Book 3  Unit 8

                          Text B Why I'm Not Going To Buy A Computer
                                                             Wendell Berry

Like almost everybody else, I am hooked to the energy corporations, (1) which I do not admire. I hope to become less hooked to them. In my work, I try to be as little hooked to them as possible. As a farmer, I do almost all of my work with horses, not machines. As a writer, I work with a pencil or a pen and a piece of paper.

My wife types my work on a Royal standard typewriter bought new in 1956, and as good now as it was then. As she types, she sees things that are wrong, and marks them with small checks in the margins. She's my best critic because she's the one most familiar with my usual errors and weaknesses. She also understands, sometimes better than I do, what ought to be said. We have, I think, a literary cottage industry (2) that works well and pleasantly. I don't see anything wrong with it.

A number of people, by now, have told me that I could greatly improve things by buying a computer. My answer is that I'm not going to do it. I have several reasons, and they're good ones.

The first is the one I mentioned at the beginning. 

I would hate to think that my work as a writer could not be done without a direct dependence on strip-mined coal (3). How could I write conscientiously against the rape of nature if I were, in the act of writing, involved even indirectly in the rape? (4) For the same reason, it matters to me that my writing is done in the daytime, without electric light.

I do not admire computer manufacturers much more than I admire the energy industries. (5) 

I have seen their advertisements, attempting to seduce struggling or failing farmers into believing that they can solve their problems by buying yet another piece of expensive equipment. (6) I'm familiar with their propaganda campaigns that have put computers into public schools that don't even have enough books. That computers are expected to become as common as TV sets in “the future” doesn't impress me or matter to me. I don't own a TV set. I don't see that computers are bringing us even one step nearer to anything that does matter to me (7): peace, economic justice (8), ecological health, political honesty, family and community stability, good work.

What would a computer cost me? More money, for one thing, than I can afford, and more than I wish to pay to people whom I do not admire. 

But the cost would not be just monetary. (9) It's well understood that technological innovation always requires the discarding of the “old model” -- the “old model” in this case being not just our old Royal standard, but my wife, my critic, my closest reader, my fellow worker (10). Thus (and I think this is typical of present-day technological innovation), what would be replaced would be not only something, but somebody. (11) In order to be technologically up-to-date as a writer, I would have to sacrifice an association (12) that I depend on and treasure.

My final and perhaps my best reason for not owning a computer is that I do not wish to fool myself. 

I disbelieve, and therefore strongly resent, the claim that I or anybody else could write better or more easily with a computer than with a pencil. Let's be scientific about this: (13) When someone has used a computer to write work that is demonstrably superior to Dante's (14), and when this superiority is proven to be due to the use of a computer, then I will speak of computers with a more respectful tone of voice. But I still won't buy one.

To make myself as plain as I can, I should give my standards for adopting any technological innovation in my own work. They are as follows: (15) 

1. The new tool should be cheaper than the one it replaces.

2. It should be at least as small in size as the one it replaces.

3. It should do work that is clearly and demonstrably better than the tool it replaces.

4. It should use less energy than the tool it replaces.

5. If possible, it should use some form of non-industrial energy; such as solar energy or that of the body.

6. A person of ordinary intelligence should be able to repair it, provided he or she has the necessary tools.

7. It should be possible to purchase and repair it near home.

8. It should come from a small, privately owned shop that will take it back for *maintenance and repair.

9. It should not replace or disrupt anything good that already exists, and this includes family and community relationships. 

                       我为什么不打算买电脑

　                          温德尔· 贝里　 

    像几乎所有的人一样，我离不开能源公司，但我不喜欢这样。我希望跟它们少一点牵连。在我的工作中，我试图尽可能少地同它们打交道。作为农场主，我所有的活几乎都是用马而不是用机器完成的。作为作家，我用铅笔或钢笔和纸工作。

    我的妻子在一台1956年买的新货“皇家牌”标准打字机上打我的作品，现在这台打字机和当初一样好用。她打字时，能看到错误的地方，然后便在页边空白处打个小钩标出来。她是我最好的评论家，因为她最熟悉我常有的错误和弱点。她也懂得应该说什么，有时比我还懂。我觉得，我们有一个运作正常愉快的家庭文学作坊。我没有发现它有什么不好。

    至今已有好多人对我说买一台电脑可以大大改善我的状况。我的回答是我不打算买。我有好几条理由，而且是很好的理由。

    第一条理由是我在开始时提到的。

    我讨厌那种以为不直接依赖露天煤矿开采的煤就没法写作的想法。如果我在写作过程中参与了对大自然的肆虐，即使是间接的,我又如何能问心无愧地写文章来反对这种肆虐呢？基于同样的原因，我在白天写作，不用开电灯，这对我很重要。

    我并不赞赏能源产业, 我同样也不赞赏电脑制造商。

    我已经看过他们的广告，这些广告企图诱骗生存艰难或即将破产的农场主们相信,他们再买一件昂贵的设备就能解决他们的诸多问题。我熟悉他们的宣传运动，这些运动把电脑送入了连书都不够的公立学校。他们说，电脑有望在“未来”同电视机一样普遍，这话打动不了我，对我也无关紧要。我没有电视机。我看不到电脑正在让我们同任何对我来说确实重要的东西有所靠近:和平，经济上的公平，生态的健康，政治上的诚实，家庭和社区的稳定，好的工作 -- 连寸步也没有靠近。

    电脑会使我付出什么代价呢？首先是钱，既超出了我的支付能力，也超过了我愿意付给我不喜欢的人们的金额。

    但是代价并不只是金钱方面的。完全可以理解，技术革新总需要丢弃“旧的模式”--对我来说，“旧的模式”不只是我们那台老的“皇家牌”标准打字机，还有我的妻子，我的评论家，我最细心的读者，我的同事。这样一来（我认为这是当今技术革新的典型特征），将要被取代的不仅是物，还有人。作为一名作家，为了在技术上跟上时代，我将不得不牺牲我所依赖和珍惜的一种伙伴关系。

    我不要计算机的最后一条也许是最好的一条理由是我不想欺骗自己。

    有人声称，我, 或者任何别的人, 用电脑能够比用铅笔更好或者更方便地写作，我不相信这种说法，因此也十分反感。我们对这个问题要采取科学的态度：什么时候有人用电脑写出的作品明显比但丁的作品优秀，什么时候这种优秀被证明是由于使用了电脑，那么我就会用一种更为尊重的口吻去谈论电脑了。但我仍然不想买一台。

    为了尽可能明白地表达我的意思，我应该说明我在自己的工作中采用任何技术革新的准则。它们是： 
    1.新的工具应该比它所取代的那种工具更便宜。
    2.在尺寸上，它应该至少同它所取代的那种一样小。
    3.它所做的工作应该清楚而明显地比它所取代的那种工具做得更好。
    4.它应该比它所取代的那种工具消耗更少的能源。
    5.如果可能的话，它应该利用某种非工业能源；如太阳能或者体能。
    6.只要备有必需的工具，一个智力一般的人应该能修理它。
    7.应该能在离家不远的地方买到并修理它。
    8.它应该来自一家能把它拿回去保养维修的私人小店。
    9.它不应该替代或中断任何已有的好东西，其中包括家庭和社区中的种种关系。