The Cult of Elon Musk Reveals Some Horrible Truths对马斯克的狂热崇拜揭示出残酷真相

贾里德·巴特尔　牟丽婷/译

Elon Musks proposed purchase of Twitter has raised questions about his potential to mould the platform—and culture—in his image. How will things change when we all live in the virtual Musk-sphere？ These concerns are at least a decade too late.

埃隆·马斯克提议收购推特后，质疑纷至沓来：马斯克能否以自身风格塑造推特平台，造就推特文化？如果我们都生活在虚拟的马斯克世界，那么一切将会如何变化？诸如此类的担忧至少迟到了十年。

Musk is a symptom， not a cause， of our cultural malaise. A juvenile billionaire with plans for colonising Mars and uploading brains into cyberspace， he is the epitome of a “geek”—a character which has undergone a rapid redemptive arc1 in recent history.

马斯克是当今文化痼疾的症状而非病因。他年纪轻轻时就坐拥亿万身家，心怀移民火星以及将大脑意识上传云端的计划，正是典型的“极客”——近现代经历形象快速反转的一类人。

The geek was once a maligned figure signifying social incompetence， but today it would be hard to find anyone who didnt indulge in at least one “geeky” interest—whether that is playing video games， participating in “fandoms”， or simply spending far too much time online.

极客一度饱受非议，被视作社交无能的代名词，而今几乎人人都沉迷于至少一种“极客式”兴趣——玩电子游戏、加入“饭圈”，抑或只是花太多时间上网。

Geeks love technology， fantasy and the promise of being liberated from horrible human realities （“meatspace”）. The geek is an anti-sensualist， valuing virtualized spectacle over ugly， raw physicality. It is no surprise that Mark Zuckerbergs latest dalliance is with the “metaverse”.

極客醉心于科技、幻想，以及挣脱人类悲惨现实（“物质世界”）的美好愿景。他们是反感觉主义者，比起丑陋而原始的物质实体，更看重虚拟化景象。“元宇宙”成为马克·扎克伯格的新宠也就不足为奇了。

The rise of gaming， once a niche interest for those who couldnt get a date， is a testament to the normalisation of geeky escapism. Its estimated that nearly 40 per cent of the global population now regularly play video games. In the United States， this number is 65 per cent， with the average age of a self-described “gamer” being 33 years old.

游戏曾是难“脱单”人群的小众爱好，而今游戏行业异军突起，无疑证明了极客式逃避现实的消遣方式已成常态。据估计，目前全球近40%的人经常玩电子游戏。在美国，这一数字高达65%，自称“玩家”者的平均年龄为33岁。

The hero in geek fantasy is the “hacker”， a favourite in 90s and early 2000s cinema： a tech genius who smashes conventions and flips off authority.

极客幻想中的英雄是“黑客”——他们是打破常规、蔑视权威的技术天才，在20世纪90年代和21世纪初的电影中很受宠。

“I wasnt seeing the hard line between nerds and normals anymore，” complained comedian Patton Oswald in Wired back in 2010. Little did he know how mainstream geek culture would become.

“我发现技术呆子和常人之间的界线逐渐模糊。”喜剧演员巴顿·奥斯瓦尔德在2010年接受《连线》杂志采访时颇有微词。那时的他根本不知道极客文化会成为主流。

We live in a time where grown adults openly debate the lore of the latest comic book film， talk about their Hogwarts house and spend their evenings living out grandiose fantasies through first-person shooters.

当今时代，成年人公开讨论最新漫画改编电影的世界观，畅谈自己所属的霍格沃兹学院，晚上就在第一人称射击游戏中实现自己的宏伟幻想。

“Everything conspires to encourage escapist solutions to psychological problems”， wrote social critic Christopher Lasch to describe our so-called “culture of narcissism”. In the twenty-first century， a retreat into fantasy has never been easier—with escapist narratives becoming a thriving industry and a means of self-branding.

社会评论家克里斯托弗·拉希在描述所谓“自恋文化”时写道：“这一切都鼓励人们在遇到心理问题时采取逃避现实的策略。”自进入21世纪以来，遁入幻想从未像现在这样易如反掌——逃避现实的叙事渐渐成为一个蓬勃发展的行业和一种自我标榜的手段。

A fan of witty memes， political edginess and transhumanist utopias， Musks behaviour at fifty years old reflects the maturity of an adolescent nerd. He is both a victim as well as a key propagator of the rise of the geek， what researchers at the University of Georgia have called “the great fantasy migration”.

马斯克对诙谐的模因、犀利的政治和超人类主义的乌托邦饶有兴趣。50岁的他行为举止像是刚刚长大的青春期技术呆子。他既是极客文化兴起的受害者，也是重要传播者。佐治亚大学的研究人员将极客文化的兴起称作“幻想大迁徙”。

“Inflated self-esteem and narcissism—which have increased steadily over the past few generations—are being met with a harsh reality”， wrote researchers in a 2015 paper on the rise of geek chic. “One solution for resolving this dissonance is to migrate into a fantasy world via role playing games， fandoms and fantasy media.” We are all Musks now， and its not at all surprising that most of us are having a hard time with reality.

2015年，研究者在有关极客浪潮兴起的一篇论文中写道：“人类膨胀的自尊心及自我陶醉在过去几代人中稳步加剧，而当下二者正在面对残酷的现实。有个能消除这种不和谐的方法，那就是通过角色扮演游戏、饭圈和传播幻想的媒介迁徙到幻想世界。”现在人人都是马斯克，在现实中我们大多数人感到无所适从一点也不稀奇。

Philosopher Byung-Chul Han characterises our time as the rise of the “achievement-subject”—where individuals are burdened with the impetus to demonstrate their uniqueness from herd， placing them at risk of psychic burnout and self-exploitation.

哲學家韩炳哲称当今时代的特点是愈发“以成就为导向”——个体苦于要证明自己与众不同，因而深陷心理倦怠和自我消耗的囹圄。

Modern celebrities and industry heroes like Musk reflect a kind of adolescent zeal for being renegade and disruptive. They lure in followers with a promise that with a bit of brains and vision， you too can “hack” the system and become special.

马斯克等当代名人及行业翘楚折射出一种青少年般的热忱——期盼离经叛道、颠覆传统。他们声称：只要有点头脑、有点远见，你也可以“黑”进系统，成为特别的人。他们正是以此吸引追随者。

As Peter Cullen Bryan documents， large geek-oriented media companies strategically cultivate “cult” followings despite widespread popularity by providing “Easter eggs” for hardcore fans and rewarding in-depth knowledge of media properties. This is designed to make media consumers feel “unique” and more embedded into the fantasy world being created.

正如彼得·卡伦·布赖恩所述，面向极客的大型媒体公司本就广受欢迎，但仍通过为硬核粉丝提供“彩蛋”以及奖励深入了解媒体属性的用户，战略性地培养“狂热”追随者。此举旨在令媒体消费者感到“与众不同”，从而更加沉溺于创建中的幻想世界。

A similar model can be found in the cult of Musk， where fans believe they are charting a new future free of the stuffy institutions of the past and transcending physical and material limitations.

對马斯克的狂热崇拜异曲同工——粉丝深信自己正在开创一个摆脱了以往陈腐制度的崭新未来，深信自己正在超越身体和物质的限制。

Musks image is exploiting a cultural wound， the disenchantment of the world following the decline of religion. Old myths， which provided a layer of meaning on top of the real world， no longer resonate， so the only solution is tech mediated make-believe.

马斯克这一形象利用的正是文化创伤，即人们对宗教衰落之后的世界不再抱有幻想。古老的神话曾予人超越现实世界的精神寄托，而今却已不再令人心生共鸣，于是唯一的救赎便是以技术为媒的幻想。

The rise of the geek is the denial of a world worth living free of technology， virtualisation and ironic detachment. Escapism， in its denial of the physical in favour of the ego， retreats from the anxieties and disappointments of real life. In doing so， it denies us of the cap-acity to move beyond self-flattery.

极客的崛起否定了世界没有技术、虚拟化和具有讽刺意味的超然也值得生存其中。逃避主义在坚持自我中否定物质世界，躲离现实生活中的焦虑和失望。如此一来，我们便无力逃脱自我粉饰。

It is possible to handle the difficult truths of being alive in the twenty-first century， to sublimate existential pain in the service of something higher. But first， one must be fully in the real world and not be distracted by the escapist spectacle of Musk and his fellow geeky elites.

其实世人能够应对生活在21世纪的诸多残酷真相，也能在服务于更崇高事业的过程中升华人生在世的痛苦。但首先，人必须完全置身于现实世界，不因马斯克和其他极客精英精心呈现的逃避主义景象而分心。

（译者单位：武汉科技大学）