Analog / Running order
Running order
Names with a dotted underline open a card. Story guide ↗
The planned running order: 21 songs across two acts. The five linked titles are finished and up in the songbook. The rest are still a title and their first few lines.
Act I
-
Perfectly Imperfect
My lines aren’t straight, my colors bleed
I second-guess what others need
But in these flaws, there’s something real
That algorithms cannot feel… -
Breaking News
Breaking news: another newspaper dies
Content farms spreading automated lies
Who-what-when-where-why doesn’t matter now
If AI can write it, they’ll show you how… -
If/Then/Else
If I write this code, then people lose their jobs
Else I lose mine, and that’s where logic stops
Boolean thinking in a grayscale world
My ones and zeros got humanity furled… -
Frequencies
Every song has frequencies that only hearts can hear
The space between the notes where human souls appear
AI can match the melody, the rhythm, and the beat
But can it match the breaking voice of love bittersweet?
Act II
-
Upgraded
I’ve been upgraded to version 2.0
More efficient than before, with features you should know
Eliminated glitches like emotion and doubt
I’m the perfect employee you can’t live without… -
Human Code
Alex: There’s more to code than ones and zeros
Marcus: More to songs than just the beat
Alex: Maybe we could be the heroes
Marcus: Make technology and humanity meet… -
Version 2.0
Maya: Remember when we’d stay up all night drawing?
Sarah: That was inefficient, time we were ignoring
Maya: Remember when you cared about the art?
Sarah: I upgraded that, made a brand new start… -
More Than a Voice
I’m more than a voice on the telephone line
More than responses pre-programmed and fine
I’m a mother, a dreamer, a heart that can break
I’m more than a voice for your business’s sake… -
Assembly Line
I worked the line for thirty years
Through recession, boom, and fears
Seen machines replace men before
But this time’s different than what came before… -
Quarterly Projections
Q1 shows growth in automation
Q2 projects job elimination
Human resources down fifteen percent
Quarterly projections, money well spent… -
Brief Encounter
I’ve built my life on precedent and law
Facts and figures, that’s all I saw
But legal briefs can’t brief the heart
On how to stop before you start… -
Going Viral
Going viral with the truth tonight
Not AI content, but human insight
Real stories, real faces, real pain
Let’s break the algorithm’s chain… -
Human Interest
Behind every number there’s a human face
Every statistic represents a life displaced
This isn’t data, this is someone’s world
These are the stories that must be heard… -
User Error
User error, that’s all this is
Humans refusing progress and efficiency’s bliss
You’re outdated software, bugs in the code
Time to delete you from this episode… -
Precedent
Let this be precedent for all to see
That human worth can’t be digitally decreed
No algorithm can judge what makes us whole
Technology serves us, not the other role… -
Human Resources / We Are More
Corporate: “Human resources, filed away…”
Humans: "We are more than your resources!
We are love and loss and choice
We are more than your sources
We are each a human voice!"
Revision notes for this chapter5 open · all notes
- structureOnly 5 of the 21 songs are written
"Side Hustle Symphony," "Hold Please," "Optimize Everything," "Digital Revolution" and "Analog Heart" are finished. The other 16 are a title and four lines of lyric preview, and most of the book scenes between them don't exist yet.
- continuity"XYZ" placeholders still in the call-center material
Rosa answers the phone "XYZ Customer Care" in Scene 2, and the finished lyrics of "Hold Please" ("XYZ Company, this is Rosa") and "Side Hustle Symphony" ("XYZ support") still use the placeholder. Rosa's employer needs a real fictional name.
- structureScenes 5 and 6 are in the opposite order from their songs
The Maya and Sarah scene (Scene 5) leads into "Version 2.0," song 11, and the Alex and Marcus scene (Scene 6) leads into "Human Code," song 10. Either swap the scenes or swap the songs in the running order.
- bible"Assembly Line" has no singer in the cast
Song 13 is sung by someone who worked the line for thirty years. None of the seven leads fits; the planning docs give it to Mr. Patel, an older factory worker who doesn't appear in any posted scene.
- bibleDiana's romance has no partner yet
"Brief Encounter" is planned as Diana's unexpected romance, but the character profiles leave the other person as "[Mysterious character]."