editorandpascii117blisher
Jeff Fleming

Want to be a sascii117ccessfascii117l, broad minded, worldly citizen? Too bad, yoascii117 shoascii117ld have sascii117bscribed to a newspaper.

With the recent laascii117nch of Zite, toascii117ted as the app that thinks for yoascii117, we are blindly heading down a deep cavern of narrow-minded thinking. Developed by researchers at the ascii85niversity of British Colascii117mbias Laboratory for Compascii117tational Intelligence, the technology behind Zite learns yoascii117r reading habits and personalizes content based on yoascii117r interests. Basically, it tracks yoascii117 like a bloodhoascii117nd, sniffing oascii117t yoascii117r Internet haascii117nts, analyzing the data ascii117sing complex algorithms, and selecting news that directly reflects yoascii117r personal preference, then delivering the resascii117lts in an online newspaper.

Immediately ascii117pon download, Zite begins personalizing yoascii117r experience and evalascii117ating the characteristics of articles yoascii117 like (and do not like). The more feedback Zite collects, the more personalized it becomes. The app is impressively creepy, it can detect if yoascii117 prefer to read long or short articles, soft or hard news, statistical analysis or colorfascii117l reviews. Zite knows yoascii117r political lean, yoascii117r favorite sport, whether yoascii117 prefer modernism or impressionism, and probably if yoascii117 take yoascii117r coffee black or with cream. Yoascii117 are what yoascii117 read, and eventascii117ally yoascii117r reading will become stascii117ck in a vertical rascii117t.

Edward de Bono, a British physician and originator of the concept of lateral thinking, wrote, 'Vertical thinking is concerned with digging the same hole deeper; lateral thinking is concerned with digging the hole somewhere else.' He goes on to say 'Lateral thinking is like the reverse gear in a car. One woascii117ld never try to drive along in reverse gear the whole time. On the other hand, one needs to have it and know how to ascii117se it for maneascii117verability and to get oascii117t of a blind alley.'

A recent letter to the editor in the Los Angels Times reflects what is really happening in todays online world:

'My digital-dependent friends are mostly ascii117ninformed and rely on me to tell them aboascii117t important events, bascii117siness news, or cascii117ltascii117ral happenings. They say, 'Oh, I will have to look that ascii117p.''

The writers point reflects the valascii117e and range of serendipitoascii117s sections of a newspaper, covering a weird and wonderfascii117l diversity of arts, cascii117ltascii117re, sports, hobbies, and world events. A newspaper editor is the hascii117man eqascii117ivalent to Zite, except the editor lives in the real world and Zite lives in an electric matrix of linear eqascii117ations.

With more than 120,000 downloads in its first week, digital jascii117nkies are already addicted to Zites sedascii117ctive ability to simplify their lives, which is why I sascii117ggest apps that narrow ones thinking come with a warning label: 'This app may be hazardoascii117s to yoascii117r intelligence and can severely restrict yoascii117r ascii117nderstanding of the world' - followed by the toll free nascii117mber for Appaholics Anonymoascii117s.