ProZ.com translation contests »
21st translation contest: "The tides of tech" » English to Irish » Entry #26644


Source text in English

Translation #26644

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.

[ … ]

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.
Tá borradh agus biseach tagtha arís ar Silicon Valley. Tá suaitheantais gnólachtái nuathionscanta ar ais sna páirceanna oifigí le taobh an Bhealaigh Mhóir 101. Tá ardú mór ar na cíosanna agus éileamh an-mhór ar thithe saoire galánta i mbailte saoire ar nós Lake Tahoe, comhartha go bhfuil saibhreas á dhéanamh. Is é Ceantar na Bá cliabhán tionscail na leathsheoltóirí agus na gcomhlachtaí ríomhaire is idirlín a tháinig ina ndiaidh. Buíochas lena chuid saineolaithe, tá tréithe todhchaíocha ar an domhan sa lá atá inniu ann: fóin póca le scáileán tadhaill, cuardach ar an bpointe i leabharlanna ollmhóra agus ábaltacht drón a phíolótú na mílte míle uainn, fiú. Tugann an borradh, atá faoina mhargadh ó 2010 ar aghaidh, le tuiscint go bhfuil an ghaoth ina seolta.

Aisteach go leor, áfach, go dtuairimíonn daoine áirithe in Silicon Valley go bhfuil an áit sin marbhánta agus go bhfuil maolú ar an luas nuálaíochta le blianta anuas. Deir Peter Thiel, bunaitheoir PayPal a bhí an chéad infheisteoir i Facebook ón taobh amuigh, go bhfuil nuálaíocht i Meiriceá “i gcruachás nó marbh”. Tá díomá den chineál céanna ar innealtóirí i roinnt réimsí. Chomh maith leis sin, measann eacnamaithe áirithe — grúpa beag go fóill, ach tá sé ag fás – go mbíodh níos lú tionchair ag na nuálaíochta á fhorbairt faoi láthair ná a bhí roimhe seo.

[ … ]

Ar bhonn uilechoiteann, tá nuálaíochtaí ag dul ó neart go neart, a bhuí le próiseáil sonraí shaor. Tosaíonn na ríomhairí ciall a bhaint as an teanga nádúrtha. Bíonn daoine ag rialú físchluichí le gluaiseacht an choirp amháin – teicneolaíocht a bheidh curtha i bhfeidhm sa saol gnó go luath, b’fhéidir. Táirgeann an phriontáil 3T réimse rudaí níos casta i rith an ama agus b’fhéidir go mbeidh an teicneolaíocht sin in ann fíochán daonna agus ábhar orgánach eile á tháirgeadh go luath.

Déarfadh doirbhíoch éigin go bhfuil an chaint saor. Ach tá smaoineamh ag teacht salach ar an stair, an smaoineamh sin go gcaithfidh méadú cothrom nó meath seasta a bheith ag an mborradh bunaithe ar theicneolaíocht, gan a bheith ag tuile agus ag trá. Deir Chad Syverson den ollscoil Chicago nach raibh fás táirgiúlachta seasta i rith ré an leictriúcháin. Bhí an ráta fáis an-mhall sa chuid dheireanach den 19ú céad agus ag tús an 20ú haois, ag an tráth nuair a bhí roinnt nuálaíochtaí leictreachais; d’fheabhsaigh sé go tobann ina dhiaidh sin.


Discuss this entry