賈里德·巴特爾　牟麗婷/譯

Elon Musks proposed purchase of Twitter has raised questions about his potential to mould the platform—and culture—in his image. How will things change when we all live in the virtual Musk-sphere？ These concerns are at least a decade too late.

埃隆·馬斯克提議收購推特后，質疑紛至沓來：馬斯克能否以自身風格塑造推特平臺，造就推特文化？如果我們都生活在虛擬的馬斯克世界，那么一切將會如何變化？諸如此類的擔憂至少遲到了十年。

Musk is a symptom， not a cause， of our cultural malaise. A juvenile billionaire with plans for colonising Mars and uploading brains into cyberspace， he is the epitome of a “geek”—a character which has undergone a rapid redemptive arc1 in recent history.

馬斯克是當今文化痼疾的癥狀而非病因。他年紀輕輕時就坐擁億萬身家，心懷移民火星以及將大腦意識上傳云端的計劃，正是典型的“極客”——近現(xiàn)代經歷形象快速反轉的一類人。

The geek was once a maligned figure signifying social incompetence， but today it would be hard to find anyone who didnt indulge in at least one “geeky” interest—whether that is playing video games， participating in “fandoms”， or simply spending far too much time online.

極客一度飽受非議，被視作社交無能的代名詞，而今幾乎人人都沉迷于至少一種“極客式”興趣——玩電子游戲、加入“飯圈”，抑或只是花太多時間上網(wǎng)。

Geeks love technology， fantasy and the promise of being liberated from horrible human realities （“meatspace”）. The geek is an anti-sensualist， valuing virtualized spectacle over ugly， raw physicality. It is no surprise that Mark Zuckerbergs latest dalliance is with the “metaverse”.

極客醉心于科技、幻想，以及掙脫人類悲慘現(xiàn)實（“物質世界”）的美好愿景。他們是反感覺主義者，比起丑陋而原始的物質實體，更看重虛擬化景象?！霸钪妗背蔀轳R克·扎克伯格的新寵也就不足為奇了。

The rise of gaming， once a niche interest for those who couldnt get a date， is a testament to the normalisation of geeky escapism. Its estimated that nearly 40 per cent of the global population now regularly play video games. In the United States， this number is 65 per cent， with the average age of a self-described “gamer” being 33 years old.

游戲曾是難“脫單”人群的小眾愛好，而今游戲行業(yè)異軍突起，無疑證明了極客式逃避現(xiàn)實的消遣方式已成常態(tài)。據(jù)估計，目前全球近40%的人經常玩電子游戲。在美國，這一數(shù)字高達65%，自稱“玩家”者的平均年齡為33歲。

The hero in geek fantasy is the “hacker”， a favourite in 90s and early 2000s cinema： a tech genius who smashes conventions and flips off authority.

極客幻想中的英雄是“黑客”——他們是打破常規(guī)、蔑視權威的技術天才，在20世紀90年代和21世紀初的電影中很受寵。

“I wasnt seeing the hard line between nerds and normals anymore，” complained comedian Patton Oswald in Wired back in 2010. Little did he know how mainstream geek culture would become.

“我發(fā)現(xiàn)技術呆子和常人之間的界線逐漸模糊?！毕矂⊙輪T巴頓·奧斯瓦爾德在2010年接受《連線》雜志采訪時頗有微詞。那時的他根本不知道極客文化會成為主流。

We live in a time where grown adults openly debate the lore of the latest comic book film， talk about their Hogwarts house and spend their evenings living out grandiose fantasies through first-person shooters.

當今時代，成年人公開討論最新漫畫改編電影的世界觀，暢談自己所屬的霍格沃茲學院，晚上就在第一人稱射擊游戲中實現(xiàn)自己的宏偉幻想。

“Everything conspires to encourage escapist solutions to psychological problems”， wrote social critic Christopher Lasch to describe our so-called “culture of narcissism”. In the twenty-first century， a retreat into fantasy has never been easier—with escapist narratives becoming a thriving industry and a means of self-branding.

社會評論家克里斯托弗·拉希在描述所謂“自戀文化”時寫道：“這一切都鼓勵人們在遇到心理問題時采取逃避現(xiàn)實的策略?！弊赃M入21世紀以來，遁入幻想從未像現(xiàn)在這樣易如反掌——逃避現(xiàn)實的敘事漸漸成為一個蓬勃發(fā)展的行業(yè)和一種自我標榜的手段。

A fan of witty memes， political edginess and transhumanist utopias， Musks behaviour at fifty years old reflects the maturity of an adolescent nerd. He is both a victim as well as a key propagator of the rise of the geek， what researchers at the University of Georgia have called “the great fantasy migration”.

馬斯克對詼諧的模因、犀利的政治和超人類主義的烏托邦饒有興趣。50歲的他行為舉止像是剛剛長大的青春期技術呆子。他既是極客文化興起的受害者，也是重要傳播者。佐治亞大學的研究人員將極客文化的興起稱作“幻想大遷徙”。

“Inflated self-esteem and narcissism—which have increased steadily over the past few generations—are being met with a harsh reality”， wrote researchers in a 2015 paper on the rise of geek chic. “One solution for resolving this dissonance is to migrate into a fantasy world via role playing games， fandoms and fantasy media.” We are all Musks now， and its not at all surprising that most of us are having a hard time with reality.

2015年，研究者在有關極客浪潮興起的一篇論文中寫道：“人類膨脹的自尊心及自我陶醉在過去幾代人中穩(wěn)步加劇，而當下二者正在面對殘酷的現(xiàn)實。有個能消除這種不和諧的方法，那就是通過角色扮演游戲、飯圈和傳播幻想的媒介遷徙到幻想世界?！爆F(xiàn)在人人都是馬斯克，在現(xiàn)實中我們大多數(shù)人感到無所適從一點也不稀奇。

Philosopher Byung-Chul Han characterises our time as the rise of the “achievement-subject”—where individuals are burdened with the impetus to demonstrate their uniqueness from herd， placing them at risk of psychic burnout and self-exploitation.

哲學家韓炳哲稱當今時代的特點是愈發(fā)“以成就為導向”——個體苦于要證明自己與眾不同，因而深陷心理倦怠和自我消耗的囹圄。

Modern celebrities and industry heroes like Musk reflect a kind of adolescent zeal for being renegade and disruptive. They lure in followers with a promise that with a bit of brains and vision， you too can “hack” the system and become special.

馬斯克等當代名人及行業(yè)翹楚折射出一種青少年般的熱忱——期盼離經叛道、顛覆傳統(tǒng)。他們聲稱：只要有點頭腦、有點遠見，你也可以“黑”進系統(tǒng)，成為特別的人。他們正是以此吸引追隨者。

As Peter Cullen Bryan documents， large geek-oriented media companies strategically cultivate “cult” followings despite widespread popularity by providing “Easter eggs” for hardcore fans and rewarding in-depth knowledge of media properties. This is designed to make media consumers feel “unique” and more embedded into the fantasy world being created.

正如彼得·卡倫·布賴恩所述，面向極客的大型媒體公司本就廣受歡迎，但仍通過為硬核粉絲提供“彩蛋”以及獎勵深入了解媒體屬性的用戶，戰(zhàn)略性地培養(yǎng)“狂熱”追隨者。此舉旨在令媒體消費者感到“與眾不同”，從而更加沉溺于創(chuàng)建中的幻想世界。

A similar model can be found in the cult of Musk， where fans believe they are charting a new future free of the stuffy institutions of the past and transcending physical and material limitations.

對馬斯克的狂熱崇拜異曲同工——粉絲深信自己正在開創(chuàng)一個擺脫了以往陳腐制度的嶄新未來，深信自己正在超越身體和物質的限制。

Musks image is exploiting a cultural wound， the disenchantment of the world following the decline of religion. Old myths， which provided a layer of meaning on top of the real world， no longer resonate， so the only solution is tech mediated make-believe.

馬斯克這一形象利用的正是文化創(chuàng)傷，即人們對宗教衰落之后的世界不再抱有幻想。古老的神話曾予人超越現(xiàn)實世界的精神寄托，而今卻已不再令人心生共鳴，于是唯一的救贖便是以技術為媒的幻想。

The rise of the geek is the denial of a world worth living free of technology， virtualisation and ironic detachment. Escapism， in its denial of the physical in favour of the ego， retreats from the anxieties and disappointments of real life. In doing so， it denies us of the cap-acity to move beyond self-flattery.

極客的崛起否定了世界沒有技術、虛擬化和具有諷刺意味的超然也值得生存其中。逃避主義在堅持自我中否定物質世界，躲離現(xiàn)實生活中的焦慮和失望。如此一來，我們便無力逃脫自我粉飾。

It is possible to handle the difficult truths of being alive in the twenty-first century， to sublimate existential pain in the service of something higher. But first， one must be fully in the real world and not be distracted by the escapist spectacle of Musk and his fellow geeky elites.

其實世人能夠應對生活在21世紀的諸多殘酷真相，也能在服務于更崇高事業(yè)的過程中升華人生在世的痛苦。但首先，人必須完全置身于現(xiàn)實世界，不因馬斯克和其他極客精英精心呈現(xiàn)的逃避主義景象而分心。

（譯者單位：武漢科技大學）