Good evening, and welcome to Our Nation Tonight. I’m your host Meele Howthorne. This evening we are delighted to talk with guest Sandra Spooner. Sandra is a wife, a mother of two girls, a standup comic, and an actress in well-known and beloved films including Martian Nudist Colony and Post-Post-Modern Anarchy. Earlier this year Sandra received an Academy Award for her brilliant performance in Ants & Mimes.
Following a pair of unorthodox FleePs this summer, Sandra has been under a critical lens in recent weeks when social mediasts accused her of using Intelligent Algorithms to write jokes featured in her latest successful Blow It All Up tour. This became the genesis of the ||Not Funny|| movement and a string of similar accusations against members of the standup community such as Philtrum MacInnis, Eduardo Hammerhands, and ~[Gwelph]~.
Tonight we offer Sandra an opportunity to respond to these attacks and to speak about the impact this recent controversy has had on her personal and professional life. We discuss her thoughts on the ethics of comedians using IA to write material, particularly since IA mimics an author’s tone with great veracity. We examine how forthright society expects comics to be when using Intelligent Algorithms. And we close our conversation reflecting upon the gains and losses of using IA writers and speculating whether it will increase or decline among comics in response to ||Not Funny||. Prepare yourself for a riveting exchange.
As usual throughout the program you may FleeP your questions via transacer to our Yorf: ||OurNationTonight||. We’ll begin our interview after a short break of messages from our sponsors.
After waiting in the university’s Career and Development Centre lobby reading a pamphlet on the Vocation InventoryTM, Theresa welcomes Bernie into her office and closes the door.
“I understand you would like to complete a Vocation Inventory with us today,” Theresa said.
“Yeah uuhhhh,” said Bernie. “Honestly, um, even after being at uni for almost 3 years I didn’t even know you guys existed. But my roommate told me about this place. I’ve been having a hard time deciding on a Focus, so I thought I should come in.”
“Great!” said Theresa. “I’m glad you’re here, Bernie. Before we start the Inventory do you have any questions?”
“Well, yeah, I do. Uhhhmm,” Bernie said. “I mean, like uhhh what exactly is it?”
“Sure, Bernie. The Vocation Inventory is a program that takes data about you, compares it with over 25 million people, and generates a report of the likelihood you will report high job satisfaction in a profession related to a particular Modular Focus at the University. Does that make sense, so far?”
“Uhh. Yeah. I guess,” said Bernie.
“Good,” Theresa said. “Please ask questions as they come up.”
“Ok,” said Bernie. “Thanks.”
“The Inventory only uses the data you consent to share, and the more you share the better its predictions are. We can send it your academic and standardized test records, feedback on every assignment you’ve submitted since childhood, your demographic info, your Focus history, meta-data and engagement reports from your Device’s logs, your public and university library records, your extracurricular activities, public records, medical and mental health history, your Google data report, and of course your Inventory responses. It usually takes about 35-55 minutes to finish the written portion during your visit today. You can complete it on your own Device or we can provide One. Since you are a student the service is free provided you agree to respond to surveys related to job satisfaction in 5, 10, and 20 years. Your responses at those times will assist the Inventory in maintaining relevance and continuing to help others,” Theresa said. “How does that sound so far?”
“Uhhm. Yeah. Pretty good I guess,” Bernie said. “So like when will I get the results?”
“The report will be available during a follow up visit as early as next week and we will discuss it together. One portion of the report many students find most motivating is the personalized list of Modules approved at the University. Basically for your top three highest ranked Modules the Inventory provides a list of readings, videos, and recordings which will satisfy Focus requirements in your studies here and are likely to be of strong interest to you,” Theresa said.
“Oh yeah! Ted told me about his list. It seemed pretty cool,” said Bernie. “Like he loves watching Thomas Perchance and there were a bunch of that guy’s videos on Ted’s list.”
“Exactly, Bernie! That part is always very fun to share. It’s exciting to watching learning light up for people when they are connected to personalized content that is engaging and helps them articulate and achieve their learning goals at the University,” Theresa said. “Do you have more questions, Bernie?”
“Nuh,” Bernie said, “I don’t think so.”
“Great. Then let’s get started!”