The other day I had to log into a service I hadn't used before. Since I was a new user,the website decided that it needed to check I wasn't a robot and so set me a Captcha test to determine whether the user is a person or a machine.
前几天，我不得不登录一个之前从未用过的服务。因为是新用户，网站认定需要验证我不是机器人，于是给我出了一道验证码测试，用来判断使用者是人还是机器。
I was presented with an image of a roadside scene over which was laid a grid. My "challenge" was to click on each cell in the grid that contained a traffic sign. I did so,a bit irritated. Then I was presented with another image and another grid—also with a request to identify road signs. Like a lamb, I complied, after which the website accepted my input.
屏幕上出现了一张路边场景的图片，上面覆盖着网格。我的“任务”是点击网格里所有包含交通标志的方格。我有点不耐烦地照做了。接着又弹出一张图片和另一张网格，同样要求我识别交通标志。我像只温顺的羔羊一样配合完成，之后网站才通过了我的验证。
And then I realised what I had been doing was adding to a dataset for training the machine-learning software that guides self-driving cars. So, to gain access to an automated service that will benefit financially from my input, I first have to do some unpaid labour to help improve the performance of autonomous vehicles.
这时我才反应过来，自己刚才所做的一切，其实是在为自动驾驶汽车的机器学习软件补充训练数据集。也就是说，为了使用一项能从我的操作中获利的自动化服务，我首先得无偿付出劳动，帮着优化自动驾驶系统的性能。
Neat, eh? But note also the delicious additional irony that the Captcha is described as an "automated Turing test". The Turing test was conceived, you may recall, as a way of enabling humans to determine whether a machine could respond in such a way that one couldn't tell whether it was a human or a robot. So we have wandered into a world in which machines make us do tricks to prove that we are humans!
挺巧妙的，对吧？但更讽刺的是，这种验证码还被称作“自动图灵测试”。你或许还记得，图灵测试的初衷，是让人类来判断一台机器的回应是否能逼真到让人分不清它是人还是机器人。可如今我们却走进了一个荒诞的世界——机器反倒要我们耍把戏，来证明自己是人类！
The strangest aspect of this unparalleled shift is how under-discussed it has been. The metaphor of the boiling frog comes to mind. Have we become so subtly conditioned by digital technology that we don't see what's been happening to us? Have we been conditioned to accept a world governed by"smart"tech, trading convenience to the point where we become a bit like machines ourselves?
这场前所未有的转变最诡异的地方，在于它几乎没被人们认真讨论过。我不禁想到“温水煮青蛙”的比喻。我们是不是已经被数字技术潜移默化地驯化，以至于对自身处境的变化浑然不觉？我们是否早已习惯接受由“智能”科技掌控的世界，为了贪图便利，最终把自己变得越来越像机器？
In a recent startling and thoughtful book,two scholars—Brett Frischmann, a law professor,and Evan Selinger,a philosopher—argue that the answer to that question is"yes".
在近期一本发人深省的重磅著作中，法学教授布雷特·弗里施曼与哲学家埃文·塞林格两位学者给出了肯定的答案。
And they're right. There's nothing technophobic(技术恐惧的) about that. We shape our tools and then our tools shape us. Technology is supposed to provide tools that serve human ends. But, as the machine-learning Captcha demonstrates,a significant proportion of digital tech now sees (and uses)humans as means to ends that are not ours. In the process, they reduce us to the status of cheery rats running on treadmills(踏车) designed by people who do not have our interests at heart. So back to the frog metaphor. Are we smart enough to jump out before it's too late? You don't even have to Google it to know the answer.
他们说得没错。这并非是对技术的恐惧抵触。我们创造了工具，而后工具又反过来塑造了我们。技术本应是服务于人类目的的手段。然而，就像机器学习验证码所展现的那样，如今相当一部分数字技术，都将人类视作达成非人类利益目标的工具。在这个过程中，我们被降格成了欢快踩踏着转轮的小白鼠，而设计这一切的人，根本不在乎我们的切身利益。说回青蛙的比喻，我们是否还有足够的清醒，在为时已晚之前跳出温水？这个答案，甚至都不用去谷歌搜索就能明白。
重点短语注释
Captcha test：验证码测试 traffic sign：交通标志 machine-learning software：机器学习软件 self-driving / autonomous vehicles：自动驾驶汽车 Turing test：图灵测试 boiling frog：温水煮青蛙（比喻对缓慢发生的危险毫无察觉） be conditioned by：被……潜移默化、被驯化 means to ends：达成目的的手段 run on treadmills：在踏轮上奔跑（比喻被操控、徒劳劳作）
