Heated, I replied, “We’re well aware of the value of our company and we don’t offer partner status lightly. Aashvi has rejected several offers already”, I said lying through my teeth. If Ronie noticed my bluff they made no sign and clicked through a link on the website and pulled up the about us section I wrote over a year ago. 

They scowled at the screen, then looked at me after hesitating and asked, “Your site promises here that The Rawls Machine works toward the abolition of unjust inequality through the incorporation of previously marginalized voices. Doesn’t that sound a bit lofty to you?”

Ronie rose from the chair and paced around the apartment space occasionally glancing at my face becoming more animated. They said,  “I mean, what can you learn about people with a 10 question survey? I guess the other investors must have intuited something of this sort:  it isn’t clear to me how with only 10 questions you can claim to gather meaningful data, really, data so meaningful that it can change the world.”

I expected to haggle over their office location and annual bonuses-- not to defend months of work culminating in my most prized project within the company and how they had learned about our difficulties with investor relations unless Aashvi told them but she wouldn’t let me come here without telling me first. 

No, I wasn’t going to let Ronie get in my head, “If you must know, I personally worked with a team of behavioral specialists to come up with the 10 question set you found in the packet. We have come up with a strategy for evaluating individual responses and tringulating the respondent’s needs and wants.” Before I finished, Ronie plopped into their chair and hung their head in apparent frustration.

 Their shoulders shrugged before they replied, “I wish you had consulted me when developing these, the questions here simply won’t do.” That said, their eyes sprang up to look into mine.

I lost it. “What are you talking about? I spent months! Researching, calibrating, and developing these! From one fucking look you claim that it’s entirely useless. That’s not intelligence that’s arrogance! And you’re trying to claim, three days before launch, that something is irreversibly wrong with our data collection process?!” I spat at them as my face bloomed deep red the way it does when I’m angry. 

Unbothered, Ronie said, “No, I don’t think it’s entirely useless. You’re right to think about the type of user input and I agree the survey itself needs to be short and simple. Otherwise, users might lose interest or the survey might exclude people. The survey shows little regard for what algorithms can do or an appreciation for the complexities of the social-political sphere.” They finished talking and leaned back in their chair.

I laughed before asking them, “Ronie, on that topic, what speciality do you think you bring to the table? And what exactly is a social engineer? Last I checked, your ex-firm worked to provide data analytics to businesses. A social engineer is another name for a con artist-- is that your subtle way of telling me you’re full of shit?”

Ronie laughed from the gut for a full minute and finally said, “Yeah, that’s kind of exactly it. A social engineer is one who ‘hacks’ psychological and sociological blindspots in their audience. I’m really a magician-- not in that I deceive people but that I use psychology to create beautiful user experiences. With the consulting firm bankrupt, I have had time to develop,  collect, and interpolate. It led me to where I am now and it’s possible that I am more committed to the project than you!” Ronie had stood and was nearly shouting. My stomach had flipped over and bile collected in the back of my mouth. 

They apologized, but I was trying to provoke them. Ronie was right. It stung. About it all. My survey was useless. I had to admit it-- despite my best efforts I failed. I failed with the investors, the survey, maybe even the campaign launch. No, it’s not that I don’t believe, it’s that I’m not qualified to handle this. Any of this and they had pointed it out with the air of someone who doesn’t see the issue in failing to provide value to your best friend/business partner. Rage was the right word but now I just feel sick.

They sat down and gestured for me to do the same so I sat. The queasiness passed and the embarrassment faded, we both lost control and it somehow became easier to talk. “How do you propose fixing it?” I asked before asking for a beer. Ronie peaked up and grabbed two bottles from the fridge while offering the following account:

“It’s simple, You wanted a neatly packaged account of people’s responses on how to best reorient the world. To do that, you created questions that record responses and pinpoint a position; It wasn’t algorithmic but the work you did was not useless. In fact, it’s by beginning with these questions that we can develop a meaningful set--each question is predetermined by the response to the previous question. We’ll need to infer patterns from the relations between similar data clusters.” Ronie’s tone matched the beginning of the conservation as if nothing happened-- if they wanted to save face or hadn’t noticed my reaction barely mattered.

It didn’t go entirely over my head but I was losing focus as I thought more about their perception of me. I wanted to be out of there, “And what do you want, why did you call Aashvi and can you fix the survey before launch?” Ronie blinked and stared at me for a second, their face glowed in the monitor. They replied, “I might know how to make this work and I believe in the project,” with an air of deference. 

I considered the weight of the decision to bring them on officially before replying, “You will gain full mainframe access after the marketing launch until then you are only authorized to work on the survey and will be paid starting tomorrow. You will join board meetings in two weeks time and our brokerage will send the shares when the money clears. I’ve handled our finances from the beginning and I am always watching-- don’t try anything you might regret.” At that, we both stood and faced the door.

Ronie walked me to the adjacent boulevard and was silent the entire way down. Once outside, they mentioned looking forward to working together as colleagues and I nodded and said something like “Fix the damn survey” before once again enjoying the silence of my car.