迈向一个有素养的国家Towards a Literate Nation
"给我一个足够长的杠杆，和一个可以站立的支点，我就能撬动地球。"
– 阿基米德
要减少失业，我们需要加杠杆。
不是像华尔街那样靠债务，而是像硅谷那样靠工具。
杠杆会放大你的行动，提高你的生产力。你可以通过以下方式获得杠杆：
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劳动力（人替你工作）
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资本（钱替你工作）
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工具（机器替你工作）
我们想帮助劳动力。我们没有太多资本。我们必须把工具交到人们手中。
所有伟大的现代生产力工具——印刷机、工厂、电影制片厂——都需要资本和协作才能使用。计算机或许是自石斧以来，第一种个人无需得到任何人许可就能获得巨大杠杆的工具。
现代计算机能助力一切努力——即使你上班不用电脑，你很快也会在口袋里揣一部 50 美元的智能手机。你在网上办理银行业务、在线学习、在线交流。计算机，以及现在的智能手机，让每个人都更高效。
这就是为什么当美国其他地区没有足够的工作岗位时，硅谷却人手不足。
如今计算机更简单了，更普及了，更便宜了，更容易获得。
而且我们可以通过计算机、利用 ShowMe、CodeAcademy、Bloc 等工具，教人们使用计算机。
让我们创造世界上第一个完全数字素养社会。不是一个人人都是程序员的国度（也许有一天会），而是一个人人都能熟练使用人类发明的最强大工具的国度。
让我们快点行动——用三个月从头到尾培训他们。而且要便宜——免费。
我们可以在斯坦福、MIT、伯克利、哈佛等学校创建这个项目。我们可以教授基本技能——使用 Google Apps、搜索、DropBox、电子邮件、网上银行、旅行、订购物资等在线应用；还要教授一些基本的创作——创建自己的网站；研究问题；解决问题；学会学习。
Google、Amazon 和 Apple 会把平板电脑借给我们。公司会付钱让我们教人们使用它们的应用。这是一个应用市场，让公司付钱给社会来教育社会。
Apple、Square、DropBox、Twitter 创造了精美的软件界面。iPad 和 Android 让硬件变得触手可及。如今，不仅创办一家公司很便宜，重新打造一个人也很便宜。
让我们创造世界上第一个数字素养社会——世界上最受欢迎的人才队伍。如果这都不能创造就业，那就没有什么能了。
“Give me a lever long enough, and a place to stand, and I will move the earth”
– Archimedes
To reduce unemployment, we need to lever up.
Not like Wall Street did, through debt, but like Silicon Valley does, with tools.
Leverage magnifies your actions and increases your productivity. You can get leverage through:
- labor (people work for you)
- capital (money works for you)
- tools (machines work for you)
We’re trying to help labor. We don’t have much capital. We must give tools to the people.
All of the great modern tools for productivity – the printing press, the factory, the movie studio – require capital and coordination to use. The computer is the first tool since maybe the stone axe, that an individual can use to gain massive leverage, without permission from anyone else.
The modern computer can help in every endeavor – even if you don’t use a computer at work, you’ll soon carry a $50 smartphone in your pocket. You’re banking online, learning online, communicating online. The computer, and now the smartphone, make everyone more productive.
This is why Silicon Valley doesn’t have enough people, when the rest of the nation doesn’t have enough jobs.
Now computers are simpler. More ubiquitous. Cheaper. More accessible.
And we can teach people how to use computers, through computers, using tools like ShowMe, CodeAcademy, Bloc, and so on.
Let’s create the world’s first, completely Digitally Literate Society. Not a nation of programmers (maybe someday) but a nation of people who are comfortable with the most powerful tool ever invented by mankind.
Let’s do it quickly – train them in three months from start to finish. And cheaply – for free.
We can create the program at Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, Harvard, etc. We can teach basic proficiency – use online applications like Google Apps, Search, DropBox, Email, Online Banking, Travel, Ordering supplies, etc. Some basic creation – create your own web-site. Research questions. Solve problems. Learn to learn.
Google, Amazon, and Apple will loan us the tablets. Companies will pay us to have people learn to use their apps. An app marketplace where companies pay society to educate society.
Apple, Square, DropBox, Twitter have created beautiful software interfaces. iPad and Android have made the hardware accessible. Today, it is not just cheap to build a company. It is cheap to re-build a person.
Let’s create the world’s first digitally literate society. The world’s most desirable workforce. If that won’t generate employment, nothing will.