Newsletter No. 480

Parkinson’s disease is usually but not necessarily associated with old age. Michael Kinsley , American journalist and founder of the online magazine Slate , was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at the age of 51. But perhaps the most famous early prey to Parkinson’s is Michael J. Fox , who played the teenager skateboarding between the present and the future in the Back to the Future series of films. He began to develop symptoms of Parkinson’s in 1991, at the age of 29. Whether Ali’s Parkinson’s was a result of his sustaining blows to his head during his boxing career is a matter of debate and divides medical opinions. Professional players in such sports as football (both the American and the English variety), rugby and ice hockey (some of which are still played without any protective headgear) may suffer what is known as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative neurological disease due to repeated blows to the head. The symptoms are very similar to Parkinson’s but it could only be determined upon autopsy of the patients’ brain. Football is played with the feet but also in no small measure with the head. Patrick Grange, who enjoyed the reputation of a good header in the US soccer league, died in 2002 at the age of 29 and his post mortem revealed extensive damage to the frontal lobe. The first confirmed case from English football is Jeff Astle who played for West Bromwich Albion in the 1960s. He died at the age of 59. The doctors examined his brain in a post mortem and saw what looked like the brain of an 89-year-old. 三屆世界拳擊冠軍阿里最近以七十四歲之齡辭世，一代拳王 終於倒下。阿里四十二歲時證實患上柏金遜病，自此口齒不 清，手不自制地顫抖。 柏金遜病成因不明，卻不一定是老人病。美國資深報人，網 上雜誌 Slate 的創辦人 Michael Kinsley ，五十一歲時如日方 中，卻確診患上柏金遜病。 年紀輕輕患上柏金遜病的，最著名應是 Michael J. Fox ，他 主演《回到未來》電影系列走紅，初次出現柏金遜徵狀時為 1991年，他只有二十九歲。 究竟阿里的柏金遜病是否因為他在拳擊生涯中長期頭部受 重擊而起？沒有人甚至沒有醫生說得準。但一些職業運動如 足球、欖球和冰棍球等（有些到現在還未有規定配戴護頭裝 置）的運動員，退役後出現永久性創傷腦病（CTE）卻是事 實。CTE徵狀類似柏金遜病，但要在患者死後解剖腦部才可 確診。 現代足球除了用腳踢，頭槌的角色也愈來愈吃重。在美國 足球聯賽以頭槌出名的Patrick Grange，2002年過世時才 二十九歲，驗屍發現其腦前葉受到廣泛損傷。 英國足球的第一宗CTE確診，出現在六十年代效力西布朗 的Jeff Astle身上。2002年他死時五十九歲，醫生驗屍時見 到的是一個八十九歲的腦袋。 Muhammad Ali, three-time world champion in boxing and icon of his age, died at the age of 74. When he was 42, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, the cause of which is still little known. Slurred speech and tremors had accompanied him since. 巨人倒下了 The Fall of the Great 寶健保健 Wealth In Health have to look for new jobs and adapt themselves if they are fortunate enough to find any. Businesses that feed on the internet and globalization have in fact driven many local operators out of business. The larger problem is, perhaps, how is a new order established after the old is gone? And would the time saved or the efficiency gained from being ‘smarter’ be put to good use and not just wasted on self-indulgence and over-consumption? To the majority of the population, any innovation in business is merely a new way of life to be got used to before it’s replaced by a new one. The sheep in the flock do not or will not pursue innovation themselves, with the result that wealth created under the new economy is concentrated on a few enterprises or entrepreneurs, thus further widening the gap between the rich and the poor. What is left for the human hand is either a few jobs that require specialist knowledge or those even a robot would not care to do. The writer would like to see more resources in innovation go into knowledge management, digital preservation, environment protection or such areas that would help sustain the development of human civilization. 梁光漢 Philip Leung creating greater demands for products or services. Recent years have seen the term team up with novel business models, aggressive marketing, start-up business and capital sourcing. It has come to be regarded as the sure way to overnight wealth and good returns for investors. No disrespect is intended for the innovators around us. But one must be aware that innovation by its very nature is a beast that eats its mother. A price has to be paid for parting with the old and familiar, just like the machine replaces the human hand and online shopping replaces retail business. Those who have been made redundant in the process 創新意念，從利潤主導到人類利益主導 Innovation for the Good, Not for Profit 「創新」是一個意義模糊的詞語。它泛指一切打破傳統範式 的工作步驟，以及顛覆現有價值判斷的思維方式，目的往往 是降低成本、提升效益，以及帶動更高的產品和服務需求。 近年來，創新更多時會與嶄新商業模式、市場推廣、成立初 創企業，和引進資金連在一起。一時間，人人夢想創新能令 初創者一朝致富，為早期投資者帶來豐厚的回報。 筆者在此對各方投入創新領域絕對沒有不敬之意，但我們 得留心，創新的先天特性就是不斷革新和取代舊有的做事方 式。要摧毀既定的作業方法，是要付出代價的。自動化生產 取代人手製作、網購取代零售，即屬顯著例子。很多人需要 找尋和重新適應新的工作。且不提他們能否找到新的職業， 網絡化和全球化的商業模式其實已令各地的運營者難以分 一杯羹。或者，更嚴峻的問題是，「破」之後如何「立」？而賺 到的時間和效率，能否有意義地發揮作用？或只是以其他形 式被浪費，引致過度享樂和消費。 大部分創新的商業模式，對普羅大眾來說，畢竟只是一種新 的生活方式，有待習慣和被更新的模式取代。絕大部分人都 只是隨波逐流的羊群，不懂得也不一定願意自己尋求更創新 的意念，結果是創新所帶來的財富都被集中在越來越少的 企業和企業家手上，貧富不均越發加劇，而剩下來適合人類 的工作，要麼是只有少數人才能勝任的智慧型事業，要麼就 是連自動化機械都不屑做的工作了。筆者殷切期待更多的創 新資源被投放到知識管理、數碼保存和環境保護等有利於 人類文明持續發展的領域中。 Innovation is a word of many meanings. It generally refers to the ways of thinking and doing things that break up prevailing paradigms and subvert traditional values, usually for driving down costs, jacking up efficiency and 字裏高科 Tech Talks 480 • 19.6.2016 9