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


Source text in English

Translation by Nuhu Bakari (#26470) — Winner

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.

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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.
Nyakati za mavuno zimewadia huko Silicon Valley. Majengo ya Ofisi yaliyo kwenye muelekeo wa Barabara Kuu ya 101 yamesheheni ofisi za kampuni mbalimbali. Gharama ya kupangisha nyumba imepanda, huku mahitaji ya maeneo ya kifahari ya kujivinjari kwenye miji ya kitalii kama vile Ziwa Tahoe, yakiwa ndiyo ishara kamili ya malimbikizi ya mali. Eneo hilo la ghuba lilikuwa ndio kitovu cha kuanzishwa kwa viwanda vya bidhaa za kununurisha umeme pamoja makampuni ya kompyuta na tovuti ambayo hatimaye yamekua na kufikia upeo wa juu. Wataalamu wake wabunifu waliandaa programu kabambe zilizoufanya ulimwengu kuonekana kuwa na mustakabali mzuri, kuanzia kwa simu maizi za rununu zenye viwambo vya mguso hadi kwa usakuraji wa moja kwa moja wa maktaba za kilimwengu mpaka kwa ubunifu wa kiwango cha kuelekeza droni kutoka umbali wa maelfu ya maili. Ufufuliwaji wa shughuli zake za kibiashara mnamo 2010 ilikuwa ishara tosha kwamba mchakato huo unaendelea vizuri.

Kwa hivyo, inaweza kuwashangaza kuwa baadhi ya watu huko Silicon Valley wanafikiria kwamba eneo hilo limekuwa kama bangwa, na kwamba kiwango cha ubunifu kimedorora kwa miongo kadhaa iliyopita. Peter Thiel, mwanzilishi wa Paypal na mwekezaji wa kwanza wa nje katika Facebook, anasema kwamba ubunifu huko Marekani “uko kati ya hali mahututi na kifo’’. Wahandisi kwenye sekta na fani zote wametamauka kwa hisia sawa. Hata hivyo, kikundi kidogo kinachokua cha wachumi wanatambua athari ya kiuchumi ya ubunifu wa kisasa labda unaweza kufifisha ulinganifu wa hali ilivyo sasa na ilivyokuwa awali.

[ … ]

Sehemu nyingi zimeanzisha ubunifu unaotekelezwa kwa kutumia kawi iliyochakatwa. Kompyuta zimeanza kuelewa lugha asilia. Watu wanathibiti michezo ya video kupitia kwa miondoko ya viwiliwili pekee — teknolojia ambayo kwa siku za usoni itapata mashiko na matumizi yake katika ulimwengu wa kibiashara. Uchapishaji wa kipimo cha upandeolwa una uwezo wa kutoa vitu vya aina mbalimbali, na hivi karibuni vinaweza kushughulikia tishu za wanadamu pamoja na bidhaa nyinginezo za kikaboni.

Mbunifu wa kutia shaka anayeweza kupuuza suala hili na kulichukulia kama “ahadi zisizotimilika”. Lakini wazo la ukuaji unaowezeshwa na teknolojia ni lazima liendelezwe bila kupingwa ama ukuaji huo upungue kabisa, badala ya kutoka na kumiminika, itakuwa inakinzana na historia. Chad Syverson wa Chuo Kikuu cha Chicago anaelezea kwamba ukuaji wa uzalishaji wakati wa enzi za uvumbuzi wa umeme ulikuwa wa madongemadonge. Ukuaji huo ulikuwa wa polepole sana wakati wa kipindi muhimu cha uvumbuzi wa ubunifu wa umeme katika mwisho wa karne ya 19 na mwanzo wa karne ya 20; kisha ukaongezeka.


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