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


Source text in English

Translation by Kennedy Langat (#26872)

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.
Msimu wa kuvuma kwa biashara zimerejea tena katika Bonde la Silicon. Bustani ya ofisi kando na Barabara kuu ya 101 kwa mara nyingine yamepambwa tena na hisia za biashara kuanza kushika kazi. Kodi imeanza kuongezeka, kama vile mahitaji ya nyumba za likizo za kifahari katika miji ya mapumziko kama Ziwa Tahoe, ishara ya utajiri unaokua. Eneo la Bay lilikuwa mahali tasnia ya umeme na kampuni za kompyuta na mtandao ambazo zimekua kutokana na hali hiyo. Wataalamu wake walianzisha teknolojia nyingi ambazo zinafanya ulimwengu kuwa ya kisasa, kuanzia kwa simu za kugusa-skrini hadi kutafuta mara moja maktaba kubwa hadi uwezo wa kuendesha ndege bila rubani kwa umbali wa maelfu ya maili. Kufufuliwa kwa shughuli zake za kibiashara tangu mwaka 2010 unaonyesha maendeleo imeshika kazi.

Kwa hivyo, inaweza ikashangaza kwamba watu wengine wanaoishi katika Bonde la Silicon wanafikiria mahali hapo imedorora, na kwamba kiwango cha uvumbuzi kimezembea kwa miongo kadhaa. Peter Thiel, mwanzilishi wa PayPal, na mwekezaji wa kwanza wa Facebook, anasema kwamba uvumbuzi huko Amerika unaendelea kufifia. Wahandisi katika kila kitengo wana hisia kama hizo za kufa moyo. Na kikundi kidogo lakini kinachokua cha wataalmu wa uchumi wanafikiria athari za kiuchumi za uvumbuzi wa siku hizi ni hafifu ikilinganishwa na yale ya zamani.

[…]
Kila mahali, uvumbuzi unaoendeshwa na nguvu ya usindikaji wa bei nafuu umeanza kushika kazi. Kompyuta zinaanza kuelewa lugha asilia. Watu wanadhibiti michezo ya video kupitia kwa mwendo wa mwili pekee - teknolojia ambayo inaweza kupata matumizi katika sehemu nyingi za ulimwengu wa biashara. Uchapishaji wa kivimbe- tatu unaweza ukatoa vitu kadhaa changamani, na hivi karibuni huenda ukahamia kwa misuli ya kibinadamu na vitu vingine vya kikaboni.

Msorajua wa uvumbuzi anaweza kupuzilia mbali hayo kuwa ni ya uwongo. Lakini wazo kwamba ukuaji unaoongozwa na teknolojia lazima uendelee bila kutatizwa au kupungua kwa utaratibu, badala ya kufifia na kurejea kwa kishindo, haupatani na historia. Chad Syverson wa Chuo Kikuu cha Chicago anasema kwamba ukuaji wa tija wakati wa ujanaji ulikuwa na matatizo mengi. Ukuaji ulikuwa polepole wakati wa uvumbuzi muhimu wa bidhaa zinazotumia umeme mwishoni mwa karne ya 19 na mapema karne ya 20; na kisha kukua kwa haraka.


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