In The Plex/ Google 的雄心

In The Plex | Book by Steven Levy - Simon & Schuster

- [ 翻譯這個網頁 ]Jobs they wanted him to be Google's CEO in 1999, according to a new book about Google, In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works and Shapes Our Lives by Steven ...

FT書評：谷歌的雄心
The big advances and sweeping ambition of those in the Google bubble
作者：英國《金融時報》 理查德•沃特斯



《走進谷歌：谷歌如何思考、工作以及改變我們的生活》(In the Plex: How Google thinks, works, and shapes our lives)
How Google thinks, works, and shapes our lives


作者史蒂芬•列維(Steven Levy)

By Steven Levy


西蒙與舒斯特公司(Simon & Schuster)出版，定價26美元

Simon & Schuster, $26


谷歌(Google)的創始人經常讓人感覺好像是生活在一個特殊的(翻譯瑕疵) 泡泡裡。遠大的技術抱負、社會改良主義(翻譯瑕疵) 以及龐大的財力資源，共同構築了一個與世隔絕的不真實世界。

It often feels as though Google's founders live inside a privileged bubble. It is a place where outsized technological ambition, social do-goodism and massive financial resources have combined to create an insulated and unreal world.


日常商業生活中常見的各種複雜動機與對峙，其他創業者為生存和養家糊口而進行的種種掙扎，都是遠處的迴響。

The messier motivati​​ons and rivalries that pervade normal business life, the struggles for survival and accommodations that other entrepreneurs are forced to make, are a distant echo.


正如書名《走進谷歌》所暗示的那樣，史蒂芬•列維從泡泡內部的視角，全面記述了這家搜索公司最初十來年的歷史脈絡。因此，對於我們了解世界上最具影響力互聯網公司背後的人物是如何運作的，本書提供了有益的啟蒙。

As its title suggests, In the Plex, Steven Levy's thorough history of the search company's first dozen or so years, is written from inside that bubble. That makes it an instructive primer on how the minds behind the world's most influential internet company function.


但這也讓本書成為一本令人失望的讀物：書中基本上沒有其他觀點，無法和谷歌通常陳腐的視角形成對比，或是挑戰谷歌創始人的勃勃雄心及種種設想。

It also makes for a frustrating read, as alternative points of view that might have balanced the often trite Googley perspective or challenged the sweeping ambitions and assumptions of the founders are largely absent.


谷歌的早期歷史在其他幾本書中也有過記述，但都沒有本書這麼詳盡。作為《連線》(Wired)雜誌的高級編輯，列維獲得了廣泛的訪問權，並在書中得到了體現。列維筆下的人物陣容更為龐大，而不局限於天資聰穎的創始人塞吉•布林(Sergey Brin)、拉里•佩奇(Larry Page)，以及最終於本月初去職的光頭首席執行官埃里克•施密特(Eric Sc​​hmidt)。

Google's early years have been chronicled in book form several times, but nowhere as exhaustively as here. Levy, a senior editor at Wired magazine, was given extensive access, and it shows. A much fuller cast of characters emerges, not just the preternaturally smart founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and the egghead chief executive, Eric Sc​​hmidt, who finally stepped down from that role this week.


鑑於互聯網時代加快的節奏，谷歌早年的歲月感覺就像久遠的歷史，許多奇聞軼事人們已耳熟能詳。你或許聽說過（也可能沒有），布林和佩奇如何拋開了私人助手和日曆，更願意聽憑一時的興致帶他們匆匆走過一個個雜亂無章的日子；或是他們如何解散了整整一個管理層，將工程師們從各種限制中解放出來。但這些故事如今感覺已經很老，無法帶來新鮮感了。

Given the accelerated pace of internet time, though, the early years feel like ancient history, and many of the anecdotes seem familiar. You may or may not have heard before how Brin and Page dispensed with personal assistants and calendars, preferring to bounce through their largely unstructured days as the whim took them, or how they disbanded an entire layer of managers to set their engineers free of almost all controls. But stories like these now feel quaint and unsurprising.


本書寫了近三分之二，才冒出了一個來自谷歌總部Googleplex以外的強有力觀點。書中寫道，據報導，儘管蘋果(Apple)首席執行官史蒂夫•喬布斯(Steve Jobs)曾力邀施密特加盟蘋果董事會，但當他得知谷歌(Goolge)將以自身的智能手機操作系統與iPpone展開較量時，還是大發雷霆。

It is not until nearly two-thirds of the way through that a strong point of view intrudes from beyond the Googleplex, as Google's campus is known. It comes in the form of Apple boss Steve Jobs's reported fury at discovering that Google planned to take on the iPhone with its own smartphone operating system, in spite of his earlier invitation to Schmidt to sit on Apple's board.


喬布斯用短短的幾個字駁斥了谷歌“不作惡”的座右銘：“胡說八道”。這正是其他許多曾與穀歌發生摩擦的競爭對手多年來的感受，只是這裡聽不到他們的聲音。

Jobs dismisses Google's “Do no evil” motto with a succinct: “It's bullshit.” That is how many other rivals who have rubbed up against Google have felt over the years, but their voices are not heard here.


相反，由於把“為全球信息建立索引，將公司的影響力擴展到更多行業”確立為自己不懈的使命，谷歌人輕而易舉地把自己的越界行為和錯誤拋在了後面——比如推出Gmail招致的侵犯隱私的批評，或者進入新市場與前盟友競爭而產生的背信棄義感。

Instead, attuned to their relentless mission to index the world's information and extend their influence into ever more walks of life, the Googlers move easily past their transgressions and mistakes – the privacy flap surrounding the launch of Gmail, for instance, or the sense of betrayal that came with moving into new markets against former allies.


寫到谷歌與圖書出版商展開談判，計劃推出一項商業服務，銷售其圖書的電子版本時，列維含蓄地指出，該公司沒有“以坦率的方式”和假定的新合作夥伴打交道。事實上，谷歌已經在悄悄地對大學圖書館的海量藏書進行數字化——事情曝光後，圖書出版行業憤怒地提起了集體訴訟。正如一位谷歌人（毫無誠意地）所說的那樣：“我們知道這會是一個問題。但是谷歌不會提前披露這些事情。永遠也不會。”

At the time that Google was talking to book publishers about a commercial service to sell electronic versions of their works, Levy writes coyly that the company was not dealing with its putative new partners “in an upfront manner”. In fact, it was already secretly digitising the vast book collections of university libraries – which drew a furious class action lawsuit from the book industry once it came to light. As one Googler comments, disingenuously: “We knew that this was going to be an issue. But Google does not disclose these kinds of things early. Ever.”


在這次及許多其他事件中，谷歌雖然跌到了，可很快又站了起來。他們對自身追求的合理分析鼓舞著他們繼續前行，只是在自我懷疑、甚或是對潛在陷阱進行嚴肅的法律分析方面有所欠缺。

In this and many other episodes, Googlers stumble but quickly pick themselves up. They are driven by the logic of their quest, and self-doubt – or even serious legal analysis of the potential pitfalls – is not in plentiful supply.


儘管列維保持了平衡感，偶爾也會取笑谷歌創始人和高管們有時傲慢而狂妄的做事方式，但書中的內容很少會讓人對谷歌產生負面印象。或許正因為此，那些會對谷歌造成負面影響的故事才會擁有如此出人意料的力量。

While Levy maintains a sense of balance and is not above poking fun at the sometimes arrogant and hubristic ways of the company's founders and senior staff, few of the stories rebound negatively on the company. That may explain why those that do have such unexpected force.


其中一個故事是這樣的，施密特的助手指示一位下屬員工從搜索結果中刪去一條有關這位時任CEO政治獻金的信息。在所有信息都具有平等訪問權、只有萬能的算法才能決定哪些內容該展示哪些內容該隱藏的谷歌世界裡，這絕對是不端行為。

In one, Schmidt's assistant instructs a low-ranking employee to remove information about one of the then-CEO's political donations from the search index. In the Google world, where all information is meant to be equally accessible and only the almighty algorithm can decide what deserves to be revealed or hidden, this screams of misbehaviour.


這位員工深感震驚，只好向如今身為Facebook二把手的高管謝樂爾•桑德伯格(Sheryl Sandberg)求助。兩人一同來到施密特的辦公室，向施密特說明，他吩咐去做的事情違背了公司最珍視的信仰。

The stunned employee seeks help from Sheryl Sandberg, a senior executive who is now the number two at Facebook. They go to Schmidt's office to explain that what he is asking for contravenes the search company's most cherished beliefs.


在書中的最後幾章，《走進谷歌》講述了谷歌如何努力跟上世人對於在線隱私不斷變化而且經常相互矛盾的期望，中國問題帶給它的苦悶，以及追趕Facebook的內部努力。這幾章不再局限於記述歷史，而是對谷歌進行了更深入細微的刻畫。

It is in its final chapters – dealing with Google's struggles to keep up with the shifting and often contradictory expectations of online privacy, its agonising over China and its internal efforts to catch up with Facebook – that In the Plex breaks out of history to give a more nuanced account.


志在高遠的佩奇本月初接過CEO一職，這也適時地提醒了我們，谷歌未來一定會大踏步前進——抑或張狂地四面出擊。

With the hugely ambitious Page taking over this week as CEO, it also serves as a timely reminder of the outsized advances – or hubristic episodes of over-reach – that undoubtedly lie ahead.


譯者/邢嵬