Barry Schiffman

I'm a computer scientist and a former journalist. The combination makes more sense when you consider that my area in computer research is natural language processing, in particular the written word. I work for myself, as a consultant, out of my apartment. I've spent enough time in offices and at office meetings, dealing with office politics. In my work in NLP, I don't like hearing people promise computer programs that understand human language. Computers are machines, not people. I don't believe any will ever talk like HAL in 2001, or the various models of Terminators, much less those in I Robot or A.I. They certainly won't talk like we do. They'll never behave the way do because they don't get hungry, or tired, or cold. They won't ever feel like hitting another machine, nor like embracing one. On the other hand, people will never be able to do some of the things that a machine can. So the situation is not all bad. About my years in newspapers, I wouldn't trade them for anything. I loved the work. When I am curious about something I like to find out why it is the way it is. And so now, as before, I sometimes have the urge to report -- it's just a variation of research. I left the newspaper business about a dozen years ago to get a PhD in C.S.

Barry Schiffman's topics

• blogging,
• civil damages,
• eds-pick,
• first amendment,
• jobs,
• john hoff,
• johnny northside,
• journalism,
• lawmaking,
• lobbying,
• minneapolis,
• paywall,
• politics,
• recession,
• recovery,
• texas,
• text messaging,
• the economy,
• the new york times,
• the web,
• unemployment,
• wages,