How humane are high technologies?

An interesting book has been laid out in free access in the electronic library of the UNESCO Information for All Program in Russia. This is a popular science paper titled “Ethical Implications of Developing Technologies” ( PDF, Eng. ). American scientists have tried to analyze what effect some of their latest technologies will have on society, such as “digital identity”, radio frequency (RFID) and biometric identification, space-dependent services (LBS).

These and other technologies fundamentally change the human notions of privacy, other fundamental human rights and social values. Accordingly, the society of the future will be forced to adapt to the new realities and change the basis of its existence. What will the consequences be?

The book has recently been translated into Russian, and experts of the UNESCO Information for All Program in Russia have been extremely dissatisfied with the translation. They published an impartial review in which they cite specific examples of incorrect translations of technical terms, and recommend that all cyberpunk fans read the book in the original.

Quote on the press release .

In September 2007, Moscow-based publishing house Human Rights, with financial support from the Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography, published a book in Russian translation entitled Ethical Aspects of New Technologies. Overview".
As stated in the preface to the Russian edition, the initiators of the translation hope that, thanks to their work, “promoting UNESCO’s views in this field will contribute to a broad discussion and deeper understanding of the ethical implications of using information and communication technologies and will help those who make decisions about the development and implementation of technologies implementation of the strategy for the development of the information society and develops a corresponding policy in this area in Russia and the CIS countries. ”
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Alas, none of these hopes will come true. Neither five publishers, among which are very reputable organizations, not three editors of the Russian edition, nor the proofreader or technical editor paid attention to the quality of the translation, which repeatedly distorted and twisted the simple and accessible author’s text that is inexperienced in the newest technologies.

For example, the proposal “Mesh networking facilitates infrastructures” , which essentially means that networks with a cellular topology (for example, cellular networks) can be deployed “in an open field”, translated as: as “cellular networks — networks in different parts of the world that do not require a communication infrastructure . ”

Where the “different parts of the world” came from and why it wasn’t possible to translate this sentence literally, that is, “Mesh networks make it easier to deploy networks in areas where there is no communication infrastructure,” remains a mystery.

Another excerpt is that it’s transformed into “This is the metadata language ”. A new metadata language allows you to predict a steady increase in the volume of information exchange in cyberspace. At the same time, the metadata lexicon will make a person’s work on the Internet more accurate and efficient, or even allow computers to directly access content and analyze it . ”

How does the metadata language allow us to make predictions about what the "metadata lexicon" is, what kind of computers access to the content was possible before the appearance of metadata, if not a straight curve, or what?

Analysis of all the errors in this example will take too much space, just bring the correct translation option - feel the difference: “This new metadata language promises to introduce predictability in cyberspace, in which information exchange is constantly increasing. The metadata language gives greater precision to the results of using the Internet by a person, and even allows computers to access and analyze the content themselves . ”

The title of the last section of the book - “Annex: A Democratic Information Society” , which in Russian translation sounds like “ Appendix A : Democratic Information Society” , is the most vivid example of the “work” of the editorial group. None of the three editors of the Russian edition, whose names appear proudly on the title page, did not notice that “A” in this case is the article, not the application number.

Such examples of ignorance of the norms of the original language and subject matter of the book are replete with every page of translation. Thus, fellow (in the context of a research fellow ), in the opinion of the translator and editors, means “employee”, assistant (assistant) - “deputy”, location based services (spatial-dependent services) - “services based on location technology ", To access as needed (for access as needed) -" to provide the necessary level of access ", etc.

As a result, the Russian edition of the book, translated and published on budget funds, that is, on taxpayers' money, is only an “approximately correct” translation of the original edition. Correct in the sense that almost every single word in it is translated correctly, but the entire text in total is a complete nonsense, distorting both the idea of ​​the essence of the developing technologies and the potential threats that they carry to individuals and society as a whole.

After becoming acquainted with such “works”, it remains to advise UNESCO to the standard clause “the authors' opinion does not necessarily coincide with the opinion of UNESCO” to add also “UNESCO is not responsible for the work of translators and translation editors”, and Russian readers to read the book in the original language ( PDF , eng. ), or wait until someone performs a professional, not an approximate translation of this wonderful work.