????人們總是說硅谷的新陳代謝正在火箭式上升，這當然是一個用來形象說明利潤、創新、產品或服務激增的比喻。但現在，這一幕就切切實實地發生在我們眼前?？萍夹袠I的文化正在轉變：健身已經成為所謂brogrammer（意指善于社交，喜歡出外玩樂的程序員）的新嗜好。軟件開發人員一向把世界視為一系列需要優化的系統?，F在，他們開始用這種本能來觀察自己的身體。讓我們權且將它稱為“高效技術人員的六塊腹肌”——堪比健美運動員的身材，加上PHP思維的頭腦。

????“我做夢也沒有想到這一幕，” 40歲的托馬斯?貝利說。他是波士頓麒靈廣告營銷公司(SapientNitro)的體驗技術總監?！暗艺谟^察辦公室外面那25位程序員，每個人都非常健康。其中有一位是健美運動員，還有一大群自行車運動健將。只有當我們雇用40歲以上的員工時，我們才能看到那種符合人們固有成見，仿佛是從《侏羅紀公園》(Jurassic Park)走出的程序員：身體不健康，非常邋遢。程序員過去愛在簡歷中注明，他們會說西班牙語或中文。如今的簡歷亮點則是，他們參加過鐵人三項，或者是本地很有實力的某家業余運動隊的成員。

????這種現象似乎讓貝利非常驚訝，但他其實也是其中一員。在一番關于“竭力維持效率”的高談闊論之后，他露出了自己的底牌：“我無法忍受那種典型的健身房鍛煉體驗，在跑步機上一邊跑步，一邊盯著屏幕看上半個小時，實在讓人受不了，”他抱怨說。他是一位“全面健身(CrossFit)”新手。他的同事，32歲的互動開發經理喬恩?格拉西斯每天騎自行車行駛18英里。他經常停下手頭的工作，做100個仰臥起坐，100個俯臥撐和50個引體向上。“我正在練習引體向上，”他承認。

????“我做事特別講究效率，”格拉西斯說?！安还苁巧畹哪囊环矫?，我都不能忍受效率低下，幾乎到了過分的程度。但健身是很難追求效率的，因為你希望健身有一定難度。不斷提升的目標對技術人員非常有吸引力?！?/p>

????據說伏案工作的程序員的健康狀況正在迅速改善，盡管我們很難發現能夠支持這一論斷的數據——除了可穿戴式健身設備最近幾年迅速成長為一門數十億美元的生意這一事實——但坊間充斥著大量軼事。

????比如，創業孵化器Y Combinator聯合創始人保羅?格雷厄姆懇請他的員工鍛煉身體。（該公司合伙人哈吉?塔加曾經專門撰文談論過他自己通過鍛煉預防心臟病的經歷。）仔細想想旨在解決吃飯“問題”的新型食品Soylent背后的理念，或者谷歌公司(Google)的基線研究(Baseline Study)，這項研究試圖找出健康的系統（呃，或者說身體）究竟應該是什么樣子。再看看一大批正在火人節(Burning Man)歡度春假的人群中穿梭，或者在西南偏南音樂節 (South by Southwest)袒露健美體格的科技工作者（其中包括投資人、加密貨幣傳道者泰勒?文克萊沃斯那猶如奧林匹斯山諸神的強健身軀）。讀讀效率大師蒂莫西?費里斯2010年出版的經典著作《4小時身體鍛煉：如何通過迅速減肥和性愛成為超人》(The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman)，或著名未來學家雷?庫茲威爾2009年出版的著作《超越》(Transcend)——這是一套旨在打造健康生活的九步口訣?！板憻捄蒙眢w是成為一位成功創始人的關鍵一環，”社會企業家，法庭之友公司(Amicus)CEO塞思?班農寫道。他認為自己的成就之一就是成為了一位素食主義者?！罢埨斡?，鍛煉可以助你成為一位更好的企業家?！被蛘呖纯碆uzzFeed的編輯們對“硅谷最熱辣腹肌”的不吝贊美。在該地區書呆子氣更濃的早期歲月（筆者絕無半點不尊重高科技先驅的意思），這種描述是難以想象的。

????When people talk about the skyrocketing metabolism of Silicon Valley, it’s a metaphor for profits, innovation, a surge in products or services. But now it’s happening literally. There is a cultural shift afoot in the technology industry: fitness has gripped the so-called brogrammer. Software developers who see the world as a series of systems in need of optimization have turned that instinct inward. Call it the six abs of highly effective techies—HGH bodies for PHP minds.

????“I never really thought of that,” says Thomas Bailey, 40, director of experience technology at SapientNitro, a marketing company in Boston. “But, yeah, I’m looking out of my office at 25 programmers, and every one of them is fit: a bodybuilder, a ton of cyclists, all of that. It’s only when we hire guys older than 40 that we see that old stereotype, like the programmer from Jurassic Park: unfit, sloppy, all that. People used to point out on their résumé that they speak Spanish or Chinese. Now it’s that they run triathlons or are on a competitive local amateur sports team.”

????Bailey may sound surprised, but he’s one of them. After a spiel about “eking out efficiencies,” he reveals his hand: “I can’t stand the typical, average, normal gym experience of running on a treadmill, staring at a TV for half an hour,” he gripes. He’s a CrossFit acolyte. His co-worker, Jon Grassis, 32, a manager of interactive development, bikes 18 miles a day. He always makes sure to stop and do 100 crunches, 100 push-ups, and 50 pull-ups. “I’m working on the pull-ups,” he concedes.

????“I’m a 100 percent stickler for efficiency,” Grassis says. “I can’t stand inefficiency in any part of my life at all, almost to a fault. Efficiency is tricky with fitness, though, because you want it to be hard. The moving target aspect is highly appealing to the techie mindset.”

????It is admittedly difficult to find data that specifically backs the assertion that desk-bound programmers are moving toward a fitter existence, aside from the fact that the general market for wearable fitness devices has in recent years rapidly grown into a billion-dollar business. But there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence.

????Witness Paul Graham, a co-founder of the seed accelerator Y Combinator, imploring his staff to exercise. (And here is HarjTaggar, a Y Combinator partner, writing about his personal experiments with preventing heart disease.) Chew on the concept of Soylent, which aims to solve the “problem” of eating meals, or Google’s Baseline Study, which seeks to pinpoint what a healthy system—er, body—should look like. Look at the hordes of young tech workers navigating the Spring Break crowds at Burning Man and South by Southwest baring their toned physiques (including the literally Olympian torso of Tyler Winklevoss, the investor and cryptocurrency evangelist). Read efficiency mogul Timothy Ferriss’ 2010 book The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman or renowned futurist Ray Kurzweil’s 2009 book Transcend, a nine-step mnemonic for living well. “Tending to your body is essential to being a successful founder,” writes Seth Bannon, the social entrepreneur and Amicus CEO, who counts among his accomplishments that he is a vegetarian. “Remember: exercise makes you a better entrepreneur.” Or behold the editors of BuzzFeed lavishing praise on “the hottest abs in Silicon Valley,” a description that—with respect to tech’s founding mothers and fathers—would have been unthinkable in the region’s early, nerdier days.