贫富差距 Economic Inequality
有两种加剧贫富差距的原因:零和游戏与非零和游戏。在零和游戏里,一个人要获得更多财富必须要牺牲别人的财富; 在非零和游戏里,人们可以创造财富。
贫富差距并不是真正的问题。当一个穷人因为付不起水费而被停水时,Larry Page有多富裕并不改变问题的严重性。缩小贫富差距的初衷不是打压富人,而是帮助穷人。真正的问题是贫穷。社会需要摆脱贫穷的阶梯,需要分配给贫穷阶级的机会。
黑客信条 The Hacker Ethics
As Levy Summarized in chapter 2 of Hackers, there are 6 hacker ethics:
1)Access to computers - and anything which might teach you something about the way the world works - should be unlimited and total. Always yield to the Hands-On Imperative! 使用计算机以及所有有助于了解这个世界本质的事物都不应受到任何限制。任何事情都应该亲手尝试。
Levy is recounting hackers' abilities to learn and build upon pre-existing ideas and system. He believes that access gives hackers the opportunity to take things apart, fix, or improve upon them and to learn and understand how they work. This gives them the knowledge to create new and even more interesting things. Access aids the expansion of technology.
2) All information should be free. 信息应该全部免费。
Linking directly with the principle of access, information needs to be free for hackers to fix, improve, and reinvent systems. A free exchange of information allows for greater overall creativity. In the hacker viewpoint, any system could benefit from an easy flow of information, a concept known as transparency in the social sciences.
这里Levy的free更多是指“无限制地分享”,而不是“免费”。不过我觉得信息的本质是免费的。因为易于复制,所以信息本身很难收费。但是在现在,因为信息量爆炸,信息有很大的搜索成本。信息,作为一种服务,可以不是免费的。
3)Mistrust authority - promote decentralization. 不信任权威,提倡去中心化。
The best way to promote the free exchange of information is to have an open system that presents no boundaries between a hacker and a piece of information or an item of equipment that he needs in his quest for knowledge, improvement, and time on-line. Hackers believe that bureaucracies, whether corporate, government, or university, are flawed systems.
现在,大部分信息确实是去权威化/去中心化的。比如微信上各种被广泛分享的文章。决定内容/信息好坏的硬通货变成了什么?
很多人会说是流量。但是不同阶级有不同的喜好。很多有着广泛转发量的文章其实只是利用人性弱点,比如《不转发这条锦鲤考试必挂》。这些低质量的内容却获得了很多流量。流量也许是一种货币,但是不能被认为是一种衡量标准。
也有人会说是匹配度。不同阶级/不同个体对信息的需求不同,你最需要的信息是最好的信息。这个也确实是搜索(比如Google,百度),细分社区(比如知乎,豆瓣)在做的事。的确,信息匹配意味着价值。一方对用户而言,匹配的信息带来更多价值。一方面对信息提供者而言,更匹配的信息也意味着更匹配的广告。不过越来越个性化的信息匹配带来的问题是每个群体之间的距离越来越远,越来越分离。这次美国大选,很多人之后反思,为什么我的朋友圈里所有人都和我一样支持Clinton,而Trump却最终赢了大选。因为你接触到的信息,都是更匹配你的信息。你接触到的信息都天然地带着你的偏见,我们叫做Selection Bias。
4)Hackers should be judged by their hacking, not criteria such as degrees, age, race, sex, or position. 判断一名黑客的水平应该看他的技术能力,而不是看他的学历、年龄或地位等其他标准。
Inherent in the hacker system is a meritocratic system where superficiality is disregarded in esteem of skill. Levy articulates that criteria such as age, sex, race, position, and qualification and deemed irrelevant within the hacker community. Hacker skill is the ultimate determinant of acceptance. Such a code within the hacker community fosters the advance of hacking and software development.
一个很有效率的体系。一个需要时刻有效学习的体系。
5)You can create art and beauty on a computer. 你可以用计算机创造美和艺术。
A program's code was considered to hold a beauty of its own, having been carefully composed and artfully arranged.
6)Computers can change your life for the better. 计算机使生活更美好。
Think of world improvement when you code.