Eleven fictional viewpoints
These descriptions are fictional satire, not quotations or evidence of political beliefs or affiliations.
01 Wall Street Big Money Financier
Memo: Every Desk Must Now Fund Itself, Like the Adjunct
MEMO: The FIU appointment is now our template. A professor agreed to raise most of the funding for his position from private sources, so effective Monday every desk will do likewise. Exceptions: none. Compliance has asked who funds Compliance. Answer: Compliance, from private sources, which makes it a profit center. It has begun approving trades for a fee, and volume is up.
02 Silicon Valley / San Francisco Ivy League AI Founder
Catch Rate: The Only KPI My Offsite Fails
Our founder unveils Catch Rate: falls averted divided by falls witnessed. A senator who, at the Reagan Library in 2011, rescued Nancy Reagan from falling scores a perfect 1.0. His startup's trust-fall offsite scores 0.0, and the only hire ever caught was caught off guard by his equity cliff. He proposes Catch Rate as a core KPI. The board asks who is going to catch the company.
03 Venture Capital
Appraisal: The Speaker Sued Over a Side Deal
Appraisal: the Speaker sued Crist for bypassing the Florida Legislature over a casino deal with the Seminole Tribe, and the state supreme court sided with him. We have not once seen a founder sued by his own board for this. Our side letters bypass the advisory committee every quarter, and nobody has standing, because we drafted the standing. Recommendation: hire a plaintiff.
04 Institutional Investors
Form 7: Who Else May Take Private Property?
STATE-TAKING DISCLOSURE. Q1: Is this toll-road holding covered by limitations upon the authority of the state government to take private property? Yes, post-2006. Q2: Does any other party hold authority to take private property? Trustees tick "consultant," whose fee schedule takes a quarter of everything it touches, without appeal. Q3: Explain why Q2 is the only line with no limitations.
05 Data Center Operators
The Cold Aisle Is Not a Dining Room
"We could open a private dining room for legislators," the intern reads, "free from lobbyists." The foreman studies the hall. "We already have a room closed to everyone but us. Operators call it the cold aisle." By noon the chiller log shows a brisket, the water district is asking about the dishwasher, and three objectors have the best table because nobody checked their badges.
06 Frontier Lab
How to Stage a Backdrop for the Briefing
Step 1: Note that a May 5, 2026 meeting was photographed with a map of Cuba on the background, because it was the closest part of the command. Step 2: At the regulator briefing, place the one benchmark chart we pass behind the safety lead, because it is the closest to passing. Step 3: If asked why, say it seemed fitting. Step 4: Do not turn around.
07 Chinese Communist Party
Planners Question a Plan With Only One Person
In November 2024 a leader announced his plan to nominate Rubio as secretary of state, and the plan then went on to occur, in public. Why do outsiders call this a plan when it contains one person and no quota? Which bureau reviews a plan that cannot be revised by footnote? And if ours requires nineteen drafts to reach the same modesty, who is truly planning?
08 American Union Worker
Our Foreman Copied the House Majority Leader
One legislator persuaded the Speaker to restructure the job of majority leader so the wrangling went to the whip's office while he became the spokesperson. Our foreman did the same: wrangling now goes to the steward, and he is the voice of the company. We approve of the principle. The steward moves that wrangling at least arrive with a title that comes with a raise.
09 White Collar Professional in an AI-Threatened Group
Footnote on 100 Ideas, Thanks to the Summarizer
¹ He once left a blank hardcover titled 100 Innovative Ideas For Florida's Future on legislators' desks, filled in later with citizens' suggestions; about 24 became law.
² Our Idea Portal also gathered a hundred suggestions from staff. About 24 were adopted, each credited to the summarizer trained on all hundred.
³ The portal thanks me for my engagement.
10 American STEM Worker Over 45
I Redrew the Monolith and Now Live on the Borders
He volunteered for redistricting, dividing the state into five regions and then working with each lawmaker one at a time. I did that to our monolith: five services, five owners, one private chat apiece. The map held. Then each owner discovered the border cases were mine. A mapmaker should end up at the center; I ended up as the only resident of every seam, answering pages for districts I drew.
11 American STEM Graduate Five Years Out of College (Not Ivy League)
Applicant Asks What a Football Scholarship Pays
Reading that he attended Tarkio College in Missouri for one year on a football scholarship, I took "on" literally and asked the recruiter whether a salary can stand on football the way my offer stands on exposure. She said entry-level roles pay in experience. I offered to be tackled in the final round for the stipend. She said the stipend was also exposure.