写作是思考的不可替代途径
Paul Graham 在这篇短文里论证了一个反直觉的观点：阅读和写作不仅是知识传递工具，更是思想的孵化器。他反驳了科幻作品中常出现的“知识直接灌入大脑”的幻想，指出即使这种技术存在，也无法替代阅读和写作，因为写作过程中会自然产生新思考——这种通过写作来思考的方式，对解决复杂、定义不清的问题至关重要。Graham 强调，不擅长写作的人在解决这类问题时总是处于劣势，而写好又必须基于大量优质阅读。本文对任何依赖深度思考（而非纯信息检索）的技术从业者都有启发：无论是设计系统架构、调试复杂 Bug，还是撰写技术文档，写作能力都是思考质量的放大器。
In the science fiction books I read as a kid, reading had often been replaced by some more efficient way of acquiring knowledge. Mysterious "tapes" would load it into one's brain like a program being loaded into a computer.
That sort of thing is unlikely to happen anytime soon. Not just because it would be hard to build a replacement for reading, but because even if one existed, it would be insufficient. Reading about x doesn't just teach you about x; it also teaches you how to write.
我小时候读的科幻小说里，阅读常常被某种更高效的知识获取方式取代。神秘的“磁带”会将知识像程序加载到计算机一样载入大脑。
这种事情短期内不太可能发生。不仅因为很难建立阅读的替代品，而且即使存在这种替代品，它也是不够的。阅读某事物不仅教会你关于该事物的知识，还教会你如何写作。
Would that matter? If we replaced reading, would anyone need to be good at writing?
The reason it would matter is that writing is not just a way to convey ideas, but also a way to have them.
A good writer doesn't just think, and then write down what he thought, as a sort of transcript. A good writer will almost always discover new things in the process of writing. And there is, as far as I know, no substitute for this kind of discovery. Talking about your ideas with other people is a good way to develop them. But even after doing this, you'll find you still discover new things when you sit down to write. There is a kind of thinking that can only be done by writing.
这有什么关系吗？如果取代了阅读，还有人需要擅长写作吗？
之所以有关系，是因为写作不仅是传达思想的方式，也是产生思想的方式。
一个好的作家不是先思考，然后像抄写一样写下想法。好的作家几乎总能在写作过程中发现新东西。据我所知，这种发现无可替代。与他人讨论想法是发展想法的好方法。但即使这样做之后，你会发现坐下来写作时仍然能发现新东西。有一种思考只能通过写作来完成。
There are of course kinds of thinking that can be done without writing. If you don't need to go too deeply into a problem, you can solve it without writing. If you're thinking about how two pieces of machinery should fit together, writing about it probably won't help much. And when a problem can be described formally, you can sometimes solve it in your head. But if you need to solve a complicated, ill-defined problem, it will almost always help to write about it. Which in turn means that someone who's not good at writing will almost always be at a disadvantage in solving such problems.
当然，有些思考可以不用写作来完成。如果不需要深入探究问题，你可以不写作就解决它。如果你在思考两个机械部件如何配合，写作可能帮不上太多忙。当问题可以用形式化方式描述时，你有时可以在脑中解决。但如果你需要解决一个复杂、定义不清的问题，写作几乎总是有帮助的。这反过来意味着，不擅长写作的人在解决这类问题时几乎总是处于劣势。
You can't think well without writing well, and you can't write well without reading well. And I mean that last "well" in both senses. You have to be good at reading, and read good things.
People who just want information may find other ways to get it. But people who want to have ideas can't afford to.
不擅长写作就无法良好思考，不擅长阅读就无法良好写作。我说的“擅长”是双关：既要善于阅读，也要读好东西。
只想要信息的人或许能找到其他获取方式。但想要产生思想的人不能放弃阅读。
[1] Audiobooks can give you examples of good writing, but having them read to you doesn't teach you as much about writing as reading them yourself.
[2] By "good at reading" I don't mean good at the mechanics of reading. You don't have to be good at extracting words from the page so much as extracting meaning from the words.
[1] 有声读物能给你优秀写作的例子，但让别人读给你听，在写作上学到的东西不如自己阅读来得多。
[2] 我所说的“擅长阅读”并非指阅读技巧。你不必擅长从页面上提取文字，而应擅长从文字中提取意义。