Chapter 3. Gaming

第三章：游戏

Games are a training ground for a future reality, one where the individual will most likely perform repetitive tasks — both individually and in groups.

游戏是未来现实的训练土壤；通过游戏，个体更倾向于完成重复性的工作。既作为个体，亦在群体之中。

Why not start young? Gaming is training.

为什么不早点儿开始呢？游戏也是训练。

Edward Said's 1978 book Orientalism studies the cultural representations that are the basis of the West's patronizing perceptions and fictional depictions of the ‘East’, the societies and peoples who inhabit the places of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. He argues that Orientalism, the Western scholarship about the Eastern World, was and remains inextricably tied to the imperialist societies who produced it, which makes much Orientalist work inherently political and servile to power, and therefore intellectually suspect.

爱德华·萨义德（Edward Said）在作于1978年的《东方主义》（Orientalism）一书中论述了基于西方对“东方”——亚洲、非洲与中东地区的社会与居民——的傲慢观感与虚构描绘的文化再现形式。他认为，东方主义，即西方学术界对东方世界的描述，一向与孕育它的帝国主义社会不可分割，这让东方主义式的著作在本质上便是政治性的，屈从于权力，因此在学术层面显得可疑。

He argues that ‘Western knowledge of the Eastern world’ depicts the Oriental as an irrational, psychologically weak non-European Other, which is negatively contrasted with the rational, psychologically strong West. Such a binary relation derives from the psychological need to create a difference of cultural inequality, between West and East.

他表示，“西方对东方世界的知识”将东方描述为一种非理性、心理弱势的非西方他者，消极地与理性的、心理强势的西方形成对比。这样的二元关系源于某种试图在西方和东方创造文化不平等之差异的心理需求。

Although important, Said's narrative created a paradigm where Orientalism has become a generalised swear-word. That was a long time ago. Since the Millennium, many journalists and writers have explored the significance of China as a rising global superpower, replacing Russia to balance America.

虽然萨义德的叙述是重要的，但它创造出一种范式——东方主义沦为一种概括性的谩骂。这是很久之前了。千禧年以来，许多记者与作家致力于研究中国作为新生的全球性超级力量，成为取代俄罗斯充当平衡美国的角色。

Airport bookstores around the world are lined with titles like 'China Shakes The World: The Rise of a Hungry Nation', 'Chinese Rules: Five Timeless Lessons for Succeeding in China', and 'Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China'.

全世界的机场书店充斥着诸如“中国震动世界：饥饿国度的崛起”“中国规则：五堂永不过时的课教你如何在中国成功”“野心的时代：在新中国追求财富、真理和信仰”的标题。

In these titles — geared towards a global corporate elite, the desire to understand is deeply intertwined with an agenda to exploit. This is nothing new.

在这些为全球企业精英定制的标题中，理解的欲望与剥削的计划紧密相联。太阳底下无新事。

Within China, the so-called 'century of humiliation' refers to the period of intervention and imperialism by Western powers and Japan in China between 1839 and 1949, Today, the memory of colonial exploitation is mixed with rising nationalism. Yet the new market economy gives individuals unprecedented opportunities for growth and prosperity.

在中国，所谓“百年国耻”指1839年至1949年间中国被西方及日本帝国主义势力入侵的时期，如今，殖民剥削的记忆同正在兴起的民族主义混合在一起。不过，新的市场经济赋予个体以前所未有的成长与兴盛的机会。

The future always changes. In Communist China, there was no need for Futurism, Utopia, or Science Fiction. Unlike Soviet Russia, China had no space programme, and thus there was no need for state-sponsored films about a better tomorrow.

未来总是在变化。在共产主义意识形态统摄下的中国，未来主义、乌托邦或科幻小说均没有存在的必要。与苏联不同，中国当时没有太空项目，因此国家没有必要资助关于美好未来的电影。

But within these fantasy worlds, philosophical reflections on fate and destiny are common.

但在幻想世界里，对于命运的哲学思考是司空见惯的。