美国权力与智力日益脱节.

　　如果你相信人类还在继续创造历史，那么美国仍是你应该待的地方。只有在美国，你才能发现有人正尝试着让汽车飞起来、让人类长生不老、让机器人拥有感情。不过，美国政坛对新观念的抵制是引人注目的。在缺乏创造力的华盛顿与蓬勃发展的美国其余地方之间，鸿沟正在扩大。详细请看下面的双语信息：

　　每周都会有些大胆的初创公司试图开发科技的商业潜力。很多都太过荒唐，无法成功。而一些公司则成功得实至名归。每周似乎都有一场总统竞选活动启动。2016年大选的一些候选人对科技表现出咄咄逼人的敌意。迄今为止，没有哪位候选人对解决美国的种种问题有什么原创性想法，虽然肯定还是会有一个人取得这场名不副实的胜利。

　　The root of America’s intellectual disconnect is cultural. In Silicon Valley, “fail harder” is amotto. A history of bankruptcy is proof of business credentials. In Washington, a singlemiscue can ruin your career. Ruth Porat’s move last week fromMorgan Stanley, where she waschi financial officer, to Google for a cool $70m was taken as another sign of Silicon Valley’sincreasing edge over Wall Street. A growing share of top US graduates are bypassing a careerin investment banking for Big Data. Less noticed was the fact that Ms Porat turned down a jobin Barack Obama’s administration last year as deputy Treasury secretary. She feared theSenate confirmation process would rip her to shreds. She was probably right.

　　美国智力与权力的脱节，其根源在于文化。在硅谷，人们把“fail harder(更努力地去失败)”作为座右铭。曾经破产过，就是商业资历的证明。在华盛顿，只要一个失误，就可能毁掉你的事业。摩根士丹利(MorganStanley)的前首席财务官(CFO)露丝?波拉特(Ruth Porat)不久前为了整整7000万美元跳槽到谷歌(Google)的举动，被视为硅谷对华尔街优势扩大的另一个信号。美国尖子毕业生没有选择投行而选择以大数据(BigData)为职业的比例日益增加。更少人留意到的是，去年，波拉特还拒绝了出任奥巴马政府财政部副部长的工作机会。她当时担心，参议院的确认过程将让她万劫不复。她的顾虑很可能是正确的。

　　The result is a system in which the bland are leading the bland. Washington is host to thelargest collection of think- tanks in the world. Yet they are notable nowadays for their lack oforiginal thinking. The ideas shortage has nothing to do with low IQ. The post codes aroundWashington have America’s highest concentration of PhDs other than Silicon Valley. But if youwant a job in a future US administration, you risk running a gauntlet from which you maynever recover. The route to success is paved with caution. One stray remark, or risqué policyidea, can kill your prospects. Science is the basis of America’s innovative edge. Yet embracingit can be a political career-stopper. Several Republican presidential candidates reject the notionof man-made global warming while some believe child vaccines cause disease.

　　结果就是这么一个古板之士领导着古板之人的体系。华盛顿聚集着全世界数量最多的智库机构。而如今，它们缺乏创造性思维的问题十分明显。缺少想法跟智商低没有关系，华盛顿周边地区聚集着全美除硅谷以外最多的博士。但是如果你想在未来的美国政府中找一份工作，你可能要经受一场可能让你一蹶不振的暴风雨洗礼，成功之路步步惊心。一次偏激的评论或是一个有伤风化的政策想法，都可能毁掉你的前程。科学是美国创新优势的根基，然而，信奉科学可能会终结你的政治生涯。共和党一些总统候选人拒不相信全球变暖是人为造成的，还有一些认为给儿童接种疫苗会导致疾病。

　　Aversion to science is not a conservative monopoly. Among the 19,000 papers produced byWashington’s top 10 think-tanks in the past few years, science and technology ranked bottomamong the subjects addressed, according to a survey by Foreign Policy magazine. During thecold war, senior US officials were expected to be fluent in the language of nuclear technology— understanding it was the basis of America’s rivalry with the Soviet Union. Today few havemuch clue about the evolving threat of cyber warfare. Unlike nuclear weapons, which were toorisky to use given the certainty of overwhelming retaliation, cyber attacks are low risk.Deterrence does not work on anonymous foes. Yet cyber attacks are arguably the greatestfuture danger to US national security.

　　厌恶科学并非保守派的专利。据《外交政策》(Foreign Policy)杂志的调查显示，华盛顿前10大智库最近几年写出的1.9万份论文中，关于科学和技术的论文数量最少。在冷战期间，鉴于核技术是美国与苏联对立的根本原因，美国高级官员熟练掌握核技术那一套语言在民众看来是理所应当的。如今，几乎没有几名高官对日益升级的网络战争威胁有所了解。由于肯定会遭到全面报复，核武器过于危险，因此不宜使用。与核武器不同的是，网络攻击的风险较低，威慑也无法对匿名的敌人起作用。不过，网络攻击可谓是未来对美国国家安全最大的威胁。

　　Some hope Silicon Valley’s growing visibility in Washington might spark new ideas. If USpolitics runs on money, Big Data’s dollars are prerable to Wall Street’s. Tech companies usedto disdain the US capital in the myopic view that their success had little to do with government.Today, the most rapid lobbying growth comes from the likes of Google and Facebook. Yet theirpriority is to repair the damage from theEdward Snowden leaks — strengthening privacy,rather than lifting research and development budgets, or opening up the US immigrationsystem. They aim to curb the National Security Agency’s incursions rather than spread boldthinking to Washington.

　　一些人希望，硅谷在华盛顿日益增加的存在感也许会激发新思路。如果美国政治依靠金钱运作，从大数据领域拿钱比从华尔街拿钱更可取。科技公司曾短视地认为它们的成功与政府没什么关系，因而不屑于讨好华盛顿。如今，游说投入增长最快的就是像谷歌和Facebook这样的企业。不过，它们优先考虑的是修复爱德华?斯诺登(Edward Snowden)泄密带来的损害——加强隐私保护，而不是增加研发预算或是开放美国移民系统。它们的目的是遏制国家安全局(National Security Agency)的侵入，而不是向华盛顿灌输大胆的想法。

　　Might 2016 produce an original debate over America’s future? It is tempting to believe so.Yet the contest is shaping into a traditional slugfest between those who want to shrink federalgovernment and those who would conserve it. In the coming days, Hillary Clinton will launchher official candidacy. Having strung it out so long, she is expected to justify the wait withoriginal thinking. In 2008 she won ovations by saying she was born in the middle of the lastcentury, into the middle class in the middle of America. That will no longer bring blue collarvoters to their feet. It is possible Mrs Clinton has spent the time coming up with new ideas toaddress America’s middle class squeeze — but unlikely. As it stands, her chi originality willbe a promise to break the White House gender barrier. Nor should we expect Jeb Bush, or hisrivals, to restock Washington’s intellectual cupboard. Gridlock suits the conservative base.

　　2016年可能会发生一场关于美国未来的原创性讨论吗?人们很容易相信答案是肯定的。不过，这场争论正在演化为希望缩小联邦政府者与希望联邦政府保持现有规模者之间的传统激战。希拉里?克林顿(Hillary Clinton)将于近日正式参选。这一天已经拖延了太久，她有望用创造性思维来证明等待是值得的。2008年，她自称出生于上世纪中期、美国中部的中产阶级家庭而赢得一片喝彩，如今这不会再拉拢到蓝领选民。希拉里有可能已花时间想出了解决美国中产阶级受挤压问题(middle class squeeze)的新思路——但这种可能性比较低。照现在看来，她的主要创意会是承诺打破白宫的性别障碍。我们也不应指望杰布?布什(Jeb Bush)或是其竞选对手会重新补充华盛顿的智力库。僵局对保守派有利。

　　If the US is recovering in spite of Washington, might conservatives have a point? Alas not.Much of America’s innovative edge comes from public research. Washington tends to come upwith new ideas during emergencies — necessity being the mother of invention. Silicon Valley’sprowess dates from the breakthroughs produced by cold war Pentagon spending. Even thetechnology behind hydraulic fracking, which has helped power the US job market recovery,comes from public investment in the aftermath of the 1970s oil shortages. The secret sauce ofUS capitalism is a history of collaboration with federal government. The two are nowincreasingly disconnected. Do not look to White House hopuls to restore it.

　　如果即便华盛顿如此，美国经济仍在复苏的话，那么保守派是不是可能有些道理?可惜的是，答案是否定的。美国创新优势大部分来自公共研究。华盛顿往往在紧急时期能够拿出新想法——必要时还会成为发明的孕育者。硅谷的辉煌可以追溯到冷战时期五角大楼开支增加所带来的突破。即使是助推美国就业市场复苏的水力压裂法(hydraulic fracking)背后的技术，也来自于上世纪70年代石油短缺之后的公共投资。美国资本主义发展的秘诀就在于与联邦政府的合作史，两者如今却日益脱节。不要指望角逐白宫的种子选手能修复二者关系。