特别报道之数据经济即将到来

文章导读

本文选自《经济学人》2月22日刊文章。我们的生活离不开手机、电脑，未来智能汽车也许也会加入人类生活必备的设备大军，我们在使用这些数据的时候，产生了大量数据，这些数据构成了虚拟世界的我们，这被极客们称为“数字双胞胎”，它们不单纯是我们的复制品，它们比我们还了解我们自己，我们喜欢什么、适合什么样的职业、可以和什么样的人结婚、何时会生病......大量的数据会催生数据经济，本周期刊的特别报道专栏就分析了新数据经济的机遇与陷阱。

由于篇幅较长，本文节选全文重点段落进行精讲，译文仅供参考。

选文精讲

The data economy 数据经济

A deluge ofdata is giving rise to a new economy

海量数据正在催生一种新经济

a deluge of: 大量的；deluge: 泛滥

Feb 22nd 2020 |

AN ARMY OFdoppelgangersis invading the world. Digital copies of aircraft engines, wind turbines and other heavy equipment came first. Now the electronic ghosts of smaller and larger things are joining them in the virtual realm, from toothbrushes and traffic lights to entire shops and factories. Even humans have begun developing these alter egos. In America the National Football League is planning to design an electronic avatar for every player.

doppelganger: 幽灵

一支幽灵大军正在入侵世界。首先出现的是飞机引擎、风力涡轮机和其他重型设备的数字拷贝，现在，从牙刷到红绿灯，再到整个商店和工厂，大大小小的电子幽灵正在虚拟世界中加入这支大军的行列，甚至人类也开始发展电子世界的另一个我，美国国家橄榄球联盟计划为每位球员设计一个电子化身。

These “digital twins”, as geeks term them, are far more than replicas of the original. Think of them more as shadows that are, thanks to a multitude of sensors and wireless connectivity, intimately linked to their physical selves, and every day producing oceans of data. If something happens in the real world, it is rapidly reflected in this shadow realm. Some digital twins already come with the laws of nature programmed in. They double as a database of everything that has ever happened to the original. This makes it possible to look into their future. Sports coaches, for instance, will be able to run simulations, predict when an athlete might get injured and adjust training routines to avoid problems.

这些被极客们称为“数字双胞胎”的东西，其意义远不止是原来的复制品。由于大量的传感器和无线连接，它们更像是影子，与它们物理世界的自我紧密相连，每天产生海量的数据。如果在现实世界中发生了什么事，它很快就会在这个影子王国中反映出来。一些数字双胞胎已经带有编程自然法则，他们同时也是一个数据库，记录了原型发生的一切，这让它可以预见原型的未来。例如，体育教练将能够运行模拟，预测运动员何时可能受伤，并调整训练程序以避免该问题发生。

Digital twins are just one part of a vast shift in the world’s economy. They populate what David Gelernter of Yale University long ago forecast as “mirror worlds”: a new dimension of human life based on and fuelled by data. Year by year, ever more parts of the physical realm are coming to be represented and simulated in the virtual world—an inversion ofPlato’s theory that real-world objects are just imperfect copies of their true being in the spiritual realm. The emergence of these mirror worlds will bring about a distinct economy. This development will require new markets, institutions, infrastructure, businesses and even geopolitical arrangements. It is the promises andpitfallsof the new “data economy” which will be the focus of this special report.

an inversion of: ...的反面

pitfall: 陷阱

数字双胞胎只是世界经济的一个巨大转变。它们构成了耶鲁大学(Yale University)的戴维•格伦恩特很久以前预测的“镜像世界”:一个以数据为基础并由数据推动的人类生活的新维度。年复一年，越来越多的物理世界将在虚拟世界中得到再现和模拟——这与柏拉图的理论正好相反，柏拉图认为，现实世界中的物体只是对精神世界中真我的不完美复制。这些镜像世界的出现将带来一个独特的经济。这种发展需要新的市场、机构、基础设施、企业甚至地缘政治安排。新“数据经济”的前景和陷阱将是本期特别报道的重点。