博业体育平台登录：十种可怕的现代科技(3)

3.Driverless Cars3.自动驾驶汽车Worldwide, roughly 1.3 million people are killed in car accidents each year. And then theres the evil of traffic itself; the American commuter is trapped in his or her car for an average of 38 hours each year. Thats a full week of lost productivity!每年，全球约有130万人杀于车祸。而交通本身就是罪魁祸首，一个美国上班族每年平均值被被困车上38小时，这就浪费了整整一个星期的生产力。Enter the Google self-driving car, an autonomous vehicle that promises to steer clear of accidents and keep traffic flowing smoothly via algorithm. Powered by Google Chauffeur software, the car uses GPS and a rooftop scanner to stay on course and respond to nearby vehicles. As of 2013, the car was still in its beta testing phase, but dozens of robotic cars were already on the road in California and Nevada.转入谷歌自动驾驶汽车时代，就能通过其系统运算法则增加车祸的再次发生，使交通流量维持稳定。车内装有强劲的导航系统驾驶员系统，它可以通过GPS 导航系统维持车辆在规定路线上行使，通过车顶扫描仪对邻近车辆作出反应。

以后2013年，这款车仍在展开第二阶段测试。但在加利福尼亚州和内华达州，一批自动驾驶车早已打算行经上路。One of the biggest concerns about driverless cars isnt a software glitch, but the awkward transition from robot mode to human mode. The soothing voice of Google Chauffeur alerts its human driver of upcoming situations that require hands-on control, like a tricky merge or a tollbooth. But Google engineers are still working out how much warning time is needed before the hand-off, or what to do if the driver has done something understandably human like doze off. No one wants to wake up behind the wheel of an SUV barreling down on a tollbooth at 65 mph (105 kph). And even fewer people want to be in that tollbooth.对于这款汽车，人们最担忧的并不是软件失灵的情况，而是自动模式与手动模式之间切换的灵活性。

在遇上必须手动驾驶员的情况，如棘手的拆分路段和转入收费站时，自动驾驶系统不会用舒缓的声音通报车主。但是，谷歌的工程师们仍在测试到底多长的缓冲器时间才是合理的？或是驾驶员人经常出现睡觉这样的少见不道德时，该怎么办？谁也想一唤醒来就发现自己于是以以65英里/时（105公里/时）的车速跟在一辆SUV的后面较慢驶进收费站，甚至没有人想要在收费站看见这种场景。2.Geoengineering2.地球工程The most important engineering innovations of the industrial age — motorized vehicles, electricity generation and industrial manufacturing — are the greatest sources of CO2 emissions. Since world leaders appear unwilling or unable to take meaningful action to reduce greenhouse emissions, some maverick scientists are proposing a risky solution called geoengineering.机动车辆、发电机和工业制造业是工业时代的三大最重要创意工程，也是二氧化碳的主要来源。

对于增加温室气体的废气，世界各国领导人都没展现出出有充足的意愿及能力采行行之有效的行动，因此一些特立独行的科学家就明确提出了一个风险很大的解决方案：地球工程。Geoengineering uses science and technology to hack the planet back into shape. Since global warming is the biggest threat, scientists are proposing creatively creepy (and very expensive) ways to artificially cool the atmosphere by either blocking the suns rays or sucking up excess CO2. Among them:地球工程是指通过科技手段像黑客一样“入侵”地球，使其完全恢复常态。鉴于全球气候变化已沦为对人类仅次于的威胁，科学家们明确提出了一些极具创造力又令人毛骨悚然（还十分便宜）的怪招，通过挡住太阳光或是吸取二氧化碳的方法来减少大气温度。

其中有：Spraying chemical aerosols like sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere to bounce a fraction of sunlight back into space倾倒化学气雾剂（如二氧化硫）到大气中，将一部分太阳光线光线返太空。Pouring iron into the ocean to spur algae blooms that consume CO2将铁质静脉注射进海洋，促成浮游植物交配以吸取二氧化碳。

Spraying a mist of seawater into low-lying clouds to make them brighter, reflecting more sunlight将海水倾倒到大气中，以减少云层的亮度，光线更加多太阳光线。Planting forests of artificial trees that use chemical reactions to absorb and store CO2栽种“人造树根”，利用化学反应来吸取和储存二氧化碳。Even geoengineering promoters warn of unintended side effects. Out-of-control algae blooms could create massive dead zones in the ocean; one nations seawater spray could cause monsoons halfway around the world; chemical reactions could cause widespread damage to natural habitats and human life. Geoengineers argue theres just as much danger in doing nothing. By researching these techniques now, at least well have some hard data when its time to push the panic button.地球工程的发起人曾警告过世人这可能会带给意想不到的副作用：失控的浮游植物不会造成大量海洋生物丧生；在一个国家海面倾倒海水可能会影响到大半个世界的季风情况；化学反应不会对自然环境和人类生活导致极大伤害。

然而，即使听见了这样的警告，地球工程的支持者们依然指出不采取任何行动的危害更大。不过通过目前对这些技术的研究，最少在情况显得令其我们不知所措的时候还能按下应急电源启动这项技术。For our last scary technology, we consider a little thing called the Internet.至于最后一项可怕的科技，我们考虑到将互联网这项新兴科技划入表格。

1.Internet Surveillance1.互联网监控More than 380 million people visited Web sites owned by Google and Yahoo in an average month in 2013. Every e-mail sent through Gmail, every spreadsheet saved in Google Docs and every chat conversation held on Yahoo Messenger is stored in the cloud, a global network of servers and data centers. You might assume that all of this private information and personal data is encrypted and protected from prying eyes. But now we know better.谷歌和雅虎网站2013年的月平均值浏览量多达三亿八千万人次。每一封通过谷歌邮箱发送到的邮件，每一份储存在谷歌文档的电子表格，还有每一段在雅虎通上再次发生的对话，都记录在云服务器上—一个全球性的服务器和数据中心网络。有可能你还以为“窥视魔眼”这个程序可以加密维护自己的私人信息和数据，但事实不是这样的，现在真凶就赤裸裸地放在我们眼前。Thanks to the leaked revelations of former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden in 2013, we learned that the U.S. intelligence agency is actively sifting through e-mails, search histories and phone records of millions of innocent people, looking for potential terrorist activity. As part of a secret program called PRISM, the NSA won court approval to force companies like Google and Yahoo to turn over records on foreign Web users. If that wasnt enough, the NSA also secretly tapped into Google and Yahoos cloud servers without the companies knowledge or approval. Critics call it blatantly unconstitutional to submit every unwitting Web user to blanket surveillance.感激前国家安全局（NSA）承包商爱德华斯诺登于2013年的透漏，让我们需要了解到，原本美国情报机构仍然在大力检验数百万无辜者的电子邮件、搜寻历史和电话记录，以此查询潜在的恐怖活动。

作为“棱镜”这个秘密计划的参与者，美国国家安全局取得了法庭的批准后，可以擅自拒绝像谷歌和雅虎这样的公司上缴外国网络用户的记录。如果这还足以获得充足的信息，那么在没告诉涉及企业并获得批准后的情况下，美国国家安全局还能悄悄转入谷歌和雅虎的云服务器查阅信息。批评者们指出，在用户从不知情的情况下全面监测其网络信息，这样的不道德是行径违背宪法的。

As scary as it is, you should assume that all your online activities are being collected by someone, whether its your Internet provider, Google or a secret government spying program. Sleep tight and dont let Big Brother bite!假设你自己的网络活动正在被某人监控着，这个人有可能是你的互联网服务提供商，也有可能是谷歌或继续执行着秘密监控计划的政府，看看这是多么可怕的事啊。期望你还能睡觉个好慧，可别被监控的大佬吓坏了！。

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