京东|美网友问：如果中国的技术持续进步，美国将会发生什么？( 五 ) 京东

正如你所看到的，当道琼斯工业平均指数在1896年首次制定时，它所有的成份股公司都涉及某种有限的资源，无论是土地(用于农产品)、化石燃料(用于发电厂)还是实物商品(橡胶、奶牛/皮革) 。通用电气(General Electric)是榜单上唯一一家依赖重要技术成分的公司——这可能不是巧合，为什么它是最初榜单上今天唯一被人认出来的公司。
In today’s list most of the companies are from knowledge-driven industries that rely mainly on human ingenuity and collaboration (pharmaceuticals financial services information technologies retail etc.). There are some natural resources companies like ExxonMobil and Chevron but these are a small minority at this point.
在如今的榜单中，大多数公司都来自主要依靠人类创造力和协作的知识驱动行业(制药、金融服务、信息技术、零售等) 。有一些自然资源公司，如埃克森美孚和雪佛龙，但这只是少数。
The technology frontier life at the “bleeding edge”
技术前沿，生活在“前沿”
At the edge of human ingenuity is the technology or innovation frontier or something folks refer to as the “bleeding edge”[2
. Here we sit at the farthest limits of our achievements to date. Beyond this point we stare into the abyss of the unknown and our best and brightest push on in a heroic effort to continuously advance and better ourselves. This is the front line of human civilization and development.
在人类创造力的边缘是技术或创新前沿，或者人们所说的“流血边缘” 。我们现在所处的位置是我们迄今所取得成就的最远极限。越过这一点，我们凝视着未知的深渊，我们最优秀、最聪明的人以英雄般的努力不断前进，让自己变得更好。这是人类文明和发展的第一线。
The developed world (the U.S./E.U./Japan) have shouldered most of the burden for pushing the bleeding edge of the technology and knowledge frontier forward since the Industrial Revolution. For this we have been rewarded with untold bounty and riches. We have been able to trade much of this technology and knowledge with less-advanced countries in exchange for them taking on some of the less-desirable types of human toil and labor. This trade has undoubtedly improved our quality of life.
自工业革命以来，发达国家(美国/欧盟/日本)承担了推动技术和知识前沿发展的大部分责任。为此，我们得到了数不清的奖赏和财富。我们已经能够与较不发达的国家进行大量的技术和知识贸易，以换取它们承担一些不太理想的人类劳动和劳动。这种贸易无疑提高了我们的生活质量。
For much of the last four decades China has been squarely in catch-up mode. It has not contributed much directly to pushing that technology and knowledge frontier forward. Instead it has traded the time and toil of its people largely to rich developed countries. By doing this it frees up resources in rich developed countries that can be used to continue pushing the human technology frontier forward.
在过去40年的大部分时间里，中国一直处于明显的追赶模式。它并没有对推动技术和知识前沿的发展做出直接贡献。相反，它把本国人民的时间和辛勤劳动卖给了富裕的发达国家。通过这样做，它释放了富裕发达国家的资源，可以用来继续推动人类技术前沿的发展。
In other words China has focused on technology proliferation — taking technology that may not necessarily be considered “bleeding edge” and proliferating it in its own economy to move forward. Over time China has gradually caught up and gotten closer and closer to the technology frontier. It is still not quite there but in many cases the “bleeding edge” is within shouting distance and in certain cases it may even be standing at the very edge.