Opinion

To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android. I've never really worried that computers might be gunning for my job. To tell the truth, often, I pray for it. How much better would my life be -- how much better would my editor's life be, to say nothing of the poor readers -- if I could ask an all-knowing machine to suggest the best way to start this column? It would surely beat my usual writing process, which involves clawing at my brain with a rusty pickax in the dim hope that a few flakes of wisdom and insight might, like dandruff, settle on the page.