My last ever spring break; AI use in news

By the time you are reading this, I will be starting my last ever spring break. This has been a semester of lasts, or at least lasts that I have been reminiscing about. 

I finished writing my thesis last week–or at least the draft of my thesis. It was an odd feeling to write the discussion of my results and then finally the conclusion of this project that I have worked hard on for a handful of months now. At around 45 pages, it’s actually a big piece of work that I’ve completed by myself. It’s weird to think about because the only thing I really get from this is a medal indicating I’ve graduated with honors. But I guess my topic is something to talk about if people are ever interested in learning about artificial intelligence (AI) use in the news. 

Speaking of the news, I continually learn that I am not a huge fan of politics. Well, to be more specific, I am not a huge fan of people who play politics. I’m all for government entities helping people and organizations and doing their best to bring structure to this society. But I dislike the people who feel so entitled, who make fake promises, use things and people for their own benefit, and most of all, hate on others. It genuinely makes me sad there is so much hate and negativity in today’s politics and government. I’m not saying everyone in government is like this. And I understand that some people came in with the intention of not trying to play the game, but ended up having to play it anyway. 

I’ve been reading a book for class. It’s called “Wrong: How Media, Politics, and Identity Drive Our Appetite for Misinformation,” and I’ve been learning a lot of the psychology and thought behind politics and why people have become so divided. Even we as regular civilians have been encouraged and taught to hate the other people. This in-group and out-group bias has put so much emphasis on negativity, on hate, that we’ve become a harsh, mean people. Calling each other awful names, assuming the worst, even going so far as to do physical or emotional harm. What have we become? 

I learned how the parties used to not be so divided. In the 1940s, there was actually a push to have the parties be more divided. In the 1960s, members of the Republican party created and stood by the Contract of America, dedicating themselves to a change in the government, a new way of doing things. And it worked, people loved the idea. 

I also learned how much of an influence populist party ideals have had. How focusing on supporting the “pure people” and instilling the idea that the government elites are hiding truths and lying to their constituents had a lot of impact on elections and campaigns. 

I learned that people who are more likely to make decisions based on gut instinct, who think emotionally, are more likely to believe conspiracy theories. Theories such as the effects of COVID-19 and masking, how Biden didn’t actually win the election. 

It was all very interesting to learn about, as you might be able to tell. It just makes me reflect and think about politics in today’s society and how certain decisions affect certain people and what it all might mean. What will our future look like in a couple of years when we start to really feel the effects of some politics? What will it look like next year? In a couple of months? What will tomorrow bring? When will students on campus stop protesting certain ideals? When will people have to stop emailing their representatives who just ignore them? Or will it never end? 

My Determination: “The things we ‘know’ are the result of a complex interaction between our values, needs, and beliefs and our observations of the world, which operate together in service of our social identity — our sense of what team we identify with.” - Dannagal Goldthwaite Young