It’s all clay
Everything around you was made up by people no smarter than you.
你身边的一切，都是一群并不比你聪明的人编出来的。
I often have to remind myself this.
这一点，我常常得提醒自己。
It’s all made up.
一切都是编出来的。
Laws, money, companies, political parties, rules — they only work if everyone believes in them. And if enough people lose faith, it all collapses.
法律、货币、公司、政党、规则——它们能起作用，只是因为所有人都相信它们。一旦足够多的人不再相信，这一切就会崩塌。
What’s a bank run? It’s when enough people lose faith in the bank to keep their funds secure. And if enough people lose faith, the bank actually loses its ability to keep their funds secure.
什么是挤兑？就是足够多的人不再相信银行能保住他们的存款。而一旦足够多的人不相信，银行就真的失去了保住那笔存款的能力。
The same goes for technology. Things that exist today weren’t always this way. They only exist because someone else took the time to make them. They didn’t just pop out of thin air.
技术也是一样。今天存在的这些东西，并非从来如此。它们之所以存在，只是因为有人花时间把它们造了出来。它们不是凭空冒出来的。
Which means that if there’s something we don’t like, we have the power to change it.
这也就意味着，如果有什么我们不喜欢，我们有能力去改变它。
Apple recently published Make Something Wonderful — a collection of Steve Jobs’s philosophies and quotes. It’s an incredible read, and sheds light into so many different aspects of his personality.
苹果最近出版了《成就非凡》（Make Something Wonderful），收录了史蒂夫·乔布斯的诸多理念和语录。这是一本读来精彩绝伦的书，让人得以窥见他性格里许多不同的侧面。
I’ve highlighted so many passages in that book, but this one resonates deeply:
书里我标出了很多段落，但这一段，尤其让我深有共鸣：
“Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.”
“你把它称为生活的这一切，都是一群并不比你聪明的人编出来的，你可以改变它，可以影响它，可以造出自己的东西，让别人也用得上。”
So powerful.
这话太有力量了。
It’s why I want my kids to learn how to build things. I want them to be curious. I want them to question why things are the way they are. I want them to take things apart, and put them back together.
这正是我希望孩子们学会造东西的原因。我希望他们保持好奇心，我希望他们去追问事情为什么是现在这个样子，我希望他们把东西拆开，再装回去。
It could be anything — a radio, a phone, a chair, a table. I just want them to realize that things they take for granted exist because someone else made them, and that they have agency over their lives and their situations.
拆什么都行——收音机、手机、椅子、桌子。我只是想让他们明白，那些他们习以为常的东西，都是因为有人造了出来才存在的，而他们自己，对自己的生活和处境，是有主导权的。
Their environment is malleable.
他们所处的环境，是可以塑形的。
Just like the Playdoh they grew up playing with, their world can be probed, nudged, and massaged into providing a better outcome for them.
就像他们从小玩到大的彩泥一样，他们的世界也可以被戳一戳、推一推、揉一揉，捏出对他们更有利的结果。
So if they end up in situations that they don’t like, their first instinct shouldn’t be to accept things as-is and call it fate.
所以，如果他们将来陷入自己不喜欢的处境，第一反应不该是照单全收，把它称作命运。
Instead, I hope that they treat it like clay and try their best to find ways to change it.
我更希望他们把它当作一块黏土，尽力去找办法，把它改造成自己想要的样子。
And maybe it will.
或许，它真的会变。