#and those constellations of right innovation right feeling right moment

[swashbucklery]

OKAY THE POST:

So I normally don’t talk about textile stuff here bc this is my Fanworks Corner but I cannot recommend highly enough that everyone stop what they’re doing and listen to Articles of Interest. The link is to their website but you can find them on whatever your favourite podcatcher is. It’s a podcast that started as part of 99% Invisible, so it feels a bit like school, but it’s so so good if you care about clothing or textiles or fashion or gender or social history it’s got ALL THE BEST SHIT I love it so much.

My favourite episodes from earlier seasons are Hawaiian Shirts, Punk Style, Knockoffs, and Perfume/Diamonds, but they’re all really really good. What I love about it is that it does the 99PI thing of taking an ordinary thing and doing a deep dive from a design perspective, which sounds so boring but is actually just like. This really transformative way of looking at an object that you’re used to, and realizing that all objects have history and stories and the world is so rich! So full of intention! So captivating!

BUT OKAY because relevant to the post about 1940s/postwar women’s wear that I reblogged earlier, the current season is FASCINATING because instead of single episodes on single topics it’s an entire-season arc on just one specific thing, and the first two episodes have been utterly riveting so far. I’s on like, the idea of this style that they’re calling “Ivy” which is sort of generic slacks-and-button-downs style that like. You don’t think of as a style but is actually a style, and the whole arc is this incredibly detailed look at what it means and where it comes from and why it’s relevant to us now. It touches on the history of ready-to-wear clothing and post-war politics in the US and Japan and just - so much. So much god stuff.

And also there’s a digression in ep 2 on the post-WW1 Bright Young Things movement, which tickled me because I’m currently fascinated by that in general + am looking for books to learn more. Because the more that I am an essential worker in the current pandemic (which is not over, omg get your boosters GET YOUR BOOSTERS) the more I am fascinated by: 1) World War 1, 2) Post WW1 societal recovery, and 3) Early 1920s social history which was very much a reaction to the first two things and uhhhh has some parallels with our current society what with the sudden extreme individual focus on capitalist hedonism contrasted with the broader more sinister tapdance towards fascism and this feels like it shouldn’t be relevant to clothing but also: it is!

BUT ANYWAY it’s the most brilliant piece of podcast work I’ve ever listened to and if you want to know why 1930-40ss menswear and button downs are having a ~cultural moment and why that’s intersecting with young people’s movements related to gender expression and self-expresson this is the thing for you.

#never have i listened to a podcast #and had someone so succinctly explain to me something #that i was aware of culturally but hadn't yet thought to put into words #and 99pi is the podcast that does that to me the most often #so i listen to it sparingly #but articles of interest does it CONSTANTLY the way that #avery's work manages to be on the surface this fun little digression into culture #and isn't trying to be current #but is simultaneously deeply current and cutting into the core of like #why is this everyday thing the way that it is #it's like that miranda priestly speech but it's also not #because it's not about some fashion house deciding that the sweater should be cerulean #it's about how broader culture leads to these feelings and these desires #and when someone accidentally makes the right shape of sweater or the right style of shirt #to embody those desires #it catches on #and has a moment #and those constellations of right innovation right feeling right moment #delicious! fascinating! i'm smitten! #fibre arts are the best arts #grouchy aunt j's textile history corner

[curious-minx]

Review of the first episode of The Great North (plus some sad Bob’s Burgers’ news)

2021.

I was going to begin my review of the pilot episode of The Great North, the sister sister series of Bob’s Burgers, with my trademark  snarky and slanted curlicue wit... Instead, I am reckoning with the headline of the death of Bob’s Burgers character designer, Dave Creek.

Dave Creek.

Type his name out and put it in comic sans and you can see it’s a name meant to be involved with TV. One of the rare individuals to pass away from something other than Covid-19 or our rising totalitarian government. The artist contributed to the show in many ways, most profoundly with the design of Lady Tinsel from the Bleakening, one of Bob’s Burgers most visually ambitious episodes to date. I am ill-equipped to eulogize the man like his fellow peers are doing, but as someone who writes and thinks about the Bob’s Burgers series it is impossible to not address his passing.

//////

The Great North.

“Sexi Moose Adventure”

Look up there! What Do You See? Nature and stuff Like a rock And a tree Oh, The Great North Way up here we can breathe the air Catch some fish Or gaze at a bear Wow! Oh, The Great North Here we live, oh, oh Here we’ll stay, oh, whoo From longest night To longest day In The Great North

An Alan Thicke bop or the wimpy Cheers theme this aint. A jarring theme. I had to transcribe it to lay it out in front of me to see how wordy it is, but to my surprise the theme song looks more concise on paper. Still, I am not sold on this theme song. Mainly because I prefer the misheard lyric of “Here we’ll say (it’s actually “stay”): oh, whoo,” digging further into the regional grunts.

1:24, One minute and twenty four seconds in and there is already a  little bit of winking scatalogical humor by the ever youthful Paul Rust, or as I am sure he’ll be known for generations, Ham Tobin, the middle of the three Tobin sons. Compounded within these first two minutes is a stylistic swivel away from Bob’s Burgers comedic well with a Brokeback Mountain themed wedding cutaway joke with real-world celebrity cameos. Speaking of celebrity cameos, how about a side character conversation with an Alanis Morrisette  constellation (and she’s a recurring character!) you’ve never seen that in Bob’s Burgers! In the first three minutes and thirty seconds we have two instances of explicitly expositional dialogue, the first is the cleaner introduction of eldest Wolf Tobin (voiced by Will Forte) and his fiance Honeybee Shaw who has just moved to Alaska from Fresno and helps set up the reverse All in the Family Meathead and Gloria dynamic. What comes next is once again another moment I can only describe as jarring when the inexplicably normal named Judy Tobin explains to Alanis Morrisette constellation exactly what is wrong with sweetly overbearing father. The reason involving a somewhat convoluted background story about the former Tobin matriarch's  abandonment of the family and Beef, the Tobin patriarchy, is in denial of this  fact. Beef prefers to live in the reality where no wife of his would leave him she could only have been eaten by a wolf.  

What goes on throughout the episode is what I believe is a cardinal sin of episodic storytelling: Making jokes and observations at the expense of an off screen character. There are already WAY too many characters being thrown at me and not once throughout the episode was I able to identify any of the characters by any names other than the name of the celebrity voice actor. Minute six and yet again we are hit with Honeybee  generating another celebrity name for a joke and I really hope that the writers develop more of a game for her. Oh wait a minute the episode reminds me again at the eight minute forty sixth second mark that she is in fact from Fresno. More diarrhea and fart jokes snaking their way back into the scene as well, but Jenny Slate has always relished in the poopier jokes (see: any of her stand-up, Kroll work, or Obvious Child).

At the ten minute mark there is a quality character defining joke when Wolf distracts Beef by pointing out an indoor potted plant in a mall, which causes Beef, ever the Nature man, to take matters into his own hands by trying to rescue the potted plant. Beef is basically a combination of the two Rons from Parks & Rec, the emotional frugality of Ron Swanson and a touch of Sam Elliot’s Ron Dunn Earthiness. Julio Torres’ mall juicer character is also introduced with a perfunctory but enjoyable deadpan exchange with the awkward Judy, but it’s the kind of performance Julio Torres could give in his sleep (and probably did).

The eleven minute mark introduces a character that I was initially pretty jazzed about, Judy’s boss at the mall photography store Alyson Lefebvrere (gosh I hated typing out that name >.<) voiced by long-time Molyneux collaborator, Megan Mullally. On paper, much like the theme song, a heated exchange between an emotionally vulnerable Beef and a character voiced by real-life wife Megan Mullally should be dynamite, instead much like their podcast it feels like a wet fart in the sheets. Mullally’s work on Bob’s Burgers as Linda’s sister Gayle is terrific and with the power of animation having her play an unconventional looking character really works to her advantage. Alyson’s character design is boring and conventional cartoon  attractive as she’s clearly being set up as a potential love interest for our leading Beef man, but the whole thing in execution falls completely flat. The extended 69 joke between Beef and Alyson is supposed to be funny because we know it’s between a real life publicly beloved celebrity couple. You cannot coast on innate chemistry alone! The setting up of the love interest isn’t even coy, we see Beef get heart eyes and drool over Alyson, which is just the most predictable and least interesting choice. A route this show seems dangerously flirtatious with.

Finally, at minute:second mark 13:15 we get introduced to a potentially fun and quirky sitcom character, Londra the neighboring fish mongerer. Voiced by Judith Shelton, an actor I am sure we all remember as Sally from Seinfeld and Angela from the Gregory Hines Show. Instead she gets instantly shut down and shuffled by in favor of advancing the plot of the episode. Moving on to the birthday party. Yep Honeybee makes another pop culture reference this time the Minions (it was Squidward last time, but I was too faint of heart to mention it at the time). We also find out in a forced confession from Ham that he is gay. I am glad the show has hired an openly gay actor like Julio Torres to play a bit recurring character, but it feels weird having Paul Rust a thoroughly heterosexual actor portray a gay goofball character. I feel like there easily could have been an actual gay goofball Paul Rust type out there deserving of the job, but this show does do right by having Dulce Sloan as Honeybee and Aparna Nancherla as MVP, Moon Tobin (Who I’ll get into later). Therefore I should not let this irk me, but clearly this show and I are not seeing eye to eye. In an era of gestures towards meaningful representation I would just like to see some consistency. Rust will probably go on to join the ranks of the many other hetero men who have also portrayed perfectly competenent and sensitive gay characters, but with gay characters should come paychecks for gay voice talent. In the end of this dead end debacle I much rather  Paul Rust have the role  and be spared the unimaginative Randy Rainbow casting. Back on track.

There’s a four square action sequence of the four siblings that also feels like the show attempting another stylistic flourish to separate itself from Bob’s Burgers. The episode, all one straight ahead single narrative, comes to a happy ending to also establish that the Bob’s Burgers sister sister series is also interested in being a sentimental sitcom to its core. An unfortunately okay first episode that got worse for me with a repeated viewing. The only character and overall performance that sticks out to me is Aparna Nancherla playing what is essentially the show’s Tina and  Louise lovechild of a character Moon Tobin, an animal identifying gender flipped peculiar savant-like child. She’s one of those comedians that I will always root for and appreciate whenever she pops up and I really hope that this show treats her right. She really elevates the material. Everyone else does just fine. The first episodes and first seasons of any sitcoms are rarely all that innovative or memorable so I am certainly going to allow this show to grow on me.

For the time being, this first episode of the Great North is deserving of Two Sexy Moose Antlers out of Five Forced Pop Culture References

#TV Series #Bob's Burgers #The Great North #Fox #adult animation #Animation Domination #Sitcom #TV Review

[dfhkala]

So I switched the multipliers

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[dnd-vigilante]

Ignatius

General Concept

People usually play druids around the idea that nature is fundamentally opposed humans and civilization. The druid’s role in this dichotomy tends to focus on advocating balance between nature and human activity, which is a flawed, humancentric view because it assumes people are separate from nature.

A more nuanced, contemporary evolutionary view takes a more holistic view of nature by including people and civilization in nature. Civilization is one way humans have adapted to their environments similarly to beavers constructing dams. Obviously, there are many differences, the point being that the civilization versus nature dichotomy is simplistic and doesn’t take into account the more complicated picture. Plenty examples exist in the archaeological record where cities allowed wildlife to thrive by preventing erosion, and it wasn’t until after the city collapsed that the wildlife was no longer able to survive.

Taking this view into account, Ignatius will be a druid that values people and civilization because he sees them as part of the natural world. However, by giving up their objects of beauty and living modest lives, he believes people are not living in their natural state. He takes inspiration from watching animals, creatures of instinct, and believes it is human nature to be instinctual and expressive. He believes peoples’ instinct is to live freely of inhibition and create meaning which is best manifested in art and beauty. To repress human instinct is a sin.

Ideas and Questions to Explore Through Roleplaying

Ignatius believes in individuals should be free to express themselves because otherwise we are not living true to our nature, and therefore not really living and may as well not exist. How will he reconcile that when people's’ real lives are at stake? At what cost will he be willing promote freedom?

Ignatius believes there is nothing unnatural about civilization and human creation. At what point does human action become unnecessary destruction?

It will often be easy to say “your actions should not hinder another’s freedom” but it won’t always be that simple.

What human characteristics if any will he find unnatural in addition to repression?

Would he be okay with destruction if it promotes his ideas of nature? Fire is a force of nature.

Ignatius believes that people have a nature and it must be followed. In reality, it is much harder to define humanity. During his adventure, will he keep the same belief about human nature? Will he even believe there is a human nature? What does he do if he comes to that conclusion?

Is there really any meaning in life for Ignatius? He believes it should be about instinct and expression, but will he find that really gives him meaning?

Appearance and Personality

Ignatius is a creature of instinct who loves to live in the moment. If there is a thrill to be found in front of him, he will do it (he isn’t stupid or evil he won’t do something if it’s likely to get him killed or cause serious damage to someone else). He loves beauty and extravagance and is therefore outgoing and flamboyant. Insults and not fitting in don’t bother him too much since he tends not to be attached to people because he sees it as inhibiting his freedom. Because he sees civilization as modest and repressed, he prefers to spend time in nature where the freedom makes him feel more human. He also sees nature as more human because it follows its instinct. When he can, he loves to visit ruins which he sees as a time when humans followed their nature.

Ignatius has an extravagant appearance that matches his personality. He has a long fire-red mohawk that flops over to the side hanging down near his jawline. He is covered in colorful tattoos mostly of birds like a quetzal, a peacock and various birds of paradise. His ears are adorned in piercings, mostly carved wooden piercings. If he found any jewelry from ruins he would wear those. He is adorned with whatever brightly colored clothing he can find but he keeps a grey cloak on hand if he needs to obscure himself.

He gave himself the name Ignatius because he thinks its flamboyant and it means fiery one which matches his personality.

Backstory

Ignatius was born Aelus to elven parents in the village of Flatmire. His parents’ long lives instilled them with a casual indifference to those around them which Aelus grew to hate as he found them antithetical to his natural love of life. As respected village elders, Aelus was expected to attend to his duties at home and in the village. Instead, Aelus preferred to explore the wilds where he felt he could truly be human. Flatmire held closely to tradition, eschewing art and innovation. Observing animals taught Aelus a better way of living: to be free and follow one’s instinct.

During his extended time in the jungle, he became close to a small family of trappers and befriended Tawny Jack who also held a deep reverence for nature. Together they were able to explore more of the jungle than before. A more reserved personality, Tawny encouraged Aelus’ flamboyant, ostentatious nature and he grew bolder with his philosophy. Aelus took the name Ignatius, a more fitting name to his personality, and began tattooing himself with elaborate, colorful birds. The village elders became increasingly uncomfortable with my presence leading to an explosive confrontation resulting in his exile. Tawny Jack decided to come with me and we headed toward the nearest rumored village of Eastcliff: Town.

One night during their journey, the hair stood up on the backs of their necks as they felt a malevolent presence approach. All the could see was the howling wind violently shake the surrounding trees whose form was obscured by a mirage. An encroaching pitch blackness that sucked in light as it came closer. They still do not know what it was but they swear it was a daemon and all the could do was run. Despite fleeing, the presence gained on them and right as it seemed to catch them, a strange light resembling a large bluish humanoid with elvish ears appeared and led them into a grove.

Upon reaching the grove, the evil presence immediately disappeared. Ignatius never heard the spirit the saved them speak but he could understand it as though it did. He knew the spirit’s name was Lightsong. Then, Lightsong touched him on the forehead and Ignatius saw visions of another place and time. He saw visions of people controlling the forces of nature and transforming into animals. The last vision was of himself surrounded by a small group of allies facing down the same presence that chased them. When the visions were gone the markings of a constellation appeared across his back. The spirit vanished and Ignatius saw a deep pristine pool of water. Behind the pool stood a large rainbow eucalyptus tree. At its base, a set of leather armor, a wooden shield, a scimitar named Tempest and a wood scepter made out of the same tree were spread out for him.

Tawny Jack and Ignatius made it to Eastcliff where they were welcomed. Some people have shown disapproval of Ignatius’ flamboyant appearance, others have been more accepting. Ignatius feels the same satisfaction in Eastcliffe and is eager for more adventure. Meanwhile he uses his skills as an herbalist to provide tonics and other healing remedies to Eastcliff. Ignatius became enamored with a beautiful statue in the center of Eastcliff. He loves to spend hours staring at it, remembering that expression, creativity and ingenuity of the highest forms of humanity.

Relationship with the The Envoy of The Forgotten [Organization]

Ignatius believes that what the Envoy’s holding back the demons is inherently good. He sees the daemons as evil because they feed off beauty and creativity preventing humans from living. He does not enjoy the Envoy’s ritual, but he understands it to be a necessary means to keeping the terror at bay. Were Ignatius to discover a way of keeping the terror at bay during the campaign that didn’t involve sacrificing “items of beauty” to the Envoy, he would do what he could to make that change. Because he believes the ritual is crucial to keeping the terror at bay, he spends time making beautiful carvings out of wood and paints to offer the Envoy which symbolizes offering up a piece of himself to protect people from the terror.

Alchemical Advancements

Story and Mystery

You have decided to follow Rial on a quest that may or may not be beneficial. Knowing full well that this quest may lead absolutely nowhere. Rial leads you south. Heading far past the lands you once ventured alone and with Tawny. Deep into the jungles which you now know are Yuan-ti territory.

Rial Crestling has been carrying around a pack of odd potions. Something seems to be off about all of them and it is unclear how they were made. Rial tells you he is tracking a man he believes to be a connection to the one he originally purchased the potions from.

You travel from small village to minor town, eventually coming upon a merchant who had acquired a similar pack of potions from a man headed for the now risen city of Goblorado. Rial purchased all of the potions from this man and you head towards the ancient city.

Weeks pass before you reach this metropolis of goblin kind. In this time you help Rial with his experiments. You discover through lots of trial and error that the potions Rial has found are made from the blood and essence of differing monsters. The green potions of healing appear to be primarily made of troll blood. Which gives you a full understanding of why you feel awful after drinking it…

Goblorado is nothing like you expected. It is thriving with activity and in the center of town is another one of those strange Obsidian Stones. You and Rial head to a local inn and wait. Rial tells you that you are waiting to hear something of importance. After hours of waiting and probably too many drinks, Rial stands and quickly heads for the door. Slow to follow you find Rial beating a hooded man in a back alley, a pack of potions on the ground next to him.

The merchant tells Rial he is part of a traveling merchant group he simply calls the brotherhood. An organization of seemingly benign merchants. Rial does manage to pilfer a book on potion making from the man. Rial looked at you for a few seconds, grabbed a hold of the man's neck, and snapped it with a satisfyingly quick crack. “That may not have been the way you wanted to handle that. I unfortunately cannot have someone like this knowing I am looking for them.”

He hands you the book and tells you to study it. “You may be able to find replacements for the monster blood and parts. I would start with the native plants and go from there.” With that Rial left the alley and disappeared into the crowd. You spend the following years studying this book. Eventually making your way back north towards home.

#Vigilante Gaming #world building #player characters #npc #dnd

[deviationdivine]

Wake Up | domestic!Android AU Part 1 (Connor x Reader)

gif by arsuf 

F!reader x Connor

13.6k words

Detroit: Become Human - 1 Year Anniversary Release Celebration

A revolution may divide the city but it will never divide you...

tw: Angst, Fluffy Connor in the midst, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence

a/n: First part of mini-series AU “Wake Up”. An introductory chapter one. Apologies for how long this took but I struggled and I am not happy with the end result. However, it’s finally here. • Connor is the latest high tech domestic model built with a collection of extra features, skills and functions making him the most advanced of his kind. As your personal assistant he is equipped with becoming the perfect partner if you so require. Falling in love with your personal android was never part of the equation nor was his break into deviancy...

“My name is Connor. I am your personal assistant. My features will allow me to take extensive care of your home, do the cooking, mind children and repair any problematic issues that arise within the household’s utilities. 

As I am the most advanced make I can perform various tasks including but not limited to acts of a sexual nature. If you so require I am capable of being the perfect partner…”

Perfect is a conceptual illusion in every sense or so you come to believe. Why do humans think in terms of excellence when most shining examples tarnish in glaring flaws? Even technology can be made wrong or needing improvement not long after distribution. Faulty wiring, danger of overheating and causing harm of a radioactive proponent all seem minuscule in comparison. 

Today, in the future, there is a grander blueprint mapping out the most innovative, extreme to date.

When it becomes alive, mimics the very corporeal state of being born unto humans since man breathed life in this vast universe, mirroring visage of those who wish to create in their likeness.

How does it go from technological wonder to abstruse thinking? Concepts can be a greater weapon. They can also reach for too much too soon. Is this the true state of AI meant for consumer consumption?

Cart them off exclusively as merchandise no matter how human they look. Isn’t that their appeal? The more something foreign, inexplicable but resembles us the more it is accepted. Basic instinctual deep thinking bred into all humans. Difference is an attest beneath surface value. Judge a book by a cover but if there are features hiding its distinct nature by all means use it.

Laziness might be a better solution in this mathematical equation. Imperfect perfection makes way for future development. Those are the very elements that change the world.

Can you even imagine for one second, one little point in life it would come to change yours? So small in a world full of billions but here in Detroit home of Cyberlife and its creation the pilot sparks. Alight with technological revolution.

Androids are here. Androids are owned. Bought as slaves to humanity and used beyond measure, no consideration that those made in image could possibly develop feelings. Emotions are heavy. They are what make us all human. Can machine truly become human?

  You never wanted one. Mostly it made you uncomfortable witnessing cruelty by specific ‘owners’ on the bustling city streets. It’s everywhere. Even today, chillier, more specifically a frigidity creeping into bones.

Eyes shift over a couple walking briskly as you draw coat closer together up throat. Keeping wind seeping through to tangle around your body but watching them waltz their merry way without care. Of course they have none. Their female android, an AX400 to be exact, is taking care of two rowdy children.

Honestly it must be nice. Not having to parent after deciding to add more to the burdening populace. Maybe that’s just your pessimism talking. Simple fact though? Could be that too but who knows?

Just another one of those days but it is about to change drastically. Passing a Cyberlife store does pique curiosity. Window displays my God. They line them up as if that’s all they are.

They offer whatever a human wants and yet not all can bother to treat them fairly. Is it enough androids are made to look as everyone else? Would a genuine human being treat another so despicably? Yes. A resounding yes because it never goes away. People treat people with disdain for every reason, every prejudice and why should that shock? Androids have become an additional target. 

Honestly it makes you sick. Never did you once realize this is what would change things completely. On this very day, minding business walking home from another tiring bustle  

More than one occurrence struck you right in the gut. A previous household model absorbs brunt of   obscenities and physical humiliation. A scene like this turned your stomach. 

The moment it came to intervene you received an interrupting phone call. Unfortunately this was the start of big changes in your life.

What does one do discovering death of a relative? Closeness is a fundamental of familial connections. For you? Well, let’s say it didn’t quite work out.

  “What do you mean he…died?” Answering in a quiet breath, cell phone a tight clutch in hand stalling in breezy climate, everything stops around your personal orbit.

“Y/N, I’m sorry,” a familiar voice speaks over your ingenious disbelief.

Ignoring your pleas for a proper answer it becomes increasingly cruel on the woman’s breath digging truths in your ear. Whether she realizes this or not it’s up for debate. “You do realize this was coming. It isn’t as if he were young and healthy. Frankly, I am surprised you are having such a negative reaction.”

Negative is exactly the type of reaction! What does she expect? “Of course I’m having a reaction!” Practically screaming into your phone made the chilled air sting worse. How is this happening? How can this even be real?

“Oh, it’s all right, Y/N. Get it out now. It’ll be better if you don’t make a scene at the funeral.”

Anger is a burning pyre ready to fan over and incinerate. One snide comment reminds how much you can’t stand this person. She’s not even blood related. An ‘aunt’ isn’t technically qualified to hold the title and that’s fine. Just another excuse to dig at you in this family but there is no family left. Your father – he’s dead.

Money fixes everything? Unlikely but still nothing surprises you more than receiving something from an estranged parent. Generous sums to a black sheep or as you’re sure greedy auntie bitch of the hour calls you behind your back. She is one woman who deserves that damn moniker. Especially when it’s clear there are no connections left. Aunt Cruella, as christened ages ago by your best friend, made short work of your uncle. Certainly bled him dry continues to do so with his left over money after he succumbed to stress in a massive heart attack. Why do people like her thrive using, snide and heartless while others –?

What can you do then? Except you fall into an overwhelming sense of losing time and never extending an olive branch. Why is the universe so cruel? Why can’t you turn back time, forget every stupid thing that ever happened to drive a rift?

Part of you couldn’t stand the idea of being alone rest of your life. Maybe that’s why using part of a small deposit felt right. Watching so many gradually fall into current technological commercialism lead to most having their own android. It seems almost a little too barbaric making them cater to every whim. Honestly, you have no idea why this is needed. Do you really need him? 

No, he isn’t… He. Yes, he. 

Despite manufacturing Connor is a he in every sense.  Even then you saw as much. Now is much more complicated or you are just as ridiculously naive as you’ve always been told. Who cares about naivety? It is simple opinion. No. This is a belief one that surely would have left nothing to you in an event of final family member’s passing. Yet here you are with him.

You recall when he first arrives unaware of how efficient Cyberlife retail truly is. Why should you be surprised? Deliveries have gone from generic dairy of yesteryear, beyond personalized grocery orders and straight to personalized beings. Androids: alive or not alive?

In conjunction with preprogramming he sounds so lively. In his voice a natural husky dulcet and his eyes a deep soulful brown. Souls in androids are impossible but it’s the only way you think to describe warm chocolate. Hotter than a mug of it steeped in whip cream vanishes as a ghost beneath steaming liquid. 

Flecks of caramel shine in hypnotic swirls enriching accents of russets in muddy hues, the very first thing captivating attention as he offers his list of functions. Even falling upon the last is difficult to decipher how caught up you are in a consummately asymmetrical visage. 

He is far too pretty to look at and you try to ignore these facts. The facts of your newly purchased personal android possessing an aura of physical attractiveness. A fabrication in aesthetics you remember. A way to cover up what he actually is beneath soft synthetic skin dusted as constellations of freckles. 

Tiny beauties cresting upon sharp cheekbones, chiseled jaw, purposely formed to elicit a reaction. This is not at all what you expected but it’s never something to forget. Little do you realize in this moment Connor will always burn brightest to memory? Little do you understand how events will unfold but they shall.

  “Is there a problem?” he asks habitual to programming. 

Societal protocols run a gamut through system piecing together the best course of action. It is only his first day interior of your home. He is of a sense of determination to complete whatever task you assign. 

Determination is not part of proper function. However, he minded the concept. It will be efficient for current issue. “I may be able to rectify your issue. What do you require of me?”

 Require? What?

You cough, inhaling sharply at his head cocking so innocently. A droop of hair flutters atop forehead as a sole rebel willing to fight immaculate armies. He is very well put together. Not that you mean the whole manufactured part! He just – looks like a really good looking guy who takes care of his appearance. Hair mostly but…

Wow, Y/N. Real nice for your first try at handling a conversation with an android.

Not that this is the first android you’ve been in contact with. Difficult not to be when they’re all over but as your very own?

OK Cyberlife! What is up with making him look like real life Prince Charming?  I mean look at this perfection. Is this required? Are they allowed to do this to poor unsuspecting humans?

Watching his brows furrow and LED flutter amber somehow pumps the beats of heart faster. Surely it’s a dead giveaway. It’s not every day you’re cursing Cyberlife for practically throwing a chiseled Greek god at you.

Oh, shit, really? Greek God? What the hell is wrong with you? What isn’t wrong with you?

You sigh, clicking tongue at yourself. Frustration doesn’t begin with this!

“Your stress levels are high,” Connor offers a reading of initial scan. “Would you like me to remedy the problem? I have several possible functions that may reduce anxiety. My model comes with every physical attribute you are familiar with in human anatomy.”

A hitch stoppers breathing. Just enough as eyes widen a little at his declaration. Human anatomy as in…? Oh. OH.

Your eyes shift down. Fixating right on his crotch sends a luscious shiver through body. Goosebumps prickle skin, hair standing up on them. First time in forever you’ve had this type of reaction. Not even your ex managed to make you quiver like this. Not that your mind is even there because that’s been over for so long. Frankly that cheating asshole can have his baby momma all to himself. Probably already banged a couple more unsuspecting fools; you clear throat, scratchier than before.

“Connor, that-that’s really nice!” Agreeing with him that he has nice features you laugh nervously. It’s the first day he’s been here and already he’s mentioning his, uh, included *assets* and it’s not his beautiful eyes either. Ah, shit. Why is he made to be a young, attractive male? “But I don’t think that’s necessary. Not right now.”

It only takes a moment before you hear what came out of your mouth. Right now meaning it’ll be fine later?

“Which isn’t to say I’ll need it later!” Damage control is literally a creator of chaos. Can he just not look so sweet giving these heady ideas? “Just come with me. You’ll need a place to stay. I mean, you are staying here but I mean…” Shit! He’s made this impossible without stammering all over the place. Who gives him the right?

The android’s lips drop open, inevitably looking to provide another set of options but he snaps his mouth shut. Blinking in assessment of his actions to “argue” with your dismissal, Connor pushes away several warnings popping into visual. They are unexpected and not part of his programming.

Instead of speaking he follows your lead, gaze soft and quizzical. Trailing as a newly trained puppy the latest model of Cyberlife’s domestic line becomes further entranced with chirping outside window. No longer able to abide by strict attention he tilts his head at passing pane. Sounds of birds in song flitter and perch on external sill; one ruffles its feathers cleaning with its beak. The other stands still.

He freezes. Both in movement and system analysis he is however conscious of two live creatures. Opposite of android pets universally made available for public sale. His database offers much information outfitting him with the fundamental needs of intelligence and sophistication in his programmed function.

Reaching to open a door you stop when his presence behind you feels empty. It was obvious when he followed but now?

“Connor?”

Cycling indicator fluctuates upon the command of your voice. He snaps around in direction of soft tone. Softer than accustomed since his distribution from Cyberlife shipping to physical store location was riddled with aggressive bystanders. He-he is not meant to mull over his awakening. It does not make him feel anything. No, he is an android. He feels nothing. He is a machine.

Clinical cold manifests deeply behind blocks, barricades in protocols. Connor pushes this strange tickle back underneath wires.

“Apologies for not obeying you, Y/N. It will not happen again. I am efficient.” Nagging at him, strange and uncorrelated to system status, he almost sounds…tense. Connor straightens shoulders, folding hands neatly against lower back. “I was made to be the best of my particular type of domestic models. As an AX800, I am programmed to be a superior prototype.”

Obeying you?

That happens to be the only words you focus on. His choice of them ripple uncomfortably, nearly squeamish in stomach. Is this how you sound? Are you affecting a command or-? No, it’s what he is made to know. That’s the thing. All androids are only made to serve and immediately regret comes back. Maybe you shouldn’t have bought him.

Bought! God, you’re just like those people now. Aren’t you?

No more excuses. No more seeing horrible mistreatment and vowing never to be like them. Even if you never would do any harm losing your father, when you never spoke anymore anyway, still you fear loneliness. Estrangement ruins lives. It really does. What do you have left now? Except for yourself to fend in this world and growing more complicated as the future rambles on.

Detroit is a bustling mix of dilapidated districts, high tech innovations, Cyberlife Tower most significant in those builds. This house is small. Tucked away in a tiny neighborhood away from inner city but you never complain. You are grateful. A roof over the head is the best gift in a mostly gift devoid world.

“Connor, please don’t call it obeying. I-I only wanted to see if you were OK.” Admitting the hesitation beforehand you feel antsy. His LED is blue again but it was amber finding him staring at window.

“My system is fully operational,” he assures, forcing his lips to form a smile.

In actuality his little gesture is a stiff grimace. Eyebrows rise at his attempt. Even if it looks goofy, which is completely not his fault, it’s very – cute.

Again with this! Never mind just focus for once. Pretty comical coming from someone who hardly meditates in the day to day; you step backwards, slipping through threshold, eyes remaining on him. It takes ever ounce of willpower to remain collected. Things are still hard to digest. No matter if it’s been a couple months tangling with all of that legal stuff. Auntie not by blood sure didn’t make it any better. Yet, here you are. Still you stand even while stress is overworking at a job that might as well kill you first.

Offices are pretty dull to work in. At least they would be if they were not a regular cushy job. Piles of paperwork, demands creep up to swallow whole, a boss who just will not stop making things harsher. Mister perfectionist belittles the lower tier all the time. No surprise but it seems the future isn’t as bright as people thought it would. No need to wear shades.

Moving toward window, pulling curtains open a bit to allow sunshine transitions atmosphere from dreary to somewhat cheery. Perfect mask to hide the real truth isn’t it? Sometimes you forget how good you are that. A small smile camouflages best.

You rub hands against the thighs of your jeans. A little sweaty because of nerves but today is big. Being alone always hardly prepares for constant company. Well, he’s meant to be here permanently. That is the initial idea.

“This can be your room.”

Connor’s brow furrows. Studying your movements upon entry, analyzing vitals and their continual fluctuations, the android is confused. His indicator cycles to process the statement as unexpectedly inclusive as it is. “I do not require a room. I am an android.”

Somehow that reaction is to be expected. You sigh, “Just because you’re an android doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have something of your own.”

Ownership is not given to his kind. They are machines. Concepts of acquiring personal effects do not make sense nor are necessary. Connor voices this as per factual protocol. “Thank you for the offer but I am a machine. Machines have no need for accommodations.”

Yes, of course he’s a machine but…

Machine, manufactured and sold without an ounce of actual soul according to android haters you see. Picketing with their signs, so angry about them taking jobs but who made them? They did. Humans decided to and no one complained. Why complain about a technological marvel that can mow your grass, do the dishes and babysit children while living carelessly. That is the difference. Between you and plenty of others there has always been a divide in what you feel. This just crashes down those so-called fantasies. Ones filtering into brain as tiny wisps and at first it was a nice distraction. Finding him so…

“Oh,” a whisper, dawning realization. He is – a machine.

Coming back to the door, grabbing onto handle, you decide to forget the suggestion.

Something sharp stabs at his internal processors. Listening to such a dull syllable slipping almost – upset? Humans’ need for validity and comfort seem to be all too natural. They are highly emotional. The android steps close, head cocked, fingers pressing against surface of door preventing your need to shut it.

Contemplating left him at a cross roads in his programming. He is meant to function specifically and does not need or want anything as you believe. However, he-he could not refuse. It would be impolite. “I- very well, Y/N. I did not meant to be unpleasant. My social parameters are not meant to alarm.”

Alarm? That is not why you… Your breath hitches. Realizing how close he is standing, invading personal space and if it were anyone else? Allowing him is both a conscious need for closeness while still mourning and an illusion. Live up to that woman’s ideas. The title of ‘aunt’ is undeserving.

“Thank you, Connor.”

“You are welcome,” he snaps back to his programming. “What sort of tasks do you have scheduled for me to complete?”

“Scheduled? I, uh…” Shaking a head at his question is clarity. Honestly you are not used to giving tasks to people. Tasks are dropped on your desk until you down. A huff of breath, accompanied with snort is more for yourself. It does garner the most adorable expression on his face. “Maybe you could just…talk to me? For now?”

Connor’s eyebrows scrunch together. His facial expressions capture attention driving the tempo of your heart. He does not understand why. “Are we not speaking already?”

You laugh not at him but his innocent little response there is – Oh. No. 

It only deepens sadness in you now. Knowing where he came from and his confusion in you wanting a little companionship. Androids aren’t supposed to make friends are they? Even if they’re specifically programmed or upgraded to be partners. He mentioned that before.

Luckily a vibration against your thigh saves you. Reaching to pull phone from pocket your eyes train up to his and take a needful exhale. “Sorry, Connor, I have to take this.”

Connor moves aside out of your path. Remaining stationary, hands folded neatly, he awaits further instruction. However, the android’s eyes shift sideways at the sound of your voice outside room. Amber floods his temple.

“Why are you calling me now? No, I’m not wallowing! It’s called mourning. Maybe if you figured out what it was when my uncle died all those years ago you wouldn’t need a dictionary for it.” Hissing fire into phone attacks your aunt by marriage equally. Soon as you pick up! She just had to get in another word. 

Why does she feel the need for this? What’s the point anymore? “No. What do you want exactly? Is this about the trust fund again? I’m using a part to pay bills. What do you think I’m doing?”

Living expenses are still the same old problem. Must be nice for the rich their multi-billion dollar corporations feeding on tech. Just look at Cyberlife.

“It doesn’t matter,” you make it abundantly clear. Does she believe she’s that intimidating? Newsflash to miss upper crust but this labeled black sheep doesn’t take shit from people! “We might’ve had a rocky relationship but I loved him.”

Loved? Connor freezes in corridor. Disobeying processes to offer potential aid in obvious distress he finds himself…curious at such words.

“We were family. What do you think? Don’t you have enough blood money to spend on your Eden Club bots old woman?” Ending it on your terms this time does not fulfill you at all. Always the winner isn’t she? Rubbing it in your face about his death and if your father were here he wouldn’t let it happen. Whatever distances, issues it wouldn’t change that.

“Y/N?”

Connor’s quizzical tone jolts your weary bones. Inhaling sharply, not at all used to this tiny home being occupied by more than one but a heavy swallow fixes your voice. How long was he there? Did he hear all of that? Oh, great.

“I’m fine.” An automatic response always on autopilot gets the job done for you.

He narrows eyes. “Stress is not a healthy component in the balance of human’s…”

“Just leave me alone, Connor!” You snap, tears pricking corners of your eyes before twirling around to run upstairs.

 ^Software Instability

 Connor freezes momentarily. Flooding, filtering in a ripple through code blocks, he blinks in quick succession. Blinding and strange it is not part of his program –

Unable to run diagnostics, tears sparkling in your eyes draw his attention, overtaking protocol. The android’s soft gaze shifts from following your quick disappearance to ceiling indicating footsteps that conclude in a bang. Seemingly you have sealed yourself away. Scarlet pulsates in intervals mingling with amber processing solutions. Leaving you alone is an instruction. He-he cannot ignore. It is what he is programmed for. You are crying. Why must he obey? He must…

 >Obey

>Leave Alone

“Is there anything else you would like?” He asks as sun dips in later hours. Accomplish several menial tasks which he is free to do as he constructs. 

Following your distress several hours ago he feels – confliction. Few commands escape your lips and at times he is unsure with his current scheduling. Abilities are not in question but you appear distant. Did he do something wrong? By wanting to comfort…

 >Analyzing: Y/L/N, Y/N

Stress: 31.6%

Blood Pressure: 124/80

 Studying your face after initializing a vital scan enables Connor to store analysis records. Sleep deprivation, iron deficiency and higher stress than the human body should experience.

“Connor.” You straighten from your position curled upon couch. Mostly you tuck into one side, resting into upholstery and your breathing exhales shaky. Trying to rest off a headache isn’t working. “No. I’m fine. Thank you.”

The android nods but pauses in thought. A fluid habit now out into the world. Yet, he has yet to see much. Only transferring from lab to warehouse storage and ultimately on display in a merchandise kiosk for Cyberlife; he is not widely available as of yet. Detroit is the originator of androids. The product mark on his white uniform christens his manufacturing origins: Made in Detroit.

“There are other functions I was built with,” he explains enthusiastically. “If you would like a domestic partner, it is one of my features.”

Rubbing at your temples ceases the moment he speaks. A domestic partner? Is he talking about that thing again? You draw breath. Unable to look at him now, feeling it twist in stomach, you uncurl, pressing feet on floor. 

“No!” Quickly you cover the rise in heartbeat.

It is so obvious. Wouldn’t be the first time stumbling across sexual depravity in humans. Look no further than the Eden Club. The fact they decided to make that a thing for a household model is honestly not a shock.

God, why do they live in this world? Why do you even have him here? Isn’t this just making you as horrible as everyone else? 

“No,” you repeat softer. “I’d never force you to do something like that.”

It is not forcing when he is programmed, installed with such features. They are high end. As several techs discussed ignoring his presence as though he were – merchandise. Androids are sold. He knows this but has never had a moment to process.

There is zero need. Androids do not think freely. They are constructs built for specific purposes and his are fundamentally clear. He has never performed these functions as he is brand new but Connor feels he can ease stress efficiently. 

Thinking solely as a machine built for a task did not hold true. He felt…strange at your refusal. “Am I not aesthetically pleasing?” Cocking his head, knitting brows together, Connor looks expectantly to you for validation.

Lifting eyes up to him your lips fall open at his question. Did he really ask that? Are androids supposed o ask those kinds of questions? It almost as though he was hurt by that. No, it’s just imagination. Today has been too tiring. Never would have gone so wrong if that woman didn’t call. Honestly answering was your mistake. Story of a sad little life but others have it worse. 

Humans will always be crawling through turmoil, unable to breathe depending on their situations. Maybe that’s why a little part of you wishes he was human. At least acts without programs but this is why he’s here. To fulfill a fantasy, cater to every whim? 

No. To rectify personal aches to pretend that someone is here to offer a shoulder. When there has been nothing going through your father’s death, legal dealings with assets and pressure in job.

“No,” squeezing eyes shut to battle tension, your voice is low. “I mean, yes of course you’re aesthetically pleasing. I mean…you’re handsome. Practically the most…”

What? Beautiful boy you have ever seen? There comes that illusion. They do that on purpose but somehow looking at him you don’t see a machine. How funny is that?

“That isn’t why, Connor.”

Getting up from couch, taking deep breaths and stepping clear of coffee table helps focus. Rubbing palms against face at least wipes away some mess. Eyes are puffy, red from an unnecessary outburst earlier. At certain points life reaches boiling and yelling at him to leave you alone twists in guilt. This is exactly the sort of things Auntie Bitch thrives on.

“I’m sorry,” you apologize to him. Even if it would make no difference it does to you. “This isn’t what I’m used to. Having someone else here.” 

Well, after deadbeat ex anyway but he was a typical freeloader. Thankfully you scrubbed his dirt out of life and home. 

“I’ve never done this before. Having an android I mean. Ordering you to do something that you have no control over is not the type of person I am.” Plus, it’s not as if the androids at those sex clubs have a say. “I’d never do that to you or any of your people. Like some humans would.”

People. A human way to look at him or other androids but that is incorrect. Why would you refer-?

 ^Software Instability

 Connor blinks. The error message was in his vision only briefly and the little blue arrow increasing shudders through his system. He opens his mouth but does not respond. Instead, his eyes fall to your back turning away, pacing in additional stress.

Immediately, the android steps over, placing a hand against your arm. “Y/N, I apologize. Please, do not be upset. Your blood pressure is slightly elevated. You should rest. Perhaps I can produce a remedy befitting in alleviating your headache.”

Touch spreads goose bumps beneath shirt sleeve. Forcing arms to cross over your chest you twist to face him directly an extra tiny thud winds up heart. A key cranks in melody of jewelry box, dancer spins a ballet recital; vintage little tokens, delicate but thunderous in sentimentality. Just a brief glance, pressure of long fingers and it’s the first time you realize how pretty they are. 

Long, beautiful digits on large hands made not born. Yet he is still heavenly.

Sharply a breath slips. Words soothing, touch comforting all those things you crave. Yet this is part of protocols for him. That’s all.

Deeply you sigh. Feeling an unmistakable need burning lower pit of stomach detaches you. A shiver runs a gamut through body and spikes straight to the core of your existence. You squeeze legs tighter together cursing the fact your body decides to get horny over a headache solution. 

Fuck that! It’s his voice. Husky velvet, raspy natural glory and you are so wet. It takes everything not to jump his bones right now. Or mechanical bones? Hmm. Close enough!

“I just need to get extra sleep, Connor.” Dismissing his ideas there are too many running through your mind. Staring down at his crotch again remembering what he said but no. Get it out right now. No matter how much you need to –

You need to go upstairs. Yes, that’ll work.

“Y/N, are you positive? Your levels are fluctuating severely in my scans.”

“Oh? Are they?” Can he also smell arousal? Please, please tell me he can’t.

Connor, however, is not as naive as you believe him to be. Built with specifics in domestic partnership it is easy for him to know when the human body is aroused. Due to your state of duress and current levels of stress he does not wish to explain. It may not be beneficial. It may hurt you.

The android turns eyes down slowly, battling with these thoughts. He is not meant to debate. He is meant to proceed with internal core analysis. Percentages drive him. Yet, he struggles. Is this an error?

“Connor?”

His head snaps up. Connor’s LED flashes in a crescendo to your soft expression.  Hiding the obvious need you have. All humans must expel anxiety in some way. Perhaps he is aesthetically pleasing as you said but –

“I will return to my duties if that is sufficient.” He forces another one of his smiles.

Again the grimace is heartwarming. Albeit in need of practice but-but maybe you can teach him? If there is any good to come out of falling into the same realm as everybody else, then treating him fairly is a start. As if you would treat him bad. No. Why should it matter? Human, android or alien from outer space; you laugh now.

Stupid! So stupid but it’s calming down this literal burning.

Light, airy and symphonic this sound seeps into audio processors. A residual aura prickles sensors, blinding differently than unprecedented software errors. Are they malfunctions? Something soft, sweet cannot be. He has not experienced this before but his attention is solely on you. As brief as the laugh escapes, curling lips in a gentle rise at corners, Connor absorbs the natural human tinkle of chimes that expel so abundantly.

It is the first laugh, genuine laugh he has heard. And it is – beautiful.

The android is so distracted upon this new discovery he does not notice you slipping away. Androids do not possess a need for personal orbits. Their space is not granted freely as they are not free in will like humans. They are meant to serve. Obeying their masters is why they exist.

Yet, Connor can almost feel lack of metaphorical warmth. As you dissipate from his radius so does that laugh that digs into wires. Threading in circuits, causing another minor glitch of instability, forced away from vision in order to watch you; this is a tiny strain, a little piece implanting itself in him.

This is the piece that truly begins everything…

“Y/N,” he calls to interrupt your exit. Without prompt or instruction he once again acts beyond his programming.

Something new, urgent stops everything. You glance over shoulder. Steeling breath at his temple flashing you swear a blip of crimson glows in amber. Just a fraction of a second but you have no idea. Not yet, not then but you will.

“Yes, Connor?” Your breath is quiet, thoughtful meeting his uncertain gaze.

“I-” Connor stumbles. A perfect machine sputters. “Who was on the phone?”

Twisting your body the full way now, nails tap against wall for something to do. A way to hide that hollow pit forming again but no one can hide from analysis. Connor will already know. “That-that was my aunt. My aunt by marriage. She’s- Let’s say she isn’t a very nice person.”

Keeping rest of it bottled up is no solution but telling him will only upset you again. He doesn’t need to know. At least not yet but is this a conversation to share? With an android? Who else will listen? Who else even cares to ask?

Connor did. Is his social program that good?

Honestly, you think nothing of it. For a time it merely seems to be part of what he was built for.

Thinking back at times to this day, first meeting, you will find that so stupid. Naïve isn’t really part of you but he is more. Connor is so much more. It becomes apparent…

August 15th

 Practically slamming front door shakes the entrance with your current state of anxieties. Stress cannot be worse. Spoke too soon during midday. Damn it.

Clearing throat, wiping tears off your face, your breath is staggered. Unable to calm down from such ‘good’ news following that sudden meeting with your boss and everything ripples. Stomach twists badly. Nervous energy or just another month of-

Pressing face into hands poorly stifles sobs. Getting half way through home you just stop. Everything halts as things just don’t want to change. Now this of all things from work it’s going to hurt you in the long run. Your boss did this on purpose. Cutting hours and piling extra to sift through on that fucking computer.

How many sales diagrams, how many logs must you make now? There’s a specific quota. Each person who works database needs to meet their allotment. He threw a ton at you. In order to give leeway to another girl who just started there. Yeah, another potential conquest for the old pervert you’re sure!

What do you get in return? Hours cut and less pay but more weight. A ton sits on your shoulders. Isn’t it enough he humiliated you? Purposely shout out and criticize while leaving his office and you held your head up. Only in the sanctuary of home does it finally snap this flood.

Dropping keys moving uneasily into living room, sinking heavily on couch, you just want to curl up. Maybe it will make things feel better?

Lazily you peer up at television screen. Realizing it is switched on produces a tiny smile. Did he-?

“Welcome home, Y/N.”

Your head lifts up further. Narrowing on Connor stepping into view, he straightens, cocking his head in that adorable way that keeps invading your sleep. Even awake it’s a problematic daydream. He is just on the mind too frequently.

“Connor,” a quiet breath escapes, stilted, weary.

The android reads stress automatically. Forcing tiny fissures in his emotionless facade, splintering through system, he moves swift. However he freezes. Unaware of this strange urgency pulling up tendrils of glittering circuitry, waves undulating beneath shell, eclipses protocols. He must serve. He must obey. Yet he feels something else overshadowing programming. 

System stress battles this ever growing need to break. Crumbling at the seams the more he feels your presence. It is a permanent fixture. As he has become one in your space but Connor is only meant to serve. Why does he feel drawn beyond these stitches of code?

Androids do not question. They cannot experience existential crisis because there is nothing real. They are simple constructs. He – no, there is no personification heralded to androids. They are not alive. Therefore they are not allotted appropriate pronouns.

Connor has heard only one word countless times regarding his kind: It

“Y/N, you have been crying,” he observes through fluctuations.

Pushing them aside, attempting to stabilize, diagnose these errors, the android taps into social function. Sympathizing is not a genuine growth. It is merely part of his program. That is what Connor wishes to believe. He believes in nothing. Nonetheless it does not explain what is easy to machine. Calculations, data processing should offer quantifiable solutions. It is negative.

There is more emotion in his eyes than he knows. You see it. Honestly it surprises enough to cripple a proper response. Easily you brush it off any other time. This time there’s no hiding what he’s already seen. Can imagine what he sees through his eyes. How do androids really perceive the world? Quit thinking for once! All of it is illusion. Remember that.

Cyberlife’s one true goal makes millions, grows powerful in branding of highly sought after merchandise. Still it makes you sick but here you are. Do the same thing because you have Connor. No matter how different it is.

“I’m fine,” a lie tells a thousand truths.

Connor’s brows knit together, mouth twitching, flutter of LED amber. A sign of outward commiseration fights his shackles. He knows you are lying. Despite the fact he should listen and not broach the subject further, the android does not resist this new deviation.

“Why are you lying, Y/N?”

Your breath catches. Stuck in throat along with words it’s a surprise. Even more surprising is the glimmer of irritation on his face. The way his mouth goes lopsided like that is – cute. Wait a minute you’re supposed to be mad. You are! Mad at your goddamn boss for one!

“Lying?” you scoff back at him. “I’m not lying. I said I was fine. And I don’t appreciate you accusing me either, Connor!” Can androids even argue about things so mundane? Isn’t this what you wanted? A real conversation instead of a string of pleasantries, affirmations to duties he accomplishes.

“I am sorry but you are lying!”

Connor’s voice raises an octave higher than typical. Naturally husky, oh, how it deepens. Raw and very alive his tone completely solders you to the spot. Your eyes lift up to his face studying the gleam of his eyes. How strange that spark is. Almost a live wire crackles beneath the surface. A steamy cocoa bright before immediately dimming again; a breath sucks into your lungs cleansing the start of your body. Scarlet shimmers and that’s all the answer you crave.

He appears to swallow. Forcing his Adam’s apple to bob, which is a very realistic detail. Just as the rest of him is so real that sometimes you forget. Sometimes or all of the time, yes, most days his reality masks so well in the mind.

“I-I am…” Connor looks away. Unable to comprehend his reaction it is not part of his – “Forgive me.”

The way his voice lowers tugs at your heart. No. No, that’s not what should happen at all. You’ve seen enough of his kind out there. In the city of Detroit treated so fucked up. Most of them wouldn’t know what to do because they can’t. This is the first time he’s ever snapped from whatever social programming is built in him. He sounded too much like a person. A person with emotions reacting in a very obvious way and the idea Connor’s a person lingers.

You shift forward. Sucking in breath, following his gaze now landing on television, it’s the first time it hits. A ton of bricks, tumbling concrete could never do more damage. Everything about his apology stands still at the developing breaking news story.

ITM is broadcasting live somewhere. Is that outside an apartment rise?

Right now you ignore it. “Connor.”

The softness of your voice draws him back to you. Already he is far too used to it. Joining you upon couch, cocking head, his hand hovers atop yours. Fear of connecting with reality versus construction. He does not touch. He should not be pulled towards these fissures. Emotional surges strike ablaze as a fibrous match lighting his internal mechanisms. Wires push up, tendrils yanking one way towards control’s puppeteer. There it dangles him in strings made of electrical coil. Ensnaring his wrists, snaking around throat, digging thorny and jagged to his brain this is his prison.

Another piece cradles those signs of sensation, innervating beyond a great wall. A red wall gridlocks and crashes against him. It is a giant wave. Scarlet tides engulf and knock the android back where he belongs. Each time he wades closer to you the more it washes him out to that empty sea. He cannot stop. He still pushes. Something inside of him, he does not understand.

“You do not feel well, Y/N. I know this.” Apologizing again, he does not focus on his inner struggle. There should be nothing. He is supposed to be feeling nothing. Is he malfunctioning?

“It’s OK,” appeasing the strobe of scarlet cascading down his face worries. “Please don’t. I don’t want you to be stressed.”

“But I disobeyed. I lost control of…”

“That’s only human, Con.” Slipping on your tongue in an easy breath it’s the first time. Oh this will hardly be the last. Nothing will ever be last with him. If only fantasy can be reality most days. Maybe if you somehow knew here at this point in time. Everything happens for a reason.

He frowns. “I am not human.”

Sadly it’s true. Still you smile. Still you ease him because for once you realize. This isn’t supposed to be easy for him. He shouldn’t even react this way.

Both of you sit in silence. Deafening quiet just the two of you and how strange, wonderful this sensation crawls through the interstices of your being. Almost as if there is someone who cares. Does he? No. That can never mean he is not a needed presence. He is so much more. Soon you will know.

What you least expect is the pressure of his fingers sinking against your stomach. A jolt of electricity, naturally igniting a voltage inside of you and a soft sigh escapes the burden of a dry throat. Glancing down you realize – his hand is growing hotter.

“Connor, what are you-?”

“I detect an increase in prostaglandins.” His prognosis is casual, visibly reading as his LED flutters. “It will do well if you have a heat source to combat any discomfort or cramping.”

A shiver prickles down the curve of your spine. Simple touch or perhaps smooth husky words fill this awkward silence now with comfort. Sure it might be a technical way to point out this specific pain in the ass but it does take your mind off things. So easily you could remove his hand. A good idea to put up a barricade and distance yourself but you cannot do that.

Every thread of stress snaps. In one tiny moment anxieties melt off and ease into his aura. Androids are not supposed to have one. This conscious radiance but Connor’s orbit is safety, assurance. Even if he has no idea what sort of progress it means. A simple relationship of humane and machine, ownership and merchandise is how this world wishes. It is not your wish. There is more. Witnessing it now, gazing up at his face, concentrated crease of brow, optical unit bleeds a palette of amber and scarlet. Dusted in freckles his skin is a smooth canvas to admire. He is so real. Up this close it is so obvious even to your inferior eyesight. Compared to his advanced optical it is. His eyes are warm. Such life shines in them. Mocha sweet, soft and glitters in his careful evaluation. Technical and part of programming but still it sends you somewhere else.

“If confirmed this would be the first case of an android taking human lives.”

Your attention shifts. Drawn to the ITMtv news broadcast it was nearly forgotten. You sit up, unconsciously curling fingers around Connor’s wrist.

The action snaps his gaze down. Momentarily he freezes, stationary, until the soft gasp spills from your lips. Connor tilts his head. In line with television screen narrowing sharply on events unfolding leaves him struggling with process of information. An android is taking human lives? How is this possible? They are programmed to obey not to cause harm.

We are not alive. We are meant to serve not kill!

Connor tugs his hand back. Distancing himself, staring at news broadcast unsettles down to his core processors. A domestic model has taken a child hostage. An inferior model? No, he-he is the same. Upgrades, prototypes mean nothing. They are all part of a linear code. What they are made to be is what they must be. There is no deviation!

Artificial saliva swallows hard, bobbing in his throat. An increase of stress twists him to those original thoughts. Inconclusive on why he is feeling. The events live on air aren’t helping this strain.

“Connor. Connor, what’s wrong?!”

Your hand clutches at his shoulder. Unbeknownst to the android his face twitches with each strobe of optical unit. The shift between colors quickens. His eyes land on you. Concern for him is a shimmer of hope. A hope doesn’t exist for androids.

“I am performing a self diagnostic,” he lies.

Pulling away from him when he jolts up from couch deepens this sickness further. Everything flips in the stomach. Just hearing what they’re reporting. An android murdered a human. He has a little girl. What are they going to do? Is this really happening though? There have been rumors. For several months there’s been talk of androids running away. Going off and doing God knows what but that’s people who hate them. They’re the ones who talk about how evil they are. They shouldn’t exist. Made in our image and unnatural monsters; the erratic behavior in Connor abates this thinking.

There is no time to debate. You already know the opinion that matters. It’s your own.

“You’re lying,” echoing it back stops him. “Tell me the truth. What’s going on?”

“There is nothing.” Connor insists. Remaining turned puts his back to you. The android tries to fight his conflicts. All of it is bubbling, boiling upon his plastic surface. Itching, tingles beneath synthetic skin. You are part of it somehow. He knows. That is why he is malfunctioning.

Nothing? No. There is something! Proving it, grabbing at his arm, twists him to face you. There is no powerful in your pull. He whirls at the action out of choice.

A staggering breath barely reaches past your lips. Large hands engulf wrists, pulling your hands up. Entrapped in Connor’s grasp, fingers long and pliant in their fuse to yours swallowing up in such a strong, yet gentle touch. He doesn’t hurt you. That’s not at all what he took hold to do. Still the continuing broadcast emanates a horrifying soundtrack. Androids killing but he-he’s not like other androids. He wouldn’t do anything he should not do. Part of you wants to believe that.

How he looks now is the only answer to an impossible question. He is agitated, nervous? Not horrifying as people say they are. He looks lost. Lost and searching inwardly. This is the first time he ever appeared that way.

“Connor, please. Don’t shut me out. Just because of what I am.”

“You are my owner,” he lowers his voice. “I am a machine made to obey. I am not your equal, Y/N.” Studying traces of worry in your face opens a hole in his chest. Circuitry, mechanical proponents powering his structure bleed in this instability.

He knows. In the crinkle between your eyebrows, droop of the corners of your soft mouth he sees. For him, a thing without purpose, genuine distress shines in the warmth of your eyes. Human, innocent compared to those he has witnessed abuse in the street. You will never deserve harm.

“I’m not an owner. I-I’m…” What are you? A friend? A lover? None of those things! You bought him. What he says is the horrible truth. “It’s OK to be you. I don’t care. If you have a problem it’s not like that thing on the news. I know it triggered something. But that’s not…”

“I am not triggered by anything, Y/N.” Connor releases you slowly. Allowing wrists to drop from his fingers the loss of warmth registers profoundly. He did not realize he could feel so authentically. There is something wholly beautiful about how your skin blends with his. It fascinates him. You are beginning to fascinate him.

Connor breaks away. Narrowing heatedly upon news, he can only watch one of his own threaten to murder a human child. The android can only stand by as it unfolds. Unable to snap, break through and understand. What made him attack? What turned him on his owners?

He can’t calculate a reasonable response. Neither can he fall into these errors, system malfunctions whispered of since he arrived to your home. This thing they call deviancy.

November 1st

 Several months follow the first introduction; follow that news broadcast that begins a shift in the city. Still it seems longer. An infinite amount of space separates since then and now. Only in a comforting presence that you know is still simply part of his programming. Of course that’s all it is, he made it clear during the hostage event televised for all of Detroit to witness. Did it ever stop the truth in you? No because it would all be lies if you never admitted how…attached you’ve grown to him. 

Attachment to an android probably isn’t the smartest thing. How can you see him as just an android anymore? He’s more. There is so much more. Even his small barely there smiles, a hint of stiffness apparent in the corners of his mouth, make your heart flutter. Just a tiny drop of emotion dips in an endless sea of code.

No. You can’t think of it because the second you fall into this fairy tale something regretful will take place. It will swamp around heart, holding upon his smooth cool fingers. 

Cradling in his synthetic grasp without him understanding that slowly, profusely, so internally chaotic inside your soul, have already began this descent. However there is more to being in a daze. You certainly haven’t taken him up on his special upgrade programming to be the perfect domestic partner. 

Imagine others forced into things they can’t control? It sickens you at times. Reading about android sex clubs, knowing explicitly they have no option to refuse. That’s not to say you haven’t stared the tugging threads of temptation in its face. Imagining what Connor looks like underneath his uniform, pristine white, shades of blue stitch, android glitters in luminescent fabric; his deliciously toned forearms visible donning a short sleeved variant get your mind racing.

Large hands, long fingers, veins, muscles eye catching in their realism all built into his synthetic design. It doesn’t even cross your mind anymore. That his layer of beauty is artificial because what you’d give to trace fingertips against his lovely epidermis.

Kissing him all over, following the obvious toned planes of the android’s chest. Feeling him against your fragile human exterior; to say you haven’t fantasized, haven’t fought with internal desire is bigger than an understated battle. 

Just look no further than that incident first day he was here. Getting off on his voice, comfort spilling in a song; you hate the fact it happened. Only reveals how desperate you were in that time for any ounce of solace. 

He offered then as it is part of what is meant to be. But you can never hurt him. As much as others will say you are delusional for believing he has feelings. Emotions are part of human existence, after all, not part of creations built for sole purposes of serving.

Current state of the city might have something to do with it but today is like any other. At least it begins as such. Even in the now listing along day by day thankful for once in your life for a father who never lived up to his title. Until he dies of course then all is forgiven.

Small miracles don’t exist in the grand scheme of life. Sometimes wishing they did amplifies doubts.      

“Connor.”

Whispering in a lazy flip amid covers, groggy and unaware of his name sighing affectionately bundles you from penetrating sunlight. Blankets do little to hide from the morning. Squinting half lidded towards those streaks of light creating illuminated patterns. Spreading across snowy carpet and reaching up to edge of floral stitch coverlet draped mattress, you toss an arm over to cover eyes. Squeezing them beneath wakes you up better. This time it’s obvious.

Sitting up quickly and digging fingers into blankets sheds confusion. The state between unconscious dreaming to conscious awareness is a complete mess. Did you just have a dream about him again? Rubbing hands against your face doesn’t wipe tiredness away. It neither helps get your mind straight.

A complete mess in the mornings is a daily routine. All of your life what else is new?

Absorbing sunshine might be good for the pores. He will tell you that soaking in morning sunlight is a healthy way to get vitamin D. In his perfectly technical but also impeccably cute tone; you smile fixating on his changing mannerisms. 

Does he know how human he’s been acting with those facial expressions, eyes lighting up in rich cocoa? 

Could be imagination running wild trying to make something out of what can’t be possible. Nice to daydream a little even if representing unnecessary emotions piling up inside. Staring across bedroom lit with natural rays seeping through blinds leaves a warmer atmosphere. 

You enjoy it for a distraction. Quiet can be poetically sound as pressing face into pillow and letting loose a scream. Frustration doesn’t surround the home. It surrounds your job.

God another shift to cover and this time you’re damn sure this co-worker is pulling it out of –

“Good morning, Y/N.”

A gasp slips in a slither upon breath, pressing tongue against the back of teeth enamel in a stare down with your open door. He enters so stealthily sometimes you forget.

“Connor,” greeting him wearily, yawning and stretching arms, your neck is stiff. 

Rubbing at the back of it doesn’t distract you too much. What is he-? Oh. Explains the hot smell of food but this is a little unexpected. You never tell him to bring breakfast anywhere.

The android places an oak tray atop your lap. His eyes trail over exposed skin from a top haphazardly thrown over your body last night. After all of this time sharing space with you he has noted a penchant for wearing oversize shirts, pajamas to bed. There is still a glimpse of lace peeking out as the fabric slouches down.

“Are you hungry? I hope you are.”

He hopes? You smile, especially seeing him returning it. A slight indentation, just the tiniest of dimples in that sculpted face. Still not completely natural but enough to make caterpillars transform to butterflies in your stomach.  Much improvement you think!

“Of course I am but…” You jab a nail atop wood beside plate for emphasis. “Is there something I should know, Connor? You’re awful sneaky today. More so than usual.”

^Software Instability

Connor breathes in a fresh batch of warnings. Unnecessarily inhaling expands chest and it is the natural scent of you. Olfactory filters clog, storing away to memory each thread of you. He tilts his head softly, dip of hair flopping across his forehead.

“It is the anniversary of your purchase of me,” he answers quietly. “I thought you would enjoy having breakfast in bed.”

Everything flutters. You swallow. The careful attention he put into this is outstanding. Not because he whipped up food or was told. He did this by himself. He-he chose to surprise you?

A smile graces lips before biting the bottom one a little bit. This is the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for you. And the last couple of months Connor’s really been broadening his horizons. He is so much different. Well, he’s the same with the whole analytics but – this android is less stiff. Softer but he always was a soft boy in your eyes.

“Oh, Connor,” a sweet breath skims along his name. Sadly you recall what you think of this. Most romantic, nicest thing and it’s breakfast in bed. Generic to others maybe but it’s the thought. He thought of you even if it might just be social parameters.

You pick up a folded napkin and curl fingers into it. Shit.

“Y/N.” Connor reaches down. 

Using the tip of his finger swipes a droplet corner of eye. Those eyes always look at him as if he is more. How strange to admit he feels different meeting your sparkle; Connor sits. Without a word, his hand wraps around yours nestling beside tray. 

His fingers squeeze as his system flutters, overheats in the most pleasant of ways. A way he believes he is beginning to crave.

Androids do not crave. They do not want. They do not need. Yet every little brush of your warm skin to his synthetic fills crackles against his blocks.

Your breath is easy feeling him. Little gestures here and there grow exponentially. Sometimes you wonder if he’s happy doing this. Then androids aren’t supposed to be happy, sad or anything. That’s what they continue to say.

Reports on androids going “rogue” or deviant makes you question things. It’s not new. You always have a habit of questioning but this is different. Ever since that older model was broadcast live. The one with the little girl; you slip hand from Connor’s.

“It means everything,” you admit to him. “Having you here. But – do you want to be somewhere else?”

Connor’s temple floods in thought. Straining, pushing away rising stress it spikes marginally at the question. He does not understand. Do you believe he wants to be from you? The news of his people has not left his process. You allow him to watch news or whatever he likes as if he readily possesses preferences. 

The android has found particular interests. He enjoys watching you read physical books. He has grown fond of touching them in his hands, analyzing an entire book in one second. However, he desires to hear your voice read aloud.

He witnesses protesters on local news. Those humans are cruel but you-you are the conceptual manifestation of an angel. Research and data compilation helps him understand better. Watching you is best to determine the differences, to realize not all humans are the same.

His creators, those who constructed him at Cyberlife may find him having his own ideals faulty. Malfunctioning, burdening in failure; is he obsolete? Does this software instability make him defective? As that android upon the high rise dangling over edge and threatening to maim a child? He will never harm you. It is not only against code, it is against what he feels.

Connor will keep you safe. It is not part of initial programming as he is not a military grade android but he cannot remove it from personal parameters. The more you smile, interact with him as if he is equal. He will never –

“I will never leave you, Y/N.” A determined oath he speaks without fear of showing what is happening inside him. “Not as those other androids. I promise.”

“Do you like dogs, Connor?”

Nudging at his arm playfully sends you to a nice state of mind. Nice change following all of the stress at work. Forever ongoing but at least it’s clear where your boss stands. He made the last few months a living hell. All because of some new intern the creep tried to get with. 

Dropping you down in a demotion also meant less money in your paycheck. Guess it helps your father did leave you that nest egg. Something that helps as long as it can last but you like to think you’re good with finances.

Instead of worrying about it you indulge this moment. Out in chilly first November’s day, crisp but warming in how close. Fingers brush down against his hand.

Connor tilts his head from shop window. A pet shop he has already been past occasional running errands in town. He always finds himself stopping to look inside. “Dogs are known as man’s best friend. I suppose I understand why humans prefer them. They are loyal.”

“Well cats aren’t so bad. Easier to take care of.”

The android shifts away from window. Even as his eyes freeze upon a cage of canaries. Android birds are sold up front. Again the display of machines as goods to buy and sell charges his instabilities. “If you think so, Y/N.”

You smile, laughing a little at the lopsided mess his collar’s now in. It is windy today. Reaching up to smooth fingers against it, you can’t help admiring him in the long wool coat. Dark suits his chocolate eyes. Still you’d love to see him wear regular clothes. His uniform is under there. Even so he just wanted to come out in typical wardrobe. You insisted otherwise. Even if it hardly meant anything but it just feels right.

“Call it preference.” Prodding a finger against his chest, catching a flicker of his eyes momentarily, you look away. “Well, it depends on the person I mean. What kind of pet they’re willing to take care of. That sort of thing. Cats are independent little balls of fluff. Dogs need a proper place to run, be free and…”

“I like dogs.” Connor interrupts, cocking his head.

A smile tugs up your lips. This time making eye contact with him again, trying not to think of the intimacy his gesture this morning blossomed in heart. Such an innocent statement, however, shivers sentiment not cold.

“Did you just decide that after some careful review?” Teasing, fingers slide down his arm unconscious but natural. Seems as though the world is no longer the one you know. The one that wouldn’t like what they see. All you see is him. So what’s it matter?

“I am the most advanced of my make.” The android teases back. “It’s only natural for me to know everything.”

Oh, is it? Wow he’s being awfully smug right about now. “Really? Connor, I’m surprised at you. Are you trying to say you’re smarter than everybody?”

He shakes his head. “No. No, I only meant I-”

“Just teasing,” an equal rib escapes, chiding him incessantly. “I thought you’d recognize that – mister advancement.”

The corner of his mouth twitches. Almost falling into your smile but still he cannot properly elicit what he feels. Only ignores to remain what you need him to be. A machine designed to accomplish a task.

“Hey sweets!” Yelling across street, waving a sign, a grizzled construction worker spits in your direction. Interrupting the scene between an obvious human and plastic pet; he jeers loudly. Gaining attention from others they carry similar propaganda with them. A group of protesters form, stopping their trek.

Immediately you shift back from him. Realizing how close, affectionate you were being and – shit! Anti-android? Fuck that’s great.

Deciding to ignore it, not before scoffing in disgust! Never imagined running into these people because nothing ever transpired with Connor. Not a thing! Lately you have been forgetting. Maybe that’s the problem.

“Hey. I said hey!”

Huffing at the man you snap around to acknowledge his nastiness. So he crosses a busy street to come at you? Don’t they have anything better to do? As much as you’d like to ignore this jackass it’s best to tell him verbally to back off!

“Why’s your droid bundled up like that?” he jabs a finger threateningly. “Those things don’t feel anything.”

Thing? Oh, OK! Should’ve figured some old out of the loop jackass was one of these bastards. Didn’t even need a sign to show his ignorance!

“And how do you know?!” Snapping frustration, anger boiling, and your body grows hot in anger. “Why don’t you just mind your business? Come on, Connor.”

“Y/N.” The android snags onto your hand.

“What do we have here?” Another one of the anti-android group cuts in; her eyes slink up and down you before scoffing disgusted. “Are you out with your robo boy? What? Humans not up to your standards for fucking?”

Everything stops. Right then and there it is a swath of fire. Burning deep down to the core and nothing is preventing the eruption. Lava scalds insides, veins a blaze, eyes locking with hers, prying a hand away from Connor. You didn’t even realize he motioned. An attempt to remove you from their path but fleeing is not happening!

A matching scoff releases sharp. Your lip curls at her ignorance! Just as everybody who follows this line of thinking. “Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that. Care to repeat that? After all, I don’t understand bitch speak.”

 “Smart ass huh?” The woman shoves at you. “Typical android fuuu… Hey!” She stumbles away from you wide eyed.

Connor is already shielding, arm pushing you back behind him. Sidling into the path of protesters they have conglomerated this side of street. His eyes narrow. Brow creases harsh his expression unreadable yet his indicator reveal his heated struggle of raw emotions.

“Did you see that?!” She shouts purposely. Getting as much attention as possible it doesn’t stop there. “It came at me!”

Your glare dissolves, latching onto his arm. “Connor, please. Don’t.” Already realizing what could happen it’s a desperate attempt to continue walking. If anything is true something like this will only get him hurt. People will say that’s impossible they don’t feel anything but to hell with them! “Let’s go.”

Pulling him towards street halts the moment you are seized from behind. One of the men in the group drags you back, yanking rough.

“Get the hell off me!”

“Your fucking android came at her!” Throwing you aside, he rears up over to block you getting up so easy. “We’ll teach your fucking plastic pet!”

A painful huff, hard drop accelerates Connor’s stress levels. Watching this human manhandle, hurt you twists at his synthetic heart. His face twitches. Thirium pump chugs erratically in a fuel of anger. An urge to break through and protect overwhelms, even as he is shoved back by the one who started this.

The middle age construction worker; he grabs onto the front of the android’s coat, rough, spitting directly up into the taller plastic fucker’s face.

“Fucking piece of plastic! Think you can take our fucking jobs. Walk around the street like you’re human. Worthless pieces of shit like you fuck up the whole works! Poison other humans against their own kind. Like your owner there. Make sure that bitch doesn’t get up!”

Connor’s eyes shift down at you, stopped once again after pushing up to your feet. The man twists at your arm and it is…too much!

“Connor!”

  ^72%

Level of Stress

>Do not defend

>Obey Code Programming

>Do n defend

>Do defend

>defend

  A flood of scarlet eclipses protocols pushing him beyond programming locks. Even as they strain to tighten shackles on system, preventing a clear break, the android still moves in defense.

Connor’s arm thrusts upwards, locking fingers onto wrist of the protesting assailant. Stilling the human’s movement, he squeezes, and wrenches the man’s limb sideways. The fierce strength exuding from the AX800 ripples in flashing indicator going wild in a strobe of multiple hues.

He feels a strange pull tugging insides. Again pulling at his wiring allows an over stimulation of emotional surge to spread in him. There is only one blaring sign to follow:

 >Protect Y/N

 “Get the fuck off me!” Changing his tune quickly, trying to get the plastic off him, he tries to wrench out of the painful grab. “You crazy android! This thing’s going nuts!”

“Connor!” Pushing through several onlookers now who had to stick their nose into this, you find your way past the rest of these android protestors. Shoving directly through, wiggling your way out of that asshole’s grip, your steps are quick. Knocking that bitch that started this out of the way you manage to grab up onto Connor’s shoulder.

Breathing is fast, side hurting from where it struck asphalt. It’ll be sore tomorrow but only he matters. “Connor, let him go. It’s over. They won’t do a thing!”

Screaming at them to get your point across, hoping someone just-just anyone puts a stop to this. What good are the police around here? They don’t care. Of course not they’ll just let a group like these hateful fuckers brutalize someone like Connor. Someone that’s right. Fuck what they say!

The second he releases that man you hook an arm through his. Directing him away, glaring back as commotion does alert a wandering policeman, you pick up your pace. No longer needing anybody else’s help because Connor… He did something unexpected. Just as those other androids. Deviants. That’s not him. He’s not deviant. If he was –

Catching breath across the street you uncurl fingers from the front of his coat. Chilly air creates a frigid burn against stinging eyes. It takes every ounce of courage to prevent it spilling. Nothing stops knowing what people are really like.

His eyelids blink rapidly. Not even looking at you but his LED scares you to death. Stress levels are a thing. You know that.

“Connor, please.” Reaching up to cup his face forces his eyes down onto yours. Tears brim in a crystal sparkle. Threatening to slide down but you suck everything up. Just as you’ve always done in life but this time –

“It’s OK,” soothing hasty, breathless instills a deep ache. This is the first time he’s lost control. Then it’s not his fault. Those fucking protestors! They were minding their own business. Until they decide to gang up on you. This is your fault. If you weren’t so obvious, being so close to Connor out in public, none of this would have happened.

“Y/N, I –” Connor’s voice stutters. Strangely he cannot form a proper response. He feels as if his system is overheating. He feels. A tiny prickle underneath synthetic epidermis crawls, stress rises; Connor clutches to you, fingers digging into hips. He leans into this affection. 

Why do you offer him this? When he is not alive, he is not real. He could be your partner. It is part of his design. You did not want him that way. He recalls your words about not forcing him against his will.

There is no will. When he is a machine!

The android gazes longingly through leaking eyes. Glistening brown becomes another change in what he is supposed to be. Tears have broken in a trail down his cheeks. Androids are not meant to cry. He thought as much.

Tears threaten you too. Looking up into his face so conflicted, hurt because he’s not what they say. He’s alive. Of course he is. Only your sweet Connor would be. 

“Connor, please don’t.” Begging him again this time holds your heart on a jagged precipice. One wrong move and it will crash. “Your stress levels. Please, don’t…”

He leans his head down. Close, pressing forehead to yours, his eyelids flutter closed. “I am sorry,” Connor whispers, orbiting the warmth that pours from your body. This warmth he does not deserve.

His voice is husky heaven. Golden gates open with each syllable and you crave to hear your name. Again and again you crave his closeness. “Never apologize for what others do. They don’t know. None of them know what I know. You are more than them. You’re my Connor. With a heart of gold.”

“Androids do not have hearts as you do, Y/N.”

You smile sadly. “I know,” a whisper but next a beautiful revelation. “But this.” Fingers slide up against his chest. “It might not be the same but it thrums in a lovely song.”

 ^Software Instability

Steam rises in a soothing aroma from the mug cradled between your hands. A fresh brew of cocoa relieves mental ache. Physical? Everything is sore, tender where you fell. Changing clothes after getting back home alleviated discomfort. 

Soaking in a bath for an hour did loosen some tension. Rest of it just fails miserably. As much as you fail in public for all to see what you feel.

Still you blame yourself. Getting close to him acting as if you were out for an anniversary? How stupid can this be?

Of course he brought you that surprise breakfast. He told you why. Does that mean it was a real anniversary? What can be real about buying someone? Nothing is. It just reminds you about every sad truth. Those protesters made it clear.

Pursing lips to smoothly blow away steam, frothy top rich as you sip in a seat on couch. Toasty liquid fills insides with a burning comfort. This is the only solitude needed. Enough time to think it still edges nerves. 

Waiting for a word with Connor, he hasn’t been acknowledging much. Since what happened and who can blame him?

Part of you is still frightened. For him you just cannot help feeling afraid. What if he leaves the house for an errand and-and he’s jumped? What if he’s attacked?

There is no guessing. Possibilities are high. They will happen. They are happening. Each day it grows worse ever since that android who murdered that man. Pretending not to see makes you complicit. You don’t want to pretend. You will face reality no matter how dangerous it is becoming in Detroit.

“Y/N.”

Your head lifts. Peering over towards his husky drawl of your name straightens your perch. Leaning over deposits mug on coffee table and you wait. He appears as conflicted as before. 

Please, let him be OK. Just don’t let this ruin what you have found. 

All you care about is him. Yes, it’s true now. All these months and there are nothing greater than personal truths.

Connor hesitates. Ruminating over his actions offers him zero outcomes explaining his loss of control. There is only one solution. He is malfunctioning.

Something in his handsome face twists your stomach. It stabs deeper closer he gets. Joining you now is all the fear wound up in you showing its colors. They are similar to his LED. A constant swirl is unable to land on one draw.

“I will understand if you would like to send me back for reset.”

Reset? That word just guts you. Reset. No! 

“Connor,” a sob almost overtakes your response. The very idea of him taken somewhere and operated on ripples overtakes in a squirmy skin crawl. It’s barbaric. Resetting an android’s memories is horrifying. You hear about it all the time. They are completely wiped of their –

The android’s lips part, cocking his head while listening to shaky breath falling in sad soliloquy. He does not understand. No, he-he does.

“Y/N, I… Please,” he urges comfort stretching fingers out to soft skin. They do not touch. Simply artificial hovers above humanity but something tugs center of his chest. Something deep and satisfying as his synthetic heart thrums quicker in tempo. 

Connor pushes through this grid without fully snapping chains. Already he feels a flow spreading through system. Each day he looks upon your face happier since he came. As you told him once that it makes you feel better, safer to have someone. He is not someone. He is an android. 

How can you possess such feelings? How-how can he gaze over such softness, such beauty without wishing to remain? 

The thought of being taken - scares him. 

His LED flickers, red once more but not in anger. Fear is strange. Partially for his being but the possibilities of never seeing you again are tearing his programming shackles apart. 

“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Reassuring him now is better than showing anymore of what has been lying inside. “No one will take you from me, Connor.”

Silence is best.

Sitting among a safe haven, your home offers that place now not just for you but him. Here no one can hurt this. No one can treat him inferior. Never will you treat him any different. You know it’s a fool’s game. Especially in this modern world of technology strives, transitions and creates intelligent life in humanity’s image. He is more than a sculpture, perfected work made for duties.

Today, Connor acted as any man would for the person they…. No. It can never be that. Neither does it stop how you felt. How he could tamper with his program just to be there for you.

None of this should have happened. You repeat it over and over again in your mind. None of this because of a fantasy; your eyes fall to his hand. Fingers touch yours now. It is soft, gentle and only a moment.

Connor pulls away too soon. Just a minute he allows himself to fall. Your reaction to his suggestion, no solution, cripples his code blocks. Almost he shattered them. They are close to crumbling. He must fight this deviancy. Only to stay with you because the android already knows what will happen to him. It’s happening to all of his people. Those who are succumbing to errors are hunted. They are murdered. 

No they are destroyed, deactivated. His kind is not alive.

If that is true... Why does he feel threads of humanity? Why does he feel alive with you?

Meeting his gaze deepens this sensation of fear. Today, waking up to a sunny morning seems so far away. It was just earlier. Horrible things happen and change perspectives. Tiny moments of peace and that’s what he brought. Into your life following circumstances you never expected to gain something worthwhile. He won’t even believe that. He thinks he should be reset. That will never happen.

“Connor, I want you to know something. And I want you to believe me. Not think of who you are.”

“I am – no one, Y/N.” The android dismisses for your sake. If he becomes deviant they will take him from you.

All you do is shake your head, cupping his face. In your hands he softens. Those sharp edges, cheekbones thumbs now caress. Soft skin in a freckle stardust that makes hearts flutter. Better than butterfly wings, better than anything you can use to describe how it unmakes your soul.

“It would break my heart,” a shaky whisper strangles. “If you are reset.”

An instant flood of scarlet reflects his inner feelings. You see it. He never has to admit. But he does feel. That’s what makes this harder. Knowing how afraid he must be not to show it. There has to be something happening inside of him. There are too many examples now.

“Con, I want you to…”

Dropping hands from his face makes it easy to turn in direction of doorbell. Who is that? Slowly you rise to feet, sliding fingers down atop his shoulder. “I’ll get it.” Striding away out of room quickly prevents him ignoring your request. Another sign but that’s for another day. As if it will be any easier.

Unlocking the door leads to a horrible drop in your stomach. Eyes connect with the woman standing there now, out of the blue, someone least expected and at the worst time imaginable.

“Hello, Y/N,” the older, staunch woman smiles, already assessing you like a microscopic Petri dish sample. “It’s been quite a long time hasn’t it?”

A long time is putting it mildly. Last time was on the phone and her trying to sink her claws into your father’s nest egg. The one he left you.

The conversation left on a sour note. There is nothing sourer than a rotten apple and your aunt is the literal evil queen hoarding an entire bundle.

Tag List: @tropfenlady​  @your-taxidermy @catastrophes-light  @rk900sexual  @tommy-10-k  @dreamyby @randomfandomgirl1996 @etherealcel @justashamwithwastedpotiental // tagging a few extra who I know would want a heads up <3

#dbh connor x reader #connor x reader #dbh connor rk800 x reader #rk800 x reader #dbh anniversary #dbh rk800 x reader #connor rk800 x reader #dbh #dbh au #detroit become human #dbh mini series #dbh au: wake up #wake up: part 1 #i am not proud of this #at all tbh #at least its finally here #apologies in advance

[bangkokjacknews]

Thai sex workers move online as pandemic batters business

With Thailand's infamous red light districts dimmed, an untold number of Thai sex workers are out of work and searching for new sources of income.

Some like Cherry, who would earn thousands of dollars jetting around Asia for clients, have had to resort to adult live-streaming sites to pay the bills. Cherry teases the audience for three or four long minutes until at least 30 men have joined her chat room. Only then are the first buttons undone as explicit requests for different poses pour in and her PayPal wallet starts to fill up. The 29-year-old is one of an untold number of Thai sex workers – the lowest estimates say around 300,000 – who have found themselves searching for alternative sources of income as custom has dried up in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. With the infamous red light districts of Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket dimmed since the end of March, many have returned to their home provinces to work the fields or sell food as they wait for the go-go bars and massage parlours to spring back to life and the international tourists to return. Others like Cherry, who is transgender, have gone online to make the most of a world closed by the pandemic but connected by the internet – and the increasingly open attitudes to sex that can be expressed online.

'Cherry' says she made thousands of dollars pre-pandemic by selling her services to clients across Asia. Photo: Vijitra Duangdee Sharp, bilingual and unvarnished in her views, Cherry says she has made thousands of dollars crossing borders and careering through taboos – often working two weeks each month in capital cities around Asia as a bar hostess or escort. From married Iranians in Bangkok to Malaysians in Kuala Lumpur and Japanese businessmen in Tokyo – whether straight, gay, bored or curious, Cherry says she has been with them all. But then the pandemic happened – and with all flights in and out of Thailand grounded – Cherry had nowhere to go. So with debts to pay but no income or government assistance, she turned to technology for help. “I found an amateur sex cam website where men pay for you to entertain them,” she said, giving a nickname because of the stigma tied to her work. “It looked like easy money.” Cat ears, pouts and poses Several times a week Cherry puts on make-up and cosplay gear – cat ears are a fans’ favourite – and logs on to the site for an hour. It takes a few moments to corral the first users to her private room, each paying US$10 for the hour but able to personalise their fantasy with a top-up payment. “My target is US$500 in that hour. If I have 20 visitors, I’ll keep them waiting until 30 join … then I start the show.” Most of the requests she gets revolve around pouts, poses and sex toys, she says, from men who are “bored of porn or are married and never see a ‘ladyboy’”.

‘Cherry’ looks out of an apartment window at a Bangkok street. Photo: Vijitra Duangdee “They want a real-time experience,” she said. “They pay to feel in ‘control’ … but it never lasts more than a few minutes.” There are extreme requests too, but Cherry says she doesn’t do “the sick stuff”. Technological innovation has transformed sex work in recent years, bringing a constellation of clients within easy reach through online brokers, apps and social media. Transgender sex workers lean especially heavily on technology, Cherry says, because their clients often require high levels of discretion – particularly if they are married, ostensibly straight or living in countries with strict laws governing morality and gender.

Bangkok’s red light districts have been closed for months in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Photo: EPA So far, her two-month foray into adult live-streaming has netted her around 80,000 baht (US$2,500) after the website’s fees are deducted. But before the pandemic, Cherry says cash was plentiful for those willing to take risks. She tells of how a Thai friend of hers was paid more than US$15,000 to fly to a Gulf state to be an escort for a wealthy local man for a few days – a liaison sparked over an Instagram post. “Technology has brought new opportunities, we can communicate directly with customers anywhere in the world,” she said. No-go bars? Such opportunities to make a living are sorely needed. Thailand has reported just 3,402 coronavirus cases and 57 deaths since January, but the economy has taken a battering and is only now easing out of a prolonged shutdown. Earlier this month, the country’s National Economic and Social Development Council forecast the economy may shrink as much as 6 per cent this year, with the pandemic damaging traditional drivers such as tourism and trade. Many freelance workers are getting US$160 per month in government relief, but this excludes sex workers who are often shunned in Thailand’s conservative society and routinely denigrated as karee (which roughly translates as “sluts”).

Food for distribution to unemployed sex workers is loaded in to a van by members of SWING, an organisation that supports sex workers, in Bangkok earlier this month. Photo: EPA They also operate illegally, thanks in part to the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act introduced in 1996 which acts as “a wall” denying sex workers their rights, according to Thantha Laovilawanyakul of the Empower Foundation, which campaigns for the decriminalisation of sex work. Yet sex work is a pillar of Thailand’s economy. Before the pandemic, millions of tourists filled the country’s bars, brothels and massage parlours, with the money made being funnelled back to poor provinces where jobs and education are limited. Chalidaporn Songsamphan, a political-science professor and president of SWING – an organisation the supports sex workers – said in a recent live-stream that they are the “elephant in the room” for Thailand. “People can see it, but they don’t want to discuss it,” she said. “After Covid-19 maybe Thai people … the state’s power holders … should think clearly about the position of sex work because it’s so important for the economy.” With bars and clubs closed indefinitely and go-go dancing seemingly a no-go under the “new normal” of social distancing, major question marks hang over the future of Thailand’s legendary nighttime economy. Yet in uncertain times the world’s oldest profession is adapting fast. One Bangkok escort agency contacted for this article said its call girls are “tested regularly” for Covid-19, while another sex worker said pay-per-view live sex shows are flourishing in invite-only groups on the popular messaging app Line. Even Cherry – who says she enjoys entertaining clients online and has fun getting to know their secrets, sexual preferences and separating out the “curious” from those just craving companionship – recognises that the coronavirus crisis could change sex work forever. “I don’t think it will ever be the same again,” she said. - SCMP – Stay up to date with BangkokJack on Twitter, Instagram, & Reddit. Or join the free mailing list (top right) Please help us continue to bring the REAL NEWS - PayPal Read the full article

[laurelkrugerr]

Are You Open to Opposing Viewpoints? 3 Tips for Improving Critical Thinking.

July 2, 2020 6 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

The ability to change one’s mind when confronted with new evidence or information — or better yet, the willingness to actively seek out opposing viewpoints — is an important quality needed to be successful in both business and in life. It is crucial for leaders who want to ensure their organization remains innovative and necessary for society to function optimally. All too often, however, we can become insulated from information that runs counter to our existing beliefs.

Breaking this type of thinking should be a priority for anyone interested in enhancing their critical thinking skills. After all, when you insulate yourself from opposing viewpoints, you are potentially depriving yourself of information needed to make a more informed decision. Toward that end, here are a few strategies you can begin incorporating right away that can help you become more open to opposing viewpoints and enhance your ability to think critically.

1. Be willing to question your current view of reality

Take a moment to reflect on some of your most deeply held beliefs and opinions. As you do so, try to be intentionally broad, accounting for the full spectrum of social, political, and organizational issues that comprise your current view of reality. For example, you may reflect on your beliefs regarding the nature and source of inequality present in society, the trade policies most conducive to advancing a country’s economic interest, or how to effectively lead during moments of crisis.

Related: 16 Characteristics of Critical Thinkers

As you take stock of your own constellation of views and beliefs, what is the likelihood that each reflects a fully informed opinion? More pointedly, assuming that there is some truth to be known about each of these issues, such that the views you hold may be more or less factual, consistent with reality, or conducive to human flourishing, what is the likelihood that you just so happen to hold the correct view on each one of them?

An honest and humble assessment of this question should open your mind to the possibility of your own fallibility and the value in exposing yourself to arguments that run counter to your current perspective. Accordingly, a critical first step toward becoming more open to opposing points of view requires a sense of humility, which constitutes a willingness to learn from others and an acknowledgment of your own limitations and fallibility. Luckily, this is a quality that can be developed and nurtured through practice.

2. Regularly seek out counter-information

Simply recognizing your own fallibility, while necessary, is not a sufficient condition for becoming more open and tolerant to opposing viewpoints. Indeed, it is all too easy to get into the habit of narrowly focusing our attention on information that aligns with our pre-existing views. Organizational leaders, for example, can easily find themselves in insulated information silos, such as when they surround themselves with sycophants eager to express opinions their leader wants to hear. Likewise, within the general public, the increasing prevalence of media curated for each individuals’ idiosyncratic interests and preferences makes it easier than ever to remain oblivious to information and evidence that runs counter to one’s existing beliefs. Overcoming such tendencies can be exceptionally difficult, especially when the beliefs and opinions we hold are highly entrenched or become tied to our identity.

Related: Most Grads Say College Taught Them Few Critical Thinking Skills

Given the mental discomfort that can arise when we encounter information contrary to our current views, a willingness to seek out alternative perspectives takes a conscious effort. Identifying your dominant or “default” point of view and making a habit out of consuming information that runs somewhat opposite of this reference point is therefore a crucial next step. For example, as a leader, you may reflect on how you view your current organizational processes and procedures and actively seek out sources that are critical of such practices. A good illustration comes from the open office space movement. Over the last few decades, many leaders have embraced open office concepts in their organizations, believing that such environments enhance teamwork and creativity. Yet, conventional wisdom regarding the benefits of open office plans is quite disconnected from the science.

Importantly, such advice can (and should) be incorporated into all aspects of your life, not merely those issues of an organizational nature. For example, if you naturally lean toward one end of the political spectrum, it can be helpful to regularly consume information from media outlets that lean opposite of your own political viewpoint. You may not agree with everything you’re exposed to — nor should you — but you will undoubtedly identify blind spots in your own thinking and may even strengthen your own convictions by understanding not only the best and most convincing arguments for your position but also those against it.

3. Become aware of how you feel in the moment

Even with the best intentions to remain receptive to opposing viewpoints, putting this mindset into practice can be exceptionally challenging. Oftentimes, the moment we encounter information that lies in contrast to our own beliefs, we run the risk of being carried away by intense affective reactions that can thwart a genuine effort to understand the opposing viewpoint. For example, we know from research that when we encounter morally-charged situations, we often make quick, instinctive judgments based on emotion. Only after the fact do we justify how we came to the evaluation in the first place. More troubling, this process often occurs below the level of awareness, leaving us to (mistakenly) think that the judgment we’ve made was the result of a rational, thoughtful process. Accordingly, it is important to remain mindful of these processes and to regularly monitor how you feel in the moment to ensure your judgment of the opposing evidence is based on reason and not on unbridled emotion.

Related: You Can Actually Learn to Think More Critically with This Online Course

There is value in exposing yourself to arguments that run counter to your current perspective. To reap the benefits, be sure to acknowledge your own fallibility, seek out opposing information, and remain mindful of your emotions when evaluating the evidence.  

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/are-you-open-to-opposing-viewpoints-3-tips-for-improving-critical-thinking/ source https://scpie1.blogspot.com/2020/07/are-you-open-to-opposing-viewpoints-3.html

[riichardwilson]

Are You Open to Opposing Viewpoints? 3 Tips for Improving Critical Thinking.

July 2, 2020 6 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

The ability to change one’s mind when confronted with new evidence or information — or better yet, the willingness to actively seek out opposing viewpoints — is an important quality needed to be successful in both business and in life. It is crucial for leaders who want to ensure their organization remains innovative and necessary for society to function optimally. All too often, however, we can become insulated from information that runs counter to our existing beliefs.

Breaking this type of thinking should be a priority for anyone interested in enhancing their critical thinking skills. After all, when you insulate yourself from opposing viewpoints, you are potentially depriving yourself of information needed to make a more informed decision. Toward that end, here are a few strategies you can begin incorporating right away that can help you become more open to opposing viewpoints and enhance your ability to think critically.

1. Be willing to question your current view of reality

Take a moment to reflect on some of your most deeply held beliefs and opinions. As you do so, try to be intentionally broad, accounting for the full spectrum of social, political, and organizational issues that comprise your current view of reality. For example, you may reflect on your beliefs regarding the nature and source of inequality present in society, the trade policies most conducive to advancing a country’s economic interest, or how to effectively lead during moments of crisis.

Related: 16 Characteristics of Critical Thinkers

As you take stock of your own constellation of views and beliefs, what is the likelihood that each reflects a fully informed opinion? More pointedly, assuming that there is some truth to be known about each of these issues, such that the views you hold may be more or less factual, consistent with reality, or conducive to human flourishing, what is the likelihood that you just so happen to hold the correct view on each one of them?

An honest and humble assessment of this question should open your mind to the possibility of your own fallibility and the value in exposing yourself to arguments that run counter to your current perspective. Accordingly, a critical first step toward becoming more open to opposing points of view requires a sense of humility, which constitutes a willingness to learn from others and an acknowledgment of your own limitations and fallibility. Luckily, this is a quality that can be developed and nurtured through practice.

2. Regularly seek out counter-information

Simply recognizing your own fallibility, while necessary, is not a sufficient condition for becoming more open and tolerant to opposing viewpoints. Indeed, it is all too easy to get into the habit of narrowly focusing our attention on information that aligns with our pre-existing views. Organizational leaders, for example, can easily find themselves in insulated information silos, such as when they surround themselves with sycophants eager to express opinions their leader wants to hear. Likewise, within the general public, the increasing prevalence of media curated for each individuals’ idiosyncratic interests and preferences makes it easier than ever to remain oblivious to information and evidence that runs counter to one’s existing beliefs. Overcoming such tendencies can be exceptionally difficult, especially when the beliefs and opinions we hold are highly entrenched or become tied to our identity.

Related: Most Grads Say College Taught Them Few Critical Thinking Skills

Given the mental discomfort that can arise when we encounter information contrary to our current views, a willingness to seek out alternative perspectives takes a conscious effort. Identifying your dominant or “default” point of view and making a habit out of consuming information that runs somewhat opposite of this reference point is therefore a crucial next step. For example, as a leader, you may reflect on how you view your current organizational processes and procedures and actively seek out sources that are critical of such practices. A good illustration comes from the open office space movement. Over the last few decades, many leaders have embraced open office concepts in their organizations, believing that such environments enhance teamwork and creativity. Yet, conventional wisdom regarding the benefits of open office plans is quite disconnected from the science.

Importantly, such advice can (and should) be incorporated into all aspects of your life, not merely those issues of an organizational nature. For example, if you naturally lean toward one end of the political spectrum, it can be helpful to regularly consume information from media outlets that lean opposite of your own political viewpoint. You may not agree with everything you’re exposed to — nor should you — but you will undoubtedly identify blind spots in your own thinking and may even strengthen your own convictions by understanding not only the best and most convincing arguments for your position but also those against it.

3. Become aware of how you feel in the moment

Even with the best intentions to remain receptive to opposing viewpoints, putting this mindset into practice can be exceptionally challenging. Oftentimes, the moment we encounter information that lies in contrast to our own beliefs, we run the risk of being carried away by intense affective reactions that can thwart a genuine effort to understand the opposing viewpoint. For example, we know from research that when we encounter morally-charged situations, we often make quick, instinctive judgments based on emotion. Only after the fact do we justify how we came to the evaluation in the first place. More troubling, this process often occurs below the level of awareness, leaving us to (mistakenly) think that the judgment we’ve made was the result of a rational, thoughtful process. Accordingly, it is important to remain mindful of these processes and to regularly monitor how you feel in the moment to ensure your judgment of the opposing evidence is based on reason and not on unbridled emotion.

Related: You Can Actually Learn to Think More Critically with This Online Course

There is value in exposing yourself to arguments that run counter to your current perspective. To reap the benefits, be sure to acknowledge your own fallibility, seek out opposing information, and remain mindful of your emotions when evaluating the evidence.  

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/are-you-open-to-opposing-viewpoints-3-tips-for-improving-critical-thinking/ source https://scpie.tumblr.com/post/622588058160726016

[scpie]

Are You Open to Opposing Viewpoints? 3 Tips for Improving Critical Thinking.

July 2, 2020 6 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

The ability to change one’s mind when confronted with new evidence or information — or better yet, the willingness to actively seek out opposing viewpoints — is an important quality needed to be successful in both business and in life. It is crucial for leaders who want to ensure their organization remains innovative and necessary for society to function optimally. All too often, however, we can become insulated from information that runs counter to our existing beliefs.

Breaking this type of thinking should be a priority for anyone interested in enhancing their critical thinking skills. After all, when you insulate yourself from opposing viewpoints, you are potentially depriving yourself of information needed to make a more informed decision. Toward that end, here are a few strategies you can begin incorporating right away that can help you become more open to opposing viewpoints and enhance your ability to think critically.

1. Be willing to question your current view of reality

Take a moment to reflect on some of your most deeply held beliefs and opinions. As you do so, try to be intentionally broad, accounting for the full spectrum of social, political, and organizational issues that comprise your current view of reality. For example, you may reflect on your beliefs regarding the nature and source of inequality present in society, the trade policies most conducive to advancing a country’s economic interest, or how to effectively lead during moments of crisis.

Related: 16 Characteristics of Critical Thinkers

As you take stock of your own constellation of views and beliefs, what is the likelihood that each reflects a fully informed opinion? More pointedly, assuming that there is some truth to be known about each of these issues, such that the views you hold may be more or less factual, consistent with reality, or conducive to human flourishing, what is the likelihood that you just so happen to hold the correct view on each one of them?

An honest and humble assessment of this question should open your mind to the possibility of your own fallibility and the value in exposing yourself to arguments that run counter to your current perspective. Accordingly, a critical first step toward becoming more open to opposing points of view requires a sense of humility, which constitutes a willingness to learn from others and an acknowledgment of your own limitations and fallibility. Luckily, this is a quality that can be developed and nurtured through practice.

2. Regularly seek out counter-information

Simply recognizing your own fallibility, while necessary, is not a sufficient condition for becoming more open and tolerant to opposing viewpoints. Indeed, it is all too easy to get into the habit of narrowly focusing our attention on information that aligns with our pre-existing views. Organizational leaders, for example, can easily find themselves in insulated information silos, such as when they surround themselves with sycophants eager to express opinions their leader wants to hear. Likewise, within the general public, the increasing prevalence of media curated for each individuals’ idiosyncratic interests and preferences makes it easier than ever to remain oblivious to information and evidence that runs counter to one’s existing beliefs. Overcoming such tendencies can be exceptionally difficult, especially when the beliefs and opinions we hold are highly entrenched or become tied to our identity.

Related: Most Grads Say College Taught Them Few Critical Thinking Skills

Given the mental discomfort that can arise when we encounter information contrary to our current views, a willingness to seek out alternative perspectives takes a conscious effort. Identifying your dominant or “default” point of view and making a habit out of consuming information that runs somewhat opposite of this reference point is therefore a crucial next step. For example, as a leader, you may reflect on how you view your current organizational processes and procedures and actively seek out sources that are critical of such practices. A good illustration comes from the open office space movement. Over the last few decades, many leaders have embraced open office concepts in their organizations, believing that such environments enhance teamwork and creativity. Yet, conventional wisdom regarding the benefits of open office plans is quite disconnected from the science.

Importantly, such advice can (and should) be incorporated into all aspects of your life, not merely those issues of an organizational nature. For example, if you naturally lean toward one end of the political spectrum, it can be helpful to regularly consume information from media outlets that lean opposite of your own political viewpoint. You may not agree with everything you’re exposed to — nor should you — but you will undoubtedly identify blind spots in your own thinking and may even strengthen your own convictions by understanding not only the best and most convincing arguments for your position but also those against it.

3. Become aware of how you feel in the moment

Even with the best intentions to remain receptive to opposing viewpoints, putting this mindset into practice can be exceptionally challenging. Oftentimes, the moment we encounter information that lies in contrast to our own beliefs, we run the risk of being carried away by intense affective reactions that can thwart a genuine effort to understand the opposing viewpoint. For example, we know from research that when we encounter morally-charged situations, we often make quick, instinctive judgments based on emotion. Only after the fact do we justify how we came to the evaluation in the first place. More troubling, this process often occurs below the level of awareness, leaving us to (mistakenly) think that the judgment we’ve made was the result of a rational, thoughtful process. Accordingly, it is important to remain mindful of these processes and to regularly monitor how you feel in the moment to ensure your judgment of the opposing evidence is based on reason and not on unbridled emotion.

Related: You Can Actually Learn to Think More Critically with This Online Course

There is value in exposing yourself to arguments that run counter to your current perspective. To reap the benefits, be sure to acknowledge your own fallibility, seek out opposing information, and remain mindful of your emotions when evaluating the evidence.  

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/are-you-open-to-opposing-viewpoints-3-tips-for-improving-critical-thinking/

[mcdouglecompany-blog]

Prager University Part 34.

Prager University Part 34.

Preferred Pronouns or Prison

Ben Shapiro- Why Has the West Been So Successful?

The Left Ruins Everything

DivestU

The Chicago Fire: America at Its Best

Why the Electoral College is Essential

Is Denmark Socialist?

Who Are the Racists?

  Preferred Pronouns or Prison.

Watch this video at-  https://youtu.be/cn5opUFNs-I

PragerU

Published on Apr 15, 2019

 “He.” “She.” “They.” Have you ever given a moment’s thought to your everyday use of these pronouns? It has probably never occurred to you that those words could be misused. Or that doing so could cost you your business or your job – or even your freedom. Journalist Abigail Shrier explains how this happened and why it's become a major free speech issue. Script: If you want to control people’s thoughts, begin by controlling their words. That’s totalitarian thinking. It was once completely foreign to America. Not anymore. Increasingly, Americans are forced to use language against their will or even their conscience or be prepared to suffer the consequences. And those consequences can be dire. Take, for example, the issue of transgenderism, the newest “civil rights battle” of our time. A decade ago, few people could even tell you what the word “transgender” meant. Today, expressing the “wrong opinion” on the issue can cost you your business or job—or both. Consider recent state and local actions punishing those who decline to use an individual’s pronouns of choice. In 2017, California Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation threatening jail time for health-care professionals who “willfully and repeatedly” refuse to use a patient’s preferred pronouns. Under guidelines issued in 2015 by New York City’s Commission on Human Rights, employers, landlords and business owners who intentionally use the wrong pronoun with transgender workers and tenants face potential fines of as much as $250,000. That’s a steep price for saying “he” instead of “she” or “she” instead of “he,” or even “he” or “she” instead of “they.” What about the vast majority of citizens who hold the biology-based view that chromosomes determine your sex—male or female? Or those who have a deep-seated religious conviction that sex is both biological and binary—God’s purposeful creation? In December of 2018, Peter Vlaming was fired from his job as a French-language teacher in a Virginia school district because he refused to refer to a transgender student by the student’s preferred pronouns. Vlaming’s Christian belief prevented him from bowing before the notion that the student, who had been a “she” in his class the year before, was now suddenly a “he.” Vlaming was willing to use the student’s chosen new name, but he avoided using any pronouns when referring to this student. That wasn’t good enough for the school district; they needed to hear him say the words. You don’t have to be religious to believe that one person can never be a “they.” The Supreme Court has clearly decided that compelled speech is not free speech. In West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943), the Supreme Court upheld the students’ right to refuse to salute an American flag. Justice Robert Jackson wrote, “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, religion or other matters of opinion.” And, Jackson went on to say, the state can’t force people to say things they don’t believe. For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/video/preferr...

  Why Has the West Been So Successful?

Watch this video at-  https://youtu.be/RVD0xik-_FM

PragerU

Published on Apr 8, 2019

The Western world has produced some of the most prosperous and most free civilizations on earth. What makes the West exceptional? Ben Shapiro, editor-in-chief of the Daily Wire and author of “The Right Side of History,” explains that the twin pillars of revelation and reason — emanating from ancient Jerusalem and Athens — form the bedrock for Western civilization's unprecedented success. Script: Western civilization. It’s been around for a while, but suddenly everybody is talking about it. Some are anxious to save it; others are happy to see it go. But what exactly is Western civilization? Is it the great cathedrals of Europe or the Nazi concentration camps? Is it the freedoms secured in the US Constitution or chattel slavery? Life-saving medicines or poison gas? The left likes to focus on the bad—genocide, slavery, environmental destruction. But those have been present in every civilization from time immemorial. The positives are unique to the West—religious tolerance, abolition of slavery, universal human rights, the development of the scientific method: these are accomplishments of a scope and scale that only the West can claim. These aren’t the only achievements that make the West special and uniquely successful. As Western thought evolved, it secured the rights of women and minorities, lifted billions of people out of poverty, and invented most of the modern world. Progress hasn’t been a straight line, of course. But the arc of history is clear. The obvious proof is that the world is overwhelmingly Western. And, with few exceptions, those parts of the world that aren’t aspire to be. Why? Why has Western civilization been so successful? There are many reasons, but the best place to start is with the teachings and philosophies that emerged from two ancient cities: Jerusalem and Athens. Jerusalem represents religious revelation as manifested in the Judeo-Christian tradition: the beliefs that a good God created an ordered universe and that this God demands moral behavior from His paramount creation, man. The other city, Athens, represents reason and logic as expressed by the great Greek thinkers Plato and Aristotle and many others. These two ways of thinking—revelation and reason—live in constant tension. Judeo-Christian religion posits that there are certain fundamental truths handed down to us by a transcendent being. We didn’t invent these truths; we received them from God. The rules He lays down for us are vital for building a functioning, moral civilization and for leading a happy life. Greek thinking posits that we only know truth by what we observe, test, and measure. It is not faith, but fact, that drives our understanding and exploration of the universe. Western civilization, and only Western civilization, has found a way to balance both religious belief and human reason. Here’s how the balance works. The Judeo-Christian tradition teaches that God created an ordered universe, and that we have an obligation to try to make the world better. This offers us purpose and suggests that history moves forward. Most pagan religions taught the opposite: that the universe is illogical and random, and that history is cyclical. History just endlessly repeats itself—in which case, why bother to innovate or create anything new? For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/video/why-has...

  The Left Ruins Everything.

Watch this video at- https://youtu.be/JXbR3oADwaM

PragerU

Published on Mar 25, 2019

From the Boy Scouts to literature, from the arts to universities: the left ruins everything it touches. Dennis Prager explains. Script: If what I am about to tell you is true, almost everything we most treasure – freedom, beauty, reason, the family, economic well-being, and even goodness – is in jeopardy. Who or what poses this threat? The answer is the most powerful ideology of the last hundred years: leftism. Not liberalism; leftism – or, if you prefer, “progressivism.” Leftism destroys everything it touches. Here are a just a few examples: 1. The universities Perhaps the most obvious example – one that many liberals acknowledge – is the left’s near destruction of most universities as places of learning. In the words of Harvard professor Steven Pinker – an atheist and a liberal – because of the left, “universities are becoming laughing stocks of intolerance.” At almost every university – and now high schools and even elementary schools – students are taught to shut down – not debate – those who differ with them. And to rely on feelings rather than reason. 2. The arts Throughout history, the primary purpose of art was to elevate people – through beauty, artistic excellence, and emotional depth. To the left, the primary purpose of art, sculpture, and music is to shock. That’s why so much contemporary art is meaningless, and involves the scatological, meaning urine and feces. Yes, urine and feces. To give one of countless examples, in 2016, the Guggenheim Museum in New York featured a pure-gold working toilet, which visitors were invited to use. The name of the exhibit was “America" – so one could literally relieve oneself on America. 3. Literature The English department at the University of Pennsylvania replaced the portrait of the greatest English-language writer who ever lived, William Shakespeare, with a picture of a black lesbian poet. Why? Because he was a white European male. Leftist professors have replaced the pursuit of excellence with the pursuit of diversity. 4. Late-night television In America, late-night television shows were completely apolitical. The hosts believed their role was to entertain viewers and offer them relief and laughter after a difficult day. No longer. You cannot watch late-night television if you just want to be entertained. Late-night TV is now left-night TV. 5. Religion The left has ruined much of mainstream Protestantism and Catholicism, and non-Orthodox Judaism, which are now little more than left-wing organizations with religious symbols. In many churches and synagogues, one is more likely to hear the clergy talk about political issues than about any other subject, including even the Bible. For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/video/the-lef...

    DivestU

Watch this video at- https://youtu.be/AcD5YVg9Z1Q

PragerU

Published on Mar 18, 2019

It’s no longer a secret that many college campuses today are nothing more than leftist indoctrination camps. But what can we do about it? Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, offers a simple and effective solution. This video was made possible by a generous grant from Colorado Christian University. Script: Year after year, Americans pour billions of dollars into colleges and universities. I'm not talking about the outrageous tuition costs, living expenses, and fees – the debt pit students fall into. And I'm not talking about the tax money – our money – colleges and universities get from federal and state governments. I'm talking about the money Americans are handing over to these institutions of their own free will. In 2017, that number was $44 billion. $44 billion in donations in one year from alumni and other donors. And for what? To enhance the education of America's youth? Do you really think our college graduates are better educated, more literate, more versed in classical philosophy and American history than they were ten, twenty, or fifty years ago? If your child goes to college and spends four years partying, skipping class, and playing video games, consider yourself lucky. It's when they actually listen to their radical professors that you're in trouble. So what have our institutions been doing with all this money? Well, the University of Michigan's Vice Provost of Equity and Inclusion makes $400,000 a year. The university spends close to eleven million dollars annually on diversity and inclusion staff and programs, according to a recent report. What do you think Vice Provosts of Equity and Inclusion (and almost all schools have one now) do all day? They, and the small armies they supervise, spend all day, every day, looking for racism, sexism, classism, Islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia and any other phobias they can dream up. If they don't find some bias somewhere, they're out of a job. So, guess what? They find it – even where it doesn't exist. The University of California at Santa Cruz now has an "activist-in-residence." His job is to mint new leftist activists – as if we have a shortage. Why are we voluntarily giving billions and billions of dollars to hopelessly corrupt institutions that overcharge, underdeliver and undermine the most basic values of Western Civilization? We should be starving this beast. Instead, we're feeding it. Are there exceptions to this rule? Colleges that are actually dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom? Of course, there are – and they are worthy of your financial support. But you can count them on two hands. The rest have a different mission. And they have more than enough coin to carry it out. The aforementioned University of Michigan has an endowment of 12 billion dollars. But that's small potatoes compared to Yale's $30 billion or Harvard's $40 billion. And donors keep giving them more. It's time to stop. You'd be better throwing your money into a bonfire. That's just a waste. But when you donate to your average university, you're actually hurting your society. For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/video/divestu

    The Chicago Fire: America at Its Best.

Watch this video at- https://youtu.be/RYulzUPHqOY

PragerU

Published on Apr 1, 2019

The most famous fire in American history happened in Chicago on October 8, 1871. But it’s not the fire that was so remarkable; it’s what happened afterwards. Lee Habeeb, host of the nationally syndicated radio show “Our American Stories,” explains. Script: The most famous fire in American history happened in Chicago on October 8, 1871. But it’s not the fire that is so remarkable. It’s what happened afterwards. To understand why, we first need to know something about the city’s history. In 1840, Chicago was a small town of forty-five hundred souls. It ranked 92nd in population in the United States. Yet, only three decades later, by 1870—just a year before the great fire—Chicago was closing in on a population of 300,000, making it the fifth-biggest city in America and the fastest-growing city in the world. What led to all this rapid growth? In three words: location, location, location. “Chicago was near the center of the country, and near where the waterways and railways met,” city historian Tim Samuelson notes. “It was a perfect place for anything and anyone to get anywhere…” Timing had a lot to do with it, too. America was moving from a rural to an industrial power. Chicago was right in the middle of the action. Ironically, its rapid growth was almost its undoing. “[Chicago] had to build, and build quickly, and so they built it out of wood,” explained Sarah Marcus of the Chicago History Museum. “It was quick, it was easy, and it was cheap.” And, as it turned out, very flammable. By most accounts, the fire started on the city’s West Side, near the De Koven Street barn of Patrick and Catherine O’Leary. No one is sure of the cause, but it could have been anything, from vandals to a drunken neighbor to that clumsy cow of urban legend. Within minutes, the blaze roared out of control, tearing through Chicago’s business district. The fire was so hot, it created its own tornado of flame. By 3:30 a.m., all hope of saving large parts of the city was gone. Nearly 30 hours later, the fire finally died. The reason? There was nothing left to burn. The losses were staggering: The fire claimed nearly 300 lives, destroyed over 17,000 buildings covering almost 3.5 square miles, and caused damage of over $200 million–about 3.8 billion today. Roughly a third of the city lay in ruins, and one out every three people living in Chicago—nearly 100,000 residents—became homeless overnight. “All the law offices were destroyed, all the major hotels were destroyed, all the major department stores were destroyed, and all the major banks were destroyed,” Chicago weather historian Tom Skilling notes. In those days, there were no national or state agencies to help. Chicago was on its own. What was to be done? To most of Chicago’s citizens, the answer was obvious: Rebuild. Make the city better than ever. Yes, there were many victims of the fire, but there was no sense of victimhood. Even before the bricks stopped smoking, the people of Chicago went to work. First, the damage had to be assessed. The death and destruction were obvious. But there were some major pluses as well. The stockyards and meat packing plants had been spared. Two-thirds of the grain elevators survived. And most importantly, the railway and rail stock escaped major damage. This was critical because it would allow shipments of building materials and private relief aid to come pouring in from across the country and around the world. To view the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/video/the-chi...

    Why the Electoral College is Essential.

Watch this video at- https://youtu.be/RYulzUPHqOYhttps://youtu.be/JFGhX0hLy6E

PragerU

Published on Apr 30, 2019

The Left wants to get rid of the Electoral College. However, the Electoral College is necessary to preserve our republic. Watch our video "Do You Understand the Electoral College?" here: https://www.prageru.com/video/do-you-...

    Is Denmark Socialist?

Watch this video at- https://youtu.be/RYulzUPHqOYhttps://youtu.be/tzEPKrHalaY

PragerU

Published on Apr 22, 2019

Socialism has failed across the world – from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe to China, Vietnam, North Korea and, most recently, Venezuela. So now the left references countries like Denmark as “proof” that socialism works. Otto Brons-Petersen explains why they’re wrong: Denmark is just as capitalist as the United States. Script: I am a citizen of Denmark, the Disneyland of socialism, where everybody is happy and healthy. Forget the Soviet Union, Cuba, Venezuela and all those power-mad Marxists who got it wrong. Denmark is the model to follow. There’s just one problem. It’s a fantasy. For it to be true, Denmark would have to be a socialist country. But it’s not. If it were, it would have gone “Venezuela” a long time ago. Sorry to bring all the new fans of socialism the bad news. But that’s the reality. Yes, it’s true that Denmark has high taxes and a high level of government spending—key features of a socialist mentality. But in almost every other respect, Denmark is a full-on free market capitalist country. And it has some of the strongest protections of individual property rights in the world. And it’s a particularly easy place to open a business. According to the World Bank, there is less bureaucratic red tape in Denmark than in any other country, except for New Zealand and Singapore. And the labor market is less regulated than in most countries. Here’s something you probably didn’t know: there are no minimum wage laws in Denmark. It’s not surprising then—or maybe it is surprising, given all the misinformation out there—that Denmark ranks consistently as one of the top-ranked free market economies in the world by The Fraser Institute in Canada and The Heritage Foundation. So, if Denmark is not a socialist country, what is it? The answer is pretty straightforward: it’s a small capitalist country (about the size and population of Maryland) whose citizens pay oodles in taxes in exchange for oodles in benefits. Well, what’s wrong with that? you might ask. Only this: for the government to pay out such benefits, you need citizens to make enough money to pay the necessary taxes. And that’s only possible through a free market economy. Let me explain—with some Danish history. Denmark, like its Scandinavian neighbors, Sweden and Norway, made a remarkable economic recovery after the Second World War. The combination of a highly productive work force and—get this—low taxes created a lot of wealth. So like every other wealthy welfare state, Denmark became wealthy before it created the welfare state. Relative to Europe, Denmark’s economic high-water mark was in the 1950s; relative to the US, it was the early ‘70s. It was then, in the late ’60s and early ’70s, that the country’s ruling elite became preoccupied with wealth redistribution. But the price paid for this social experiment was steep and swift. The expansion of public spending led to a severe economic crisis. The national debt skyrocketed. It took decades of consolidation, structural reforms and curtailing of welfare schemes to straighten out this mess. This is the stuff you never hear about from the “Danish model” crowd. The sharp tax hikes and spending also sparked a widespread popular revolt and led to the emergence of the “tax protestors” party, Fremskridtspartiet. Even though the party no longer exists, the widespread desire to cut taxes remains. For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/video/is-denm...

    Who Are the Racists?

Watch this video at- https://youtu.be/RYulzUPHqOYhttps://youtu.be/MpToEILMnA4

PragerU

Published on Apr 29, 2019

To call someone a racist is a serious charge. Conservatives are accused of racism by the left on a daily basis. Are the accusations fair? Or is something else going on? Derryck Green of Project 21 provides some provocative answers.

Script: Every single day someone of prominence on the left—a politician, a cable news host, an entertainment figure—accuses someone on the right of being a racist. Here are typical examples: MSNBC host Chris Matthews said this: “The age of Jim Crow managed to find a new habitat in the… 21st-century Republican Party." Comedian Seth Meyers told his late-night audience that Republicans traffic “in open racism.” Tennessee state representative London Lamar, a black woman, announced that the entire state of Tennessee is “racist. Period.” This was just after she was elected… in Tennessee! And almost every criticism of President Barack Obama was labelled racist. The left calling the right racist isn’t new. It’s been going on for decades. Republican Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George Herbert Walker Bush, his son, George W. Bush were all accused of being racists. And, of course, from the left’s perspective, “racist” is essentially Donald Trump’s middle name. To call someone a racist is a very serious charge. A racist is a person who believes that one race is inherently superior or inferior to another. It’s not intelligence, character or values that determine an individual’s worth; it’s his or her skin color. To say that racism is foolish and stupid—not to mention evil—is to understate the case. But according to most Democrats, Republicans are that stupid and that evil. So, let’s examine some conservative policies to see if they are, indeed, racist. If they are, then the left has a valid complaint. And if they’re not, then the left is lying. The longstanding conservative opposition to Affirmative Action is a good place to start. It was Democratic president John F. Kennedy who, in 1961, first used the term “affirmative action.” But Affirmative Action in the way we think of it now wasn’t implemented until 1970, during the administration of a Republican president, Richard Nixon. The theory was that, because of historical discrimination, blacks were at a competitive disadvantage to other races and ethnicities. To erase that disadvantage, standards that most blacks presumably couldn’t meet had to be lowered. One could make the case that this policy had some utility when it was first put in place. But that was a long time ago. The conservative position is that blacks have repeatedly proven they can compete with anyone without the benefits of lower standards. There are countless examples of black success in every field, at every level. The policy is no longer necessary. But the conservative argument goes further. Study after study shows that, in the case of college admissions, affirmative action hurts more blacks than it helps. By lowering admissions standards for blacks (and some other minority students), colleges set many of these students up for failure. They get placed in schools for which they are not prepared. And high black dropout rates confirm this view. For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/video/who-are...

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The CEO of a Nationwide Association of MD Groups Sees the Future-- and It's Not in Fee-For-Service

The CEO of a Nationwide Association of MD Groups Sees the Future—and It’s Not in Fee-For-Service

APG’s Don Crane shares his perspectives on the challenges and opportunities facing physician groups in the emerging healthcare landscape

The world of U.S. healthcare is undergoing massive change these days; indeed, the entire landscape around the healthcare system is shifting now, with new entrants, some of them disruptors, changing the realities on the ground for the leaders of patient care organizations. Meanwhile, the implications are legion, for physician-led organizations, including large and not-so-large multispecialty physician groups. Those subjects were topics of analysis in two of the Healthcare Informatics Top Ten Tech Trends, which appeared in the third-quarter 2018 issue of Healthcare Informatics.

For both the Trend article on the new disruptors entering the healthcare system, and the Trend article on the challenges and opportunities physician groups in the emerging landscape, Healthcare Informatics Editor-in-Chief Mark Hagland interviewed Don Crane, president and CEO of the Los Angeles-based America’s Physician Groups (APG), a nationwide association of physician groups involved in risk-based contracting. Crane, whose association represents more than 300 physician groups operating in 45 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, is helping to lead a revolution in the medical group world, facilitating the collaboration around innovation among physician groups across the country.

Don Crane

Don Crane will be delivering a keynote presentation on November 9, during the Health IT Summit in Beverly Hills, sponsored by Healthcare Informatics. He will be speaking on the subject of value-based care and clinical transformation, sharing his perspectives as one of the leaders in the physician group world. Below are excerpts from his interview this summer with Hagland.

Looking at all these new business combinations and alliances—the Aetna-CVS deal, the Amazon/Berkshire Hathaway/JP Morgan Chase alliance, the inroads into healthcare being made by Microsoft, Google, and others—what do all of these business and technological incursions mean?

To me, they signal a very restive employer world, a restive and dissatisfied employer world, certainly, when you talk about Google and Amazon, and so, too, with the carrier-PBM combination. There, it’s more about the players looking for a new model, implying that there’s a dissatisfaction to the point of abandonment of faith in the existing model. So, has the inefficiency of our current healthcare delivery system now produced pain at such a high level that it’s no longer about academic conversations, but time for a variety of different actions? That’s what it’s telling me, that we’re about to hit a pain point. Healthcare is using up more and more of our GPD, and really is hitting our global competitiveness now. So yes, this is very significant.

With regard to the planned Aetna-CVS merger—should physicians feel unsettled?

I have an upcoming board retreat, where we’ll be speaking to the Walmart-Humana, CVS-Aetna, and Cigna-ExpressScripts arrangements; I don’t think that the architects of these various transactions see them all in the same way. They have slightly different strategies, and are facing different challenges. For example, he notes, referring to the CVS-Aetna deal, “The minute-clinic concept never really took off; it didn’t exactly work. But what’s different about these diagonal mergers? I think some of it lies in the data—you’ll be coming the data of a health plan with a pharmacy with a PBM [pharmacy benefit management company]. And we’re moving into an era of artificial intelligence and machine learning and the ability to stack up algorithms to the nth degree and know things we didn’t know before.

These are smart-darn people, and it’s different from the sort of minute-clinic concept we’ve seen in the past. That concept didn’t really take off. Someone said there’s a Walgreens or CVS within 3 minutes of every American, or something. But the minute-clinic concept didn’t exactly work. But what’s different about these diagonal mergers? I think some of it lies in the data—you’ll be coming the data of a health plan with a pharmacy with a PBM [pharmacy benefit management company].

There’s also the factor of the idea of the transformation of primary care. I think they envision a world where you don’t have to call your doctor six weeks in advance, drive through traffic, wait for hours, wait for days to get your results—and that just doesn’t seem cool in the second decade of the 21st century. It’s a model begging for revolution.

And how will all this impact physician groups? The short answer is, I don’t fully know. The longer answer is, we’re actively thinking about it. The one thing I have a massive amount of faith in is that when it comes to professional care by doctors, nurses, etc., the Pentium chip is organized physician groups; it’s not Dr. Marcus Welby all alone; nor is it health plans that sit on high in penthouse buildings; nor is it hospitals. It’s aggregations of doctors supported by data and analytics, and supported by a constellation of people—psychologists, social workers, even bus drivers, in terms of transportation. And there, you get quality, and you marry within an organization the desire to improve quality and the health of individuals and the population, and at the same time, be stewards of resources. And that’s important, because healthcare’s single biggest problem is unaffordability. So we need stewardship of resources married to expertise in care delivery. I think the new models to come will float to the top.

And, in terms of the disruptors, they envision a world where you don’t have to call your doctor six weeks in advance, drive through traffic, wait for hours, wait for days to get your results—and that just doesn’t seem cool in the second decade of the 21st century. It’s a model begging for revolution.

With regard to the pace of physician groups moving into risk, is it about at the level you’d expect?

As best as I can tell, the pace is going moderately well. Has it accelerated? No. Has it slowed? Probably not. It doesn’t feel like there’s a white-hot fire underneath it at the moment. There is a generalized belief that we need that movement to occur and succeed. At the same time, there are entrenched interests.

Our efforts rise and fall based on what’s going on around the country. And we continue to get new members out of interest in this, but they’re not pounding the doors down yet. They’re reading the signals from the government and commercial payers carefully, and they’re content to sit in the status quo and make a pretty good living, and don’t want to incur enormous cost and effort unless they have to. So the level of push is not as hard as we’d like. But some changes coming out of various rules sets coming out of a very bold and laudable administration, as far as I’m concerned.

When it comes to managing two-sided risk, everyone has spoken of the criticality of data. What’s being learned in that area?

Upside risk makes sense for a while; it’s baby steps. But it’s weak tea in terms of driving real change. If you get lucky with the right benchmarks, you can do well. But it doesn’t induce real structural change. But when an organization faces downside risk, also known as bankruptcy—that really forces change. When you take that higher risk, you’ve got to have the data. You’ve got to risk-stratify your population, and treble down on the resources you’re using on the patients at highest risk. All of a sudden, you move into the big leagues.

Are physician groups beginning to use artificial intelligence and machine learning, in earnest?

The answer is yes. I’m surveying my board next week. But the pioneers are starting to use AI and machine learning, yes.

Do you know yet what they’re learning in terms of process?

Well, of course they’re learning better what the ailments are in a population, etc. They’re just able to do a better job of diagnosis and then care management care planning—being able to treat people more intelligently than ever before.

What percentage of your organizations have unlocked the key around multidisciplinary care teams?

That percentage is very high. Some started a couple of decades ago with this. This is not rocket science, it’s fundamental blocking and tackling. So within my organization, you’ll see a high percentage of organizations making good use of multidisciplinary care teams. Outside my organization, not so much. It’s no secret that you should be using mid-levels to support physicians; but you kind of need the payment model to make it work. Otherwise, you still have doctors working per click, like hamsters on a wheel. As you get into risk-based capitation, that’s where the model changes, and voila—all of a sudden, you have big panels, risk management, and multidisciplinary care teams. You almost can’t separate the organizational model from the payment model.

In terms of physician groups working with social determinants of health data, what are you hearing?

Well, we’re in the early stages of physicians and physician groups moving into working with social determinants of health data. If you talk to a doctor who is still in fee-for-service about the social determinants of health, he’ll say, nice idea, but are you kidding? I didn’t go into healthcare to be a social worker! If you talk to APG members, you’ll see that they totally understand it. You so often need to get into the home, and into transportation, and nutritional support. If a patient can’t get to the doctor’s office, and isn’t eating and is living in a high-crime area, no amount of good diagnosis and prescription will produce a good outcome. In Medicare Advantage, given the latest rate note and the bipartisan Balanced Budget Act, Medicare is basically beginning to cover social determinants of health stuff; that’s in a nascent stage, but people are gearing up for it. I think I saw that Humana and Ascension Health had created a new venture around social determinants.

Meanwhile, we’ve entered into a partnership with Partners in Care, a foundation headquartered in Los Angeles, and they’re available for hire to do home visits and other similar sorts of social work items. And my members are hiring them to do that kind of outreach into patient’s homes. It’s really helpful with the frail elderly and such. So seeing where the puck is headed there, we entered into a partnership with Partners in Care. And that’s a whole new frontier. Now for physicians to be responsible for home visits, well, that’s new. So there’s a transformation underway there as well.

What do you see in the next couple of years around that?

I think it’s just another data set. And if you’re going to start to do home visits to the frail elderly, you’ll need their addresses, of course. And when you do your chops and cuts and sorts, you’ll need to be looking not only at their a1c, but their neighborhood, and their nutritional status, etc., and you’ll now have additional data to help you guide your care plan. It might involve home visits, or Lyft or Uber; so there needs to be data to support that.

How will the data analytics component evolve in the next few years for the leaders of physician groups?

Well, it starts with a recognition of the need for data. Those physicians just wondering what to do about MIPS, etc. They’ll realize they’re utterly unequipped to set up a data analytics shop themselves, so you’ll see movement into groups. And the next step is to get to the facility to do it, and that means joining a group or an IPA. That’s the dynamic we’re going to see. And then we’ll start seeing better results.

And, how do you see the future more broadly?

There’s no future around fee for service; it’s eroding out from under doctors. You look at the Medicare fee schedule and increases slated for the future. What are they? The anticipated increases to physician payment under Medicare are going to be 0.5 percent, 0.25 percent, from here out to as far as the eye can see, they’ll be nearly flat; and the increases in costs of running practices will be increasing 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 percent. So you’re quickly on the way to the poorhouse if you’re trying to stay in a fee-for-service world. So how will we make a living? To make a living doing what you want to do, you’re going to need to find a different way to make a profit under flat revenue. How do you do that? You keep the population healthier. You stare into the data and figure out who will get sick next, by using predictive analytics.

Duke University Health System

Director of Pediatric Programs

Community Care of North Carolina

Pediatric Program Manager

Community Care of North Carolina

Healthcare IAM Program Manager

Manager of ACO Patient Engagement

Executive Medical Director of General Medicine and Hospital Medicine Shared Services

Wake Forest Baptist Health System

VP, Chief Operating Officer

Entrepreneur In Residence, Clinical Faculty

Vice President, Value-Based Strategies

Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Physicians Technology Services, Inc.

Head of Healthcare and Life Sciences Marketing

Commonwealth Health Network, Inova Health System

Executive Director, Information Security and Compliance

Indiana University Health

Chief Digital Strategy Officer

Duke University Health System

Chief Information Officer

National Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center (NH-ISAC)

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/article/value-based-care/ceo-nationwide-association-md-groups-sees-future-and-it-s-not-fee-service

/article/value-based-care/during-house-hearing-healthcare-leaders-raise-concerns-cms-proposed-aco

On Capitol Hill, Healthcare Leaders Raise Concerns with CMS’ Proposed ACO Rule

Healthcare leaders also testified about the need for Stark Law modernization

A panel of healthcare organization leaders voiced concerns about moving Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs) to two-sided risk too quickly, as proposed in a recent federal draft rule, and highlighted the need for Stark Law reform during a U.S. House of Representatives Health subcommittee hearing last week.

The U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee subcommittee on Health held a hearing last Thursday examining the barriers to expanding value-based care in Medicare, and panelists used the opportunity to voice concerns to lawmakers about a number of polices and laws that they believe are impeding progress in the transition to value-based care and payment models.

Subcommittee chairman Michael Burgess, M.D. (R-Texas) said the purpose of the hearing was to focus on the evolving transition to value-based care as well as new ways of assuming risk, and the role technology can play in these efforts. In his opening statement, Burgess recognized that value-based care models have been effective at improving quality and lowering costs. “These models are the future of heath care, and it is important that Congress hear from the industry about how the implementation of such models work on the ground or, to the extent it’s not working, it’s important that we hear that as well,” he said.

Many of the panelists shared their opinions on a proposed rule issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that proposes a new direction for ACOs in the Medicare Shared Savings program (MSSP), with the goal to push these organizations into two-sided risk models.

The MSSP is the largest value-based payment model in the U.S., growing to 561 ACOs with more than 350,000 providers caring for 10.5 million Medicare beneficiaries in 2018. Under current MSSP rules, new ACOs are eligible to share savings with Medicare for up to six years if they meet quality and spending goals but are not at financial risk for any losses. In the proposed rule, issued Aug. 9, CMS is proposing to shorten that glide path for new ACOs to assume financial risk, reducing time in a one-sided risk model from the current six years to two years. CMS also recommends reducing potential shared savings in half—from 50 percent to 25 percent for one-sided risk ACOs. As such, The proposed rule has so far been met with varying degrees of scrutiny.

During his testimony, Nishant Anand, M.D., chief medical officer for population health services and chief transformation officer for Adventist Health System, and chairman of the Adventist Health System ACO, said he was concerned that policies contained in CMS’ proposed redesign of the MSSP, if finalized, would discourage providers from participating in value-based care.

Anand, who is based at Florida Hospital Orlando and has led value transformations at other health systems, noted that Adventist has ACO arrangements in Kansas, North Carolina and Florida, where the system has 55,000 beneficiaries in its MSSP ACO.

“The existing financial benchmarks, especially in lower cost markets, make it financially prohibitive to transition to a two-sided risk model and will deter providers from participating in the program. If the benchmarks do not provide room for improvement, allowing providers to transition towards value-based care delivery over time, providers will not participate. We must find ways to adjust for the regional variations across the country,” he said.

Continuing, he said, “Second, benchmarks need to be accurately risk adjusted to reflect the underlying health status of the ACO’s population.” And, with regard to CMS’ proposal to limit shared savings payments to 25 percent, he said: “A lower shared savings rate means we will have less to reinvest into population management and care coordination. Limiting the shared saving payments to 25 percent will create an unsustainable business model.”

Anand urged Congressional leaders to consider a “deeper dive into value-based care reforms that will accelerate the journey. “We’re ready to go faster but need additional help with payment reform to focus on holistic care as well as regulatory reform. We need to help ACOs achieve critical mass in order to hit the tipping point where value-based care is what we deliver,” he said.

Michael Robertson, M.D., chief medical officer of Covenant Health Partners and Covenant ACO in Lubbock, Texas, also voiced similar concerns. Robertson, testifying on behalf of the National Association of Accountable Care Organizations (NAACOS), said Covenant Health Partners has operated a clinically integrated network for the past 11 years, through which it has instituted robust health information technology, contracts for hospital services, and quality metrics for measures like hospital-acquired infections.

“We then branched out to commercial contracts and, in 2014, made the quantum leap to a three-year Track 1 MSSP agreement. If we had not already had a clinically integrated network in place, where we had already done much of the work to get ready for MSSP participation, it is unlikely that we would have made the decision to participate in the MSSP. It was also important for us that we didn’t have to be concerned about taking downside risk, since we were in a shared savings-only model,” he said.

There has been much debate and contention between CMS and healthcare industry stakeholders on just how much money one-sided risk ACOs are saving Medicare. An independent evaluation by NAACOs published last week found MSSP ACOs generated gross savings of $1.84 billion for Medicare between 2013 and 2015, nearly double the $954 million estimated by CMS. Last month, CMS data showed ACOs generated $314 million in net savings to Medicare in 2017 after accounting for payments earned by ACOs for hitting spending and quality targets.

Moving to value-based care is a massive undertaking that requires changing the behavior of multiple providers, Robertson testified. “Participation in the MSSP has allowed us to reinvest in technology and infrastructure to manage our patient population. In our first year of participation in the MSSP, we saved Medicare $5 million and our share was $2.5 million,” Robertson said. The organization used the bulk of those funds to reinvest in its IT infrastructure and to develop physician dashboard. “All of these things take time and money; pushing too quickly to achieve results and take on risk, without giving ample time for providers to develop the necessary infrastructure, will mean people don’t participate,” Robertson said.

CMS’ recently proposed MSSP ACO rule would improve the existing MSSP in a number of ways, he said, such as implementing ACO-specific payment rule waivers and beneficiary incentives. “Some of these improvements lend stability to the program, which is very positive,” he said.

“I do have significant concerns about the speed in which the agency is asking people to move to risk as well as the proposal to cut shared savings from 50 to 25 percent. Two years is not enough time to take on risk; it took us 11 years and we’re still hard at it,” Robertson testified. “The reduced shared savings amount is going to keep providers out of this program because it does not allow them to keep enough savings to reinvest in the IT infrastructure and the care coordination that is needed to make these programs work. The limitation of the risk score adjustment of +/- 3 percent over the five-year contractual period will also be harmful as it penalizes physicians financially for taking care of patients who are sicker.”

Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statue Reforms

During the hearing, panelists also shared their perspectives on how legal barriers are preventing healthcare providers from accelerating toward value-based care.

Mary Grealy, president of the Healthcare Leadership Council, comprised of industry leaders from all sectors of the U.S. healthcare system, testified that the Stark Physician Self-Referral Law and the Anti-Kickback Statute were created to prevent overutilization and inappropriate influence in a fee-for-service environment in which healthcare sectors and entities operated in their own individual silos.

“Today, however, in order to make the transformation to value-based care, we need greater integration of services, improved coordination of care with cross-sector collaborations, and payment that is linked to outcomes rather than volume. Adopting these new delivery and payment models becomes difficult when faced with outdated fraud and abuse laws and potential penalties of considerable severity,” Grealy said.

She said, for example, that hospitals can run afoul of current law by offering physicians performance-based compensation to engage in coordinated care and meet high quality metrics.

Adventist’s Anand also highlighted the need for Stark Law modernization, noting that it is an “impediment” to value-based care. “The Stark Law is highly complex and has created a minefield for the health care industry due to its huge financial penalty risks and its unclear provisions. These risks result in health care providers avoiding value-based arrangements,” he said. While Congress authorized the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary to issue regulatory waivers for models of care, such as the MSSP program, these waivers are issued program-by-program and are not permanent, he said.

Michael Weinstein, M.D., a practicing gastroenterologist and president of Capital Digestive Care, a physician practice with 65 GI doctors in the Washington, D.C. area, also urged policymakers to modernize the Stark Law, noting that fraud and abuse laws are an impediment to develop and implement innovative alternative payment models (APMs). “Physician practices are facing increasing challenges competing with mega-hospital systems, in part, because antiquated Medicare law and regulations generally favor hospital systems,” Weinstein testified.

CMS issued a request for information (RFI) this summer for public input on how to address any undue regulatory impact and burden of the Stark Law. HHS also is considering making changes to the anti-kickback statute as the HHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is looking for stakeholder feedback, via an RFI issued August 27.

Morgan Reed, president of ACT | The App Association and executive director of the Connected Health Initiative, told the Health subcommittee members that Medicare regulations and payment policies present serious challenges to the incorporation of technology-driven tools that can make healthcare more accessible and user-friendly. He specifically urged policymakers to take a number of steps, including passing the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) to Health Act of 2017 and filing down regulations such as features of the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Law. He also urged policymakers to enhance interoperability and access to data through better guidance from the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) and finalizing the “data blocking” rules.

In her testimony, Grealy also noted that the expanded use of telemedicine is essential in more efficient utilization of healthcare resources and expanding the reach of health providers. “We urge Congress and the administration to further address Medicare’s restrictions on reimbursement for telemedicine services. There is also considerable value to be found in making digital health applications more accessible for beneficiaries,” she said.

/article/value-based-care/humana-s-cmo-speaks-bold-goal-embedded-its-population-health-work

Humana’s CMO Speaks of the “Bold Goal” Embedded in the Company's Population Health Work

Almost every major health insurer in the country is now focused on addressing the social factors impacting health, such as housing and food insecurity, as part of broader population health efforts to improve health outcomes and lower healthcare costs. A recent survey by Change Healthcare and the HealthCare Executive Group (HCEG) found that more than 80 percent of payers are integrating social determinants of health into their member programs. According to that survey, 42 percent of payers are integrating community programs and resources into their population health programs, and 34 percent said they are integrating census and socioeconomic data with clinical data to develop new insights.

In fact, among healthcare providers and insurance companies, the increasing focus on addressing the social determinants of health, or the upstream factors influencing health, supports the healthcare industry’s broader transition to value-based care and payment models, which focuses on the quality of the health care provided rather than just the volume of services.

Louisville, Ky.-based insurer Humana is approaching this issue through its “Bold Goal” initiative with the aim of improving the health of communities it serves 20 percent by 2020. Through this initiative, which was launched in 2015, Humana is working with local physicians and community organizations to address physical and mental health conditions as well as social determinants of health (food insecurity, social isolation and loneliness) in seven communities.

Humana measures "Bold Goal" community progress using the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) population health management tool known as Healthy Days, which takes into account the whole person by measuring both mentally and physically Unhealthy Days over a 30-day period. In a report on the "Bold Goal" initiative issued in March, Humana reported that "Bold Goal" markets, on average, managed to reduce their number of Unhealthy Days. Knoxville, Tennessee; Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana; and San Antonio, Texas all had improved Healthy Days as well as improved clinical outcomes.

During a recent visit to New York City, Roy Beveridge, M.D., Humana’s chief medical officer, sat down with Healthcare Informatics Associate Editor Heather Landi to discuss the drive to value-based care, addressing social determinants of health, and the need for more transparency in healthcare. Beveridge joined Humana in 2013 and is board-certified in medical oncology and internal medicine. Below are excerpts from that interview.

There is growing recognition of how social factors influence an individual’s health. How is the issue of social determinants of health impacting the healthcare industry?

“Social determinants of health” is a buzz word that everyone is using, and many organizations are viewing it as a social “nice-to-have.” We look at it as an essential business component of the care of our patients. We believe that food insecurity affects someone’s health, and if someone’s health is affected, their costs are going to increase. Therefore, we need to improve their health, we have a number of years to do it and we’re willing to look at things in the long term. Now, others are focused on having foundations that donate money toward food banks or other issues. Donations without alignment with business imperatives mean that with the next downturn in the economy, or the next time the foundation sees something else they think is interesting, they are going to go somewhere else. From our standpoint, food insecurity is not going to disappear with the next economic downturn, it’s only going to get worse. We need to make this part of our business think, and that’s what we’re doing.

What are some initiatives that Humana is doing to address social determinants of health?

We’re focused on three areas—transportation, food insecurity and social isolation. In the area of transportation, we have been able to build into almost all of our Medicare Advantage (MA) contracts provisions to get people to their appointments for their primary care doctor, to the hospital, and to specialists.  I’m not going to say that it’s not a problem now, but if you go down to Florida, everyone in Florida under our contracts can get to and from the doctor.

We have a number of pilots looking at the issue of food insecurity, with our biggest study in Florida. We screened 1,500 patients and 800 were identified as food insecure and, of that 800, with half of them we took steps to link them with Feeding America, a non-profit national network of food banks. We also used our social workers to engage them and help them to make sure they are getting food stamps. The goal with that study, over the next few years, is to see whether in fact the PMPM (per member per month) decreases in the group that we connected with food resources. We’re also doing another randomized trial looking at connecting with members through social work engagement so that we’re educating them and finding food sources for them in their communities and signing them up for public food services. We’re studying different approaches at different price points to see what is effective for a particular population. It’s a question of how much money you need to invest to get a benefit for what period of time.

What are some of the biggest challenges in this work?

I think the big issue is to figure out whether it is a ‘nice-to-have’ or a ‘must-have.’ I think a lot of people are paying lip service to social determinants by saying it’s ‘nice to have’ and we’re going to have our foundation give this amount of money to a food bank. But unless you drive it down and use analytics and figure out how it really works for your population, I’m not sure you can get the benefit that you need. I think many well-intentioned folks are giving large chunks of money for housing. I think that’s very noble, but I don’t know how you can use that approach to take care of a broad number of people. If a significant percentage of the population have these housing problems, how are we helping the population as a whole?

Humana launched its "Bold Goal" initiative in 2015. How is that initiative progressing?

If you think about population health as a whole, "Bold Goal" is almost a subsegment of that. What "Bold Goal" says is that we at Humana can’t do this by ourselves, Blue Cross can’t do it by themselves, United can’t do it by themselves, a hospital system can’t do it by themselves and I don’t think the government can do it. If you think that any one entity can, then they are going to fail. The reason that Bold Goal has been successful in San Antonio, Louisville, Tampa, Miami or New Orleans, is that we made a commitment—we’re there and we’re not moving. We meet with all of the stakeholders six times a year and we’re doing projects that engage everyone.  The very first meeting we had in San Antonio, we had six non-for-profit diabetes entities that had never talked to each other, and we had multiple food banks that had never coordinated with each other. And, in fact, one of the food banks said, ‘We’ve got all this food, we just don’t know where it should be distributed.’ We were able to build strong relationships between physicians, communities and patients, and four of these communities demonstrated improvements in health over the past year.

Our net promoter scores for our physicians who are in risk or value-based contracts are significantly higher than those in fee-for-service. [Editor’s note: In a value-based care report issued last year, Humana reported that patients treated by physicians in Humana MA value-based agreements had more preventative care screenings and better health outcomes compared to patients in Humana MA fee-for-service agreements.] We know is that in order for a value-based provider to be successful they need our data, and we have a mutually aligned interest, which is the health of that patient. And, if you improve the health of the patient, then the cost follows. It might take another year or two, for the cost to get there, but improved health always leads to reduced costs.

I was worried a few years ago whether physicians were really beginning to understand how quickly things were changing to value-based care and payment and to risk-based arrangements. As I travel around the country, I think more and more people are getting it. I continue to see that there is not a complete understanding of what full risk means. With regard to the MSSP [Medicare Shared Savings Program] accountable care organization (ACO) program, people still think ‘If I just take a little bit of upside [risk], I’m doing value-based care.’ However, I think the more organized, larger provider groups and hospital systems, they get it and they are investing a lot of money in population health now.

As you mentioned, providers need actionable data to successfully make this transition to value-based care and payment models. How do you see data sharing and interoperability playing into this movement towards value-based care?

When you look at the current Administration’s push, (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) Secretary Azar basically said interoperability is one of the very important things that he wants to get done, so Blue Button 2.0 is something that they are pushing hard on. [Editor’s note: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is encouraging health insurers to use data release platforms for enrollees that either “meet or exceed the capabilities of CMS’s Blue Button 2.0,” according to an announcement from the agency on 2019 capitation rates and payment policies. And, the announcement goes on to state that “CMS is contemplating future rulemaking in this area to require the adoption of such [Blue Button 2.0 compatible] platforms by Medicare Advantage plans by CY 2020.”]

Then look at what’s happening at Google or Apple and these other companies—the amount of interoperable data coming down is just profound. Right now, the EHR entities have to push data into their portals and then the portals connect to that, through Apple. And so, you’re getting this massive amount of data, which is becoming available, and interoperability is fundamental for the transparency piece so that patients understand what is happening with them. And, we applaud that 105 percent, because, unless you have that transparency, it’s hard to engage someone. So, I can talk to you about your mother’s health, but if on her iPhone, she can get all of her data from every hospitalization and every lab and make appointments, and then allow you as a caregiver to get in, that’s where you begin to get engagement.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar and CMS Administrator Seema Verma have made it clear their intention to push hard to transition the industry to value-based care and to empower patients. Do you agree with the direction they are taking?

No matter how you look at it, regardless of what risk model you look at, the quality scores are higher and the costs are lower. As we continue to move into member transparency and consumer transparency, consumers want to see the quality scores. That’s the transparency that needs to get out there, and I think they are right for pushing this from a quality standpoint. In fee-for-service, it’s the Wild West; quality scores are meaningless in fee-for-service.

/news-item/value-based-care/new-healthcare-alliance-launches-apm-addiction-recovery

New Healthcare Alliance Launches APM for Addiction Recovery

A national multi-sector alliance of healthcare stakeholders has announced the creation of the Addiction Recovery Medical Home (ARMH) model, an alternative payment model (APM) engineered to provide patients with a long-term, comprehensive and integrated pathway to treatment and recovery.

Some of the organizations and groups involved include Leavitt Partners, Facing Addiction with NCADD (The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence) and Remedy Partners, along with other healthcare companies.

The ARMH framework looks to establish a broad continuum of care ranging from emergent and stabilizing acute-care settings to community-based services and support that are essential to managing patient needs in a chronic disease model, officials noted in a press release. The proposed payment model, which incorporates aspects of fee-for-service, episodes-of-care, quality-adjustments and shared-savings, will aim to promote improved integration of treatment and recovery resources with corresponding financial incentives that benefit all stakeholders when the patient is well managed by a multi-disciplinary care team, according to officials.

“The current payment models have failed to encourage the lasting recovery of the millions of people who are dealing with addiction,” said Chris Garcia, CEO of Remedy Partners, a Darien, Conn.-based company that helps hospitals and physicians with bundled payment programs. “The ARMH model offers the potential to refocus the energies of physicians and other care givers on what matters, helping the patient on the pathway to lasting recovery.”

The Alliance for Recovery-Centered Addiction Health Services (Alliance) released a year-long consensus report during last week’s Summit for Addiction Recovery Payment Reform. “As addiction to alcohol and other drugs now impacts 1 in 3 households in America, we must urgently work to turn the tide on this health crisis,” Greg Williams, a person in long-term recovery and Facing Addiction with NCADD’s executive vice president, said in a statement. “In late 2016, the U.S. Surgeon General issued the seminal report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health: Facing Addiction In America. In this report, an urgent call to action for mainstream health systems to begin integration of substance use health services was afforded an entire chapter, and the industry leaders in this Alliance have responded in unprecedented fashion to that call.”

The Alliance intends to pilot the ARMH model in at least two markets beginning in 2019. Its executives say that a rigorous research methodology will be developed and leveraged to study the effects of the model when compared to non-ARMH models of care and to study correlations between specific model tenets and the corresponding outputs.

“We see the most progress in healthcare when the clinical and the economic incentives are aligned. Treating substance use is tough enough, but without a thoughtful economic system in place, it is going to be very slow going,” noted David Shulkin, M.D., former Secretary, U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs and Chairman, Remedy Partners National Advisory Board. “The addiction recovery medical home model of care aligns the interests of patients, providers and payers through a new risk-based payment methodology. Combined with the right therapeutic approaches to care, this payment system is the type of innovation that we need to accelerate our progress in dealing with the opioid crisis.”

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https://www.healthcare-informatics.com/article/value-based-care/ceo-nationwide-association-md-groups-sees-future-and-it-s-not-fee-service

[tweetadvise]

Put Personalization in Context With Real-Time Email Marketing

Consumers could smell superficial customization from a mile away. Also an appropriate, interactive project can generate eye rolls if the individual information as well as tips aren't find on.

But, marketers are daring. Baseding upon the Real-Time Marketing Insights Research, carried out by Adobe as well as Direct Advertising and marketing Organization (DMA), 77 percent think real-time personalization is vital, and the majority of are preparing for real-time innovations that could assist improve personalization initiatives with more appropriate data.

Surprisingly, 80 percent of online marketers checked name email-- not mobile, social, or internet-- as one of the most crucial channel for real-time customization. Basically, email has actually become one of one of the most dependable and also reliable channels for engagement.

Real-Time Is Greater than Just Agility

Done right, real-time email advertising is contextual customization at its ideal. It much exceeds social advertising and marketing or utilizing a call's given name in the welcoming and other referrals to standard demographic information. Real-time email advertising and marketing provides contextually pertinent experiences, worth, as well as utility at the proper moment in the customer lifecycle in manner ins which show the consumer's preferences.

To be contextually relevant is to think about where readers are now, where they originated from, and also where they are going next off. It's a faster way of saying "advertising and marketing that is individualized based upon actions, time, inclination to buy, environment, and also tool."

If you wish to develop from fundamental customization to contextually appropriate, real-time e-mail advertising, you need accessibility to a constellation of resources including sophisticated data, consisting of:

The time and day

Geographic locations

Demographics

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Devices and browsers

Loyalty statuses

Email preferences

Content previously viewed

Recent transactions, interactions, as well as site visits

Context Changes Everything

In real-time email advertising, the content of your email is never entirely fixed. Visitors might see various copy or promotions relying on the day they open it. A person might read your e-mail in Boston, hop a plane to San Francisco, open the email once again, and also see fresh material that mirrors the existing climate as well as location-specific offers.

That's what makes context so powerful: it changes advertising projects from static to interactive, prefers individualized interaction over wide targeting, as well as emphasizes utility as well as value over deals. Real-time email marketing that is driven by contextual data has the prospective to blow consumers away. It corresponds across electronic as well as offline networks, occupied with appropriate and interesting material, as well as supplied at just the appropriate time.

It is challenging to attain all this without the ideal modern technology as well as methods for accumulating, arranging, and also continually updating customer data. But, marketing experts who make the effort will certainly be awarded with continual cycles of interaction that develop loyalty and also drive revenue.

Three Steps to Real-Time Email Marketing

Real-time email advertising is testing yet definitely accessible for digitally smart brands. You do not need 10 or 12 information points in an offered email to see outcomes. An even more workable 4 or 5 vibrant information points could offer meaningful as well as remarkable customization. It suffices in order to help you leap from the spam folder to the trusted "top priority inbox," as viewers discover actual worth in your emails.

Real-time email marketing begins with a technique based upon customer requirements, then it incorporates advertising and marketing innovation to resolve the real-time, omnichannel consumer journey.

Step One: Gather Customer Data First, gather consumer insights in creative and purposeful means. Pop-up forms demand comments and also could be off-putting, and also prolonged registrations can feel like an investigation. If you gather from an array of sources and make it fun or rewarding for customers to share a little personal details, you could accumulate the contextual data you require. Social network site likes as well as complies with, enjoyable studies installed in your emails, and subscriber-preference settings are all useful.

Keep requests brief and also make it clear that you are seeking to make your material and experiences more relevant as well as important to the individual. It's high quality over quantity, letting visitors decide in or from e-mails might shrink your list originally, however those that do opt in have the tendency to really engage with material and also rate e-mails as very useful.

Step 2: Produce Real-Time Insights From the Data You need the capacity to swiftly sector your audience based upon the most valuable information in the minute. Organizing information around client personalities or profiles allows you to much better understand your customers as well as anticipate their behaviors.

For example, every person has various e-mail behaviors. A few of us are hoarders, obsessively classifying as well as keeping or archiving every message. Some delete every little thing when feasible so their inboxes stay beautiful. Others just allow it all accumulate, just clicking on unread messages that look important. You can make use of these contextual clues to update customer's e-mails-- baseding upon date, time, weather condition, area, current behaviors, and so forth-- each time they open up them.

Step Three: Remain to Gain from the Data Data grows stale quickly. Gradually capture insights so you always have a precise keep reading consumers' demands and preferences, as well as continually upgrade your sectors or characters to show just what you are observing and finding out about them. Preferably, you will locate on your own in a loop of screening and also rejuvenating-- a loop in which underperforming content and also strategies are replaced quickly.

The more habits and also preferences you catch, the more information you need to have fun with as well as the more relevant as well as useful your e-mail becomes-- and also high-value visitors end up being less complicated to spot.

Real-Time Email Marketing Is Fully grown Marketing

Mature your email-marketing efforts from traditional, static content to contextually appropriate, real-time value. Ultimately, real-time e-mail advertising will lead customers beyond the inbox to a smooth encounter across several channels.

Start with real-time digital-marketing tools and modern technology that could offer appropriate email content-- by area, time, preferences, as well as more-- to supply practical and also compelling experiences.

We would certainly love to listen to from you. Join our context email e-newsletter and take part in the most up to date discussion on e-mail with Adobe.

#marketing #marketing tools #social network #web marketing

[thebeautifulinsight]

In advertising, everybody wants to be a storyteller.

Maybe that’s because the word evokes a familiar mystique—a nostalgia for the time when ads were so novel and slick that people accused them of hidden agendas and subliminal hijinks.

Maybe it’s because the “storytelling” conceit dresses up awkward truths about what it means to work as a creative in a commercial space, constantly defending matters of gut, jockeying for position as a representative member of “the least important most important thing there is,” in Don Draper’s succinct formulation.

Storytelling gives our jobs a coherence and a point: it ties together every subjective choice and asserts that their sum is greater than the parts. It dumbly gesticulates toward a unified field theory in which the brand exists in perfect harmony with the company it fronts—as well as all past and future marketing efforts. And it helpfully erases the fingerprints of creatives themselves: “telling a brand’s story” presupposes that some version of the story was always there, waiting to be plucked from the ether by a creative medium and midwifed into tangibility.

In other words, consecrating ads as stories satisfies every meta-marketing objective.

So what’s the issue?

One obvious problem is that most brands have no particular story to tell—at least not anymore.

Julie Creswell’s great piece on Sears illustrates this new reality. The iconic retailer began as a salesman’s fever dream and innovated its way across the 20th century; now it limps along in a state of predeath, squeezed for every last penny through the financial engineering of its majority shareholder. While it once played the protagonist in some grand narrative of American retail, populated by icons like the mail-order catalogue and suburban stripmalls, Sears is just another flailing Amazon competitor today.

In 2017, whether a company thrives or struggles, its story is usually one of acquisition, scalability, and creative accounting. That’s not necessarily an indictment (though John Oliver offers a cutting one). But it does make CMOs who extol “authenticity” sound faintly ridiculous. Odds are good the brands they champion are one of a vast constellation of similar companies in a private equity fund or holding company portfolio, steered by the same market forces as their corporate kin.

Globalization, and the immense thicket of supply chains that undergird it, have in a way neutered the potency of brand stories—ironed out the kinks of differentiation and regional flavor that are the foundation of traditional storytelling. Stories are inherently local, even parochial: anchored to a place, a person, a set of circumstances, they reflect a particular worldview. As brands become increasingly global, they’re less able to tell that kind of story credibly.

And it’s hard to understand why they would ever want to. Advertising is an objectively terrible format for storytelling. Even the famed 60 second commercial, that fading holy grail, is ill suited to it. Good stories—the ones we watch on TV or film, read in prestigious weekly magazines, remember from our high school English classes—reward characterization, voice, humanity, and a bunch of other nuanced literary stuff. Commercials aren’t given enough breathing room to hit those notes.

Of course, many great story-driven commercials do exist; some are responsible for attracting creatives to advertising in the first place. But those are the outliers, as any casual TV watcher can attest. The vast majority of narrative spots are hammy and trite. Operas are more emotionally grounded. Conflating advertising with storytelling doesn’t set a high bar for quality; it commits a category mistake, dooming creatives to work with the wrong set of tools. The real power of advertising is in its interactivity.

Print ads plainly demonstrate this. Print is often cited as the purest advertising medium—if an idea can satisfy in two dimensions, it must have some validity—so it’s telling that print rarely traffics in narrative. Part of it is that nobody has the patience to read bricks of copy and that awards juries favor visual solutions and so forth. But maybe the most salient reason is that good print is more like a game than a story, and good creatives understand this intuitively.

Saki put it best: “In baiting a mousetrap with cheese, always leave room for the mouse.” Ads that require your participation, that present a puzzle to be solved, already have your attention. The really clever ones can leave you basking in an intellectual afterglow, like a prefrontal orgasm: your reward for expending effort on behalf of the brand. And in that moment, brands are at their most persuasive. What could be a better sales technique than convincing the buyer he thought it up himself?

Whether visual or text-based, retro or contemporary, print ads succeed when they engage you in a game.

The same holds for true other media. Take this Ikea billboard.

Whatever this billboard is doing, it is not telling a story. Rather, it’s asking you to reconfigure an unexpected image—to briefly decode the rules that govern this scene. At 60 miles an hour, they don’t need to be complicated: in this case the item and its price tag are ontologically swapped. But the pleasure of that recognition is the inherent pleasure of games.

What defines a story and what defines a game, and how much they overlap, are higher-order questions than advertising needs to answer. Lee Clow famously suggested that “The Apple Store is probably the best ad [Apple] ever did.” Are the Apple Stores examples of environmental storytelling? Maybe. They’re clearly an exercise in worldbuilding. But as with video games, their principal mechanism seems not to be narrative, but play: the thrill of being let loose in an unknown system and testing its rules. The immediacy of unscripted interaction.

The most famous campaigns from the past 20 years, from Subservient Chicken to Nike+ to Red Bull Stratos, share this gaming DNA. Narratives are often built into or around them—as product launches or “branded content”, as news events or PR coups—but narrative is incidental to their enduring appeal. At their most elemental, these ads are expressions of play.

Even celebrated TV spots, when you examine them, don’t look much like conventional stories. The Saturn commercial below, for instance, is not the tale of an autoless society in which people walk down roads. It’s more like a test: can you decipher the rules of this world? Can you figure out what the ad is going to tell you before it tells you? Whether you can or can’t, that knowledge gap is what makes the commercial compelling.Some TV spots go a step further, recording a playful moment without bogging it down in any semblance of story. They often feel lighter and less cynical as a result. Ikea executes this perfectly:

People love monkeys, no doubt. But it’s the snapshot of chaotic, joyful play that anchors the message and resonates with the viewer. Kitchens can be a locus of messy fun; with the right appliances and design (supplied by the right brand), yours can be too.

Stories aren’t going anywhere, needless to say. Creative advertising values insights—sometimes those insights are best consumed passively, and sometimes the right tools are psychological realism and dramatic composition.

Story remains a powerful lens for viewing anything at all.

But play is advertising’s great skill, its strongest foundation. When we recognize and respect that, good creative follows.

[andrewfpz777002-blog]

This Day In Past history.

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[alhorner]

Björk’s constellation in the clouds: The Icelandic superstar unravels her Utopia

“You know when you should go home from the bar? But you just stay for one more drink and one more drink and one more drink…” It’s early November, and Björk Guðmundsdóttir is searching for the words from her Icelandic home to describe an addiction she recently threw herself into: texting. “Oh, I was texting people like borderline crazy,” she laughs. “If I was with people in a room, my heart would be 51% with the people I’m texting and only 49% with the people in the room.” After a period of gloom following the breakdown of her marriage – distilled into stark, stormy audio violence on her last album, Vulnicura – the 52-year-old found herself drawn to the giddy thrills of shooting messages back and forth to friends and new acquaintances in her life. The puzzle of what they’d text back, the suspense of when or even if they’d reply, was a strange rush. “I really enjoyed it, but it was kinda fucked up!”

This, it turns out, is something Björk does a lot: finds a pastime, then takes it to an almost obsessive-compulsive extreme till she can bottle its sensation in musical form.“The same way I would obsess over an album or a lover,” she explains. During the making of 2001’s Vespertine, she didn’t just watch the TV trial of Michael Jackson: “I followed it manically. I just binged. I totally binged, curious to see how civilization would treat a creature like him.” Then there was her late introduction to Facebook. “At first, I didn’t want it in my life. Then when I did, I went really extreme. If I was going to do it, I wanted to do it with gravity and obsession, like it was the ocean,” she says. “I wanted to make it a feeling.”

There’s an argument to be made that this, above everything else – her constant search for innovation; her immaculate, instantly recognizable voice; the devastatingly beautiful visual worlds she builds around her music – is what has made Björk one of the most unequivocally singular artists of the last 30 years. Björk is a translator. She scrounges in all corners of the human experience, finding the feeling of nuanced, often unspoken situations, then translates them to melody, to the adoration of hundreds of thousands of fans worldwide.

In March 1997, when the Reykjavík-born artist won the first ever Nordic Council Music prize, a jury member compared her to the Norse god Heimdallr, guardian of Bifröst – a burning rainbow bridge linking the realms of god and man. Raised on classical piano and flute, baptised with punk in her teens then revealing herself to be an avant-pop marvel as her career took flight, the implication was that she bridged the gap between “the classical and the cutting edge,” as Emily Mackay puts it in her 33 1/3 book on the star. Two decades of trail-blazing later, you could push the analogy further: the most significant gap she bridges is between the emotions we all experience (and sometimes have never thought to articulate) and the melodies that truthfully, authentically represent them.

Like, for example, the multiple mini emotional rollercoasters that spring from your phone’s messaging apps daily. “There are some songs on there about texting and over-texting,” she beams of Utopia, her ninth album, and first full-length proper collaboration with new musical soulmate, Arca. The Venezuelan producer had a pivotal role on Vulnicura, but only began contributing in its final stages. Here, he was so deeply involved, “we kinda wanted to [title the album] ‘made by Björk and Arca’ because the mode was so intense between us,” Björk reveals.

The album was billed half-jokingly in an interview as her “Tinder album” and understandably so. The airy and light exhalation to Vulnicura‘s asthma-attack panic-grip of grief, it’s a harp, flute and romance-filled voyage to a peach-pastel paradise, in which Björk is learning to be intimate again. On lead single ‘The Gate’, the titular gate is the one in which you let someone in, and let love out in return: “If you care for me, I’ll care for you,” she sings over the sparsest of orchestral blossoms. “Didn’t used to be so needy.” She is, critics have been in a rush to point out, full of love again.

21 years ago, in Martin Aston’s Björkgraphy, she likened releasing an album to “putting your diary out for everyone to read.” Has that sensation intensified, I ask, over these last two albums, on which her personal life – the grief of divorce on Vulnicura, and the excitement of meeting new people on Utopia – has been such a public part of those records? “Yeah… but in a good way,” she smiles, and our conversation – touching on her long lost Wu-Tang collaboration, her frustrations with streaming services, our obsession with the end of the world and much, much more – gets underway.

Do you still get nervous before a release?

I still get nerves when I release an album. It’d be odd if I didn’t, you know? I’d be worried if it was like, drinking a glass of water. It’s also a good feeling, like AHHHHHH. There are two different things: making an album with your friends in a sort of protected cocoon, and then seeing it venture out into the light outside. I’ve done it long enough now to know that people will react to it differently than it felt inside the cocoon. What I hold my breath a little for is that it’s the right proportion: that they don’t take one element and exaggerate it into something huge, or take something that’s a big deal for me on the album, but be like, “forget about it!” So it’s like that. Accepting that people are going to see it different from what I see, but hoping that they see something close to what I intended.

Was the lightness of Utopia, compared to the darkness of Vulnicura, something you consciously set out to do, or something you gravitated towards naturally?

Because it was such dark subject matter with Vulnicura, we were definitely keen on lightness. I guess we’d just been listening non-stop for two years to really grim lyrics and rough string arrangements. And when you’ve been at the bottom of the lake for so long… eventually you’re going to float up to the surface. It’s like physics. So I was really excited by things really fluffy and airy and floating and, like, fireworks!

The first song we did was the first song on the album [‘Arisen My Senses’]. I actually found a loop of a mixtape or a SoundCloud thing that [Arca] had done three years prior. I just thought it was the most happiest firework that he’d ever done. I didn’t tell him about it – I just sampled it, sang it to him and he just exploded, you know? I wasn’t really conscious of what I was doing. I was reaching for the most euphoric, antigravity moment that he’d done, and then I exaggerated that by looping it and writing a harp arrangement around it and singing on top of it these ecstatic lyrics. After we’d taken the saddest coordinates of each other and combined them into Vulnicura, we were doing the opposite now. And that was kinda the starting point.

So ‘Arisen My Senses’ became the blueprint for the rest of the album?

After that, the songs would just roll out. You know, we didn’t really know how to credit this album. I think we managed with what little logical sides of our brains are left – and there’s not a lot, by the way! – to write on a piece of paper the different [ways] we wrote this album. One is: he’d send me music that he’d made, then I would pick a bit, like I just described to you, in ‘Arisen’… I would edit it on ProTools, because all the songs on my albums are edited by me on ProTools. That’s one way.

Another way was more similar to Vulnicura: I would write a song like I normally do – I’d do a flute arrangement or a harp arrangement then sing – and then he would come and make a beat to it. There were a couple of songs like that: ‘Blissing Me’, ‘Body Memory’ and I think like five or six songs like that.

Then there were songs he would send me [complete] songs and I’d write over the top of it, which I’ve never done but I’ll do with him. ‘The Gate’, the first single, that was that sort of song. He sent me the instrumental and it was so perfect, it didn’t need any editing. Actually I take that back – it did need some editing [laughs]. So I wrote the flute arrangement and my vocals. ‘Painstaker’ was also like that, the second last song.

Then there were songs similar to how we did ‘Notget’ on Vulnicura, where I took a song he’d already written, and a song of mine that I’d already written, and we’d do a mash-up. I just choked them to pieces and made a new thing out of two songs that already exist.

Was writing something that was lighter less of a strain than mining the darkness that you did on the last record?

Yep, absolutely! It couldn’t be more extreme. I think something about grief of Vulnicura, which was so sad, made the melodies like they were just lying on the floor. They don’t move a lot. The strings were very heavy and the beats were very heavy. There were no plants: it was just a barren landscape. And so I think we wanted to do the opposite. To make melodies that were like constellations in the clouds.

I think for me, in the beginning of Utopia, I was very excited to break away from the narrative on Vulnicura. It was so heavy and “me me me” and “poor me.” I just wanted to disappear and become one of the instruments and lose that heavy narration. All the first songs I wrote [for Utopia] had three or four lead vocals and not one of them was in the front. Part of it was because I was doing a lot of VR and I wanted to do something where my vocals were around you. But also emotionally, I’d just OD’d on the self-importance of the narrator. So a lot of the melodies have like five vocals and none of them are lead vocals. They’re like musical statements.

You mentioned in an interview last year that you and Richard D. James swap tracks via email. Did Aphex get a sneak peek of Utopia?

Hah, no. I was kinda blushing that that was blown up… Back when I lived in London, we did. If we hear a track we think the other one is going to like, we send it to each other. But other people’s music. Everything I find I really try to share.

The album is titled Utopia. In literature, in film, in TV and in video games, you’re much more likely to encounter savaged worlds and post-apocalyptic tomorrows than futures in which humankind has got its shit together. Do we as a society fetishize dystopia?

Yes, absolutely. Utopia is a political statement for me. I’ve had enough of western civilisation feeling sorry for themselves and being paralyzed and not acting. Western civilization thinks their story is the only story in the world. The self-importance of the west makes them think they’re having this tragic, Titanic moment where they want the rest of the planet to hold their breath and feel sorry for them while they sink. That’s okay for a little bit when something sad happens, but not like for like 100 years. We can’t spare any time. We need to go into action. We need green energy. We need to react.

We don’t have the luxury of indulging in this “poor me, the world is going to die” dystopia stuff. I think we have to get up on our feet and act. And I think the entertainment industry should feel responsible, definitely. Maybe I’m being too much of a mum but 90% of material that is coming from the [western entertainment] has normalised killing. It’s okay if it’s an aesthetic of a singular artist who wants to be nihilistic or dystopian. That’s one thing. But now our survival of the human species is at stake and I’m not being dramatic, unfortunately. I think we need to kick into action and come with solutions. And we need to do it now.

What do you think is the first step?

I could cry all day about the fact that the majority of the animal species are disappearing and my grandchildren might not see a lot of them. That’s tragic beyond words. But we need to ask ourselves: how can we make the best out of where we’re at right now? That has to be green energy solutions that are functional.

I’m not a megalomaniac. I understand that utopia is not singular. But I think there has to be a mass that stand up and do stuff. Seeing what’s happening online, especially after Trump got elected and resigned from the Paris Climate Accord, I really think it has to be ground-up. I has to be DIY. It has be grassroots, the people. We cannot rely on governments to go green. And that’s where popular music comes in. It’s always been the voice of the people. So yeah, that’s how I feel about that.

That paralysis you describe – where people are so overwhelmed by the negativity that they’re incapable of acting – is a really tricky thing to overcome. How do you stop yourself becoming overwhelmed by negativity? How do you avoid that paralysis point?

I go for walks in nature. Outside my window now, there’s a beach. I need that nature connection. I think there’s something in the molecules of nature that just brings equilibrium through the elements. When you move through it, it balances you. And you’re not meant to do it on your own. That’s not how nature designed us. You’re not supposed to go into an isolation tank. [laughs] If you go for a 30 minute walk every day through trees, or a river, or whatever natural elements are close by, it’s really very healing.

When I lived in London, I walked around the canals a lot. It’s maybe not like the highlands of Iceland, but the elements of water and the fact they are not straight lines… something magical happens. [Science is] proving more and more that nature harmonizes between your mind and your body. The three things are not separate. I find very often when I go on walks, whatever is making my mind busy or is causing me frustration after 20 minutes will show its face, and usually, by the time I’m back home I have a plan of how to deal with it.

I think something in our survival mechanism likes you to walk and find a rhythm. So, walking. But also, have you tried kundalini yoga? I just find it on YouTube. There’s a lot of breathing and if you have anxiety, the best cure for it is that amount of breathing. If you wake up with anxiety, just find a 40-minute kundalini class on YouTube and you’ll be amazed. The anxiety is just gone. And sometimes before bed – if you’re finding it hard to sleep at night, that’s a really good trick.

As well as nature, you’ve long been an advocate for the positive power of technology. Have the changes in the way technology has impacted our lives over the last few years – fake news, Russian bots, the dark side of companies like Facebook and Google – threatened to make you reevaluate that positive belief at all?

Yes. I think we have to readjust all the time. Progress is going to happen if you like it or not. We don’t live in caves. So it’s like, how are we gonna live with it? I’ve said this many times before, but every invention of the human race, it’s always been incredible and miraculous. But then the aftermath is always: well, okay, how do we adapt morality to it? How do we adapt this to the human soul? It’s always the same question – whether it’s fire or the radio or Facebook.

Homogenic recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. Here’s something I’ve always wondered about that era in your career, as a big Wu-Tang fan: RZA is said to have recorded with you around that time, but the sessions never saw the light of day. What happened?

Ha! You know… I don’t know! I think what happened was… I wanted these kinda Icelandic, volcanic beats, and I was kind of struggling with it. I had done beats on my albums, but it takes me a long time to make them. And sometimes I get impatient and I want other people to do it, so I sit there and describe to them what I want them to do. So, I was in Spain, and Wu-Tang Clan were supposed to come to Spain. RZA was supposed to come. But then months passed. Then the album got finished and I delivered it. Then RZA was like, “I’m ready! Shall I come to Spain?”

Instead, I went to New York. We wrote a couple of songs together. And I just felt… sometimes when you do things and you don’t plan them it’s magic. And I really think what we made was magic. But I think because it wasn’t part of the whole Homogenic thing and it wasn’t part of what Wu-Tang were doing at the time, it was better as an idea, if that makes any sense?

We met a few times though – my favourite moment was when I did an in-store at Tower Records. I’d never done anything like that before. I turned up – and seven of the Wu-Tang Clan turned up to, like, protect me! I was signing books for an hour, and they sent some of their team, standing there with me. That was one of my all-time favourite moments: I had been on my own, so when they turned up I felt very protected. It was magic. In my eyes, they’re punk. We are definitely [similar] – we do things in, like, a ritual way. The good thing was that I got to hang out with them. I got to see Wu-Tang’s version of New York. Which was pretty cool. A very specific angle on that city that I feel very blessed to have experienced.

I also once heard a whisper you recorded with another New York rap luminary, Jay Z. Is that true?

There was, perhaps… He asked me to write for one of his albums. It was a section for a song. But it just didn’t happen in the end. Wasn’t meant to be. I’m always flattered when people ask me. There’s a lot of things that I like about him.

I wanted to ask a question about streaming. You’re a great believer in technology and the idea that progress is going to happen. But you’re also someone who makes very complete bodies of work. How do you reconcile those two things when the nature of platforms like Spotify and Apple Music means a lot of people will probably experience tracks from Utopia on playlists, rather than as a whole?

I’ve always been a great believer in polarity. Polar opposites. We don’t have to choose nature or urban, that’s not the point. The point is, how can we make them coexist? I think the same with men and women, pop and ‘serious’ music… Why choose? Eliminating things is not natural.

So same goes with this. Albums can be albums, but songs can exist on their own. I’ve been making playlists of a sort more or less since I was a teenager, for DJ sets. It’s one of my favourite things actually – being able to take three minutes of that song and three minutes of that song, complete opposites, and putting them back to back. Completely different musicians. If we say we can’t do that, we’re limiting the powers of music. It’s one of the most powerful things that music can do.

I’ll tell you though, hand to heart, I think streaming [platforms] are taking the piss. I think we need more fairness. I’m okay – I sold CDs in the ‘90s. I’ve got a house. But kids who are now in their 20s, I’m seeing it seriously affecting incredibly talented musicians, who could become really really incredible and grow into beautiful artists, but they can’t do it, because everything they make, they have to give away for free.

So they tour more.

Exactly. It tears them away from their family and uproots them. Streaming has exaggerated that. Kids in their 30s now have been on the road for 10 years. You know? With no breaks. I’ve toured a lot, but I would tour for a year, then I would be somewhere for a year and a half and write an album. So you could lick your wounds and heal and get your shit together and be with your family members. Now, you don’t have that. Streaming is not fair. I’m hoping it will change. Maybe we are slowly figuring out a way that is going to be a solution, so musicians get paid for their work.

You mentioned your DJ sets a few moments ago, which give fans real insight into the music you like that maybe isn’t represented in your work as Björk. Lil Yachty for example. How do you stay across new music in 2017?

It’s a combination. I have websites I go to where I find things. I’ll spend days online looking for inspiration. It was real fun when I was mixing my album. I couldn’t take in any more music. So I was listening to a lot of spoken word for like a month or two. Once I delivered my album, I was so ready for new music. And I’d put aside all these links. Then I spent two or three days on these links. Being away from it for two or three months meant there were tonnes of amazing things.

You’ve dropped Rihanna in quite a few sets.

I just think what I find most exciting about her over the last two years is how she’s grown vocally. Like, her voice in ‘Work’, it’s so present. It’s like right there with you. Right next to you. But still the most relaxed way possible. I love the emotion of her beats. I think it was really brave on her last album not to think in singles. She did the songs she would listen to herself and dance to herself and you could really hear that. It’s in the tone of her voice. That’s what’s amazing. It’s about sound. But I don’t know. I just like it, it’s that simple.

Coming back to Utopia: does the mood of your next album depend on how much of this album’s message humanity chooses to adopt? Do we have it in us to make your fantasy a reality?

Hmmmm. I think fantasy and imagination are just as valid as reality. And I think that’s maybe what Utopia is also tapping into: how our fantasies are just as valid as reality. It’s kinda curious how the two things then try to coexist. When you want that fantasy to come true, if half of it comes true, that’s good going, you know? But how do you execute that? I find that fascinating. It’s a beautiful thing.

FACT, November 2017

[chancemeadows69-blog]

Faith Contents.

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At times this leading critter stands back, or even is actually much more covert at that point the other smaller creatures, that frequently looks like a hoping mantis, reptilian, or even a much larger grey, and at other times this being appears like a typical human dressed in a fatigue clothes or even a tall, blonde haired, blue eyed being typically nicknamed a Nordic. Evidence coming from ancient lifestyles reveals that the elegance from floral setups such as those made by a Floral designer Brisbane like Flowers on Oxford have actually been actually enjoyed by human beings due to the fact that the starting point from society. Various other writers refer to the old Peruvians merely as pre-Incas, given that their job obviously concerns a grow older a greater distance in the past the Inca empire controlled by the Spaniards. 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It was traditional in old opportunities for a beat standard to relinquish his steed, so the symbolic present of the equine seemed to be to trojans to become a notification of submission coming from the Greeks. Whether it is actually the bride from ancient opportunity holding natural herbs to thwart ghouls or today's modern bride lugging a brilliantly colour and also detailed made bouquet, the wedding event arrangement is actually one wedding ceremony tradition that is actually fated to continue to be a part of our wedding event tradition. Understand about lifestyle in city places and neighborhoods of a variety of societies of the world at several times in their past history. Some article writers refer to the builders as Big-stone or megalithic folks, given that they made use of huge stones, like the legendary Cyclopes of the ancient Greeks, that built large walls and operated in metallics. From the huge assortment of ancient Egyptian artwork, proof exists from numerous varieties of birds that are actually right now vanished. Masters made use of to hoard both silver and gold as a procedure from their wealth in early opportunities. He thinks these people were actually an offshoot of a people phoned the Urus that launched the concept from monotheism to the Historical Egyptians. Old weapons like Agneyastra, Varunastra, Brahmastra, Nagpash etc were actually not like today's modern rifles, fuel shells etc Especially when they incorporate along with traits our experts do not would like to acknowledge about guy's far more innovative attribute in old opportunities. Even in the times as far back in past history as the Greek society, folks have observed elegance as well as personal cleanliness. Herbs have actually been used given that ancient times to stop nightfall, sexual weak spot as well as exhaustion efficiently and with no side effects on general health and wellness. Kumalak is a primordial geomantic technique from historical fortune saying to which was come from Kazakhstan that stretching over back over hundreds of centuries. The Britain Manual, the last manual in The Kolbrin Bible, states that Joseph of Arimathea, excellent uncle to Jesus Christ, carried the Egyptian Scrolls with him when he delivered the family and friends of Jesus coming from Judea to Britain. Attempt looking at the suggestions listed below if you do not have an idea along with how to start with it. Quran is a manual from magics and also is one statement that is approved by many individuals which have actually reviewed the Holy Quran and also tried to understand that. If you have any kind of questions regarding where and ways to utilize yellow pages uk reverse lookup (plecach-fit22.pl), you can contact us at our own page. That is actually one thing that was actually given through Allah Almighty for the best interests of the humankind. I can point out that many of guide is going to sound along with my audiences because we have actually always understood that there is even more to life than the dress feeling from some minor famous person or even some unrelated political shenanigans. The Historical society from Egypt started with the South American's relationship along with a very early African innovator called Kufu for whom they constructed the first pyramid in Africa.andnbsp; Constantly seeking better farming land, the Ancient Egyptians set out to find a andquot; land of richesandquot; as well as discovered that in between East. The old Druids were actually likewise Shamans (women: Shamankas) and also clergy, and their clothing often consisted of long white colored robes, headgears, and feathered mantles. These historical grains were located from Afghanistan to the far flung scopes of the Himalayan mountain range where they were gathered through very early people in their wild, raw, however still profuse form. A range of information are readily available for the trainee of ancient history to seek his or her passions. That historical text message, calling for the foundations from the religious beliefs, was at times described as the Book of Illumination and often as the Discoveries of Elijah. The tax-exempt problem from many modern charitable organizations possesses its own origins in this early strategy and this kind of privilege has actually long resulted in molding a variety of status power structures within Western communities. The rods as well as flies explained in the book were akin to those explained by Dame Juliana. Stylish methods of luck informing already existed and dated back to age-old opportunities when ancient ancestors just relied on the placement from the superstars, moon and also the earths were the only obvious ways of showing the future and also pondering. Gould chose the 48 ancient constellations and also 40 that had been actually invented mainly in between 1500 and also 1800 to fill spaces left by ancients. When they to begin with looked at the impressive gardens of the asian Persian Masters, the Old Greeks were filled with amazement. If you want to know Chinese language, then technique it gently as well as thoroughly as a link to not only interaction with this sensational tradition, however know Mandarin foreign language to reap the historic past and also means from their planet too. Just what I actually ased if concerning this book was its own importance on constitutionals rights and exactly how previous and also present rules assist or even hurt human rights. And also eventually, color printers acquired these definitions as well as posted all of them, leaving them for our company in modern opportunities. Utilizing a Kritya of historical opportunities one might get rid of individuals in far off regions while settled at home making use of Rule shouting electrical power. It is actually horribly modern-day to assume that factors today are quite other off the means they were in early opportunities, particularly in relations to the task from ladies in organisation, society, and also politics. This is actually because of this that the Puzzle and also esoteric institutions set up by the ancient sages went underground and functioned clandestinely.