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Big SIS is watching you（注1）环视皆“SIS”也 Nov 13th 2009From The World in 2010 print edition By Ludwig Siegele路德维格?西格勒 Ubiquitous technology will make the world smarter技术无所不在，世界愈加智能 Reuters路透社Remember “The Matrix”, the 1999 film in which human beings are plugged into machines? These simulate reality to control humankind and harvest their bodies’ heat and electrical activity.还记得1999年上映的电影《黑客帝国》里，人类被植入机器吗？这模拟了操控人类并攫获其身体热量与电活动的现实。 Such a parallel universe is indeed emerging. Fortunately, it is not intended to subdue humans, but to allow them to control their environments better. Some computer scientists already talk of the birth of “societal information-technology systems”, or SIS. In 2010 such systems will start to make their presence felt.这种平行世界确实在悄然兴起。万幸的是，它并不打算制服人类，而是准许其更好地管理周围环境。一些计算机科学家已谈到“社会信息技术系统（SIS）”的诞生。到2010年，这类系统将开始崭露头角。 To grasp this trend, one has first to recognise that the world is exceedingly wasteful. Utilities lose more than 50% of water supplies around the world because of leaky infrastructure. In America alone, congested roads cost billions of dollars a year in lost work hours and wasted fuel. And if the country’s power grid were only 5% more efficient, this would eliminate greenhouse-gas emissions equivalent to those of 53m cars.为把握此趋势，人们须先意识到世界[存在]极大的[资源]浪费。公共行业因基础设施渗漏浪费了全球一半多供水。仅在美国，每年因道路拥挤造成的工时损失与燃料浪费，就达数十亿美元。而且，若该国电网效率仅提高5％，就会削减相当于5300万辆汽车排放量的温室气体排放。 The reason for such inefficiencies? The infrastructure is not intelligent: roads, power grids and water-distribution systems are all essentially networks of dumb pipes. Over the past few years momentum has been building to make them smarter. More recently, in attempting to overcome the economic crisis, the pace has picked up. Many countries have earmarked a big chunk of their stimulus packages for infrastructure projects.这些系统效率缺乏的原因何在？[其中一个原因，是]基础设施未智能化：道路、电网及配水系统基本都是哑管道网络。过去几年，其越来越智能的势头正在形成。最近，在试图克服经济危机之际，这一步伐加快了。许多国家已从其经济刺激计划中拨出了大量专款用于基础设施项目[建设]。 The other main driver is technology. Until