September 30,2026
THE DAILY McLUHAN DIALOGUES™ • McDialogues™ Understanding the Grammars of Electric Culture and Propaganda Science™ An Exploration of Technology Ecology as an Anchor in a Sea of Change™ and Tactical Training in Counter-Propaganda Science™ by Nelson S. Thall . Former Director/Chief Archivist, Marshall McLuhan Center On Global Communications, Ross, Ca. and McLuhan Media Scientist, Former President/Director, Marshall McLuhan Centre On Global Communications, Toronto, Canada
BEFORE YOU MEET ME, YOU MEET MY SCORE
When the Machine Frames the Applicant
A Student of Technology asks:
Mr. Thall, CBS News reports that the federal government will test AI interviews on applicants to its Tech Force, using a platform called CodeSignal. AI agents will conduct structured interviews with standardized questions, and hiring managers will review the results later. CodeSignal says its system produces an overall score, a skills evaluation and a transcript, and that humans always make the final decision. Its catalogue of interview agents even comes with names and faces. What happens to our identity when an employer meets the machine's account of us before meeting us?
Nelson S. Thall replies:
Professor McLuhan taught that every new medium takes an older one as its content. Here the old examination paper has acquired a voice, a follow-up question, and now a name and a face. But there is no one behind the face. The machine extends the employer's reach. CodeSignal promises that the same team can consider more applicants. In extending that reach, it removes the employer from the room. The applicant speaks to a pseudo-person, and a report goes forward in his place. The hiring manager opens a score before he hears a voice. The first impression, which used to be made by one human being on another, is now made by the machine.
Then comes the reversal. A man interviewed by a machine learns to address a machine. He rehearses not to say who he is, but to sound like whatever the rubric rewards. What kind of human being does this environment produce? One who presents himself as machine-readable before he is ever seen as a man. CodeSignal is right that a human makes the final decision. But the human is deciding about a report. The interviewer has a face and no one behind it. The applicant has someone behind him and no face. In the new hiring hall, nobody meets anybody.
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Sources: Jennifer Jacobs and Nancy Cordes, "AI interviews rolling out for some federal government hires, sources say," CBS News, September 3, 2026, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ai-interviews-federal-government-hires/; CodeSignal, "AI Interviewer," product page and FAQ, accessed September 30, 2026, https://codesignal.com/ai-interviewer/.
All intellectual property contained herein was conceived, originated and authored exclusively by Nelson S. Thall. Artificial intelligence, aka a pseudo-conscious machine (PCM), was not employed. We hired a stenographer. All rights of authorship and ownership vest entirely and exclusively with Nelson S. Thall.
© 2026 Nelson S. Thall. All Rights Reserved.
I can be reached at: nelson@themediumisthemessage.com