????上周有報(bào)道說，風(fēng)投大佬安德森?霍洛維茨和廣和投資共同向OpenBazaar投資100萬美元。OpenBazaar是一家用比特幣交易的在線購物平臺(tái)，基本上可以用數(shù)字貨幣購買或出售任何物品。這讓人感覺有點(diǎn)似曾相識，并不禁聯(lián)想到“絲綢之路”網(wǎng)站。該網(wǎng)站去年已被美國政府以協(xié)助販毒為由關(guān)停，它的崛起和驟然衰落簡直就是黑暗小說的題材，然而我要說的是，OpenBazaar其實(shí)要危險(xiǎn)得多。

????與之前的在線交易平臺(tái)不同的是，OpenBazaar是一家完全去中心化的公司，完全存在于用戶網(wǎng)絡(luò)中。換言之，由于不存在管理中心，執(zhí)法人員無法進(jìn)行信息定位，就算一個(gè)罪犯通過點(diǎn)對點(diǎn)系統(tǒng)購買槍支也沒法阻止，除非關(guān)掉網(wǎng)絡(luò)中的每臺(tái)電腦，顯然這是不現(xiàn)實(shí)的。

????OpenBazaar也一再重申并不想創(chuàng)造“3.0版本的絲綢之路”，開發(fā)負(fù)責(zé)人布萊恩?霍夫曼接受Business Insider采訪時(shí)說，公司不會(huì)姑息任何對平臺(tái)的“不當(dāng)使用”，然而由于其系統(tǒng)架構(gòu)分散，又明確表態(tài)不干預(yù)用戶，如何防范違法交易這一問題尚無結(jié)論。

????霍夫曼聲稱的OpenBazaar將對在線商務(wù)產(chǎn)生革命性的影響可能沒錯(cuò)，但該公司的商業(yè)模式也可能成為美國技術(shù)產(chǎn)業(yè)的潛在威脅。OpenBazaar的技術(shù)本質(zhì)上是野蠻生長且不可控的，一旦最后為恐怖主義所用，當(dāng)局可能啟動(dòng)更為廣泛的打壓行動(dòng)，將執(zhí)法者認(rèn)為妨礙其職責(zé)的其他技術(shù)也列入打擊范圍。

????如果你認(rèn)為該平臺(tái)的潛在威脅對你來說還不算大，那么想一想這種技術(shù)和人工智能結(jié)合的后果。隨著人工智能技術(shù)不斷發(fā)展，連微軟創(chuàng)始人比爾?蓋茨和特斯拉領(lǐng)袖埃隆?馬斯克等科技界大牛都表示，如果有一天機(jī)器終于學(xué)會(huì)自主“思考”，很擔(dān)心人類能否控制最后的結(jié)果。其實(shí)只要把OpenBazaar的去中心化和抗拒監(jiān)管的模式與人工智能結(jié)合，爆發(fā)災(zāi)難的要素就齊全了：一群有自由思想的機(jī)器，在人類眼皮底下悄悄地互相交流。這或許很像艾薩克?阿西莫夫（譯者注：艾薩克?阿西莫夫是美國著名科幻小說家）風(fēng)格的科幻作品，但隨著技術(shù)的飛速發(fā)展，這一幕將很有可能實(shí)現(xiàn)。

????問題是真正的危險(xiǎn)還不僅是OpenBazaar本身，而是它可能催生的一大波新技術(shù)。

????平心而論，無論是否控制，能協(xié)助非法交易的點(diǎn)對點(diǎn)系統(tǒng)都會(huì)繼續(xù)存在，但是風(fēng)投圈的支持和強(qiáng)大的資金注入可能會(huì)幫助OpenBazaar更快地?cái)U(kuò)張。這家小創(chuàng)業(yè)公司可能在人們還沒意識到發(fā)生了什么之前，就已變成比絲綢之路規(guī)模更大和更具殺傷力的企業(yè)。

????隨著技術(shù)的進(jìn)步，整個(gè)行業(yè)應(yīng)該思考該如何自我監(jiān)管。雖然業(yè)內(nèi)多數(shù)大公司還沒能實(shí)現(xiàn)在不犧牲用戶權(quán)益的情況下加強(qiáng)監(jiān)管，但其集中式技術(shù)起碼還提供了問責(zé)的可能性。另一方面，OpenBazaar已被明確認(rèn)定為極度缺乏監(jiān)管，所以除非該公司弄清狀況并實(shí)施關(guān)鍵的安全措施，否則祈禱未來不出亂子只是幼稚的做法。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????本文作者S. Kumar是技術(shù)和商業(yè)評論員。他曾在技術(shù)、媒體和電信投行工作。Kumar不是該文中所提到公司的投資人。

????譯者：Donna

????審校：夏林

????Reports emerged last week that venture capital giants Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures are investing $1 million in OpenBazaar, an online platform where users can buy and sell pretty much anything using the digital currency, bitcoin. If this sounds all too familiar, recall Silk Road, the bitcoin marketplace that U.S. authorities shut down last year for facilitating drugs sales. It’s rise and dramatic fall is the stuff of dark fiction, and I would argue that OpenBazaar is much worse.

????Unlike its predecessor, OpenBazaar is completely decentralized and exists wholly within the network of users themselves. In other words, even if a criminal buys guns over the peer-to-peer system, he can’t be shut down without shutting down every computer in the network (which isn’t really feasible) since there’s no central hub for law enforcement to target.

????The company has repeatedly made it clear that it isn’t trying to create a “Silk Road 3.0,” and lead developer Brian Hoffman told Business Insider that the company wouldn’t tolerate “misuse” of the platform, yet it’s unclear how the company would prevent illegality given its diffused architecture and professed desire to stay out of their users’ way.

????While Hoffman could be right that OpenBazaar will revolutionize online commerce, its business model could also potentially threaten America’s tech industry. The wild and uncontrollable nature of OpenBazaar’s technology, especially if it winds up being used to facilitate terrorism, could push authorities to launch a broad crackdown on other technologies as well that law enforcement considers an impediment to its work.

????And if the potential harm from a marketplace seems limited to you, consider what could happen from the combination of this type of technology with Artificial Intelligence. As AI evolves, even tech visionaries like Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Tesla chief Elon Musk have expressed concern over the ability of humans to control the outcome, especially if machines are eventually able to ‘think’ autonomously. Now apply OpenBazaar’s decentralized and police-resistant model to this and you have a recipe for disaster: machines with free will and the ability to communicate with each other under the human radar. Maybe an Isaac Asimov-inspired fantasy at one time, this is hardly an impossible scenario anymore given the rapid pace of technological development.

????The point is that the real threat isn’t just OpenBazaar but the larger trend it could spawn.

????To be fair, peer-to-peer networks that facilitate illicit transactions will continue to exist regardless of any controls, but the support and deep coffers of the venture capital community could help OpenBazaar attain scale faster than usual. That could make this small startup bigger and deadlier than Silk Road before people even realize what’s happening.

????As technology evolves, the sector needs to think of ways to police itself. While most large companies in the space have yet to figure out how to do that without compromising their users’ rights and interests, their centralized technologies do provide the possibility of accountability. OpenBazaar, on the other hand, is predicated on the very lack of oversight and so hoping for anything other than chaos is na?ve, unless of course the company figures out and implements crucial safeguards.

????S. Kumar is a tech and business commentator. He has worked in technology, media, and telecom investment banking. Kumar is not an investor in the companies mentioned in this article.