31 Inventions that Built Our World. By Jonn Elledge. Wildfire(英国出版品牌); 368 pages; £25
《构建我们世界的31项发明》。乔恩·埃尔里奇著。Wildfire出版社；368页；25英镑
WANT TO have a frightening experience? Walk into any office full of workers who fear AI is about to make them obsolete(过时的，被淘汰的) and shout, “Sometimes it’s good when technology eliminates jobs!” The interval between furious cubicle-dwellers grabbing you and them finding a large window to dangle you from should be enough time to tell them about gong farmers.(从愤怒的格子间员工抓住你，到他们找到一扇大窗户把你吊出去，这中间的时间足够你给他们讲讲掏粪工的故事了。) These unfortunate souls cleaned London’s human-waste receptacles and sold their contents to farmers. One of the Victorian era(维多利亚时代)’s greatest technological innovations, sewers with pumping stations, put them out of business(使他们失业/倒闭).
想体验一下吓人的感觉吗？走进任何一间办公室，里面全是担心人工智能即将让自己被淘汰的员工，然后大喊：“有时候技术消灭工作岗位是件好事！”从愤怒的格子间员工抓住你，到他们找到一扇大窗户把你吊出去，这中间的时间足够你给他们讲讲掏粪工的故事了。这些不幸的人负责清理伦敦的粪便容器，再把里面的东西卖给农民。维多利亚时代最伟大的技术创新之一——带泵站的下水道系统——让他们彻底失业了。
Few people today see sewer(下水道)s, pedestrian crossings, street grids or windows as technological innovations. That only testifies to their success. They are, instead, simply part of the fabric of urban life(城市生活的肌理/结构). In an informative, often funny compendium, Jonn Elledge, a columnist for the New Statesman, tries to awaken readers’ sense of wonder at the miracle of modern city life, and get them to appreciate the agglomeration of marvels that makes it possible.(在《新政治家》专栏作家乔恩·埃尔里奇这本信息丰富、常常令人捧腹的汇编中，他试图唤醒读者对现代城市生活奇迹的惊叹，并让他们欣赏使这一切成为可能的种种奇观的汇聚。)
如今很少有人把下水道、人行横道、街道网格或窗户视为技术创新。这恰恰证明了它们的成功。它们反而只是城市生活肌理的一部分。在《新政治家》专栏作家乔恩·埃尔里奇这本信息丰富、常常令人捧腹的汇编中，他试图唤醒读者对现代城市生活奇迹的惊叹，并让他们欣赏使这一切成为可能的种种奇观的汇聚。