十種可怕的現代科技(1)

Technology makes our lives better. You're taking a MOOC class, and have your appointments organized on your computer. You watch wepisodes on your internet-capable high-definition television. You pay your bills electronically and save time and money. That's fine and dandy, until someone takes out the electronic banking system and the machines take over the planet.

科技爲我們帶來了更美好的生活。你可以參加網絡課程，利用電腦整理自己的約會事宜。你也可以在支持聯網的高清電視機上瀏覽網頁，使用網絡進行電子支付。這一切都讓人覺得如此得心應手，直到有一天你發現，有人可以侵入銀行的網上交易系統，而先進的機器將會攻陷我們的星球。

Sounds crazy? Perhaps. None of the gadgets and innovations we included in our list of 10 scary technologies is likely to rain death and destruction on our little planet, though that doesn't prevent people from being unnerved by them. Read on to find out what weirdness may await in the future.

這聽起來是不是很瘋狂？或許吧。以下我們列出的這10個嚇人的科技發明中，不論是小玩意還是大發明，都不大可能對我們的星球造成傷害甚至是毀滅性的打擊。只不過人們仍然對此感到惶惶不安。現在就讓我們來看看，未來到底有什麼古怪的事情在等着我們吧。

ing Voices at the Store

10.商店裏的私人擴音器

Imagine that you walk into your friendly neighborhood big box store and instead of being greeted by a smiling retiree, you hear whispered voices prompting you to buy things. You spin around to see who's speaking, but there's no one there and none of the other shoppers seem alarmed. Have you finally gone nuts? No, but the ]advertising industry has.

想想看，你走進附近一家環境不錯的大型超市，迎接你的並不是一位面帶笑容的老年人，而是親切溫柔的聲音耳語般地鼓勵你購買一些商品。你四處搜尋，想要找到聲音的來源，然而店內並無任何工作人員。你環顧四周，發現身邊的其他消費者也並無異常。最後你會不會好奇的簡直要瘋掉了呢？不，當然不會。真正瘋狂的是那些廣告商。

A company called Holosonics has developed a technology called the Audio Spotlight system, which uses tiny speakers to focus sound into a very narrow beam. Ultrasonic frequencies are too high for the human ear to hear, but as the sound travels from the Audio Spotlight system's speakers, air distorts the sound and makes it audible. It's perfect for in-store advertising, but you'd have to be standing in the right place to hear it.

全方位應用聲學公司（Holosonics）已經研發了一種稱作“聲音聚焦系統”的技術，能夠利用微型擴音器將聲音聚集成狹窄的一束。因超聲波的頻率過高，人類自然無法聽到這類聲音。但是應用了“聲音聚焦系統”的擴音器發出聲音後，空氣可以改變超聲波，使其能夠爲人類所聽見。這種技術用來進行店內廣告及營銷工作簡直是再合適不過了！然而要注意的是，只有站在正確的位置才能聽到聲音。

Hacking

9.解密DNA

When the human genome was fully mapped in 2003, researchers around the globe began to dissect the genome's 3 billion-plus base pairs for the root causes of diseases like Alzheimer's and common cancers. But that was only the beginning. The real dream of biotechnology is not only to understand how our DNA expresses itself, but also to "write" new DNA that heals disease and repairs bodies from the inside out. J. Craig Venter, the bio-entrepreneur whose company helped map the genome, reached a new milestone in 2010 when he built the world's first synthetic, self-replicating chromosome He loaded some homemade synthetic DNA into a bacterial cell and watched it grow and divide according to computer-generated As, Ts, Gs and Cs. By his own reckoning, he had created "life."

在人類基因組計劃於2003年圓滿完成之後，全球範圍內的研究人員都開始深入研究基因組中30多億個鹼基，試圖找出一些疾病如阿茲海默或其他常見癌症的根本病因。然而這僅僅是個開始。生物科技的終極理想不僅在於搞清楚基因表達的方式，還要能夠實現新型基因的創造，從而實現由內而外、完全治癒疾病的目的。克雷格·文特爾（g Venter）是一名生物科技領域的的企業家，其研究機構爲“人類基因組”計劃貢獻了一份力量。2010年，他所進行的“全球首例人工合成、自我複製的染色體”項目取得突破性進展。克雷格·文特爾將人工合成的DNA植入菌細胞，通過計算機生成四種鹼基（As,Ts,Gs 和Cs）來觀察菌細胞的分化生長。用他自己的話來說，他是在創造生命。

In the happy scenario, biologists of the near future will figure out how to program viruses and bacteria to deliver custom-made cures that shrink cancerous tumors or reverse the tide of dementia. In the super scary scenario, bioterrorists engineer deadly superbugs that target us at a genetic level. In a 2012 article, The Atlantic imagined a technologically plausible scheme in which the president of the United States is assassinated by a highly contagious cold designed to target a weak link in his specific genetic code. To keep your DNA out of enemy hands, it's best not to leave the house without a hairnet and rubber gloves.

如果事情發展順利的話，在不遠的將來，生物學家有望控制細菌和病毒，針對患病者的病症提供所需的治療，從而緩和癌症類腫瘤的病況或是有效扭轉老年癡呆的發作。不過，如果事情朝着極其可怕的一面發展，生化恐怖分子也可能研發出致命性的超級細菌，直接從基因層面上對人類構成威脅。2012年，美國大西洋月刊發表一篇文章，作者在文章中提出一個科技上完全可行的假設：通過使人感染一種高傳染性的感冒，你能暗殺美國總統於無形，因爲這種感冒能攻擊人體基因代碼中某一特定的微弱鏈接。這樣看來，要想避免敵人獲取你的DNA，以後出門時髮網和橡膠手套可都要隨身攜帶啦。

rwar

8.網絡戰爭

Imagine a war fought completely by computer. No, we're not talking about a scene out of the movie "WarGames," we're talking an all-out attack on a nation's electronic infrastructure. What's that, you may ask? Those are the systems that control emergency response services, banks and other electronic commerce, the systems that run the electrical grid, water and fuel pipeline controls, and oh, yeah: defense weaponry. A well-executed attack could cause serious disruption and open the populace up to physical threats.

你能想象一場完全由電腦來對峙的戰爭嗎？等等，我們說的可不是《戰爭遊戲》中的一些場面，而是大家的電腦火力全開地攻擊一個國家的電子設施。聽到這裏你的反應可能是：“呃，你在說什麼？”我們所說的電子設施就是那些控制着應急服務部門、銀行、電子貿易、國家電網、供水管道、燃油管道和……噢！還有怎麼能少的了防禦武器裝備運行系統。一場精心設計的網絡攻擊可以完全瓦解上述的電子設施，甚至乎會影響到普通大衆的人身安全。

In 2013, FBI Director James Comey predicted that cyberattacks would soon overtake traditional international terrorism as the greatest threat to homeland security. In 2008,Georgia suspected Russia of denial-of-service attacks (which Russia denied). In 2013, South Korea accused North Korea of cyberttacks. Hackers have taken on the Pentagon, and some suspect terrorist organizations of training their operatives to launch computer assaults. So how do you defend against a cyberattack? Educating people about computer viruses and Trojan horses will help, and using updated antivirus software is also important.

聯邦調查局局長詹姆斯•科米（James Comey）在2013年預測，網絡攻擊會很快超越傳統的國際恐怖組織，成爲國家安全的最大隱患。2008年，在美國佐治亞州（Georgia），有互聯網研究專家懷疑俄羅斯政府對美國發起了阻斷服務攻擊。（譯註：denial-of-service attacks，縮寫：DoS，亦稱洪水攻擊，是一種網絡攻擊手法，其目的在於使目標計算機的網絡或系統資源耗盡，使服務暫時中斷或停止，導致其對目標客戶不可用。）而俄國政府對此言論表示否認。2013年韓國控告朝鮮對其進行網絡攻擊。這麼多的網絡攻擊事件傳出後，頓時言論四起，有的說黑客已經攻破了五角大樓的防火牆，還有的說有些疑似恐怖組織正在訓練特工，準備發起電腦襲擊。那麼身陷不安全網絡的我們該如何防範呢？爲了能夠讓大衆更安全地上網，政府應該普及有關計算機病毒和特洛伊木馬病毒（Trojan horses）的各種知識，讓公衆能夠識別並預防，除此之外，還應該不斷更新使用的殺毒軟件。

Cyberattacks actually might be useful tools against machines that have learned to think for themselves and chosen to eliminate humanity. It's the stuff of science fiction, but why do some people believe this could happen? Learn more on the next page.

科幻小說可能會出現：網絡攻擊實際上是用來對付那些擁有了意識並想要消除人類的機器的。但爲什麼會有人相信呢？不要走開，下一小節告訴你。

審校:Fiona 校對:落花生 編輯:Freya然