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21st translation contest: "The tides of tech" » English to Swahili » Entry by Grace Njenga


Source text in English

Translation by Grace Njenga (#26888)

Boom times are back in Silicon Valley. Office parks along Highway 101 are once again adorned with the insignia of hopeful start-ups. Rents are soaring, as is the demand for fancy vacation homes in resort towns like Lake Tahoe, a sign of fortunes being amassed. The Bay Area was the birthplace of the semiconductor industry and the computer and internet companies that have grown up in its wake. Its wizards provided many of the marvels that make the world feel futuristic, from touch-screen phones to the instantaneous searching of great libraries to the power to pilot a drone thousands of miles away. The revival in its business activity since 2010 suggests progress is motoring on.

So it may come as a surprise that some in Silicon Valley think the place is stagnant, and that the rate of innovation has been slackening for decades. Peter Thiel, a founder of PayPal, and the first outside investor in Facebook, says that innovation in America is “somewhere between dire straits and dead”. Engineers in all sorts of areas share similar feelings of disappointment. And a small but growing group of economists reckon the economic impact of the innovations of today may pale in comparison with those of the past.

[ … ]

Across the board, innovations fueled by cheap processing power are taking off. Computers are beginning to understand natural language. People are controlling video games through body movement alone—a technology that may soon find application in much of the business world. Three-dimensional printing is capable of churning out an increasingly complex array of objects, and may soon move on to human tissues and other organic material.

An innovation pessimist could dismiss this as “jam tomorrow”. But the idea that technology-led growth must either continue unabated or steadily decline, rather than ebbing and flowing, is at odds with history. Chad Syverson of the University of Chicago points out that productivity growth during the age of electrification was lumpy. Growth was slow during a period of important electrical innovations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; then it surged.
Kutoka ''Kwani mashine ya mawazo imeharibika? kutoka kwa Mwanauchumi
Nyakati za Maongozeko zimerudi katika bonde la Silikoni. Maegezo ya ofisi kando na barabara kuu ya 101 yamepabwa tena na insiginia ya biashara mpya zenye matumaini. Kodi zinapanda, kama ilivyo mahitaji ya nyumba za likizo katika miji ya mapumziko kama vile Ziwa la Tahoe, ishara ya utajiri unaojiri. Sehemu ya Kidaka ilikuwa mahali pa kuzaliwa pa kiwanda cha nusukondakta na tarakilishi na viwanda vya mitandao ambavyo vimekua baada ya kuzinduliwa. Wataalamu wake walitoa maajabu mengi yanayofanya dunia kuhisika kama ya siku za usoni, kutoka simu za skrini -za mguso hadi uchunguzi wa papo hapo wa maktaba kuu na nguvu za kuendesha ndege isiyo na mwendeshaji kwa umbali wa maelfu ya maili. Ufufuo katika shughuli zake za biashara unadokeza kuwa kuna maendeleo.

Kwa hivyo inaweza kushangaza kwamba baadhi ya wakazi hufikiria kuwa Bonde la Silikoni limezembea, na kwamba kiwango cha uvumbuzi kimekuwa kikilegezwa kwa miongo sasa. Peter Thei, mwasisi wa paypal, na mwekezaji wa kwanza wa kutoka nje katika Facebook, anasema kuwa uvumbuzi kule Marekani ni, ''huwa kati ya mahali mahututi na kifo''. Wahandisi kutoka nyanja zote wanakubaliana na maoni haya ya kutamausha. Na kikundi kidogo lakini kinachokua cha wanauchumi kinadhani kwamba athari za kiuchumi za uvumbuzi wa leo zitaongezeka zikilinganishwa na zile za zamani.

[...]

Kutoka pande zote, uvumbuzi unaowezeshwa na matumizi ya nguvu rahisi umevuma. Tarakilishi zimeanza kuelewa lugha ya kibinadamu. Watu wanadhibiti michezo ya video kupitia kwa miondoko ya mwili pekee- teknolojia ambayo hivi karibuni inaweza kupata programu-tumizi katika dunia ya biashara. Uchapaji wa pande tatu unaweza kusaga mkusanyiko wa vitu tata ambazo zinazidi kuongezeka, na hivi karibuni utaweza kutumiwa kwa tishu za bianadamu na kwa mabaki ya mimea na wanyama.

Mtu anayepinga uvumbuzi anaweza kuyapuuza haya kama''kesho iliyosongamana''. Lakini wazo kwamba maendeleo yanayoongozwa-na teknolojia lazima yaendelee bila kukoma au yaendeleee kufifia, badala ya kupungua na kutiririka, kinyume na historia. Chad Syverson wa Chuo Kikuu cha Chicago anaelezea kwamba ukuaji wa kiutendaji katika enzi za umeme ulibumbuasa. Ukuaji ulipungua katika kipindi cha uvumbuzi muhimu wa vitu vya umeme mwishoni mwa karne ya 19 na mwanzoni mwa karne ya 20, halafu ukaongezeka.


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