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


Source text in English

Translation by Greyson Mukulasi (#25829)

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 mlindimo zimerudi tena katika bonde la Silikoni. Maegesho ya barabara kuu ya 101 yamepambwa tena na nakshi za waanzilishi wenye matumaini. Nyumba za kupanga zimefurika, ikiwa ni uhitaji wa nyumba za kifahari katika miji ya mapumziko kama ziwa Tahoe, ikiwa ni dalili ya ongezeko la baraka. Eneo la Ghuba lilikuwa kitovu cha tasnia hii ya mpito na mashirika ya tarakilishi na mdahalishi ambayo yamekua katika mwamko wake. Sogora zake zilileta maajabu mengi ambayo yanafanya dunia ijisikie kuwa ya siku za usoni, kutoka simu za mpapaso mpaka utafiti wa muda mfupi sana wa maktaba kubwa katika kurusha kamera za angani kutoka umbali wa maili nyingi. Uhuisho katika shughuli zake za biashara tangu 2010 zinapendekeza kuwa maendeleo ni ufuatiliaji wake.
Hivyo, inaweza kuja kama mshangao kwamba baadhi ya watu katika bonde la Silikoni kudhani ya kuwa eneo hilo haliendelei, na ya kwamba kiwango cha uvumbuzi kimekuwa kikishuka kwa miongo mingi. Peter Thiel ambaye ni mwanzilishi wa Paypal, na mwekezaji wa nje wa kwanza katika Facebook,husema kuwa uvumbuzi katika nchi ya Marekani ni “Popote kati ya kuzama na kifo”. Wahandisi kutoka nyanja zote wanapatwa na hisia za nuhusi zinazofanana. Na kundi dogo lakini linalochipukia la wanauchumi linakadiria matokeo ya kiuchumi katika uvumbuzi wa sasa kuwa unaweza chuja kulinganisha na ule uliopita.
[ … ]
Kupitia bodi, uvumbuzi ambao umechochewa na umeme wa usindikaji wa bei nafuu unashika hatamu. Tarakirishi zinaanza kuelewa lugha za kawaida. Watu wanaongoza michezo ya runinga kwa kutumia mijongeo ya mwili tu – teknolojia ambayo inaweza pata matumizi sana katika ulimwengu wa kibiashara. Uchapaji wa pandeolwa-3 una uwezo wa kuleta mapokeo tete yanayoongezeka ya vitu, na inaweza kwenda hadi kwenye tishu za binadamu pamoja na nyenzo zingine za kikaboni.
Mchambuzi wa uvumbuzi anaweza puuza hii kama “msongamano wa kesho”. Lakini wazo la ukuaji unaoongozwa na teknolojia unatakiwa ama uendelee kutofungwa au kushuka kwa kasi, kuliko kudidimia na kuporomoka, kwani inakinzana na historia. Chad Syverson wa Chuo Kikuu cha Chicago anabainisha kwamba ukuaji wa uzalishaji wakati wa matumizi ya mwanzo ya umeme ulikuwa mzito. Ukuaji ulikuwa wa taratibu wakati wa majira ya uvumbuzi muhimu wa umeme mwishoni mwa karne ya 19 na mwanzoni mwa karne ya 20; kisha ulifurika.


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