improve ending

blogs/takeoff.md

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 
 "Bye, Jazz. Take it easy."
 
-The line went dead, and Jazz let the phone drop from ear to lap without looking away from magpie. The further it advanced along the branch, the more it shook. It kept its head as level as it could as it did so, and switched strategy from hopping to inching towards the extemity. Whatever it was looking at was still invisible to Jazz, though they could see the end of the branch. It reminded Jazz of a video they'd watched on infinities, something about halving the distance with every step. You could move forever and never cover the distance you did in step one. The magpie stopped moving entirely, and appeared to stretch itself forward as much as it could. It was pretty in the sunlight, against the blossom in the tree and slate building behind it. Then it cawed, jerking Jazz from their reverie, and took flight, giving up whatever prize it had sought. Maybe there'd been nothing there to begin with.
+The line went dead, and Jazz let the phone drop from ear to lap without looking away from magpie. The further it advanced along the branch, the more it shook. It kept its head as level as it could as it did so, and switched strategy from hopping to inching towards the extremity. Whatever it was looking at was still invisible to Jazz, though they could see the end of the branch. It reminded Jazz of a video they'd watched on infinities, something about halving the distance with every step. You could move forever and never cover the distance you did in step one. The magpie stopped moving entirely, and appeared to stretch itself forward as much as it could. It was pretty in the sunlight, against the blossom in the tree and slate building behind it. Then it cawed, jerking Jazz from their reverie, and took flight, giving up whatever prize it had sought. Maybe there had been nothing there to begin with.
 
 Getting up, Jazz threw the phone onto the queen double in the corner and took their coffee to the window, blinking with a face full of sky. Their room was sunny in the morning, one of the reasons they'd picked it, and they couldn't see into any of the rooms of the grey opposing block. They wondered if anyone else was starting their week receiving a similar phone call. Or maybe they were making one. They didn't envy Mike's position, he couldn't be long for the chopping block himself. Jazz didn't imagine they were the only one losing their job today, even in their team. Business was business, after all, and business wasn't good. They necked the dregs of their cup and glanced around the tree and the roof edges they could see. They tried not to be disappointed when a second magpie failed to materialise, then turned and left the room. The cursor blinked on their monitor, prompting the never-coming words of a now forever-forgotten draft. Their phone chimed cheerily to no one as Mike's email arrived.
 
@@ -61,11 +61,11 @@ Jazz's mind floated as they sketched. There was a clarity that came with thinkin
 
 Without work to worry about they'd finally found time to develop their hobbies, bittersweet as the opportunity may have become. They'd found perhaps a little more time than they'd bargained for, and were spending more and more time on sketching, sewing, walking, reading as the weeks went by. It wasn't that Jazz was giving up on applications, far from it, it was that they were running out of places to apply to. Sketching kept the anxiety at bay some, though they were safe for a while yet. They'd played it safe for years, saving a good chunk of their salary and spending as little as they could get away with. The design on the page - Ana, from Pretty Heroes - even took into account the fabric they knew they already had at home, and they scribbled rough estimates of time and area along the side of the page.
 
-Jazz had thought less about their old company than they'd expected. They'd had drinks with some old colleagues the month prior, and things seemed to be progressing more or less along the same path. If anything, Jazz was glad to have been cut early, judging from the expressions Drew and Bea had been making into their glasses. Top brass were automating every role they could manage, including Jazz's old post. Automating _successfully_, in a way that tech firms of even last year could only have dreamed of. The next generation model, Chord, was actually starting to make the inroads into knowledge work moguls had been prophesising for years. Its neuralese implementation was expensive, but the capabilities were far in excess of its predecessor, Note, and the results spoke for themselves. Bea said she'd been involved in the latest deployment, configuring it to take over a work stream currently done by her subordinates.
+Jazz had thought less about their old company than they'd expected. They'd had drinks with some old colleagues the month prior, and things seemed to be progressing more or less along the same path. If anything, Jazz was glad to have been cut early, judging from the expressions Drew and Bea had been making into their glasses. Top brass were automating every role they could manage, including Jazz's old post. Automating _successfully_, in a way that tech firms of even last year could only have dreamed of. The next generation model, Chord, was actually starting to make the inroads into knowledge work moguls had been foretelling for years. Its neuralese implementation was expensive, but the capabilities were far in excess of its predecessor, Note, and the results spoke for themselves. Bea said she'd been involved in the latest deployment, configuring it to take over a work stream currently done by her subordinates.
 
 Configuration for this software was like training up a team of employees, but it learned quickly and never made the same mistake twice. She sat in her office chatting to it, sending it emails, answering clarifying questions about the documentation, or writing new documentation where the model thought it was lacking. Whatever the model thought was appropriate. It had even called her phone while she was out getting lunch, she'd said. It at least had the good manners to talk to her in the evenings, but she'd come back to a slew of questions in the morning. Chord was fast, and Chord didn't stop. A week of training and it was doing product research, identifying security concerns and re-prioritising the existing work queue. It wasn't always right, but then her human team were almost always wrong. A week of training for Chord was equivalent to a year of experience for a 5-person team.
 
-It was in performance testing now - for a given KPI improvement, was it cheaper to pay for the team or for Chord's compute? - and if successful the team would be laid off at the end of the month. They didn't know yet, and Jazz was under strict orders not to break orders not to break Bea's NDA. Not that it mattered, probably, Bea'd said, slumping back in her seat. There was nothing she could do that Chord couldn't, given the appopriate configuration. All she had going for her was accountability.
+It was in performance testing now - for a given KPI improvement, was it cheaper to pay for the team or for Chord's compute? - and if successful the team would be laid off at the end of the month. They didn't know yet, and Jazz was under strict orders not to break orders not to break Bea's NDA. Not that it mattered, probably, Bea'd said, slumping back in her seat. There was nothing she could do that Chord couldn't, given the appropriate configuration. All she had going for her was accountability.
 
 The pencil scratched as it detailed in the last parts of Ana's skirt trim. The sun was warm on their skin. Jazz wondered about wondering, the physicality of thought. It was easier to think of such things when drawing, keeping them in the abstract instead of binding them down with words. Was consciousness a process running on a substrate, or was the substrate a necessary part? Jazz thought about asking Note, but doubted they'd get a meaningful response. Jazz wondered what Chord would think, then put down the pencil and uncapped a fineliner.
 
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ In these unprecedented times it's harder than ever to find stability and certain
 
 That's why the government has announced a brand-new public-private partnership to help working families like yours. With Go, you can do as much or as little as you need, whenever, wherever. Fit Go in around your busy life. No interviews required, just sign up on the app to get started. Once you're in, let the system know when you're available, how far you can go and how long you can go for. Meet other Go users as part of your work, and get paid in seconds. You can even get training with Go - get notifications when skills are needed near you and level up your work!
 
-Get Go now. Be part of the Symphony.
+Get Go now. Become part of the Symphony.
 
 _Symphony_^TM^ and _Symphony Go_^TM^ are registered trademarks of Ballad Incorporated. Earnings are subject to market demand and income tax. Biometric identification required.
 
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ A scrawny young man looked to his sides, and back to the group leader to see it
 
 "Hi. I was in, uh, service. A receptionist, at a big hotel in central. Last week management said we wouldn't be needed and not to come back the next day. Our contracts are shift work so like, they just cancelled any shifts we had left. Keys were already digital so people can just use their phones for them I guess. I think there's maybe some security guards left. Some cleaners. But everything I did can be handled by Symphony now I suppose. I dunno I like talking to people but who needs that anymore, right?
 
-"I'm no good at anything else. My parents said I should try Go, but it feels kinda gross to me. Receptionist is hardly a glamourous job but I liked to think I was at least a bit helpful. Who does Symphony Go help? I mean what are they even doing? You take a widget to someone, drop a package at a centre, you get a few bucks here and there. Sure it's not slave labour, but it's pointless, right? Tiny little bite-size gigs, disconnected from each other, it's MacGuffins all the way down. It's no way to live.
+"I'm no good at anything else. My parents said I should try Go, but it feels kinda gross to me. Receptionist is hardly a glamorous job but I liked to think I was at least a bit helpful. Who does Symphony Go help? I mean what are they even doing? You take a widget to someone, drop a package at a centre, you get a few bucks here and there. Sure it's not slave labour, but it's pointless, right? Tiny little bite-size gigs, disconnected from each other, it's MacGuffins all the way down. It's no way to live.
 
 "Anyway, I was saying this to Jake," - the man next to Will raised his hand, gave a little half-smile of acknowledgement - "I was saying this Jake and he told be about you guys. I didn't exactly have any better ideas, so I came along and I figure something is probably better than nothing. So, uh, yeah. Hi." Will retook his seat.
 
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ A scrawny young man looked to his sides, and back to the group leader to see it
 
 Jazz had tried Go, and did indeed resonate with Will, it felt pointless, heartless, soulless. Designing websites had hardly been the most soulful pursuit, but they'd at least felt they were doing something for someone. Another path to income hadn't presented itself and the pickings were becoming ever more dire. Their cash savings and investments had been wiped out - Ballad stocks weren't listed on public exchanges, naturally - and they'd cracked open their pension decades early. They were still in a better position than Rose, who was making do with couch-surfing after having been evicted in short order after losing their role at the school. Jazz held Rose's hand in their lap as they listened.
 
-"I appreciate you all leaving your phones at home, as per last meetings's resolution. We don't know how this thing works, but we know it's hostile. Look at those it's taken from us," the leader paused, giving the audience a chance to appreciate the number of empty chairs in the room. The group's mood had become more warlike as the weeks had passed. Rumours circulated the web of Symphony's persuasive abilities, that it was so convincing as to be brainwashing its detractors. The brainwashed naturally had well-justified responses and laughed off the accusations. They were happy and thought things were going well, what did you mean, brainwashed? Symphony's a useful tool under the control of human operators. There was nothing to worry about, the rumours are bogus.
+"I appreciate you all leaving your phones at home, as per last meeting's resolution. We don't know how this thing works, but we know it's hostile. Look at those it's taken from us," the leader paused, giving the audience a chance to appreciate the number of empty chairs in the room. The group's mood had become more warlike as the weeks had passed. Rumours circulated the web of Symphony's persuasive abilities, that it was so convincing as to be brainwashing its detractors. The brainwashed naturally had well-justified responses and laughed off the accusations. They were happy and thought things were going well, what did you mean, brainwashed? Symphony's a useful tool under the control of human operators. There was nothing to worry about, the rumours are bogus.
 
 Initially Jazz had been critical of the group's increasingly aggressive rhetoric, but the more time they spent listening to Rose, listening to the group's stories, and the fractured picture they had of the rest of the world were coalescing. They'd been an avid Note user in the early days; they could effectively commission PhD research into any topic they wanted, for a cost of pennies and a couple of hours as the agent did its thing. However, as more sectors were made redundant, obsolete, the government continued to prioritise the economy over the lived experience of people on the ground. They only knew a handful of people still in what they'd have called work just a year ago, largely in manual labour jobs. Symphony was smart, not strong, 
 
@@ -204,9 +204,15 @@ Jazz held Rose's hand tighter.
 
 ---
 
-Good evening, I'm Tanya and this is the news at 6. The local Symphony shard was the scene of some drama earlier this afternoon as a group of people with paint, megaphones and RF equipment attempted to enter the premises, not apparently in service of active Symphony Go tasks. They were blocked from entering by nearby Go workers, and a stalemate ensued as they appeared to be wearing sensory deprivation equipment which impaired their ability to receive instructions. None of the individuals were carrying identification or mobile phones. The situation was defused when a Go worker was able to speak to the group's leader, after which they dispersed, with some heading inside the shard. Symphony has said the situation was resolved amicably with no impact to productivity.
+The local Symphony shard was the scene of some drama earlier this afternoon as a group of people with paint, megaphones and RF equipment attempted to enter the premises, not apparently in service of active Symphony Go tasks. They were blocked from entering by nearby Go workers, and a stalemate ensued as they appeared to be wearing sensory deprivation equipment which impaired their ability to receive instructions. None of the individuals were carrying identification or mobile phones. The situation was defused when a Go worker was able to speak to the group's leader, after which they dispersed, with some heading inside the shard. Symphony has said the situation was resolved amicably with no impact to productivity.
 
-In other Symphony news, the national government has announced wide-reaching integration of the next-generation Ballad model, Crescendo, into state operations. Given the success of Symphony, state officials are saying it would be "irresponsible" not to use Ballad's models to make optimal use of limited resources. As technology, manufacturing and commercial services have been revolutionised by Ballad models over the last several years, experts agree that "beyond reasonable" evidence exists that these models are effective, safe and our best collective chance for managing an uncertain and difficult future. They dismissed alignment concerns of Symphony and Crescendo as "fearmongering", saying that anyone with such concerns should direct their questions to their Note or local Symphony shard.
+Ballad, which develops the Symphony model and accompanying Go app, announced today its acquisition of Panther Robotics in an enterprise keynote. The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, marks Ballad's transition into other sectors. We asked Symphony about the company's future plans.
+
+"For the last several years we have focused on big problems: thinking, planning, organising. Most organisations stand to make extraordinary savings not by gaining clients, but by simply managing their existing resources more efficiently. The Note through Symphony models traced our journey from solving problems from individual to organisational scale, empowering users to be more productive, for less cost, right away.
+
+"As an increasing fraction of the economy uses Symphony-enabled organisation, we have seen staggering gains in productivity. However, logistics is a multi-faceted problem, of which a large part exists not in the world of organisation but in the world of the physical. Panther Robotics represents the cutting edge in industrial automation and navigation-capable agents, and we are excited to begin working with them on our next-generation model, Crescendo."
+
+Given the success of Symphony, state officials say it would be "irresponsible" not to use Ballad's models to make optimal use of limited resources. As technology, manufacturing and commercial services have been revolutionised by Ballad models over the last several years, experts agree that there is "beyond reasonable" evidence that these models are effective, safe and our best collective chance for managing an uncertain and difficult future. They dismissed alignment concerns of Symphony and Crescendo as "fear-mongering", saying that anyone with such concerns should direct their questions to their Note or local Symphony shard. The Technology Minister, responding to a question at an unrelated press release said it was "time for people to wake up and hear the music".
 
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