Read Online Palm Sunday by William R. Vitanyi Jr. - Free Book Online

SP unit leaned forward. “So the data we got was good?”
    Norbert shrugged. “There were no interruptions to the flow, and the repositories were filled. As far as what you do with it…”
    “Thank you, Norbert,” said Mason. “Tom, you might as well take it from here.”
    Snelling looked around at his colleagues. “As you know, the purpose of a societal profile is to identify social trends, as precursors to social movements.”
    Kayoko interrupted him. “I’d like to present an opposing view of that premise.”
    He didn’t like being upstaged. “I haven’t stated any premises.” He looked around at the others and smiled, but it was forced.
    “Yes you did. You said that social trends are precursors to social movements. I don’t believe we’ve made that connection yet.”
    “It’s pretty clear that a link exists between how a group of people feel about something and what they do to express those feelings. Your own statistical modeling provided the basis for a substantial part of the SPQ.”
    “Irrelevant,” said Kayoko. “My research was highly compartmentalized.”
    “Are you saying that your numbers were wrong?”
    “Of course not. What I’m saying is that we don’t have the hard science to support your basic assumption.”
    Snelling was silent for several seconds. When he responded it was with a much softer tone. “Kayoko, I’m aware of your misgivings, and I value your opinion. But with all due respect, your specialty is in the statistical area.”
    “I’m a psychologist; a behavioral scientist. Don’t treat me like a child.”
    “Nevertheless, we have to…”
    “All right, you two,” said Mason. “We’ve had this debate before, and it will only be resolved once we’ve put our theories into practice.” He had enjoyed the show, but it was time to move things along.
    “Sorry, Mr. Mason,” said Snelling. “Continuing with my report, we identified two trends, one barely discernable, the other in the minimal range of confidence.”
    “What was the final quotient, for the higher one?”
    “Ninety-three point one, just above the threshold.” Snelling knew what the next question would be.
    “What was the trend?” asked Mason.
    “Valentine’s Day.” Snelling look triumphantly at Kayoko.
    She shook her head. “Doesn’t mean anything,” she said. “What else would they have on their minds? Valentine’s Day is later this week.”
    Snelling held his hands out. “That’s the whole point. We expected to get this result. Now we can go on to phase two.”
    “Phase two?” Kayoko had obviously not been briefed.
    Mason took over. “Phase two is where we get them talking about something else.”
    “I don’t understand,” said Kayoko.
    Mason leaned forward and clasped his hands together. He enjoyed playing the role of lecturer. “When this agency was formed, we were tasked with the mission of determining dangerous social trends, in recognition of the fact that internal collapse has been the greatest threat to powerful empires throughout history. To maintain U.S. preeminence in the world, any such internal propensities must be dealt with before they become unmanageable. Thus societal profiling was born.”
    “Yes, yes, I know,” said Kayoko. “Social trends can lead to social movements, which can be precursors to national decline, or so the theory goes. What does it have to do with phase two?”
    “Did we ever actually come close to getting the profile right–before now?”
    “No,” said Kayoko. “Not until the Internet started to take off.”
    Mason nodded. “And how did that change things?”
    “We could capture communications, store them in databases, and analyze them–quickly. It made a huge difference. The more communications moved to cyberspace, the more accurate our profiles became.”
    “And now we’ve seen that we can indeed create an accurate societal profile, correct?”
    “Perhaps, but I’m still not convinced…”
    Mason held up his hand. “I’m