Pulitzer? Here I Come!

                As a learner in AP Language and Composition, I found this fairly amazing. This article shows a group of software developers that have created a machine that can predict whether or not a book will win a literary prize or will become popular. It turns out that popular language is the most preferred on the range of formality for writing.

                This makes complete sense because “fancy” or formal words tend to confuse people. I am a pretty avid reader, and so a personal example to draw on is when I choose a book. When I flip to a random page and see words that I do not understand, I put the book away and choose another one. Now, I could go the extra mile and look these words up which would extend my vocabulary, but my teenager side is telling me that it would be a horrible idea. It is in part why appreciation of poetry has nearly gone extinct in my generation, because we enjoy things handed to us on a silver platter. This directly relates to popular language and a book’s popularity. We usually want them to tell us exactly what they are thinking, and not have to interpret it.

                The further extent of this would be that these people could make bank off of this. If an author would have every work analyzed and follow the “rubric” the machine gives, it should produce a favorable response. The problem with it is that this can only work for so long, unless it continuously adapts to popular desire, because like anything, if you are exposed to it for a long time, it then becomes horrible and disgusting. At this point, I would like to give a shout out to all radio stations. Therefore, unless this machine can change to public opinion, it will probably become outdated in a couple of years.

                As much as it hurts me to say, books also may become outdated in favor of movies as they become even more popular, especially when many can instantly obtain them from Netflix. Many of my classmates have forsaken books in exchange for television, movies, and especially video games. Nobody has ever heard of a book reading addiction nor would they think it as of a negative addiction if someone had one. All in all though, this in the end is only a machine, and although it can give close results, it cannot fully replace a human. When that does happen, humans would probably stop having a purpose.