If an Algorithm1 Wrote This,How Would You Even Kno

Shelley Podolny

Let me hazard2. hazard: 大膽猜測(cè)，冒昧提出。a guess that you think a real person has written what you’re reading. Maybe you’re right. Maybe not. Perhaps you should ask me to confirm it the way your computer does when it demands that you type those letters and numbers crammed like abstract art into that annoying little box.3. 或許你應(yīng)該向我確認(rèn)一下，就像你的電腦（每次需要你確認(rèn)時(shí)）要求你把那些密密麻麻的、像抽象藝術(shù)般的字母和數(shù)字敲進(jìn)那個(gè)令人討厭的對(duì)話框時(shí)那樣。confirm: 證明，證實(shí)（情況屬實(shí)）；crammed: 擠滿的，塞滿的；annoying: 令人生氣的，令人厭煩的；box:（計(jì)算機(jī)屏幕上的）框。

Because, these days, a shocking amount of what we’re reading is created not by humans, but by computer algorithms. We probably should have suspected that the information assaulting us 24/7 couldn’t all have been created by people bent over their laptops.4. 我們無(wú)時(shí)無(wú)刻不在接受信息的狂轟濫炸，或許我們?cè)搼岩蛇@些并不全是人們趴在電腦前敲出來(lái)的。suspect: 懷疑，疑心；assault: 猛攻，強(qiáng)攻。

It’s understandable. The multitude of digital avenues now available to us demand content with an appetite that human effort can no longer satisfy.5. 大量數(shù)字渠道讓我們對(duì)內(nèi)容有了更高的欲求，而人工已無(wú)法滿足。multitude: 許多，大量；appetite: 強(qiáng)烈欲望，渴望。This demand, paired with ever more sophisticated technology, is spawning an industry of “automated narrative generation.”6.這一需求，結(jié)合日益成熟的高科技，正在催生“文本自動(dòng)生成”產(chǎn)業(yè)。sophisticated: 高級(jí)的，尖端的；spawn: 產(chǎn)生，造成；automated: 自動(dòng)化的。

如今是信息時(shí)代，新消息24小時(shí)不間斷的狂轟濫炸使我們根本來(lái)不及消化。于是，我們希望電腦能代替我們處理數(shù)據(jù)，生成文章。科學(xué)技術(shù)不斷進(jìn)步，這一愿望漸漸得以實(shí)現(xiàn)。一切看似十分圓滿，我們拍手稱好，卻不知前方可能是萬(wàn)丈深淵……電腦會(huì)的越來(lái)越多，我們會(huì)的越來(lái)越少。也許我們?cè)撏Ｏ聛?lái)想想：不知不覺(jué)中，我們是否已經(jīng)丟失了自我？

Companies in this business aim to relieve humans from the burden of the writing process by using algorithms and natural language generators to create written content.7. relieve sb. from: 使解脫，使擺脫；generator: 生成程序。Feed their platforms some data—financial earnings statistics,let’s say—and poof8. poof: 噗的一聲（表示某事突然發(fā)生）。! In seconds, out comes a narrative that tells whatever story needs to be told.

These robo-writers don’t just regurgitate data, either; they create humansounding stories in whatever voice—from staid to sassy—befits the intended audience.9. 這些機(jī)器人作家并不會(huì)機(jī)械地重復(fù)數(shù)據(jù)，它們會(huì)像人一樣，根據(jù)不同的目標(biāo)讀者改變敘事口吻——或嚴(yán)肅或活潑。regurgitate:機(jī)械重復(fù)；staid: 嚴(yán)肅的，古板的；sassy: 活潑的，有生氣的；befit: 適合，適宜。Or different audiences. They’re that smart. And when you read the output, you’d never guess the writer doesn’t have a heartbeat.

Consider the opening sentences of these two sports pieces:

“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.”10. bleak: 沒(méi)有希望的，前景黯淡的；Angels:即Los Angeles Angels，洛杉磯天使隊(duì)，是一支隸屬于美國(guó)聯(lián)盟西區(qū)的美國(guó)職棒大聯(lián)盟球隊(duì)；trail:（比分）落后；run:（棒球比賽中的）一分；inning:（棒球比賽的）局，回合；single:（棒球中的）一壘打；Boston Red Sox: 波士頓紅襪隊(duì)，是一支隸屬于美國(guó)聯(lián)盟東區(qū)的美國(guó)職棒大聯(lián)盟球隊(duì)；Fenway Park: 芬威球場(chǎng)。

“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.”11. salvage: 挽救，挽回；Wilpon Baseball Complex: 威爾彭棒球場(chǎng)；home: 主場(chǎng)；Ray Fisher Stadium: 雷·費(fèi)舍爾體育場(chǎng)，是密歇根大學(xué)狼獾隊(duì)的主場(chǎng)。

If you can’t tell which was written by a human, you’re not alone.According to a study conducted by Christer Clerwall of Karlstad University in Sweden and published inJournalism Practice, when presented with sports stories not unlike these, study respondents couldn’t tell the difference.12. Sweden: 瑞典；respondent: （調(diào)查和問(wèn)題的）回答者，答卷人。(Machine first, human second, in our example, by the way.)

Algorithms and natural language generators have been around for a while, but they’re getting better and faster as the demand for them spurs13. spur: 促進(jìn)，激勵(lì)。investment and innovation. The sheer volume and complexity of the Big Data we generate, too much for mere mortals to tackle, calls for artificial rather than human intelligence to derive meaning from it all.14. the sheer volume: 大量（用于強(qiáng)調(diào)）；mortal:凡人，普通人；tackle: 應(yīng)對(duì)，處理；artificial:人造的，非自然形成的；human intelligence:人工智能；derive from: 從……獲得。

Set loose on the mother lode—especially stats-rich domains like finance, sports and merchandising—the new software platforms apply advanced metrics to identify patterns,trends and data anomalies.15. set loose: 釋放；mother lode: 豐富的源泉；stats: 即statistics，數(shù)據(jù)；domain: 領(lǐng)域，范圍；merchandising: 促銷，推銷；metrics: 度量；anomaly: 反常（事物），異常（現(xiàn)象）。They then rapidly craft the explanatory narrative,16. craft: 精心制作，周密制定；explanatory: 解釋性的，說(shuō)明性的。stepping in as robo-journalists to replace humans.

The Associated Press uses Automated Insights’ Wordsmith platform to create more than 3,000 financial reports per quarter.17. The Associated Press: 美聯(lián)社，是美國(guó)最大的通訊社，下文中縮寫為The A.P.；quarter: 季度。It published a story on Apple’s latest record-busting earnings within minutes of their release.18. record-busting: 創(chuàng)紀(jì)錄的；release: 發(fā)布，公布。Forbesuses Narrative Science’s Quill platform for similar efforts and refers to the firm as a partner.

Then we have Quakebot, the algorithmThe Los Angeles Timesuses to analyze geological19. geological: 地質(zhì)學(xué)的。data. It was the “author” of the first news report of the 4.7 magnitude20. magnitude: 震級(jí)。earthquake that hit Southern California last year, published on the newspaper’s website just moments after the event.

But we should be forgiven a sense of unease. These software processes, which are, after all, a black box to us, might skew to some predicated norm, or contain biases that we can’t possibly discern.21. black box: 黑匣子（指不明白其工作原理的系統(tǒng)或儀器）；skew: 歪曲，扭曲；bias: 偏見(jiàn)，偏心；discern: 察覺(jué)，知道。Not to mention that we may be missing out on the insights a curious and fertile human mind could impart when considering the same information.22. miss out on: 遺漏，漏掉；fertile: 主意多的，富有創(chuàng)意的；impart: 傳授，告知。

The mantra around all of this carries the usual liberation theme:23. mantra: 常說(shuō)的老話；liberation: 解放。Robo-journalism will free humans to do more reporting and less data processing.

That would be nice, but Kristian Hammond, Narrative Science’s co-founder, estimates that 90 percent of news could be algorithmically generated by the mid-2020s, much of it without human intervention24. intervention: 干涉，干預(yù)。.If this projection is anywhere near accurate, we’re on a slippery slope.25. 如果這一預(yù)測(cè)有幾分準(zhǔn)確性，那么我們現(xiàn)在正面臨著急劇的下滑。projection: 預(yù)計(jì)，預(yù)測(cè)；slippery slope: 急劇下滑。

It’s mainly robo-journalism now, but it doesn’t stop there. As software stealthily replaces us as communicators, algorithmic content is rapidly permeating the nooks and crannies of our culture,26. stealthily: 偷偷摸摸地，鬼鬼祟祟地；permeate: 傳播，擴(kuò)散；nook: 隱蔽處，偏僻處；cranny:縫隙，裂縫。from government affairs to fantasy football to reviews of your next pair of shoes.

Automated Insights states that its software created one billion stories last year, many with no human intervention; its home page, as well as Narrative Science’s, displays logos of customers all of us would recognize:Samsung, Comcast, The A.P., Edmunds.com and Yahoo.27. Comcast: 康卡斯特，是美國(guó)一家有線電視，寬帶網(wǎng)絡(luò)及IP電話服務(wù)供應(yīng)商；Edmunds.com: 美國(guó)一個(gè)提供汽車信息的網(wǎng)站。What are the chances that you haven’t consumed such content without realizing it?

Books are robo-written, too. Consider the works of Philip M. Parker, a management science professor: His patented28. patented: 專利的。algorithmic system has generated more than a million books, more than 100,000 of which are available on Amazon.Give him a technical or arcane subject and his system will mine data and write a book or report, mimicking the thought process, he says, of a person who might write on the topic.29. 給他一個(gè)關(guān)于技術(shù)或者晦澀難懂的主題，他研發(fā)的系統(tǒng)就會(huì)——據(jù)他所說(shuō)——模仿人在寫該主題文章時(shí)的思維方式，搜集數(shù)據(jù)，并寫成書或者報(bào)道。arcane: 神秘的，晦澀難懂的；mine: v. 從……中獲取信息；mimic: 模仿，模擬。Narrative Science claims it can create “a narrative that is indistinguishable30. indistinguishable: 難以區(qū)別的，難以分辨的。from a human-written one,” and Automated Insights says it specializes in writing “just like a human would,” but that’s precisely what gives me pause. The phrase is becoming a de facto parenthetical31. de facto: 事實(shí)上的，實(shí)際上的；parenthetical: 附帶的，補(bǔ)充說(shuō)明的?！猲ot just for content creation, but where most technology is concerned.

Our phones can speak to us (just as a human would).Our home appliances32. appliance: 家用電器。can take commands (just as a human would). Our cars will be able to drive themselves(just as a human would). What does “human” even mean?

With technology, the next evolutionary33. evolutionary: 發(fā)展的，演變的。step always seems logical. That’s the danger. As it seduces us again and again, we relinquish a little part of ourselves.34. seduce: 引誘，誘惑；relinquish: 放棄，出讓。We rarely step back to reflect on whether, ultimately,35. reflect on: 仔細(xì)思考，反??；ultimately: 最終，最后。we’re giving up more than we’re getting.

Then again, who has time to think about that when there’s so much information to absorb every day? After all,we’re only human.