frees that workforce up

让职业选择也变得更加自由，

to study whatever they damn well please.

你可以爱干什么就干什么。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）