Computers

Much coverage has been given in the past about how computer programs can challenge some of the best chess players in the world. From playing to a draw, these computers have progressed to such a stage where they handily defeat these great human players. In the final analysis though, it is still the human behind the programming who should be given credit for being able to harness the computer’s power by mixing in artificial intelligence and thus making these machines almost think like humans.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been around for some time now. One of the areas that computer programmers have been applying AI is in the field of writing. Imagine the joy of the average high school student if they could get their computers to write their essays for them. Imagine too just how intellectually deprived these students eventually will become but that will be a topic for another time.

One way of teaching the computer to write is to feed it prior written material, maybe a news column or article. What the computer will do is to rewrite or paraphrase the entire article–move some paragraphs or sentences around, change certains words but always trying to maintain the essence of the article. Most of the time, the computers fail miserably especially with lengthy articles. The output is mostly gibberish and the thoughts are out of synch.

If you need proof of how devoid of sense the computer generated articles are, you need only look in your emails. Every now and then you might receive a spam email where the body of the emails consists of about three or four paragraphs of mumbo jumbo. Each sentence probably makes sense individually. Put them all together and try to make sense of it though will only give you a headache. These are examples of computer generated writings.

There are nefarious forces around who are trying very hard to improve the abilities of these kinds of programs in order for them to come up with more sensible content. Their intention is to be able to profit off the hard work of others by using their article generating software to basically copy previously written materials and then present the altered finished product as their own. There are some websites that are already touting the advancements of their software. As everyone knows by now, writing articles on the internet translates to more targetted traffic to one’s website and that means more exposure for your product. So a software that can churn out an article in less than five minutes could mean a windfall in the long run for these lazy mules.

While computer generated articles may not be in the mainstream yet, surely a discerning reader can tell. An author who writes from the heart will pack that extra punch in his/her article. The passion to write with the intent of informing, educating, entertaining, telling an exciting story, and tickling the mind will definitely stand head and shoulder above all else. If you just pick a name of a popular author, ask yourself what makes you buy that particular author’s books. Without a doubt, time and effort and the proverbial blood, sweat and tears have been poured into the production of their wonderful stories.

The same can be said for internet articles. No computer generated, assembly-line article or story is going to be able to deliver the same product as one that is driven by passion. Webmasters always advise newcomers on the scene that “content is king.” There are many who are of the mentality that in order to succeed on the internet, you have to “be there” first. And in their desperation to “be there” first, they would employ even underhanded measures to achieve their goals. When the motive for writing an article or producing a website is purely for monetary gains, the content is most likely very shallow as well. Authors who spend the time to think and research ahead of their articles are the ones who will eventually be rewarded not just in monterary terms, but also through respect. Such is the reward for passion.

F. Aldo
http://www.articlesbase.com/writing-articles/computers-are-no-match-for-human-passion-74408.html

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