News these days is cause more for reflection than reaction. A read of the Sunday NYT about the latest generation of factory robots leads to pondering a rapid transformation of the workforce that makes earlier changes in agribusiness look like a slow stroll. The message that “With these machines, we can make any consumer device in the world” reveals a future where outsourcing labor is no longer a geopolitical issue, but one where the planet tries to support millions of low-skilled human workers whose marketplace value is quickly disappearing. John Markoff, writer of this piece makes this sobering point near the end of the piece “Some jobs are still beyond the reach of automation….but that list is growing shorter.”

But automation is not only the world of robots on the factory floor. In a piece in the WSJ, Christopher Steiner previews his book that describes the ever-growing presence of “bots” or algorithms in the world of creative and analytical judgement. From choosing songs and move scripts with a high probability of success to grading written essays, he explains “The more we understand about creativity, the more we are able to distill it into the language of algorithms—the “brains” behind computer programs”.

So much of reaction pits one against the other – the age-old human vs machine. But reflection about the tales in these two stories also engenders ideas about the increasing interconnected meshiness of humans and digital acting in the world together. And that is really worth much more thought.