比爾·蓋茨：如果你想了解矽谷，就看《矽谷》吧

（原標題：比爾·蓋茨：如果你想了解矽谷，就看《矽谷》吧）

考慮到矽谷對我們生活的巨大影響，令我驚訝的是，很少有流行文化能展現出它的真實情況。最好的作品，我用一隻手就能數過來。《矽谷之火》（Fire in the Valley）這本書很好地記錄了早期的情況，以及我和史蒂夫· 喬布斯之間的關係（它也被改編成了一部相當不錯的電影）。沃爾特·艾薩克森（Walter Isaacson）撰寫的史蒂夫傳記非常棒，另外讓我大為吃驚的是，他在《創新者》（The Innovators）一書中竟能將如此大量的歷史和技術信息融會貫通。這是一部傑作。

但如果你真想了解矽谷如今是如何運轉的，你應該看看HBO的連續劇《矽谷》。

它圍繞一群在互聯網初創公司Pied Piper的工程師展開。你會看到他們努力思考戰略、打造產品、籌集資金，以及同Hooli競爭——Hooli這家科技巨頭與谷歌或微軟具有明顯但只是表面的相似。

這部劇是一個戲仿作品，所以它誇大了現實，但像所有偉大的戲仿作品一樣，它捕捉到了許多真實情況。你在劇中看到的那些不同的人物性格，我對其中大多數都很熟悉。程序員們很聰明，甚至與朋友在一起時也會表現出超強的競爭心，而在社交方面就顯得有點摸不清門道了。我個人最認同Pied Piper的創始人理查德這個角色，他是一名出色的程序員，但必須艱難地學會如何把人管好。

這些創業者都懷有良好的願望，卻傾向於把願景描繪得有點過頭。當劇中人物談論他們將如何用一款APP改變世界，而這個APP可以告訴你現在正在吃的東西是不是一個熱狗時，即使是像我這樣對技術充滿信心的人，看到如此的情景也會忍不住笑出來。

這部劇配得上「準確」二字。製片人和編劇們在每一季開始前都會做大量的調查研究。去年夏天，他們見了包括我在內的幾個人，談論行業的歷史，還提出了他們對第五季的一些想法（然而，他們並沒有給我劇透）。

我有一些在矽谷的朋友不願意看這個劇，因為他們覺得它只是在拿他們開玩笑。我總是對他們說：「你們真應該看看，因為他們開的玩笑並沒有言過其實。」你可以像我一樣相信，科技公司確實是在利用神奇的工具改善我們的生活，你同時也要承認，有時候誰贏誰輸是比較隨意的。一些人有一個幾乎正確的想法，但並不完全，於是他們的事業失敗了；而另有一些人做得稍微好一點點，於是在他們往後的歲月里一直被視為天才。這部劇完美地捕捉到了這一點。

我確實有一處小小的抱怨。《矽谷》給你這樣一種印象：像Pied Piper這樣的小公司大多比較能幹，而像Hooli這樣的大公司大多比較無能。雖然我顯然是有偏向性的，但經驗告訴我，小公司照樣可以無能，而大公司可以投入資源進行深入的研究，還能從長遠利益出發，這是小一些的公司承擔不起的。但我也理解為什麼這部劇如此關注Pied Piper，並讓Hooli看起來如此愚蠢。為處於劣勢的一方搖旗吶喊更有意思。

前四季里的每一集我都看過了，我正在看已經在5月結束的第五季。我聽說這個劇的創作者原本計劃在製作完六季之後停止，但現在他們願意創作更多。我希望如此。只要他們繼續把這個熱鬧的連續劇拍下去，我就會一直看下去。

If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon Valley

By Bill Gates

Considering the huge impact that Silicon Valley has on our lives, I』m surprised by how rarely pop culture really gets it right. I can count the best stuff on one hand. The bookFire in the Valley did a good job of capturing what things were like back in the early years, and the relationship between Steve Jobs and me. (It was turned into a pretty good movie too.) Walter Isaacson』s biography of Steve is terrific, and I was blown away by how much history and technical information he synthesized in his book The Innovators. It』s a tour de force.

But if you really want to understand how Silicon Valley works today, you should watch the HBO series Silicon Valley.

It』s about a small team of developers at an Internet startup called Pied Piper. You watch them struggle to figure out their strategy, build their product, raise money, and take on Hooli, the tech giant that bears an obvious but superficial resemblance to Google or Microsoft.

The show is a parody, so it exaggerates things, but like all great parodies it captures a lot of truths. Most of the different personality types you see in the show feel very familiar to me. The programmers are smart, super-competitive even with their friends, and a bit clueless when it comes to social cues. Personally, I identify most with Richard, the founder of Pied Piper, who is a great programmer but has to learn some hard lessons about managing people.

And the entrepreneurs are well intentioned but prone to over-the-top vision statements. Even a huge believer in technology like me has to laugh when some character talks about how they』re going to change the world with an app that tells you whether what you』re eating is a hot dog or not.

The accuracy is well-earned. The producers and writers do a lot of research before each a new season of the show. Last summer I was one of several people they met with to talk about the history of the industry and kick around some of their ideas for season 5. (They didn』t give me any spoilers, though.)

I have friends in Silicon Valley who refuse to watch the show because they think it』s just making fun of them. I always tell them: 「You really should watch it, because they don"t make any more fun of us than we deserve.」 You can believe, as I do, that tech companies really are improving life with amazing tools and also admit that sometimes, who wins and who loses is pretty arbitrary. Somebody gets an idea almost right, but not quite, and their business fails; then someone else does it just little bit better and they are viewed as a genius for the rest of their life. The show captures that perfectly.

I do have one minor complaint. Silicon Valley gives you the impression that small companies like Pied Piper are mostly capable while big companies like Hooli are mostly inept. Although I』m obviously biased, my experience is that small companies can be just as inept, and the big ones have the resources to invest in deep research and take a long-term point of view that smaller ones can』t afford. But I also understand why the show focuses so much on Pied Piper and makes Hooli look so goofy. It』s more fun to root for the underdog.

I』ve seen every episode of the first four seasons and am working my way through season 5, which ended in May. I』ve read that the show』s creators originally planned to stop after six seasons, but now they』re open to doing more. I hope they do. I』ll keep watching as long as they keep making this hilarious show.

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