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coooonnnn · 4 years ago

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Back in college, let the challenge commence; Web Authoring Blog 4:

I sit in the office as everyone else has gone home. Early finish on a Friday, for some. I’ve stayed back to catch up on some college work. Was I tempted to join the rest, go home and put the feet up? Absolutely. But look, to be honest I would probably just be sitting at home aimlessly scrolling on my phone, this is good for me. Also I really hope the whole finish at 3 thing doesn’t come across as me playing the sympathy card. I’m also hoping that this blog doesn’t slowly turn more and more into my own personal self therapy and less about Web Authoring. Lets keep this on track Conor.

Right, so once again, I do feel that I am playing a bit of catch up with the class. And I’m not going to sit here and pretend it’s not through any fault but my own. I mean I have been attending most lectures and trying to keep not on top of things, but more afloat let’s say. I try stay back in the office most days after work to do the relevant college work, but for lack of a better saying, my brain can be pure mush after work. But I do try, most days (The self therapy has kicked in once again). So anyway, I read the blog on Wordpress, and it was actually interesting. I suppose my expectations were pretty low just judging off ‘wordpress’, the word doesn’t shout out exciting. It was probably so interesting because it’s so relevant to what I’m learning in class which instantly makes it more engaging. But it’s also obviously just relevant to society as a whole these days. Considering how much we engage with websites, blogs, social media and the list goes on. But it was also a very well structured and engaging article. It can be more difficult to engage people when there’s no huge narrative or story to tell. This was just explaining something, but I thought it was very well done anyway. I gave a more detailed breakdown on my thoughts on it all on the forum post.

I continued to do more of codecamp this week as well as bit of reading on HTML and CSS in general. Let’s discuss codecamp first. The practical approach which I am doing with code camp is definitely helping. It’s a really well designed website. It’s both practical and just great for simplifying and breaking down each task. I can see why so many were recommending it. Also, when you pass each test it gives you a little dopamine hit. Sort of like a methadone to the time I’m not wasting on social media and actually using to be productive. I also did a bit of the prescribed reading. Something I should have been keeping more on top of the last few weeks but mostly due to bad time management, have let slip. I started by just reading the basic tags, it was a very quick read as I already had a grasp of most of these but never bad to be constantly looking over so it sticks with you. I then went on to read the article on Web standards which was brief enough but very informative and sort of essential knowledge to have when working in the area. Gemma did mention it in her lectures but the article was also very good at explaining the matter. What stood out when reading this was the importance of validating your code. Which will obviously be very important when doing the assignment. It was also great because it gave a list of different tools to help validate your code. I will definitely be using some of them when carrying out the assignment. It also went into describing semantics of code and the importance of it as well as giving some examples which was also interesting. I still struggled a bit with grasping the details of semantics with code so I read the article listed on Gemmas Moodle called ‘Lets talk about semantics’.

As mentioned above, when doing some reading in relation to HTML, the importance of semantics of code seemed to appear quite a bit. I used to hear the word semantics back in the day when I would be watching an online Youtube show where people debate about movies. It sort of makes sense in that context. It’s all about how humans interpret different words and I suppose it’s actually no different to computers when it comes to coding. It’s actually something I never really thought about until I started reading up on the matter, but it’s pretty interesting. And if you get into the grander ideas of it, there’s definitely some great material for an interesting sci-fi/AI take over the world movie on the whole topic. Anyway, lets not get into that. Like any language, HTML is nuanced and complex and therefore can easily be misinterpreted, a matter that always fascinated me when it came to human psychology, and really isn’t any less interesting when it comes to the machine understanding side of it. It then went on to discuss an article called ‘Our pointless pursuit of semantic value by Divya Manning, an article which went under a huge amount of scrutiny in that scene. From what was discussed, it seemed to be actually extremely relatable, so I went on to read the article in full. It was an interesting read, and also very reassuring to know that everyone went through the struggles I’m currently facing with HTML, even those with great knowledge on it, and a lot overcame it. The author struggled, just like myself, but went on to justify the struggle, something I find myself doing every day when I’m overthinking how much I’m struggling, not only with Web Authoring, but with the course as a whole. And due to the circumstances we’re in which doesn’t really give us the opportunity to share the struggle with our fellow classmates, being able to read about it is a pretty good compromise. There wasn’t a huge amount of room for me to critique her article due to my lack of knowledge but it was still a good read all the same. Anyway back to the ‘Lets talk about semantics’ article. Towards the end it lost me a bit, partly due to my tiredness and partly due to the information in it and the lack of information in my brain about the subject. But it was still a good read, and definitely helped develop my ever growing knowledge on the subject.

I did a very brief bit of reading on CSS, not near as much as I should have considering my struggle with the topic in Saturdays class. I do aim to do more next week though. Once again, the class great, but unfortunately I’ve always struggled with classroom learning. Something I tried to work on in later years but really let it slip again. Even with some of my favourite teachers and lecturers back in school and college, I always struggled. There was a lot of mention of fonts and colours and it seems to be about making your code and website as engaging as possible for the user. As stated, I will do more reading on it in the coming week and hopefully get some practice in too. I just wanted to get a bit more of a grasp on HTML before that.

Anyway this blog was a whole lot longer than I ever intended. As I stated above, I need to continue to work on my time management if I want to do well with this course.Anyway, let’s end this weeks blog as I started it, a good old fashioned bit of Self Therapy. I’ve probably said it at least 20 times in these blogs, but I’m struggling, and I’m worrying. there is backstory as to why I’m in this course but that’s another tale for another time. I’m putting a lot into this course and would hate to come out with nothing. If I don’t up my game, I worry I won’t make it through. I actually watched a video today explaining the importance of struggle in life. Not to sound too cliched, but it can make you a better person in the process. I do believe that. I’m going to embrace this struggle. I aim to start the assignment ext week as I feel it might be the best way for me to learn, it will help give me a bit more structure that I feel I need. Am I at the level of knowledge to start the assignment, some would say no. But I feel it’s the best way for me to approach things and make best use of my time while learning as much as i can in the time I have. Sometimes if you have a hunch you just have to go with it. Time will give a good idea if I was right or wrong. I haven;t checked the word count on this blog, so if it’s 750000000000 words I do apologize to the reader, if you’re still reading at this point that is. Anyway, until next time!

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okimargarvez · 7 years ago

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HURT- open wounds

Original title: Hurt.

Prompt: Luke’s dark thought, destiny, contrasted love.

Warnings: sexual content, dark thoughts.

Genre: angst, drama, romantic, smut, dark, mistery, frienship.

Characters: Penelope Garcia, Luke Alvez, BAU team, O.C.

Pairing: Garvez.

Note: multichapter.

Legend: 💏😘😈🔦🐶❗🎈👻.

Song mentioned: La tua vita intera, Tiziano Ferro.

Hurt- Masterlist

MY OTHER GARVEZ STORIES

Chapter 4

Roxy is your dog?

In the exact moment when he sees the meeting between the only living being that for some years he was granted to love, his dog, and the woman he identified as his healer, but to whom he has so far shown only the worst sides of himself (and certainly not love), he realizes he is screwed.

Because her face is so soft, as she bends to allow Roxy to fill her with kisses. She's so sweet and tender, so innocent, and she is lost in a smile that doesn't have anything built. He had told her: he was sure that she would have liked her. But he couldn't imagine what would be his reaction to such a thing. It's too much, she's too maternal. Too much concrete. Real. No longer Sif, she isn't an unknown and distant deity. She is a very real woman, with which it's too easy to imagine a future that can't only provide for night raids and ambushes near her car.

He can't afford to make such conjectures. Because she could even fall in love with him now. Because she doesn't know everything. But he is not able to stay in a relationship declared, in which one of the two hides something so important to the other, who says he loves. And as much as she is... well... special, not even Penelope can understand certain aspects of its past. Things that he had to do. Things that he saw. Or at least, she wouldn't be able to look at him the same way. And it's not only compassion, as he thought at first. He doesn't care that she doesn't think more about him like macho fearless. But when (if) she was to find out certain things, she would run away. No one has the courage to face this. And if she would remain, it would be only for that her innate maternal spirit, her desire to see other people happy... but not for love. And this means that in any case, she would break his heart.

And probably it'll shatter even hers. And that absolutely he can't allow that.

Because if he can't (he isn't able) to protect her from his more impulsive part, he must at least protect her from his black part. Dark.

-I know you didn't want to like me at first, so I figured I'd make it easier on you...- he refers to the earliest days, before anything happened between them. It was so obvious her effort to keep him at a distance. He doesn't have time to think about it: he asked at JJ, the one that was seemed the most rational and the blonde had explained the "complex" situation, the kind of special relationship that Penelope had established with his predecessor. And, in retrospect, he understood how this factor had an impact on what had happened. But at the moment he wasn't yet aware of.

-So you profiled me?- but already her expression is playful. Her smile lights up her face.

-Luke Alvez, behavioral analyst. That's what I do.- and the exact moment when the elevator doors close, almost like a curtain, she throws herself on him, kissing him passionately, completely overwhelming him. He is in shock. Breathless. Unable to take control of the situation. But both before and she put her lips to his, he tangibly feels the love, yes, love, not something like that, just the love in the air. He must not give in. He can't.

But he is human. He is made of flesh. He is weak.

With a hand he grasps the leash, the other in that of the woman. He turns the key, he opens the door, he loose Roxy and he nods her to enter. She, between timidity and curiosity, advancing slowly. She scrutinizes every detail. The walls are almost completely bare. Not a photograph. Not a painting. If not the standard ones that real estate agents use to make the home more appealing.

The furniture is essential ones: a low table in the living room, a sofa and two armchairs; all the classic appliances in the kitchen, table and chairs; a bathroom with shower, bathtub, sink, washing machine; a room by equally empty with only one bed. He follows her along the tour, saying nothing. He is aware that this place doesn't say anything about him, just as his desk in the BAU offices, as Prentiss had noted. But even the absence means something, for those who want to go further. For those who want to strive a little more. And Penelope has exactly this intention.

There is one last room. The door is closed. She turns to him, seeking his approval. He simply nods. She puts her hand on the knob and rotates. His fingers go confident toward to the switch. The light blinds them for a moment. She waits that she acclimatizes. And what she sees, surprising her, although perhaps it should not. It's full of boxes. They will be at least twenty, not all the same size. And each bearing an inscription, some dates for her incomprehensible. Some date back to six years ago.

Curiosity is a lot strong, but not so as push her to invade his privacy. If, when, he wants to, he'll tell her everything. Maybe one day he'll open them and reveal the contents. She starts to turn to him, to let him know that she'll not interfere, but fails in the movement, because she encounters an obstacle. His back.

-Luke...- he makes a sign that she doesn't need to say anything. The darkness goes back to reign. He closes the door behind them. He lets go of his past.

-... and then we were in the mall, there were people everywhere, from my height this looked like a forest of legs. I was afraid, I held the very strong my father's hand. I was terrified of losing me. It was a time that children were kidnapped, at least one a week. My mother was very upset. Maybe she had passed me this fear. I've only realized long, long time after.- she pauses, without looking at him, she rest against his back better. He strengthens the hold of arms between her breast and her hips. -With this anguish I found myself in a row, along with many other children, to have my time with Santa Claus. And the man...- another pause. This time lasts longer. She can't continue. Perhaps she could stop here. No need to add all the details, because he understands what happened. Her eyes are shiny. It's been so many years, yet that trauma, that bullshit, stood there, on her heart, in her soul.

But he takes her for the chin with two fingers and forces her to look at him directly. -Penelope...- he is now also allowed to use her name. It brings so many things behind. Maybe it's random, maybe not. He'll ask her one day. Who knows if her mother was fond of the Homeric poems. -You don't have to...- but she nods.

-No, I can. That fake bearded gave me a nice palpated on my breast (if I can call it that, I was flat as a board), making the sound of a horn.- she closes her eyes, and she relives that scene, now blurred in her mind, cause the time was elapsed. -Maybe that's why I don't love Christmas, don't get me wrong, I love the holidays, stay with the people I love... the colors, the lights, the tree... the decorations... Christmas spirit... but I hate the idea of going to a mall looking for gifts. It shouldn't be a commercial festivity. But now all are such. Easter is chocolate eggs. Valentine is chocolates and flowers. Even the feast of the dead, chrysanthemums and night-lights.- he is surprised by the way she took her speech, the annoyed tone that took her voice. But she profoundly right.

-So wouldn't you want to receive chocolates for Valentine's Day?- he asks playfully, trying to lighten the mood. He doesn't know how to comment on her words, it's such a serious and precise speech, that he was impressed. She grasps his effort and chuckles.

-I think it's much more important to love each other for the other 364 days, or behave, or treat women well and not just give them mimosas on March 8... I think it's a much greater effort, than acting different briefly. And those who complain all year of how life sucks make me laugh, they seem almost ready to commit suicide, and... when approaching the December 31, they are the first to write stereotyped phrases about how this year was magical and special...- Luke squeezes her harder to himself, feeling her (and his) needs warmth. She rests her head on his chest. She could fall asleep there, yes, who cares of back pain that she'll have tomorrow.

They remain in silence after so many words. The Penelope's voice is like music to the ears. A banal and yet an unavoidable truth. He could listen her for hours. He loves the way her opens with him, without expecting him to do the same thing, without expecting it. He loves her spontaneity and sincerity. And discover every nuance of her personality: with the team he had only got to know of her "crazy" part, the one that always had a joke ready, to make less tragic tolerance of the worst cases. For a laugh or a smile. And at the same time this help them to not go crazy, not to be absorbed by the dark world around them. How she did, to see those colorful, that rainbow, he still didn't understand. But tonight, he had discovered that she wasn't just a flower child, a hippy exalted, a positivist with blinders on. She was able to grasp even the gray shades of life, but she had the great ability to take even the smallest flash of light from the darker room.

-Penelope...- he only repeats her name. One time. And then another. Because he can't do anything else. -Penelope...- because before he didn't ever do, and now he has to compensate. She is no longer a Scandinavian god and distant, no, she's a woman, the woman who wants next to him.

Perhaps out of embarrassment, perhaps for fear of the effect of the power to hear him say her name had exerted over her, she begins to speak. -Before I work for the BAU I was a hacker. I'm still on the blacklist of the CIA. I got caught, although I never said it clearly to anyone. I was tired of that life.- why she told him such a thing? What the hell he will think of her, now that he has discovered that she was a criminal?

-What did you do to be arrested?- he asks without loosening his grip, with quiet and careful voice. Penelope sighs.

-I would sneak in large companies that used the animal testing. I'm not ashamed to have it done. I'm not ashamed of that part of my life.- she turns to face him clearly. -But the environment around me, it wasn't healthy. There was a strong desire for rebellion, but against what? The company, the world, our parents. They were just excuses. But this did feel us alive...- Luke understands that she refers not only to a group of friends, but one in particular. Now, however, he doesn't want to know. He only wishes that her face softens into a smile. He takes her face in his hands, and relaxes some wrinkles cause from the tension. He massages her shoulders, going gradually toward the center. With the eye he sees they are almost three in the morning.

Despite some mild protest by her (to the worry that he gets hurt, because of her not lightweight) he manages to carry her to his bed. He lays her gently. She expects him to go straight to the point. But is not so. He spends at least twenty minutes to explore every fold, every single centimeter of her body, devoting himself exclusively to her pleasure, slowly stripping her (before with his eyes). Snatching thousands of groans from her.

There are no one "I love you." No one "I have fallen in love with you." It's not yet time.

But the next morning, the first thing they see opening their eyes, are those of the other.

TAGS: @theshamelessmanatee @itsdawnashlie @talesoffairies @janiedreams88 @kiki-krakatoa @yessenia993 @teyamarra @c00lhandsluke @gcchic @arses21434 @orangesickle @entireoranges @jarmin @kathy5654 @martinab26 @thisonekid @thenibblets @perfectly-penelope @ambrosiaswhispers @maziikeen92 @lovelukealvez @reidskitty13 @jenf42 @gracieeelizabeth27 @silviajajaja @smalliemichelle99 @charchampagne14 @ ichooseno @ megs2219 @rkt3357 @franklintrixie @thinitta @ chewwy123 @skisun @maba84 @saisnarry @myhollyhanna23 @thenorthernlytes

#garvez #penelope garcia #luke alvez #penelope x luke #luke x penelope #alvez x garcia #garcia x alvez #criminal minds #cm

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barbosaasouza · 7 years ago

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Super Mega Baseball 2 Review: A Monster Dinger

Baseball and PC gaming used to be the best of friends almost 30 years ago, but offerings in 2018 are incredibly sparse (apart from the sea of stat simulator baseball games). The last PC release to carry the MLB license was 2K’s MLB 2K12 and players looking to partake in the old ball game had limited options. Canadian-based Metalhead Software ported their surprise 2014 Playstation hit, Super Mega Baseball to Xbox One and PC and gained a small cult following. While the game lacked the big leagues licensing and had a hard arcade-style slant, it excelled at being an easy to pick up baseball game that was extremely fun to play with a friend on the couch. This spring, Metalhead has Super Mega Baseball 2 ready to hit the diamond and the team appears to have hit this one out of the park.

I am a lifelong video game baseball fan. I got my first taste with the original Bases Loaded on the NES and supplemented that addiction with the R.B.I. Baseball titles that came on the unauthorized black Tengen cartridges. The first Ken Griffey baseball game on the SNES and MVP Baseball 2005 stand out as my favorite baseball games over the last 30 years. Being the last big-budget baseball game released for the PC, I’ve logged hundreds of hours with MLB 2K12 and I got to experience MLB: The Show 17 on PS4 Pro last year (and think it would be the best baseball game of all time if the frame rate wasn’t unplayably awful). All this experience with the genre makes me feel like I can objectively judge Super Mega Baseball 2 on its merits as a representation of baseball and its merits as a quality video game experience.

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As a baseball game, Super Mega Baseball 2 nearly hits for the cycle, only coming up short on the smallest of details and nuance. I do not judge it harshly for its few shortcomings in being a baseball simulation, as the game does not carry the all-important MLB license and the development team was obviously not afforded a budget that could compare to what Sony earmarks to SIE San Diego for MLB: The Show. Almost all the things that make up the on-field game of baseball are present and accounted for. I noticed a few issues (like the apparent lack of an infield fly rule), but generally found myself locked into the flow of the games.

You only need to spend a few innings with the game to see the love that the development team has for the sport. There are many visual and audio cues that work together to present the game of baseball in a reverent light. The fictional stadiums are well-designed, with each location offering some interesting vistas and ambience that feels like an amped up version of the whimsical magic found across the minor league ballparks scattered across the United States. Unapologetically goofy team names and stadium adornments work to convey the charm of a summer night out at the ballpark.

For those who are unfamiliar with the game of baseball (or simply have no affinity), Super Mega Baseball 2 still has the guts of an enjoyable arcade gaming experience that is sure to entice just about anyone willing to give it a go. Like the best arcade games, the controls are fairly simple, yet rewardingly deep for those who prefer to dive deeper. Pitching is relatively straightforward, with the right stick used to select a pitch type and the A button to throw said pitch. Aiming pitches is handled with the left stick prior to throwing, while the nuances of accuracy and breakpoints are handled by steering a circular UI indicator towards the initial aiming point. I jumped into my first game, ignoring the tutorial prompts, and managed to get a grasp on my hurler’s repertoire by the end of the third inning. This is a welcome change coming from the ridiculously complex systems found in the modern big budget MLB games.

Batting in Super Mega Baseball 2 is even easier to pick up than the pitching. The pitches come into the batter’s box with a UI indicator showing their location. To make contact, you need only to use the left stick and position a circle in the vicinity of the incoming pitch and then press the A button. It is reminiscent of the system I first encountered in Major League Baseball Featuring Ken Griffey Jr. on the Nintendo 64. Baserunning is fairly easy to pick up as well, though properly juggling more than one runner in close situations can get very hectic. Depending on the level of difficulty chosen, fielding is mostly handled automatically, unless the player prefers to take control after a ball is put in play. Throws could not be any simpler, with the controller face buttons mapped to each of the four bases and a timing-based power meter mechanic sprinkled over the top for the diehards.

The graphics and sound work together to provide an acceptable presentation. Player models are rather exaggerated and it works perfectly in service of the vibe that the game presents. The default teams contain male and female players. Most surprisingly, the female models actually resemble human women rather than the ridiculous 1990’s comic book proportions that typically dominate the video game industry. The PC version of the game performed admirably on my machine, allowing for 4K 60fps gameplay that was perfectly frame-paced. Likely due to the budget of the project, the in-game presentation is a little thin, with no voice overs or superfluous scenes between innings and at-bats. While this prevents purists from taking in the game at baseball’s infamous leisurely pace, the concise nature of the presentation fits the arcade style perfectly.

Super Mega Baseball 2 allows for full customization of teams, logos, and players. The provided logo editor is robust enough that determined users will be able to crank out an entire league’s worth of first-rate logos in no time. It looks like it should be possible to recreate the entire MLB within the constraints of these tools, and I fully expect folks to have a project like that ready to roll in short order. Sadly, I found no way to easily download or share these customizations from within the game (or if such a thing will ever be possible). The ability to upload and share customizations would do wonders for the shelf life of this game. For those that care about such things, the game does ship with some microtransactions, but they are only in the form of additional art pieces for the customization suite and are not at all required to enjoy the game, nor do they affect gameplay.

Online play, by far the most-requested feature from fans of the original game, works well out of the box. Ranked leaderboard play is restricted to the default teams for balance reasons, but friendly private matches can make full use of customized teams and players. On the PC version, all online business is handled via Steamworks and is as easy as one could hope for. For offline players, exhibition, tournament, and season modes offer different ways to enjoy the game.

Fans of the original Super Mega Baseball will find lots to like about this sequel. New players can expect a solid game of baseball with enough arcade magic to appeal to almost any type of player. Baseball purists will find a good time if they enter with the proper expectations. As it stands right now, Super Mega Baseball 2 is now the top dog of baseball games on the PC. For $30, it’s not quite priced to be an impulse purchase, but should go on the shortlist of any baseball fans or those on the hunt for genuine arcade fun. 8/10 $14 Beers

This review is based on the PC Steam release. The game key was provided by the publisher. Super Mega Baseball 2 was made available for Steam, Xbox One, and PS4 on May 1, for $29.99.

Super Mega Baseball 2 Review: A Monster Dinger published first on https://superworldrom.tumblr.com/

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hotspreadpage · 8 years ago

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Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Manual Content Creation?

There are only a few industries in which automation isn’t threatening some job roles. That’s a pretty scary thought, right? Well, don’t panic just yet.

“While automation will eliminate very few occupations entirely in the next decade, it will affect portions of almost all jobs to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the type of work they entail,” according to McKinsey Quarterly.

Roles that require empathy, like therapists and psychologists, as well as jobs that are highly reliant on social and negotiation skills, like managerial positions, are less threatened by automation, according to The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation?

Those of us in roles that require creative thinking and original ideas — like content creation — are also deemed at less risk of having our jobs swiped from under our noses by something harder-working, “smarter,” and cheaper to maintain.

For now.

It’s pretty tough to envision a machine generating great content ideas, not to mention creating that content — content worth consuming. Or so you might think.

The reality is that machines are already writing content — and they’re pretty good at it.

In fact, Gartner predicts, “By 2018, 20% of all business content will be authored by machines.”

By 2018, 20% of all business #content will be authored by machines via @Gartner_inc. Click To Tweet

While that’s only a year away, don’t panic — “business content” isn’t quite the same as creative content used for marketing.

Natural language generation

Natural language generation (NLG) is the name given to artificial intelligence capable of producing logical, coherent text.

“Natural language generation is a software process that automatically turns data into human-friendly prose,” as Automated Insights explains.

It’s clever but, unlike a human, NLG can’t produce prose on its own. The format must be templated, and it needs access to a structured data set.

For example, to use NLG tool Wordsmith, you upload your data, write a template and presto — you have content!

Want to see what the results look like? Chances are you already have, although you probably didn’t notice.

Have you ever read Forbes’ earning reports? They are generated using Quill, another NLG platform. Here’s what the content looks like:

“The consensus estimate remains unchanged over the past month, but it has decreased from three months ago when it was 39 cents. For the fiscal year, analysts are expecting earnings of $1.68 per share. Revenue is projected to be 2% above the year-earlier total of $369.4 million at $378.4 million for the quarter. For the year, revenue is projected to roll in at $1.56 billion.”

What do you think?

Sure, it reads fine and it makes sense. If you didn’t know it was written by a machine, you probably wouldn’t notice anything was off. But it lacks something.

Humanity.

The writing has no discernible soul, and why should it? A machine doesn’t.

Machine-generated content has no discernible soul, and why should it, asks @SujanPatel. Click To Tweet

Then again, this is financial content we’re talking about. It doesn’t matter whether the writing has personality. It just needs to accurately report the facts. And for that, NLG is ideal.

Let’s see something else.

Below are the opening sentences to two sports pieces (courtesy of the New York Times). One is written by a human and the other by a machine.

“Things looked bleak for the Angels when they trailed by two runs in the ninth inning, but Los Angeles recovered thanks to a key single from Vladimir Guerrero to pull out a 7-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on Sunday.”

“The University of Michigan baseball team used a four-run fifth inning to salvage the final game in its three-game weekend series with Iowa, winning 7-5 on Saturday afternoon (April 24) at the Wilpon Baseball Complex, home of historic Ray Fisher Stadium.”

Can you guess the author for each?

If you couldn’t, you’re not alone. A similar experiment using multiple pieces of text like those above concluded that “readers are not able to discern automated content from content written by a human.” (For the record, the second one was written by a human.)

The study also asked participants to rate each piece of content on 12 characteristics. The results are telling:

Software- and journalist-authored content (also known as machine and human) score pretty equally on factors like coherence and accuracy — characteristics that can easily be learned by a machine (or I assume they can, based on my limited knowledge of programming).

The machine-written content came out on top (noticeably so) for the criteria of trustworthy and informative. That’s fine — those things are important, but they’re not what make content “great.”

The human-written content, however, soared ahead in two critical categories. It was rated significantly less boring and significantly more pleasant to read.

That makes sense.

A computer can’t read the content with a critical eye, and it can’t understand the vital complexities and nuances of language.

But will it be able to one day?

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Why Automation Is the Future of Content Creation

Turing test

Every year for more than two decades, the artificial intelligence community has congregated for the Turing test — a trial designed to determine whether machines are able to think and talk like humans. It’s named after its creator, Alan Turing — you might know his name from the loosely biographical Oscar-winning film, The Imitation Game.

In 2014, a machine won the Turing Test — reportedly for the first time.

Now, when I initially heard about this, I have to admit I was concerned. If a machine can fool people into thinking they’re conversing with another person, surely it would be capable of creating content that can fool people, too, right? After all, a conversation is unpredictable. A machine that can keep its cover when questioned should produce content using data and a template easily.

Thankfully (for those of us who don’t want to see AI replacing manual content creation, at least) things aren’t quite as they seem. For many years, the Turing test has been regarded as the benchmark for AI intelligence. If a machine can pass the test, it’s deemed to possess at least average human intelligence.

And yet, in the wake of this pass, a number of computer scientists and tech investors questioned the result. Scott Aaronson, a computer scientist and former faculty member at MIT, challenged Eugene (the “winning” machine) to a conversation. Here’s a snippet of what happened:

Anyone with a half-decent grasp of the English language should be able to see that Eugene is far from human. If this is what’s deemed equal to average human intelligence, I think content creators can rest easy.

For now.

Ray Kurzweil, Google’s director of engineering, believes computers will be smarter than humans by 2029. Specifically, he says, they will “be able to understand what we say, learn from experience, make jokes, tell stories, and even flirt.”

Just to clarify, this guy knows his stuff. Not only is he helping to bring natural language understanding to Google, but he has correctly foreseen similar things. In 1990, he predicted that by 1998 a computer would defeat a world-class chess champion. It happened in 1997.

Of course, Kurzweil isn’t talking about content creation specifically, but surely a computer that can comprehend language and learn from experience could create content that stands up to that written by human hands, right?

I honestly think it could — provided it’s given the right data. Based on Kurzweil’s predictions and the quality of content AI already produces, I have little doubt that in the not-so-distant future, computers will be capable of creating some pretty awesome content that’s indistinguishable from human-written content.

What I don’t believe computers will be able to do — at least, not our lifetime — is to think creatively. And that’s key.

Even if computers can create content, they will never be able to think creatively says @SujanPatel. Click To Tweet

The point may come where machines are writing the bulk of business content and news reports, but could a machine write a moving opinion piece or a novel?

AI content creation is, for now, algorithmic. Its capabilities are based on the information we humans provide. This is where I think its limitations lie.

To fully replace manual content creation, AI has to be able to think like a human. It has to be able to feel (to have emotions), it needs to form opinions, and it needs to think critically.

Should that ever happen, I think we’ll have much bigger things to worry about than the demise of manual content creation.

What do you think? Do you believe AI will ever replace truly creative content creators? Let me know in the comments.

Please note: All tools included in our blog posts are suggested by authors, not the CMI editorial team. No one post can provide all relevant tools in the space. Feel free to include additional tools in the comments (from your company or ones that you have used).

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lucyariablog · 8 years ago