双语新闻：资本主义正走向自毁的不归路上?

2014-05-09 15:05:18来源：可可英语

　　That home will be powered by -- you guessed it -- increasingly cheap renewable energy, and it will be stocked with more sensors than you can imagine, all feeding data into a smart grid, so your house knows how much energy you need and when, and what needs to be repaired.

　　大家应该已经想到，这样的住宅将越来越多地使用清洁的可再生能源，其中安装的传感器数量之多将超过大家的想象;所有数据都将汇集到智能电网中，这样住宅就能知道人们在什么时候需要多少电力，以及哪些东西需要维修。

　　This is a technological utopia brought to you by the convergence of what Rifkin calls the Communications Internet (how information is shared), the Energy Internet (how energy needs are shared and energy itself is distributed), and the Logistics Internet (how products are built and delivered), all equaling the so-called Internet of Things.

　　构建这样一个高科技乌托邦的途径就是把里夫金所说的通信互联网(怎样共享信息)、能源互联网(怎样共享能源需求信息以及怎样分配能源)和物流互联网(怎样制造并运送产品)融合起来，这些网络就是人们所说的物联网。

　　Granted, the initial cost of building such a system will be substantial. But once it's up and running, Rifkin argues, the benefits will fundamentally reshape our economic order. "The Internet of Things is already boosting productivity to the point where the marginal cost of producing many goods and services is nearly zero, making them practically free," Rifkin writes. "The result is corporate profits are beginning to dry up, property rights are weakening, and an economy based on scarcity is slowly giving way to an economy of abundance."

　　的确，打造这样一个系统的初始成本可能会非常高。但里夫金认为，建成并投入运行后，这个系统所带来的益处将从根本上改变我们的经济秩序。他写道：“物联网已经让生产率达到了以接近于零的边际成本提供诸多产品和服务的水平，这些产品和服务实际上已经处于免费状态。由此产生的结果是，公司利润开始枯竭，产权开始弱化，富裕经济开始慢慢取代以稀有性为基础的经济。”

　　Actually, corporate profits in the U.S. are increasing, both in absolute terms and as a portion of national income. Sure, some industries are struggling against the waves of technological disruption (e.g. almost the entire media sector). And then there are energy giants like Exxon and Chevron, which are facing daunting, expensive headwinds in the search for and cultivation of additional sources of fossil fuel. But businesses overall are making money, and quite a bit of it.

　　但实际情况是，美国公司的利润正在上升，无论用绝对水平，还是用占国民收入的比例来衡量都是如此。当然，在科技的颠覆之下，有些行业正在苦苦挣扎(比如几乎整个媒体行业)。同时，埃克森(Exxon)和雪佛龙(Chevron)等大型能源企业在寻找和开发新化石燃料资源方面遇到的高成本阻力让人望而却步。但总的来说，企业都在赚钱，而且赚的相当多。

　　Where does capitalism fit into Rifkin's world? "In the coming era," he says, "both capitalism and socialism will lose their once-dominant hold over society, as a new generation increasingly identifies with Collaboratism."

　　资本主义和里夫金的世界有什么契合点呢?他的答案是：“在即将到来的时代，随着新生代越来越认同协作主义(Collaboratism)，资本主义和社会主义都将失去主导社会的能力。”

本文关键字: 资本主义正走向自毁的不归路上?