Bummer, just found out Rusty is no longer with the Independent. He will be sorely missed. Thanks Rusty for all that you've done. Good luck in your next chapter of life. I hope the Independent continues to cover our RCSC board meetings and Exchanges.
Shocker. Is the rumor true he was forced to retire? Hoping not. BTW Rusty is quite the author and has several fiction mysteries to his credit.
Very disappointing news, Rusty Bradshaw, former Sun City Independent editor, is no longer on staff. A tremendous loss to our community. We’ve been so fortunate to have had his journalistic expertise and dedicated coverage about things that matter to our Sun City. Missing him greatly, already. He has authored several books, you know! I wish him all the best as he writes his next chapter, whatever, wherever that may be. Keep up with what he’s doing! Rusty’s websites • Videos https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-5pgZP2RVZEfn39cdPd_Sw • Facebook https://www.facebook.com/rustythewriter • Rusty the Writer https://rustythewriter.org/about **Rusty plans to continue his video coverage on YouTube for the Viewpoint Lake liner replacement until that is done. Rusty Bradshaw’s 50+ videos document the historical restoration of Sun City’s Crown Jewel, Viewpoint Lake. Thank you! July 14, 2022 The Viewpoint Lake Project First video He still has connections and friends in Sun City and will be around from time to time.
You threw me when your posts disappeared this morning eo. Thought maybe i was losing my mind. It was disturbing to read the link you posted where the owner of the newspapers they produced claimed AI will be replacing many of the reporters and making them boatloads of money. Really curious how AI will cover the daily and weekly happenings within the community? I've seen what it can do, but without a butt in the chair, reporting on the goings on seems a bit challenging.
It's why writers and actors are on strike. Apparently AI can write a script using a theme or some weird thing. It's beyond me, but we are heading in to some very strange and dangerous territory. It was bad enough when there were so many mergers and the big guys took over the hometown papers, but this is insanity. On-line news consumes us. Everything comes with pay wall it seems. Consumers are the losers, trying to figure out fake news and alternative facts. Everything comes down to money and greed. And people continue to say - but where are the workers OR but nobody wants to work.
And when you think about it, how about all the self-check out aisles at the supermarkets or Lowe's? Nobody wants to pay employees anymore! And don't forget about all those robotics assembling our cars and who knows what else! I'm sure those robots aren't paying into social security! And they wonder why SS is going broke...not to mention all those receiving SS who never paid into it!
You're right about that, too. There are a lot of things at play. I think I read something like more than 2 million people retired during Covid than expected, working moms found out when when their kids were at home doing virtual schooling that it often didn't pay for them to work, and many left the work force. Companies that allowed employees to work from home either led to the shut down or severely cut hours for cafes, restaurants and coffee shops, laying off thousands of workers. Top that off with cutting the number of special work Visas, and some major tourist areas, like WI Dells, have been crippled by lack of summer employees. Our birth rates are not going to keep up to meet our needs. We are already facing critical shortages in doctors, nurses, teachers, and every major trade. There are articles written every day about problems recruiting police and fire; even the military is scrambling. I read recently the new chip manufactures in AZ are having problems finding the several thousand employees they need to start manufacturing; there aren't enough workers trained in science, math and electrical engineering. Are we going to become Japan and Germany? There are a lot of forces at play; as a country, do we have the imagination, intestinal fortitude, and the ability to come together to fix this? We're sort of immersed in our own bubble right now, but those outside forces matter...it all affects the availability of a quality workforce, availability of products up and down the entire supply chain, security of our retirement funds, access to healthcare, housing costs/interest rates.
The sad reality of what is coming to our future is the removal of what I will call the human touch. It’s not just newspapers doing, it’s the all media we interact with. The auto complete feature on every system we use. The complete inability to get a human on a customer service line, and now services which used to require human intervention have been curtailed or removed. For lack of a better explanation humans are not needed anymore. The worst part of this? We have accepted three changes that affect our daily lives as normal. The slow but steady deletion of the human factor in any and all traditions of life. This removal of the human touch on anything we interact with is making it impossible to demand a service be responsive to any needs we have as humans. Common courtesy, thank you and please, and my favorite how may I help you with the intent of actually providing customer service. sorry but this continued removal of the human touch and feeling from our daily lives is not appreciated by this service user
Rusty’s Ramblins “This writer’s life has taken a turn. For more than 40 years I have been in the journalism field, working for newspapers published either weekly or twice weekly. That came to an abrupt end a few days ago.” Rusty Bradshaw (Excerpt from FB post)
I never bought into the concept of "alternate facts" and "truth isn't truth" that's seemingly become accepted by many as the honest truth. Without humans doing interviews and investigative journalism to root out the facts in a story, where will AI get the info it uses to construct accurate news copy. I'm expecting AI will swamp us with well written fake news and the Independent, for the most part, may well be relegated to becoming another source for bird cage liner .
Do we know this to be true - that he is no longer with the paper due to AI? I haven't read anything that states this as fact. Were other journalists let go as well?
An article was posted and then taken down that included an interview with the president of the corporation claiming how much more the company will be due to AI. Perhaps EO can post that link again. The comment above about his "abrupt end" is quite telling. Like almost every other aspect of technology IC, along with the good comes a boatload of bad.
The rumor mill in Sun City is open 24/7. If the paper has indeed lessened their human journalist payload across the board that would be more telling. They are a big outfit.
(Doesn’t address AI influence) About: INI Holdings, Inc Became corporate name to Independent Newspapers, Inc. when the company started to expand beyond Delaware. (The name was changed to Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA in 2011.) The company now publishes community newspapers and other print and digital publications in Arizona, Delaware, Florida, and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Its web offset printing plants in Arizona and Delaware also provide printing and related services to scores of other publishers in the Southwest and Mid Atlantic. Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA “As newspapers continue to shrink at alarming rates across the country, the Independent is committed to expanding throughout the Phoenix market so there are no news deserts in our Arizona cities and towns.” CHARLENE BISSON, PRESIDENT & CEO OF INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA INC., USA JUNE 26, 2023 Our Newspapers and Websites Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA is dedicated to community journalism. Its newspapers and websites in Arizona, Delaware, Florida and Maryland are published for, of and by the people. Independent's news publications are dedicated to community journalism, with a unique blend of issue-oriented stories, reader submissions and "refrigerator" news and photos. (Refrigerator newspaper articles that Moms cut with scissors and hang on the fridge. Community journalism in small towns affecting the local residents and economy.) Sun City Independent – The longest publishing weekly newspaper in the first retirement community in the world. The Sun City Independent publishes daily at YourValley.netwith the latest community news and debate. A print edition is published weekly delivering to all of Sun City. Includes, Our Vision and Values Our History https://www.newszap.com/#:~:text=Newspapers and Websites-,Independent Newsmedia Inc.,of and by the people.
If they are going the AI route I look forward to a story about how it will work in order to stay current. Will articles be credited to "Robot Roger"?
Two articles in the Independent this week by Rusty; i suspect they are his last. Will he get his last farewell piece, or will they simply act as if he never existed? I've seen glimpses of what AI can do, and it is truly amazing...and terrifying all in one swoop.
To our community from Rusty Bradshaw August 15, 2023 Two videos • A change in status • Filling a lake
Rusty Bradshaw reflects on the Sun City friendships and connections he has after 15 years of reporting on our community. Be on the lookout, he said, “I’ll still be around!” HERE Stay in touch! Email: rusty4064@yahoo.com Website: https://rustythewriter.org/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rustythewriter
“Why the Future Doesn't Need Us” is a 2000 article by Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems. In the article, Joy argues that humans are at risk of extinction due to competition from intelligent robots. He claims that the most powerful technologies of the 21st century, such as robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech, threaten to make humans an endangered species.
Clearly AI is moving us in that direction Bruce and the question has to be, how do we slow it down? One of the beautiful aspects of living inside these white walls is we can slow time down and as a community, we can make a commitment and a collective effort to preserve those items that maintain our humanity. This new board has redirected and energized members to begin to believe in the idea they are the ones who shape both our future and our destiny.
