Bow to Your Computer Overlords!

The following is a MediaNote Classic. It was originally presented to MC101 classes in Summer 2015.

Most of us have been exposed to the idea that if machines keep getting smarter and smarter, they will eventually take over and if we're kept around at all it will be as pets. Your Humble Blogger isn't quite that paranoid (or cynical), but he must admit that artificial intelligence is doing more and more of what humans used to do. Writing news stories, for example. NPR reports.

Questions...

•Why does news matter? How does it contribute to our ability to make sense of the world?

•"Disintermediation" will be described. How are computer-written news stories an example of disintermediation?

•Does it matter to you if computers write a growing number of news stories for us? Why or why not?

•Is there any human influence in the computer-written news stories?

•Do computer-written news stories leave us more susceptible or less susceptible to news monopolies? Why should news monopolies be avoided?