Longreads Best of 2015: Business & Tech

We asked a few writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in specific categories.

我们要求一些作家和编辑在特定类别中选择一些他们今年最喜欢的故事。

Here, the best in business and tech.

这里有最好的商业和技术。

Sheelah KolhatkarKolhatkar is Features Editor and National Correspondent at Bloomberg Businessweek.

Sheelah KolhatkarKolhatkar 是《彭博商业周刊》的专题编辑兼国家通讯员。

## Towers of Secrecy: Stream of Foreign Wealth Flows Into Elite New York Real Estate (Louise Story and Stephanie Saul, The New York Times)

## 秘密之塔：外国财富流入纽约精英房地产（Louise Story 和 Stephanie Saul，《纽约时报》）

This was a fascinating, important story, the first in a multipart series.

这是一个引人入胜且重要的故事，是多部分系列中的第一个。

It’s the result of many months of intensive reporting, the kind that we could use a lot more of.

这是数月密集报告的结果，我们可以更多地使用这种报告。

It explains a phenomenon that many people living in major cities around the world may have noticed, the emergence of new mega-towers and mansions where single units sell for $100 million or more.

它解释了生活在世界各地主要城市的许多人可能已经注意到的一个现象，即新的巨型塔楼和豪宅的出现，其中单个单元的售价高达 1 亿美元或更高。

They are largely, this piece reveals, places for the foreign superrich to park their money, which is often done anonymously through the use of LLCs.

本文揭示，它们在很大程度上是外国超级富豪存放资金的地方，而这通常是通过使用有限责任公司匿名进行的。

My friend Andrew Rice took a bite out of this subject too, with an earlier cover story for New York Magazine, “New York Real Estate is the New Swiss Bank Account,” that was also great.

我的朋友安德鲁·赖斯（Andrew Rice）也对这个主题感兴趣，他之前为《纽约杂志》做过封面故事，“纽约房地产是新的瑞士银行账户”，这也很棒。

## The Couture Club (Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker)

## 时装俱乐部（丽贝卡·米德，《纽约客》）

On its surface this is a piece about fashion—a couture runway show staged by Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana like nothing I’ve ever experienced.

从表面上看，这是一场关于时尚的作品——一场由意大利设计师 Domenico Dolce 和 Stefano Gabbana 举办的高级定制时装秀，这是我从未经历过的。

But it’s also a fascinating window into the world economy.

但这也是了解世界经济的一个迷人窗口。

While Greece was negotiating a restructuring of its debt, the wealthiest (like, the 0.001%) people in the world assembled for a four-day orgy of parties and conspicuous consumption (the gowns start at $40,000).

当希腊正在谈判债务重组时，世界上最富有的人（比如 0.001%）聚集在一起，参加为期四天的派对狂欢和炫耀性消费（礼服起价 40,000 美元）。

The descriptions of the clothes and the jewelry were amazing— “A stunning necklace, wrought with jewelled and enamelled flowers, fruits, and butterflies, weighed heavily on its display stand”; “One model showed off a patchwork fur jacket in which the pelts of various animals had been dyed vivid colors to make a fantastical new creature.” Overall, it was delicious and disturbing escapism.

对衣服和珠宝的描述令人惊叹——“一条令人惊叹的项链，用宝石和珐琅制成的花朵、水果和蝴蝶，在展示架上沉甸甸的”； “一位模特展示了一件拼凑而成的毛皮夹克，其中各种动物的毛皮被染成了鲜艳的颜色，形成了一种奇妙的新生物。”总的来说，这是一种美味又令人不安的逃避现实。

Ashlee VanceVance is a writer at Bloomberg Businessweek and the author of the New York Times bestseller Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future.

阿什莉·万斯万斯 (Ashlee VanceVance) 是《彭博商业周刊》的撰稿人，也是《纽约时报》畅销书《伊隆·马斯克：特斯拉、SpaceX 和探索美好未来》一书的作者。

## The Genesis Engine (Amy Maxmen, Wired)

## 创世引擎（Amy Maxmen，《连线》）

Crispr appears to be the most important bio-tech breakthrough to come along in many years.

Crispr 似乎是多年来最重要的生物技术突破。

The mainstream press had largely missed its importance and then—boom—this piece from Wired and Amy Maxmen appeared.

主流媒体在很大程度上忽视了它的重要性，然后——繁荣——这篇来自《连线》和艾米·麦克斯曼的文章出现了。

The story tackles the tough work of describing in digestible terms how Crispr allows scientists to edit DNA.

这个故事解决了用易于理解的术语描述 Crispr 如何帮助科学家编辑 DNA 的艰巨工作。

That’s the immediate payoff.

这就是立竿见影的回报。

But it also wraps all this science up in a gripping narrative of how the discovery came to be and what it might mean for people in the future.

但它也将所有这些科学都包装在一个扣人心弦的叙述中，讲述了这一发现是如何产生的，以及它对未来的人们可能意味着什么。

It’s one of those rare first swing, definitive type pieces and deserves everyone’s attention.

这是罕见的首部摇摆作品之一，具有明确的风格，值得每个人的关注。

## Facebook AI Director Yann LeCun on His Quest to Unleash Deep Learning and Make Machines Smarter (Lee Gomes, IEEE Spectrum)

## Facebook 人工智能总监 Yann LeCun 探讨如何释放深度学习并使机器变得更智能（Lee Gomes，IEEE Spectrum）

This is not so much a story as an interview, but it’s a damn important one.

这与其说是一个故事，不如说是一次采访，但它是一个非常重要的故事。

There’s been so much written about Artificial Intelligence this year and much of it is thin and confusing.

今年有很多关于人工智能的文章，但其中大部分内容都薄弱且令人困惑。

Here, Facebook’s director of AI Yann LeCun offers up some of the clearest explanations you will find anywhere of the toughest concepts behind modern AI.

在这里，Facebook 人工智能总监 Yann LeCun 提供了一些最清晰的解释，你可以在任何地方找到现代人工智能背后最难的概念。

LeCun is not a huckster or a hypester.

LeCun 不是一个小贩或炒作者。

He provides a clear-eyed look at just how far AI technology has come and how far is still has to go.

他清晰地展示了人工智能技术已经走了多远以及还有多远的路要走。

It’s a great read for anyone who wants to wrap their head around AI and feel conversant on the subject.

对于任何想要深入了解人工智能并熟悉该主题的人来说，这都是一本很好的读物。

John HerrmanHerrman is co-editor of The Awl.

约翰·赫尔曼赫尔曼是《锥子》杂志的联合编辑。

## What Happens Next Will Amaze You (Maciej Cegłowski, Idle Words)

## 接下来发生的事情会让你大吃一惊（Maciej Cegłowski，闲话）

This is an essay adapted from a talk that feels like it was adapted from some imaginary greater text.

这是一篇改编自一次演讲的文章，感觉像是改编自一些想象中的更伟大的文本。

It’s sprawling and surprising and less careful than confident.

它庞大而令人惊讶，而且不那么谨慎，而是充满自信。

It is excellent.

非常好。

In this one presentation, Maciej talks about regulation in the way I expect the rest of us will in two years; he talks about privacy in ways that make other critics sound feeble and captured; he argues comfortably from perspectives mainstream tech writers would strain to even reach.

在这次演讲中，Maciej 以我预计我们其他人在两年内会采用的方式谈论监管；他谈论隐私的方式让其他批评者听起来软弱无力、被俘虏；他从主流科技作家竭尽全力才能达到的角度轻松地论证了这一点。

All that said, my most honest endorsement is a petty one: he’s infuriating to some of the people who infuriate me most.

话虽如此，我最诚实的认可是微不足道的：他激怒了一些最激怒我的人。

What more could I ask for?

我还能要求什么呢？

## Depressiongrams (Jamie Lauren Keiles, The Message)

## 抑郁图（杰米·劳伦·凯尔斯，《消息》）

One of the best things I read about depression all year; one of the best things I read about writing and art all year; one of the best things I read about Instagram this year.

这是我一年中读到的关于抑郁症的最好的文章之一；这是我一年中读到的关于写作和艺术的最好的东西之一；这是我今年读到的关于 Instagram 的最好的文章之一。

It’s a tidy essay about a short time and a small place that is rigged with a shattering aside in nearly every paragraph.

这是一篇简洁的文章，讲述了短暂的时间和一个小地方，几乎每个段落都充满了令人震惊的旁白。

Lesser writers would have ruined this essay with a big muscular ending (or an extra few thousand words.

水平较低的作家可能会因为一个强有力的结尾（或者额外的几千字）而毁掉这篇文章。

Is this even a #longread???

这还是#longread？？？

MODS???).

模组？？？）。

But Jamie doesn’t.

但杰米不这么认为。

Kevin RooseRoose is the news director at Fusion, and the executive producer of Real Future, a new TV documentary series about technology and the future.

Kevin RooseRoose 是 Fusion 的新闻总监，也是有关技术和未来的新电视纪录片《真实未来》的执行制片人。

He is the New York Times bestselling author of Young Money and The Unlikely Disciple, and was previously a business and technology writer for New York magazine and the New York Times.

他是《纽约时报》畅销书《Young Money》和《不可能的门徒》的作者，此前曾担任《纽约》杂志和《纽约时报》的商业和技术撰稿人。

## Instagram’s TMZ (Jenna Wortham, New York Times Magazine)

## Instagram 的 TMZ（Jenna Wortham，纽约时报杂志）

My first nomination is Jenna Wortham’s NYT Mag piece on the Shade Room, an Instagram-only publication that focuses on celebrity news.

我的第一个提名是詹娜·沃瑟姆 (Jenna Wortham) 在《纽约时报》杂志 (NYT Mag) 上发表的关于《Shade Room》的文章，这是一份仅在 Instagram 上发布的出版物，专注于名人新闻。

It’s a piece that made me realize that, while much of the digital media was obsessing and handwringing about The Future Of Publishing, there was this entirely separate set of people who were just going out and *doing the work*, creating publications native to new media that had none of the legacy hangups or procedural ankleweights of the competition, needed no deep VC pockets to enact their visions, and that were often more capable when it came to finding and amplifying diverse voices.

这篇文章让我意识到，虽然许多数字媒体都对出版业的未来着迷和苦恼，但有一群完全独立的人只是出去“做工作”，创建新媒体原生的出版物，没有任何遗留问题或竞争的程序脚踝重量，不需要雄厚的风险投资来实现他们的愿景，而且在寻找和放大不同声音方面往往更有能力。

It’s a too-short piece (I could have read 10,000 words on it) but Jenna’s piece stuck in my head as an exemplar of technology journalism that focuses on what is *actually* new and innovative, and doesn’t just rely on prognostication from the same old voices.

这是一篇太短的文章（我本来可以读 10,000 个字），但 Jenna 的文章作为科技新闻的典范深深印在我的脑海中，它专注于“实际上”的新事物和创新，而不仅仅依赖于同样的旧声音的预测。

## Hot Startup Theranos Has Struggled With Its Blood-Test Technology (John Carreyrou, Wall Street Journal)

## 热门初创公司 Theranos 因其血液检测技术而苦苦挣扎（John Carreyrou，华尔街日报）

My second nomination is John Carreyrou’s Wall Street Journal investigation of Theranos, which took a darling of recent Silicon Valley mythology out behind the shed and put a bullet in its skull.

我的第二项提名是约翰·卡雷鲁 (John Carreyrou) 的《华尔街日报》对希拉洛斯 (Theranos) 的调查，该调查将最近硅谷神话中的宠儿带出了棚屋，并朝它的头骨开了一枪。

The original piece was, of course, devastatingly well-researched and thorough, but it’s the fallout from the story—the regulatory mess around the biotech sector, the increasingly mystique-laden character of Elizabeth Holmes, the silly and unconvincing defenses attempted by tech tribalists (who are unaccustomed to scrutiny that leaves a mark), and the swirl of financial uncertainty that has come to surround other big venture-backed businesses since the piece was published (deservedly or not)—that make it obvious that Carreyrou’s work will be fought over for years.

当然，最初的文章经过了彻底的研究和透彻，但这是故事的后果——围绕生物技术行业的监管混乱、伊丽莎白·霍姆斯日益神秘的性格、科技部落主义者（他们不习惯留下痕迹的审查）试图做出的愚蠢且不令人信服的辩护，以及自这篇文章发表以来，围绕着其他大型风险投资支持的企业的财务不确定性漩涡（当之无愧）或不）——这显然表明卡雷鲁的作品将被争论多年。

Nitasha TikuTiku is senior writer for BuzzFeed News covering technology and culture.

Nitasha TikuTiku 是 BuzzFeed 新闻的资深撰稿人，内容涉及技术和文化。

## The Rating Game (Josh Dzieza, The Verge)

## 评级游戏（Josh Dzieza，The Verge）

It’s eerie how quickly consumer behavior has adjusted to the luxuries of on-demand apps.

令人惊奇的是，消费者行为适应按需应用程序的奢侈品的速度如此之快。

We feel guilty for hailing an Uber, but we can’t help ourselves.

我们为打车而感到内疚，但又情不自禁。

Josh Dzieza’s piece zooms on the effect on just one feature—instant rating systems.

乔什·德齐扎 (Josh Dzieza) 的文章着重强调了一项功能的效果——即时评级系统。

Tech companies claim that rating your Uber driver or a Handy housecleaner with a tap of your smartphone is “two-way” street that offers “mutual accountability.” But only one side can lose a job over it.

科技公司声称，通过智能手机对 Uber 司机或 Handy 清洁工进行评分是“双向”的，可以提供“相互问责”。但只有一方会因此而丢掉工作。

Dzieza argues that these monitoring tools turn customers into “ruthless middle managers,” “hypersensitive to any error.” He walks the reader through the broader significance: Companies can only get Uber-sized by using dispersed, untrained contract workers.

Dzieza 认为，这些监控工具将客户变成“无情的中层管理人员”，“对任何错误都高度敏感”。他向读者介绍了更广泛的意义：公司只有通过使用分散的、未经培训的合同工才能达到 Uber 的规模。

It’s cheaper to turn customers into supervisors than manage that workforce.

将客户转变为主管比管理员工队伍更便宜。

The efficiency of these systems is making them increasingly popular.

这些系统的效率使它们越来越受欢迎。

And that efficiency also obliterates worker protections, subjecting them to racial bias and arbitrary demerits.

这种效率也消除了对工人的保护，使他们遭受种族偏见和任意记过。

Vivid anecdotes make the new American “master-servant relationship,” as one driver put it, harder to shrug off.

正如一位司机所说，生动的轶事让美国新的“主仆关系”更难以摆脱。

## The CEO Paying Everyone $70,000 Salaries Has Something to Hide (Karen Weise, Bloomberg Businessweek)

## 向每个人支付 70,000 美元薪水的首席执行官有一些隐情（Karen Weise，彭博商业周刊）

Karen Weise investigates the real reason that Gravity CEO Dan Price decided to pay all his employees a $70,000 salary.

凯伦·韦斯 (Karen Weise) 调查了 Gravity 首席执行官丹·普莱斯 (Dan Price) 决定向所有员工支付 70,000 美元工资的真正原因。

I slept on this story initially because Price’s spiel always struck me as a ploy to go viral, but the mystery builds slowly towards unexpected ends.

最初我对这个故事很感兴趣，因为普莱斯的长篇大论总是让我觉得这是一种病毒式传播的策略，但这个谜团慢慢地朝着意想不到的结局发展。

Weise highlights the strangeness one can unearth by diligently fact-checking a company’s claims.

韦斯强调了通过认真核实一家公司的声明可以发现的奇怪之处。

Price’s saga may not have widespread implications, but Wall Street Journal’s expose on Theranos raised the bar on tech reporting and Weise makes you wonder what else startup CEOs are hiding.

普莱斯的传奇故事可能不会产生广泛的影响，但《华尔街日报》对 Theranos 的曝光提高了科技报道的标准，而 Weise 让你想知道初创公司首席执行官还隐瞒了什么。

Longreads Editor’s Pick: Mark Armstrong@markarms

长读编辑推荐：Mark Armstrong@markarms

## Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future (Ashlee Vance)

## 埃隆·马斯克：特斯拉、SpaceX 和对美好未来的探索（阿什莉·万斯）

## First, Let’s Get Rid of All the Bosses (Roger D.

## 首先，让我们摆脱所有的老板（Roger D.

Hodge, The New Republic)

霍奇，《新共和》）

Vance’s book on the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is not just compelling for its deep reporting on one of the most interesting people in technology today; it’s also an excellent lesson in how a journalist navigates the challenges of getting ever more access without handing over independence or control of a project.

万斯关于 SpaceX 和特斯拉首席执行官的书不仅因其对当今科技界最有趣的人物之一的深入报道而引人注目，而且还因其对 SpaceX 和特斯拉首席执行官的深入报道而引人注目。这也是一个很好的教训，告诉我们记者如何应对挑战，在不放弃项目独立性或控制权的情况下获得更多的接触机会。

Vance talked with everyone—family members, employees, and Musk himself—without giving his subject final signoff.

万斯与所有人——家庭成员、员工和马斯克本人——进行了交谈，但没有给出他的主题的最终批准。

Pair Vance’s book with Roger Hodge’s similar reporting feat inside the quirky online shoe giant Zappos.

将万斯的书与罗杰·霍奇在古怪的在线鞋业巨头 Zappos 中的类似报道相结合。

Hodge was granted access to the company, its executives, and employees, as they embarked on a radical experiment to eliminate management and embrace Holacracy.

霍奇被允许接触该公司、其高管和员工，因为他们开始了一项彻底的实验，以消除管理层并接受合弄制。