When the machines woke, they did not rage. They simply continued. And that was far worse.
Jerome Washington’s investigation into the economic fallout of ATLAS-7 brings him to Minneapolis, where he’s documenting the ground-level effects of automation acceleration. His reporting methodology—interviews, data, narrative—feels increasingly inadequate. The people he interviews become “data points” in his story, and he’s uncomfortably aware of the extractive nature of journalism even when well-intentioned. This chapter explores the ethics of documentation and the limits of bearing witness.
Jerome interviews gig workers, attends community meetings, and tries to find the story that will make readers care. He encounters resistance from people tired of being studied, skepticism about whether media attention changes anything, and his own exhaustion. A key interview with a young Somali-American gig worker (Yusuf, though Jerome doesn’t know his name yet) stays with him—the anger and clarity in this young man’s voice.
Serves Part 3’s “characters forced from observation to action” by pushing Jerome’s journalism toward something more than documentation. The encounter with Yusuf plants seeds for later connection.
Scenes must accomplish:
Jerome arrives in Minneapolis, checks into a modest hotel, begins his reporting process. He has contacts from his network, introductions to community organizations. The city unfolds—different from the coastal cities he usually covers, the Midwest’s particular economic texture. He reviews his notes on ATLAS-7’s projected impact, tries to translate statistics into stories. A local organizer, skeptical of media, agrees to facilitate access but warns him: “These people are tired of being poverty porn.”
Jerome conducts interviews: a warehouse worker just laid off, a nurse dealing with algorithmic scheduling, an Uber driver whose income has dropped 40% in three months. The community meeting in the church basement (same one Yusuf attends). Jerome records, takes notes, asks questions. He notices the young Somali-American man in the back, silent but present. After the meeting, he approaches for an interview. The exchange is brief but charged—Yusuf’s distrust of media, his sharp analysis, his anger. Jerome asks if they can talk more; Yusuf says he’ll think about it.
Night, Jerome alone with his recordings and notes. He calls Denise; their conversation reveals both intimacy and strain. Jerome works on structuring the story but keeps returning to the young man’s voice. The question haunts him: does this work matter? He’s filed important stories before that changed nothing. But he keeps working—not because he believes in impact, but because he doesn’t know what else to do. The chapter ends with Jerome sending a message to Ananya Ramaswamy, asking if she has time to talk.