Conclusion 165
long in the tooth in an age when readers are more likely to encounter
their news via social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram.
The evolution of satellite news demonstrated an appetite for constant
news but, as Cohen demonstrates, this showed up a disconnect between
the quantity of information available and public reactions during previous decades. One very notable effect of this vast quantity of news
has been what Postman has called the transformation of the “liberating stream” of information into a “deluge of chaos”.
7
Postman, originally writing in 1990, despaired that he would ever be able to keep up
with the 260,000 billboards, 11,520 newspapers, 11,556 periodicals,
40,000 new book titles, and 362 million TV sets (let alone the 60 billion
pieces of junk mail produced each year). The number of newspapers has
dropped by up to a third since then, but in their place are 3 million blog
posts, 500 million tweets, and 3.5 billion Google searches – made every
day.
8
In the face of an explosion of data that was unimaginable when
Gutenberg first invented his printing press, it is not surprising at all that
automation has risen to take the place once occupied by human editors
and gatekeepers. Throughout this book, I have been sceptical of the role
of general artificial intelligence, but when faced with the huge amount of
posts and content produced each day, gaining any sense of order is only
possible via algorithms capable of processing information (however restricted) much faster than human minds. The myth of a singularity, that
moment when computers become more intelligent than their creators,
seems no more than fantasy at present, but potential developments in
another area, that of self-driving automobiles, can demonstrate just how
profoundly even mindless automation could change our world.
While the actual technology of creating autonomous transport is only
slowly developing at the time of writing, and legal considerations of how
to implement such vehicles are even slower, one aspect of a future revolution is already in place. When Uber introduced its taxi-hailing app
in 2009, it began the process of implementing a scalable network to
connect drivers to riders – one that, technically at least, could be easily rolled out even if the company’s often-notorious business practices
generated resistance in city after city. In a scenario depicted by Justin
Rowland, Uber’s ability to cut the price of rides will be further reduced
once driverless cars are in place, powered by renewable energy that will
render such transport so cheap that most current owners will not care to
own a vehicle. At present, the various social, economic, and technological
factors appear too difficult to overcome easily, but as Rowland observes,
once the Model T Ford rolled off production lines in 1908, the equestrian age barely lasted another decade in the USA.
9
In photos of New
York’s 5th Avenue from 1900, there is not a car to be seen among all the
horse-drawn carriages: by 1913, the situation is reversed. Should such a
transition occur, it will, of course, have immense consequences for social
long in the tooth in an age when readers are more likely to encounter
their news via social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram.
The evolution of satellite news demonstrated an appetite for constant
news but, as Cohen demonstrates, this showed up a disconnect between
the quantity of information available and public reactions during previous decades. One very notable effect of this vast quantity of news
has been what Postman has called the transformation of the “liberating stream” of information into a “deluge of chaos”.
7
Postman, originally writing in 1990, despaired that he would ever be able to keep up
with the 260,000 billboards, 11,520 newspapers, 11,556 periodicals,
40,000 new book titles, and 362 million TV sets (let alone the 60 billion
pieces of junk mail produced each year). The number of newspapers has
dropped by up to a third since then, but in their place are 3 million blog
posts, 500 million tweets, and 3.5 billion Google searches – made every
day.
8
In the face of an explosion of data that was unimaginable when
Gutenberg first invented his printing press, it is not surprising at all that
automation has risen to take the place once occupied by human editors
and gatekeepers. Throughout this book, I have been sceptical of the role
of general artificial intelligence, but when faced with the huge amount of
posts and content produced each day, gaining any sense of order is only
possible via algorithms capable of processing information (however restricted) much faster than human minds. The myth of a singularity, that
moment when computers become more intelligent than their creators,
seems no more than fantasy at present, but potential developments in
another area, that of self-driving automobiles, can demonstrate just how
profoundly even mindless automation could change our world.
While the actual technology of creating autonomous transport is only
slowly developing at the time of writing, and legal considerations of how
to implement such vehicles are even slower, one aspect of a future revolution is already in place. When Uber introduced its taxi-hailing app
in 2009, it began the process of implementing a scalable network to
connect drivers to riders – one that, technically at least, could be easily rolled out even if the company’s often-notorious business practices
generated resistance in city after city. In a scenario depicted by Justin
Rowland, Uber’s ability to cut the price of rides will be further reduced
once driverless cars are in place, powered by renewable energy that will
render such transport so cheap that most current owners will not care to
own a vehicle. At present, the various social, economic, and technological
factors appear too difficult to overcome easily, but as Rowland observes,
once the Model T Ford rolled off production lines in 1908, the equestrian age barely lasted another decade in the USA.
9
In photos of New
York’s 5th Avenue from 1900, there is not a car to be seen among all the
horse-drawn carriages: by 1913, the situation is reversed. Should such a
transition occur, it will, of course, have immense consequences for social