Man in Hole – Turning novels’ plots into data points

This was a really great read:

(1) I think the data-driven humanities are very interesting. The professor certainly gets at some rather deep questions regarding plot, and it's nice to see the structure of the bait-and-tease page-turner quantified.

(2) There's a passage about artificial intelligence and using computers to construct stories. I thought the following quotation on that was pure gold, hitting a truth that may be uncomfortable to those of us who consider themselves artists and creators, but which we will certainly have to engage in the future:

It should be obvious to all writers that parts of “the craft” are deeply schematic; if you feel threatened by a machine, there’s probably something suspect about your humanism. We should resist the precious notion that there’s something inimitable about the whole enterprise of storytelling.