Jeff Bezos: The electricity metaphor

1,456,059 views ・ 2007-05-16

TED


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譯者: Bentham Chang 審譯者: Tracie Chen
00:26
When you think about resilience and technology it's actually much easier.
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把復原能力跟科技連想在一起是件比較容易的事。
00:29
You're going to see some other speakers today, I already know,
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據我所知,今天會有其他講師
00:32
who are going to talk about breaking-bones stuff,
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談一些傷筋動骨的東西
00:35
and, of course, with technology it never is.
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不過這在科技界是不會發生的。
00:37
So it's very easy, comparatively speaking, to be resilient.
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所以相對來說,科技是很容易具有復原能力的。
00:41
I think that, if we look at what happened on the Internet,
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如果回顧網際網路上發生的事 --
00:43
with such an incredible last half a dozen years,
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以過去六年來的驚人發展
00:47
that it's hard to even get the right analogy for it.
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的確很難去找到可以對比的例子。
00:50
A lot of how we decide, how we're supposed to react to things
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我們如何做決定,如何對事情做出適當的反應
00:54
and what we're supposed to expect about the future
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跟我們對未來的展望,很多時候
00:56
depends on how we bucket things
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取決於我們對事物
00:58
and how we categorize them.
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分門別類的方式。
00:59
And so I think the tempting analogy for the boom-bust
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所以從我們剛剛經歷這大起大落的網際網路中
01:03
that we just went through with the Internet is a gold rush.
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我想到一個不盡相同的比喻:淘金熱。
01:07
It's easy to think of this analogy as very different
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相較其他可能的選擇
01:10
from some of the other things you might pick.
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這個比喻是與眾不同的。
01:12
For one thing, both were very real.
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其一,兩者都是真實發生的。
01:14
In 1849, in that Gold Rush, they took over $700 million
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在1849年的淘金熱中,人們從加州取走了
01:18
worth of gold out of California. It was very real.
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總值七億美元的黃金,這是實在的事。
01:20
The Internet was also very real. This is a real way for humans to
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網際網路也是實實在在的變成了人們溝通的方式
01:24
communicate with each other. It's a big deal.
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這是一件重大的事。
01:27
Huge boom. Huge boom. Huge bust. Huge bust.
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大起、大起、大落、大落
01:31
You keep going, and both things are lots of hype.
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再比較下去,兩者都是狂熱
01:34
I don't have to remind you of all the hype
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不需要我再提醒你有多狂熱吧
01:37
that was involved with the Internet -- like GetRich.com.
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這是網路上的 -- 像是 GetRich.com(致富網)
01:40
But you had the same thing with the Gold Rush. "Gold. Gold. Gold."
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淘金狂熱裡也找得到 "黃金!黃金!黃金!"
01:43
Sixty-eight rich men on the Steamer Portland. Stacks of yellow metal.
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波特蘭的小城出了68位富人!一堆堆的黃色金屬!
01:47
Some have 5,000. Many have more.
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有人淘到五千美元,更多的還比比皆是...
01:50
A few bring out 100,000 dollars each.
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有人賺到十萬美金。
01:54
People would get very excited about this when they read these articles.
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當人們讀到這些文章時馬上熱血沸騰。
01:57
"The Eldorado of the United States of America:
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美國的黃金城。
02:00
the discovery of inexhaustible gold mines in California."
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在加州發現採之不盡的金礦?
02:06
And the parallels between the Gold Rush and the Internet Rush continue very strongly.
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淘金熱跟網路熱兩者可相提併論。
02:10
So many people left what they were doing.
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接著人們離開現有的工作
02:13
And what would happen is -- and the Gold Rush went on for years.
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淘金熱持續了幾年,接著
02:16
People on the East Coast in 1849, when they first started to get the news,
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1849年美國東岸的人一開始聽到這消息時
02:20
they thought, "Ah, this isn't real."
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他們想 "啊,這是騙人的啦。"
02:22
But they keep hearing about people getting rich,
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可是陸續傳來有人一夜致富的消息
02:25
and then in 1850 they still hear that. And they think it's not real.
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到一年後1850,他們還是不相信
02:28
By about 1852, they're thinking, "Am I the stupidest person on Earth
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直到1852年,他們想 "難道我是最蠢的人嗎?
02:33
by not rushing to California?" And they start to decide they are.
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為何不去加州淘金?" 接著他們動了起來
02:37
These are community affairs, by the way.
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順便提一下,這些是社區事務
02:39
Local communities on the East Coast would get together and whole teams
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東岸的地方社區們聚在一起,然後
02:42
of 10, 20 people would caravan across the United States,
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一、二十個人一起組團搭車橫跨美國
02:45
and they would form companies.
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而且他們也會組成公司。
02:47
These were typically not solitary efforts. But no matter what,
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這些都不是單獨行動,而且不管你之前
02:50
if you were a lawyer or a banker, people dropped what they were doing,
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是律師或銀行家,人們放棄原有工作
02:53
no matter what skill set they had, to go pan for gold.
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不論他們原有的技能為何,全部都淘金去了。
02:57
This guy on the left, Dr. Richard Beverley Cole,
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左邊這傢伙是可爾醫師
03:00
he lived in Philadelphia and he took the Panama route.
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當時他住在費城,搭船下到巴拿馬
03:03
They would take a ship down to Panama, across the isthmus,
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橫越過巴拿馬地峽
03:06
and then take another ship north.
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然後再搭船往北。
03:08
This guy, Dr. Toland, went by covered wagon to California.
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這位是圖蘭醫師,他搭貨運馬車到加州。
03:13
This has its parallels, too. Doctors leaving their practices.
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醫師們相繼離開他們的病人
03:17
These are both very successful -- a physician in one case,
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這兩個當時都是非常成功的 -- 一位是內科
03:19
a surgeon in the other.
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另一位是外科醫師。
03:20
Same thing happened on the Internet. You get DrKoop.com.
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同樣的事情也發生在網路上,DrKoop.com (醫酷網)
03:24
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
03:25
In the Gold Rush, people literally jumped ship.
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在淘金熱裡,人們常 "跳船"
03:28
The San Francisco harbor was clogged with 600 ships at the peak
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在舊金山港那時曾擠滿了600條船
03:35
because the ships would get there and the crews would abandon
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因為人們把船開到那裡以後
03:37
to go search for gold.
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所有船員都棄船淘金去了。
03:39
So there were literally 600 captains and 600 ships.
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所以六百條船上只剩六百個船長。
03:43
They turned the ships into hotels, because they couldn't sail them anywhere.
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他們把船變成了旅館,因為沒船員也開不了船。
03:46
You had dotcom fever. And you had gold fever.
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"網路熱" 相對於 "淘金熱"
03:51
And you saw some of the excesses
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更有甚者
03:53
that the dotcom fever created and the same thing happened.
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網路熱創造了同樣的事蹟
03:57
The fort in San Francisco at the time had about 1,300 soldiers.
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當時舊金山防區有1300位士兵
04:01
Half of them deserted to go look for gold.
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有半數跑去找金子了
04:05
And they wouldn't let the other half out to go look for the first half
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當局不讓剩下的一半去找失蹤的士兵
04:08
because they were afraid they wouldn't come back.
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因為怕像肉包子打狗(一去不回)
04:10
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
04:12
And one of the soldiers wrote home, and this is the sentence that he put:
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其中有個士兵在家書裡寫道:
04:15
"The struggle between right and six dollars a month
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"一個月賺6塊錢的「對」
04:19
and wrong and 75 dollars a day is a rather severe one."
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相較於一天進帳75塊的「錯」,真是很大的掙扎啊"
04:27
They had bad burn rate in the Gold Rush. A very bad burn rate.
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淘金熱那時燒錢也很快
04:31
This is actually from the Klondike Gold Rush. This is the White Pass Trail.
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這相片是當時克朗岱克淘金熱裡的懷特通道
04:35
They loaded up their mules and their horses.
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他們的馬和驢載滿了東西
04:39
And they didn't plan right.
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不過他們並沒有計劃好
04:43
And they didn't know how far they would really have to go,
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而且不曉得路途有多遠
04:46
and they overloaded the horses with hundreds and hundreds of pounds of stuff.
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所以馬上面超載了上百公斤的東西
04:50
In fact it was so bad that most of the horses died
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以至於大部份的馬在沒到目的地
04:54
before they could get where they were going.
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就都過勞死了
04:56
It got renamed the "Dead Horse Trail."
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因此後來這路也被叫做 "死馬通道"
04:58
And the Canadian Minister of the Interior wrote this at the time:
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當時加拿大的內政部記載:
05:02
"Thousands of pack horses lie dead along the way,
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"數以千計的馬在途中死去,
05:05
sometimes in bunches under the cliffs,
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有時成堆的在懸崖下,
05:07
with pack saddles and packs where they've fallen from the rock above,
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身旁可見馬鞍與跟它們一起從山上掉落的包裹,
05:11
sometimes in tangled masses, filling the mud holes
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有時扭曲的屍身,填補了泥坑
05:14
and furnishing the only footing for our poor pack animals on the march,
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為路上同樣可憐的貨運動物們鋪路,
05:17
often, I regret to say, exhausted, but still alive,
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經常,我不情願說,很累,但是還活著,
05:21
a fact we were unaware of, until after the miserable wretches
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直到這些可憐的馬蹄倒下
05:24
turned beneath the hooves of our cavalcade.
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我們才意識到的一個事實
05:27
The eyeless sockets of the pack animals everywhere
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一路上數不清
05:29
account for the myriads of ravens along the road.
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無眼白骨的動物屍骸
05:32
The inhumanity which this trail has been witness to,
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這路上見證到的人性泯滅
05:34
the heartbreak and suffering which so many have undergone,
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心碎和痛苦到讓很多人無法想像
05:37
cannot be imagined. They certainly cannot be described."
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也無法用言語來形容。"
05:42
And you know, without the smell that would have accompanied that,
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同樣的除了難聞的氣味之外
05:47
we had the same thing on the Internet: very bad burn rate calculations.
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網路熱裡有同樣的:超高的燒錢率。
05:52
I'll just play one of these and you'll remember it.
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我接下來要播放其中一個所以你們會有印象
05:55
This is a commercial that was played on the Super Bowl in the year 2000.
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這是2000年超級盃中的一個廣告片
05:59
(Video): Bride #1: You said you had a large selection of invitations. Clerk: But we do.
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(影片):新娘#1: 你不是說你們有很多不同種的邀請卡嗎? 店員: 是啊
06:03
Bride #2: Then why does she have my invitation?
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新娘#2: 那為什麼她的跟我一樣?
06:06
Announcer: What may be a little thing to some ... Bride #3: You are mine, little man.
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旁白: 別人看起來的一件小事... 新娘#3: 你給我看好了.
06:11
Announcer: Could be a really big deal to you. Husband #1: Is that your wife?
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旁白: 對你來說可能是件大事。新郎#1: 那是你太太嗎?
06:15
Husband #2: Not for another 15 minutes. Announcer: After all, it's your special day.
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新郎#2: 15分鐘以後才是. 旁白: 重要的是, 今天是你特別的日子。
06:23
OurBeginning.com. Life's an event. Announce it to the world.
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OurBeginning.com (我們的開始.com) 結婚比命重, 向世界公佈吧.
06:26
Jeff Bezos: It's very difficult to figure out what that ad is for.
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傑夫:很難看出來這在廣告些什麼?
06:30
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
06:33
But they spent three and a half million dollars
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但是他們花了三百五十萬美金
06:35
in the 2000 Super Bowl to air that ad,
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在2000年的超級盃播放這廣告片
06:38
even though, at the time, they only had a million dollars in annual revenue.
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即使他們當時一年只有一百萬的營收
06:44
Now, here's where our analogy with the Gold Rush starts to diverge,
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我們開始來談與淘金熱這個類比不同的地方
06:48
and I think rather severely.
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我認為是很大的分別
06:50
And that is, in a gold rush, when it's over, it's over.
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就是在淘金熱裡,結束就結束了。
06:54
Here's this guy: "There are many men in Dawson
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這是一個傢伙寫的: "在達森這個地方,有很多人
06:57
at the present time who feel keenly disappointed.
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感到失望與落空
06:59
They've come thousands of miles on a perilous trip, risked life, health and property,
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他們冒了生命、健康與財產的風險行了數千里路
07:04
spent months of the most arduous labor a man can perform
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辛辛苦苦的花了幾個月的勞力
07:07
and at length with expectations raised to the highest pitch
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與很高很高的期待
07:10
have reached the coveted goal only to discover
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結果到頭來發現
07:12
the fact that there is nothing here for them."
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這裡什麼都沒有。"
07:16
And that was, of course, the very common story.
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當然這種故事在那時候很普遍
07:19
Because when you take out that last piece of gold --
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因為當你把最後一塊金子取走時...
07:21
and they did incredibly quickly. I mean, if you look at the 1849 Gold Rush --
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如果你回顧1849年的淘金熱,這事發生得很快
07:26
the entire American river region, within two years --
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整個美國河流區在兩年之內每塊石頭都被翻過了
07:29
every stone had been turned. And after that, only big companies
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而在那之後只有一些大公司
07:33
who used more sophisticated mining technologies
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使用了比較複雜的開採技術
07:35
started to take gold out of there.
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才開始採到黃金。
07:38
So there's a much better analogy that allows you to be incredibly optimistic
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接著另一個對比會讓我們感到無比樂觀
07:44
and that analogy is the electric industry.
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就是電力產業
07:49
And there are a lot of similarities between the Internet and the electric industry.
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網際網路與電力產業之間
07:53
With the electric industry you actually have to --
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有很多相似的地方
07:56
one of them is that they're both sort of thin,
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其中之一是兩者都算是薄的、
07:58
horizontal, enabling layers that go across lots of different industries.
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水平的、可以啟動跨越不同產業的層面。
08:01
It's not a specific thing.
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它不只是單一個東西。
08:05
But electricity is also very, very broad, so you have to sort of narrow it down.
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但是電力也是非常非常廣義的,所以你要把範圍縮小。
08:10
You know, it can be used as an incredible means of transmitting power.
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它可以指轉移電力
08:14
It's an incredible means of coordinating,
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它也是代表一種協調
08:16
in a very fine-grained way, information flows.
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以一種非常精細的資訊流方式。
08:18
There's a bunch of things that are interesting about electricity.
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電有很多有趣的事情
08:21
And the part of the electric revolution that I want to focus on
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我特別要大家注意的是
08:26
is sort of the golden age of appliances.
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家電的黄金時代
08:29
The killer app that got the world ready for appliances was the light bulb.
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讓世界進入家電時代的殺手級應用是燈泡
08:34
So the light bulb is what wired the world.
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所以說是燈炮連接了世界
08:36
And they weren't thinking about appliances when they wired the world.
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當時的人拉線連世界並沒有想到家電
08:40
They were really thinking about --
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他們真正想的
08:42
they weren't putting electricity into the home;
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並不是讓每個家裡有電
08:44
they were putting lighting into the home.
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他們想的是讓家裡有燈光
08:47
And, but it really -- it got the electricity. It took a long time.
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到後來花了很長的時間才轉移焦點到電。
08:51
This was a huge -- as you would expect -- a huge capital build out.
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你可以想像當時這是件大事,巨大的資金投入
08:55
All the streets had to be torn up.
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所有的路都被翻了起來
08:58
This is work going on down in lower Manhattan
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這相片是當時曼哈頓下城區的施工情況
09:02
where they built some of the first electric power generating stations.
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他們在蓋第一個發電站
09:06
And they're tearing up all the streets.
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他們把所有的街道拆了
09:08
The Edison Electric Company, which became Edison General Electric,
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愛廸生電力公司,後來變成愛廸生通用電力,
09:11
which became General Electric,
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然後變成通用電力(GE)公司
09:13
paid for all of this digging up of the streets. It was incredibly expensive.
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他們支付所有挖路的費用,那時是非常昴貴的。
09:19
But that is not the -- and that's not the part that's really most similar to the Web.
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但這不是與網站最像的地方
09:26
Because, remember, the Web got to stand
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請記住,網站已經站在
09:28
on top of all this heavy infrastructure
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所有長途電話網站所建立的
09:30
that had been put in place because of the long-distance phone network.
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厚實的基礎之上了。
09:33
So all of the cabling and all of the heavy infrastructure --
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因此所有拉線跟重大的基礎建設
09:36
I'm going back now to, sort of, the explosive part of the Web in 1994,
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我要回到1994年的網路暴發
09:40
when it was growing 2,300 percent a year.
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當它一年成長 2300%
09:42
How could it grow at 2,300 percent a year in 1994
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它怎麼可能在1994年人們都還沒有
09:45
when people weren't really investing in the Web?
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真正投資在網路時成長2300%?
09:48
Well, it was because that heavy infrastructure had already been laid down.
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那是因為重大基礎建設所已經投下的。
09:52
So the light bulb laid down the heavy infrastructure,
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所以燈泡打下了重大的基礎建設
09:55
and then home appliances started coming into being.
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然後家電開始變成主流。
09:58
And this was huge. The first one was the electric fan --
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那是很大的事,首先是電扇 --
10:01
this was the 1890 electric fan.
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這是 1890 年的電扇
10:04
And the appliances, the golden age of appliances really lasted --
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而家電的黄金時期持續了 --
10:08
it depends how you want to measure it --
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要看你怎麼去估算它 --
10:10
but it's anywhere from 40 to 60 years. It goes on a long time.
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大概是 40 到 60 年,這持續了一段很長的時間。
10:13
It starts about 1890. And the electric fan was a big success.
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從 1890 年開始,電扇是個大成功。
10:19
The electric iron, also very big.
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電熨斗也是大成功。
10:22
By the way, this is the beginning of the asbestos lawsuit.
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順道一提,這是石棉訴訟的開始。
10:26
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
10:27
There's asbestos under that handle there.
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這手把下面有塊石棉。
10:32
This is the first vacuum cleaner, the 1905 Skinner Vacuum,
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這是第一個吸塵器,1905年胡佛公司出產的
10:35
from the Hoover Company. And this one weighed 92 pounds
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這個吸塵器重達41.73公斤
10:40
and took two people to operate and cost a quarter of a car.
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要兩個人才能運作,而且價錢是一台車的四分之一
10:45
So it wasn't a big seller.
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所以那時賣得不好
10:47
This was truly, truly an early-adopter product --
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這是真的早期試用者的產品
10:51
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
10:52
the 1905 Skinner Vacuum.
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這 1905 "使金美" 吸塵器
10:54
But three years later, by 1908, it weighed 40 pounds.
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但是三年後,1908年,它的重量下到18公斤。
10:59
Now, not all these things were highly successful.
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這些東西並不是每一樣都很成功。
11:03
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
11:05
This is the electric tie press, which never really did catch on.
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這是領帶電熨斗,它也是失敗的產品。
11:08
People, I guess, decided that they would not wrinkle their ties.
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我猜大部份的人覺得領帶應該不會皺吧。
11:15
These never really caught on either:
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這些也都失敗了:
11:17
the electric shoe warmer and drier. Never a big seller.
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這是烘鞋電把,也是沒有大賣
11:21
This came in, like, six different colors.
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它有六種不同顏色的款式
11:23
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
11:25
I don't know why. But I thought, you know,
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我也不知道為什麼,不過
11:28
sometimes it's just not the right time for an invention;
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有時候可能發明的時間不對
11:32
maybe it's time to give this one another shot.
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再試一下也許會成也說不定。
11:35
So I thought we could build a Super Bowl ad for this.
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如果我們來做個超級盃廣告
11:39
We'd need the right partner. And I thought that really --
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再找個贊助商 --
11:43
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
11:45
I thought that would really work, to give that another shot.
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這次成功的機率就大不同了吧。
11:49
Now, the toaster was huge
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烤吐司機當時是大發明
11:51
because they used to make toast on open fires,
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因為在那之前要用火來烤
11:54
and it took a lot of time and attention.
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要花很多時間去顧
11:56
I want to point out one thing. This is -- you guys know what this is.
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我要給你們看這個東西,你們知道這是什麼吧。
12:02
They hadn't invented the electric socket yet.
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那時還沒發明電插座
12:05
So this was -- remember, they didn't wire the houses for electricity.
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記得嗎,他們那時拉線到房子不是為了電
12:08
They wired them for lighting. So your -- your appliances would plug in.
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而是為了燈,所以你的電器要接到
12:12
They would -- each room typically had a light bulb socket at the top.
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每個房間天花板上的燈泡插座
12:15
And you'd plug it in there.
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你就把電器插到那插座上。
12:17
In fact, if you've seen the Carousel of Progress at Disney World,
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如果曾去過廸士尼世界神奇樂園裡的 Carousel of Progress
12:20
you've seen this. Here are the cables coming up into this light fixture.
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你會看到所有的電線是接到燈座上的。
12:24
All the appliances plug in there. And you would just unscrew your light bulb
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你要先把燈泡轉下來
12:28
if you wanted to plug in an appliance.
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再插上電器。
12:30
The next thing that really was a big, big deal was the washing machine.
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接著洗衣機算是很大很大的事情。
12:35
Now, this was an object of much envy and lust.
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這東西才令大家趨之若鶩
12:38
Everybody wanted one of these electric washing machines.
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每個人都想要一台電動洗衣機。
12:41
On the left-hand side, this was the soapy water.
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左手邊是肥皂水
12:43
And there's a rotor there -- that this motor is spinning.
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這裡有個轉輪 -- 這是旋轉馬達。
12:45
And it would clean your clothes.
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這東西會洗你的衣服。
12:47
This is the clean rinse-water. So you'd take the clothes out of here,
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這是清水區,你要把衣服拿到這裡
12:50
put them in here, and then you'd run the clothes through this electric wringer.
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然後你讓衣服通過這個電動圈圈。
12:54
And this was a big deal.
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在當時這是很重大的。
12:56
You'd keep this on your porch. It was a little bit messy and kind of a pain.
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因為它有點髒所以這東西通常會放在房子外的騎樓,
13:00
And you'd run a long cord into the house
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然後麻煩的是你要接一條很長的電線到房子裡面
13:03
where you could screw it into your light socket.
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特別是轉到燈泡插座上。
13:06
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
13:07
And that's actually kind of an important point in my presentation,
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事實上,這裡有一個重要的點
13:10
because they hadn't invented the off switch.
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因為那時"開關"還沒有發明
13:14
That was to come much later -- the off switch on appliances --
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直到過了一陣子之後 -- 電器上的 "關" 才出現
13:17
because it didn't make any sense.
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因為那時不太合常理
13:19
I mean, you didn't want this thing clogging up a light socket.
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我是說,那時候你如果不用電器的話
13:22
So you know, when you were done with it, you unscrewed it.
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把插座轉下來就好了,沒必要擠一堆在燈座上。
13:25
That's what you did. You didn't turn it off.
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所以沒有所謂 "開/關" 的需要。
13:27
And as I said before, they hadn't invented the electric outlet either,
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我之前也說過,那時還沒有發明電插座
13:31
so the washing machine was a particularly dangerous device.
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所以洗衣機是很危險的設備
13:34
And there are --
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像是 -- 如果你研究一下
13:36
when you research this, there are gruesome descriptions
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你可以找到一些令人驚心動魄的陳述
13:39
of people getting their hair and clothes caught in these devices.
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有人的頭髮跟衣服被捲到機器裡面
13:44
And they couldn't yank the cord out
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然後他們沒辦法把電拔掉
13:46
because it was screwed into a light socket inside the house.
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因為插頭是轉到房子裡燈炮的插座上。
13:50
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
13:51
And there was no off switch, so it wasn't very good.
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所以關不掉是個令人頭大的問題
13:56
And you might think that that was incredibly stupid of our ancestors
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你可能會想把電插在燈座上面
14:00
to be plugging things into a light socket like this.
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我們的祖先們是不是太笨了。
14:03
But, you know, before I get too far into condemning our ancestors,
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不過,在我為我們的祖先辯解之前,
14:07
I thought I'd show you: this is my conference room.
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我想讓大家看看: 這是我的會議室。
14:10
This is a total kludge, if you ask me.
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如果你問我的話,這真是亂弄。
14:13
First of all, this got installed upside down. This light socket --
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首先,這個裝得上下顛倒了,這個燈炮插座 --
14:16
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
14:17
and so the cord keeps falling out, so I taped it in.
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插頭一直掉下來,所以我用膠帶貼著它。
14:19
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
14:21
This is supposed -- don't even get me started. But that's not the worst one.
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別讓我開始,這還不是最糟的
14:25
This is what it looks like under my desk.
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這是我桌子底下的樣子
14:27
I took this picture just two days ago.
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我兩天前才照的相片。
14:30
So we really haven't progressed that much since 1908.
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所以你可以看到1908年到現在沒進步多少。
14:33
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
14:35
It's a total, total mess.
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糟透了。
14:37
And, you know, we think it's getting better,
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我們想事情可能越來越好,
14:40
but have you tried to install 802.11 yourself?
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可是你們有人試過自己裝802.11網路嗎?
14:44
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
14:45
I challenge you to try. It's very hard.
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喜歡挑戰的人可以試一下,很難。
14:47
I know Ph.D.s in Computer Science --
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我認識幾個專攻電腦的博士生 --
14:50
this process has brought them to tears, absolute tears. (Laughter)
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這個過程搞得他們真的欲哭無淚。
14:54
And that's assuming you already have DSL in your house.
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而且這還是假設你已經家裡有DSL了。
15:00
Try to get DSL installed in your house.
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試著在家裡裝 DSL。
15:03
The engineers who do it everyday can't do it.
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這些每天做的工程師也裝不起來
15:05
They have to -- typically, they come three times.
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他們要來家裡三次
15:08
And one friend of mine was telling me a story:
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我的一個朋友跟我講他的故事
15:10
not only did they get there and have to wait,
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不止要先等
15:13
but then the engineers, when they finally did get there,
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終於等到工程師三度光臨以後
15:16
for the third time, they had to call somebody.
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他們還要打電話找人
15:18
And they were really happy that the guy had a speakerphone
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他們還很高興那裡有免持聽筒的電話
15:21
because then they had to wait on hold for an hour
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因為他們要等上...
15:23
to talk to somebody to give them an access code
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足足一個小時
15:25
after they got there.
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才能拿到他們的存取碼。
15:27
So we're not -- we're pretty kludge-y ourselves.
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所以我們自己也是很雜牌拼湊的啦。
15:31
By the way, DSL is a kludge.
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我認為,DSL像是個雜牌。
15:33
I mean, this is a twisted pair of copper that was never designed
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這電話用的雙絞銅線
15:35
for the purpose it's being put to --
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不是設計用來傳輸資料的。
15:37
you know it's the whole thing --
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因此這整件事情
15:39
we're very, very primitive. And that's kind of the point.
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我們還在很早的草創期
15:43
Because, you know, resilience -- if you think of it in terms of the Gold Rush,
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因為回復力,如果你想到的是淘金熱的比喻,
15:47
then you'd be pretty depressed right now
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那你現在會很沮喪
15:49
because the last nugget of gold would be gone.
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因為最後一塊金子已經沒了。
15:52
But the good thing is, with innovation, there isn't a last nugget.
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好處是,有了創新就無所謂最後一塊金。
15:55
Every new thing creates two new questions and two new opportunities.
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每個新的東西創造出兩個新問題與兩個新機會。
16:00
And if you believe that, then you believe that where we are --
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如果你相信那個,你就會相信我們今天的處境是 --
16:04
this is what I think -- I believe that where we are with the incredible kludge --
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我認為: 我相信我們今天的雜亂 --
16:08
and I haven't even talked about user interfaces on the Web --
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我還沒談到網路上的使用者界面呢
16:12
but there's so much kludge, so much terrible stuff --
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然而因為這些雜亂跟可怕的東西,
16:15
we are at the 1908 Hurley washing machine stage with the Internet.
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網際網路就像是在1908年洗衣機的階段
16:19
That's where we are. We don't get our hair caught in it,
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這就是我們的所在,我們不怕頭髮被捲進去,
16:22
but that's the level of primitiveness of where we are.
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但是這混亂不明的時期
16:25
We're in 1908.
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我們在1908。
16:27
And if you believe that, then stuff like this doesn't bother you. This is 1996:
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如果你相信的話,像這樣的東西不會對你造成困擾。這是1996:
16:31
"All the negatives add up to making the online experience not worth the trouble."
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"所有負面的麻煩加起來讓網路經驗變得不值一試"
16:35
1998: "Amazon.toast." In 1999: "Amazon.bomb."
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1998: "亞馬遜.乾杯" 1999: "亞馬遜.炸彈"
16:41
My mom hates this picture.
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我媽很痛恨這張照片
16:43
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
16:47
She -- but you know, if you really do believe that it's the very,
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如果你真正相信這只是開頭
16:50
very beginning, if you believe it's the 1908 Hurley washing machine,
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如果你相信這是1908年的洗衣機器
16:54
then you're incredibly optimistic. And I do think that that's where we are.
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那你會無比的樂觀。而且我認為那是我們現今所在的地方。
16:57
And I do think there's more innovation ahead of us
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而且我想在我們前面的創新
17:00
than there is behind us.
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多過於我們已經創過的。
17:02
And in 1917, Sears -- I want to get this exactly right.
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1917年喜而思電器城
17:07
This was the advertisement that they ran in 1917.
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這是1917年他們做的廣告
17:11
It says: "Use your electricity for more than light."
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上面說: "多用電而不只是燈。"
17:14
And I think that's where we are.
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而我想這是我們現在所在的
17:16
We're very, very early. Thank you very much.
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是非常非常早的階段。謝謝您們。
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