Steve Jobs’s former right-hand woman, Joanna Hoffman, who has been in the eye of Silicon Valley long enough to see multiple generations of geniuses exerting their whim over technology—and thus, society—has unleashed a scathing attack on Facebook and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.
史蒂夫·乔布斯从前的得力女助手Joanna Hoffman猛烈抨击Facebook及其首席执行官马克·扎克伯格。她在硅谷的核心圈待的时间足够长,看过了几代天才对科技和社会发挥他们的奇思妙想。

For decades Hoffman was one of Steve Jobs’s most trusted confidants. She joined Apple in 1980 as the fifth person on the Macintosh team and was highly regarded by Jobs for her skills in product marketing. She even left Apple and joined Jobs at Next when he was forced from the company. But while Hoffman has been revered in tech circles for decades, her name only became more common to people outside the industry thanks to the Steve Jobs movie in which she was portrayed by actor Kate Winslet.
数十年来,Hoffman是史蒂夫·乔布斯最信任的人之一。她于1980年加入苹果,是加入麦金塔团队的第五人,她在产品营销上展现出的才能受到了乔布斯的高度赏识。当乔布斯被迫离开苹果时,她甚至离开苹果,进入乔布斯的NeXT电脑公司。虽然Hoffman在科技圈备受尊崇数十年,但她的名字为外行人所熟知还是因为《史蒂夫·乔布斯》这部电影,她的角色由演员凯特·温斯莱特出演。

But in a recent talk, Hoffman turned her focus from reflecting on her work with Apple and Jobs in the 20th century and shifted to not mincing words about one of the most powerful tech companies in the 21st century. As CNBC reports, responding to a question at the 2020 CogX conference about the cult of leadership in technology and the resulting egos from those that head world-changing companies, Hoffman wondered if some of today’s leaders are “motivated by something . . . darker than what appears.”
但在最近的访谈中,Hoffman不再评说20世纪她在苹果的工作和与乔布斯共事的情况,转而直言不讳地谈论21世纪最有实力的科技公司之一。美国消费者新闻与商业频道报道,Hoffman在2020年CogX会议上,在回答关于对技术领袖的崇拜,以及由此产生的改变世界的公司领导者的自我意识的问题时,她好奇现在的某些领导者是否是受了“比表面看来更黑暗的东西所激励”。

She specifically called out Facebook, in light of the misinformation and strife the company’s platform seems to thrive on. Hoffman argued there were elements of Facebook that are “destroying the very fabric of democracy, destroying the very fabric of human relationships, and peddling in an addictive drug called anger.” She went on to liken Facebook to a drug dealer, saying:
她特别提到了Facebook,该公司平台似乎正依靠假新闻和冲突蓬勃发展。Hoffman称Facebook的一些元素“正在摧毁民主结构、破坏人际关系结构、兜售一种叫愤怒的令人上瘾的毒品。”她还把Facebook比作毒贩,说:

You know it’s just like tobacco, it’s no different than the opioids. We know anger is addictive, we know we can attract people to our platform and get engagement if we get them p—-d off enough. So therefore what, we should capitalize on that each and every time?
你知道的,这就像香烟,跟阿片类药物没什么区别。我们知道愤怒会上瘾,如果给人们的诱惑足够多,就能把他们吸引到我们的平台上参与进来。所以,我们就应该每次都利用它并从中获利吗?

Of course, Hoffman isn’t alone in her assertion that Facebook is an enabler of harmful tendencies, much like drug dealers. In recent years, executives from Facebook’s past have argued the very same.
当然,不止Hoffman一人说Facebook像毒贩一样推动了有害倾向。近些年,Facebook曾经的高管们也都说过同样的话。

 

翻译:菲菲