Author Topic: EP432: Inappropriate Behavior  (Read 23898 times)

yicheng

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Reply #50 on: February 11, 2014, 06:14:31 AM
I started off hating the story, and gradually warmed up to it, until I was sold at the end.  I think part of what made the story very hard to digest is that the narrator tripped up several times during the first 30 minutes of the reading, sounding more like a substitute high school teacher trying to pronounce a long list of foreign names than a professional narrator giving a reading of a story.  I am fairly sure this was unintentional, as the narration seemed to pick up pace and the characters even sounded colorful after that.  The halted reading, together with the narrator's accent and mispronouncement of word ("KAR-apace" and what I think was "pervasiveness"), plus poor audio quality (at times), made for a hard listen. 

Once I got past that part, though, the story itself was decent.  The characters were a bit one-dimensional, but I enjoyed the view through the eyes of Annie (even if Alistair did keep on calling her Mary at the end).  The plot was simplistic, and to be honest, quite full of holes, but it performed its purpose, as the story wasn't really about what was happening as much as it was a vehicle to talk about autism.

Slight nit-picks:

* Evan was a complete idiot to be sailing alone, and apparently without any sort of radio contact, gps beacon, or trip plan. Who the hell does something like this?  If he wasn't lucky enough to have happened to wash up on an island where an autistic kid happened to be playing, he would have been a bleached skeleton in the sand long before anyone found him.

* The doctor was also an idiot.  I"m not a psychiatrist, but I can't imagine any responsible doctor thinking that it's a good idea to let an autistic person just roam around on an island completely unsupervised, even if there was zero chance that she could have actually hurt herself.  From the sound of it, the Mechano was a very expensive piece of equipment.  You'd think with all those millions of dollars invested in being able to remotely control a mining robot from half way around the world, they could have spared a monitoring/recording system that could see what Annie was doing (similar to cockpit recordings of military UAV's).  I realize that having the doctors rely on secondary cameras was a plot device, but it was a very poor and contrived one.



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Reply #51 on: February 11, 2014, 02:19:56 PM
You'd think with all those millions of dollars invested in being able to remotely control a mining robot from half way around the world, they could have spared a monitoring/recording system that could see what Annie was doing (similar to cockpit recordings of military UAV's).  I realize that having the doctors rely on secondary cameras was a plot device, but it was a very poor and contrived one.

That's a really good point.  You'd think that if they give something that expensive to miners they'd want to monitor what the miners are doing with them, so that a miner can't just go rogue and sell his suit to another company.  So you'd think that would be built in already.



matweller

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Reply #52 on: February 11, 2014, 03:14:03 PM
You'd think with all those millions of dollars invested in being able to remotely control a mining robot from half way around the world, they could have spared a monitoring/recording system that could see what Annie was doing (similar to cockpit recordings of military UAV's).  I realize that having the doctors rely on secondary cameras was a plot device, but it was a very poor and contrived one.

That's a really good point.  You'd think that if they give something that expensive to miners they'd want to monitor what the miners are doing with them, so that a miner can't just go rogue and sell his suit to another company.  So you'd think that would be built in already.

It's been a while, so I may not be recalling right, but I had the impression that the mining companies basically donated the robot to the therapy center as a tax write-off when they got their new equipment, so the doctor/hospital was getting it second hand and may appreciate the therapeutic applications of giving an autistic person a toy and some tasks to see how they perform, but didn't necessarily know all of the ins and outs of using the device since it wasn't actually built for their purposes.

I guess I would assume that if the mining company was giving something like that to the hospital, it would have come with certain perimeters like only being able to operate within a certain range of the island. It's also entirely possible that the mining company made the donation in something of a "Last Starfighter" scenario… "We don't really have the money to keep operating in this area, but we suspect something might be there, so we'll give the system to somebody that will keep it moving daily, we'll get the tax write-off, and we'll monitor passively so that if they discover something, we can swoop in and make the operator a superstar and earn a ton of money in the process."

I have an imagination that fills in a lot of gaps, so I don't always need to be told as much. Of course, it also means I do a lot of reaching that can stray far afield of the author's intent. :P



albionmoonlight

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Reply #53 on: February 11, 2014, 04:16:47 PM
I, too, found the reading to be very drawn out.  Whether that was intended or not, I am not sure.  Certainly, it is a plus for the plot that it was engaging enough to keep me listening.

In terms of themes, I really liked the idea of exploring communication problems.  Annie's NT issues provided the mechanism through which Dr. Rose could not understand her.  But I took the point more broadly that it is very easy to sometimes not comprehend what you are hearing because of what you expect to hear based on your expectations of the speaker, the situation, etc.






albionmoonlight

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Reply #54 on: February 11, 2014, 04:19:03 PM
Oh, and thanks to all in this thread for helping me come to a better understanding of autism and spectrum behaviors generally.  I appreciated the insights.



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Reply #55 on: February 11, 2014, 04:40:31 PM
It's also entirely possible that the mining company made the donation in something of a "Last Starfighter" scenario… "We don't really have the money to keep operating in this area, but we suspect something might be there, so we'll give the system to somebody that will keep it moving daily, we'll get the tax write-off, and we'll monitor passively so that if they discover something, we can swoop in and make the operator a superstar and earn a ton of money in the process."

I think that if that were the case, then Uncle Mars would've made the minimal effort required to keep cameras running so he could be more likely to hear about discoveries.  He seemed very surprised by the discovery, having thought the area thoroughly tapped.

I have an imagination that fills in a lot of gaps, so I don't always need to be told as much. Of course, it also means I do a lot of reaching that can stray far afield of the author's intent. :P

Overinterpreting tangents of a story is one of my favorite pastimes!  Sometimes I like unsupported speculations better than the story.   ;D



matweller

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Reply #56 on: February 11, 2014, 05:08:04 PM
It's also entirely possible that the mining company made the donation in something of a "Last Starfighter" scenario… "We don't really have the money to keep operating in this area, but we suspect something might be there, so we'll give the system to somebody that will keep it moving daily, we'll get the tax write-off, and we'll monitor passively so that if they discover something, we can swoop in and make the operator a superstar and earn a ton of money in the process."

I think that if that were the case, then Uncle Mars would've made the minimal effort required to keep cameras running so he could be more likely to hear about discoveries.  He seemed very surprised by the discovery, having thought the area thoroughly tapped.

Yes and no. Most security cameras only ever get viewed on recordings after a crime is concerned. Similarly, it would be totally in line with how business operates to leave a low-cost PR project to run with no oversight other than a 6 month review or as needed. This could be a case of the "as needed" coming up before the 6 month review. It's typical in business, and in the world. We just heard about Voyager leaving our solar system -- when did you last hear a report about it before that?

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, just that it's not so atypical to strain credibility in the least. And really, it's the kind of detail you would mention in a longer story, but that could be cut in a short since it's not integral to the plot.



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Reply #57 on: February 11, 2014, 05:16:57 PM
It's also entirely possible that the mining company made the donation in something of a "Last Starfighter" scenario… "We don't really have the money to keep operating in this area, but we suspect something might be there, so we'll give the system to somebody that will keep it moving daily, we'll get the tax write-off, and we'll monitor passively so that if they discover something, we can swoop in and make the operator a superstar and earn a ton of money in the process."

I think that if that were the case, then Uncle Mars would've made the minimal effort required to keep cameras running so he could be more likely to hear about discoveries.  He seemed very surprised by the discovery, having thought the area thoroughly tapped.

Yes and no. Most security cameras only ever get viewed on recordings after a crime is concerned. Similarly, it would be totally in line with how business operates to leave a low-cost PR project to run with no oversight other than a 6 month review or as needed. This could be a case of the "as needed" coming up before the 6 month review. It's typical in business, and in the world. We just heard about Voyager leaving our solar system -- when did you last hear a report about it before that?

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, just that it's not so atypical to strain credibility in the least. And really, it's the kind of detail you would mention in a longer story, but that could be cut in a short since it's not integral to the plot.

I might agree with you if Uncle Mars hadn't gone out of his way to avoid getting the cameras fixed.  He avoided it not because it was expensive or undesirable, but on the general principal that he didn't want to do things people asked him to do.  Uncle Mars seems like a pragmatic guy when it comes to personal gain, so I don't think he's be so obstinate to avoid fixing the cameras if he had a specific gain in mind for himself from having the cameras running.

Not that you have to agree with me, of course.  :)



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Reply #58 on: February 11, 2014, 09:53:55 PM
Yes and no. Most security cameras only ever get viewed on recordings after a crime is concerned. Similarly, it would be totally in line with how business operates to leave a low-cost PR project to run with no oversight other than a 6 month review or as needed. This could be a case of the "as needed" coming up before the 6 month review. It's typical in business, and in the world. We just heard about Voyager leaving our solar system -- when did you last hear a report about it before that?

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, just that it's not so atypical to strain credibility in the least. And really, it's the kind of detail you would mention in a longer story, but that could be cut in a short since it's not integral to the plot.

Just for the record, they are continuously monitoring Voyager and have been doing so since it launched. I've heard many reports on its progress over the past few years, but that's because I listen to five podcasts that are exclusively dedicated to reporting on science news. Not hearing any reports is more an indication of what a person's preferred news outlets are covering than it is an indication of whether things are being monitored.

That said, your points about various security camera feeds in general are well-taken and I think more relevant to this particular story.



matweller

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Reply #59 on: February 12, 2014, 03:20:49 AM
Yes and no. Most security cameras only ever get viewed on recordings after a crime is concerned. Similarly, it would be totally in line with how business operates to leave a low-cost PR project to run with no oversight other than a 6 month review or as needed. This could be a case of the "as needed" coming up before the 6 month review. It's typical in business, and in the world. We just heard about Voyager leaving our solar system -- when did you last hear a report about it before that?

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, just that it's not so atypical to strain credibility in the least. And really, it's the kind of detail you would mention in a longer story, but that could be cut in a short since it's not integral to the plot.

Just for the record, they are continuously monitoring Voyager and have been doing so since it launched. I've heard many reports on its progress over the past few years, but that's because I listen to five podcasts that are exclusively dedicated to reporting on science news. Not hearing any reports is more an indication of what a person's preferred news outlets are covering than it is an indication of whether things are being monitored.

That said, your points about various security camera feeds in general are well-taken and I think more relevant to this particular story.
That was part sarcasm/more a comment on the reporters whose jobs it is to cover NASA. I hope NASA's friggin' monitoring that thing every day, it cost more money to put up there than 2,500 average Americans have earned in all the time since it launched. It's got a long way to go to get us to Star Trek: The Motion Picture.



Devoted135

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Reply #60 on: February 12, 2014, 05:13:43 AM
Yes and no. Most security cameras only ever get viewed on recordings after a crime is concerned. Similarly, it would be totally in line with how business operates to leave a low-cost PR project to run with no oversight other than a 6 month review or as needed. This could be a case of the "as needed" coming up before the 6 month review. It's typical in business, and in the world. We just heard about Voyager leaving our solar system -- when did you last hear a report about it before that?

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, just that it's not so atypical to strain credibility in the least. And really, it's the kind of detail you would mention in a longer story, but that could be cut in a short since it's not integral to the plot.

Just for the record, they are continuously monitoring Voyager and have been doing so since it launched. I've heard many reports on its progress over the past few years, but that's because I listen to five podcasts that are exclusively dedicated to reporting on science news. Not hearing any reports is more an indication of what a person's preferred news outlets are covering than it is an indication of whether things are being monitored.

That said, your points about various security camera feeds in general are well-taken and I think more relevant to this particular story.
That was part sarcasm/more a comment on the reporters whose jobs it is to cover NASA. I hope NASA's friggin' monitoring that thing every day, it cost more money to put up there than 2,500 average Americans have earned in all the time since it launched. It's got a long way to go to get us to Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

LOL, ain't that the truth! :D



tpi

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Reply #61 on: February 13, 2014, 07:47:37 AM
By the way, there are no coconut milk inside coconuts.

 ;D

It is coconut water.



Dem

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Reply #62 on: February 13, 2014, 09:02:08 AM
By the way, there are no coconut milk inside coconuts.

 ;D

It is coconut water.



That's true but I for one have always called it coconut milk. Could be variations by local custom, maybe.

Science is what you do when the funding panel thinks you know what you're doing. Fiction is the same only without the funding.


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Reply #63 on: February 13, 2014, 02:44:51 PM
By the way, there are no coconut milk inside coconuts.

 ;D

It is coconut water.



That's true but I for one have always called it coconut milk. Could be variations by local custom, maybe.

Yes, I've always heard it called coconut milk too.  Not a flaw in the story, it's a flaw in the world! 



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Reply #64 on: February 13, 2014, 02:45:21 PM
That was part sarcasm/more a comment on the reporters whose jobs it is to cover NASA. I hope NASA's friggin' monitoring that thing every day, it cost more money to put up there than 2,500 average Americans have earned in all the time since it launched. It's got a long way to go to get us to Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Or Star Trek:  The Motionless Picture as my brother lovingly calls it.  :)



Myrealana

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Reply #65 on: February 19, 2014, 04:05:17 PM
I enjoyed this story. In fact, parts of it absolultely broke my heart.

My son (now 19) has ASD. Like Annie, we were variously told it was autism, Aspergers, PDD-NOS. The particular label was unimportant. What did matter is that he couldn't emapthize with other people. He couldn't hold a normal conversation. He perseverated on things to the point of forgetting to eat. On his bad days, my son was exactly like Annie - distracted by the sounds of air conditioning and unable to remember important things he was supposed to do or say. I was aching for Annie when she had to concentrate on making appropriate eye contact and not rocking and all those details and so she couldn't remember to tell Dr. Rhodes about Evan. And then, of course when she did, she was ignored. How many times was I tired and frustrated from working with my son and I brushed off his latest enthusiasm and asked him about unimportant details of his day? Luckily, no one's life actually hung in the balance in our conversations, and in the long run, our hard work made it possible for him to at least mimic NT behavior enough to graduate from high school and go on to college, even if he still doesn't quite understand the nuances of human behavior.

I found Annie very sympathetic, and Evan as well. However, I could have done with a bit less backstory in Uncle Mars's section of the story. The tension was wound very tight at that point. Will Evan be rescued? If he isn't, will Annie be blamed? Will Annie learn to care about a human being, maybe trust someone? But, let's take some time out to explain why everyone is in their various positions and talk about the politics of running the mining company. Really? Right there?

Also, I have problems with the ending - and really the whole therapy plan in general. Was the idea to study autism in isolation? Because I can't see how any of it was designed to help Annie in any real way. And sure, she might have been happy to wander the ocean floor in her mechano and gather rocks, but she's still 12. I have a serious problem with exploiting a child's neurological differences for profit. She may be content to do that for now, but is that the answer for her best future? To spend her life living through a robot alone on an island? To me that wasn't a happy ending. It was exploitative and wrong and should never have been allowed.

To be clear, I don't have a problem believing that the people in this story think of this as a good solution. I do think it's consistant and in character, I just have a problem as a reader thinking of this as any kind of "happy" ending, or feeling that Uncle Mars has in any way done a good thing.

« Last Edit: February 19, 2014, 04:10:12 PM by Myrealana »

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Reply #66 on: February 21, 2014, 03:01:43 PM
Also, I have problems with the ending - and really the whole therapy plan in general. Was the idea to study autism in isolation? Because I can't see how any of it was designed to help Annie in any real way. And sure, she might have been happy to wander the ocean floor in her mechano and gather rocks, but she's still 12. I have a serious problem with exploiting a child's neurological differences for profit. She may be content to do that for now, but is that the answer for her best future? To spend her life living through a robot alone on an island? To me that wasn't a happy ending. It was exploitative and wrong and should never have been allowed.

To be clear, I don't have a problem believing that the people in this story think of this as a good solution. I do think it's consistant and in character, I just have a problem as a reader thinking of this as any kind of "happy" ending, or feeling that Uncle Mars has in any way done a good thing.



I think that the ending was meant to be mixed at best.  Uncle Mars is no hero.  He wants the gold, and to him Annie is a resource to get gold.  Happy ending for Uncle Mars because he's greedy. 

But, as Annie's choice of fairy tales goes, she wants an ending that she thinks is happy not an ending that you think is happy.  She wants her mechano.  She gets her mechano.  So she sees it as a happy ending. 

One of the things I liked about the story is that it gives the nuance of having an ending the protagonist considers happy but which the reader may not.



PotatoKnight

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Reply #67 on: February 27, 2014, 05:06:39 PM
Well, I've been behind on my podcast listening and missed out on the lively discussion for this one.  But I had to come in and comment because it isn't often that we have a story that launches itself into my personal Escape-Pod-All-Time-Top-10 company (I guess about 1 in 40 stories, strictly speaking).  This one did.  It did the thing that the very best SF does for me--put me in the mind of someone different from myself and made me care sooo much about their struggles.  Struggles that wouldn't be my struggles but that I empathize with anyway.  Excellent, excellent work.  Of course, in this case the mind different from mine isn't an alien one, it's a very human one.  People who are more similar to Annie than they are to me will read the story, which adds another layer of interest/excitement.

Just to reply a bit to some discussions on the threads above, I am not in any way personally or professionally involved with ASD, but having read things written by those that are, I think the neurotypical label is very important and not just a "you label us so we'll label you" sort of thing (though surely some of that exists--which is fair!).  First off, it avoids the term "normal" which is crucial for all kinds of value reasons--thinking differently from neurotypical people creates a lot of challenges in the world we live in but it doesn't make people less intelligent or capable, as this story indicates.  Second, my understanding is that people with the various autism spectrum disorders--even those with the same diagnosis--often think as differently from each other as any of them do from neurotypical people.  So, in a way, neurotypical is a much more accurate label than autism is, for example.  My (again, not super-well informed) understanding is that neurotypical describes a particular kind of thinking and ASD is a catch-all for those that aren't neurotypical.

One thing that I thought was interesting that I don't think was definitively answered is that the guy on the beach repeatedly thinks that the voice in the mechano is robotic because of the nature of the technology.  I'm assuming it was in some way distorted by the transmission, but I wonder if what he's interpreting as technological flat affect was in fact Annie's actual way of talking, and that if you put a gregarious guy like Uncle Mars in the mechano, something different would happen.  We never learn for sure, but it's a nice bit.

And finally, on the nitpicks about why they can't/don't monitor the island through the mecchano--I think this story is a great example of how to handle that kind of "fridge logic" (the logical inconsistencies that people mostly don't notice while reading the story but think of later when looking in their fridge).  The real reason, of course, is because the central conflict of the story is Annie's efforts to convey important information.  If there was a technological way to convey that information, we wouldn't have a story.  This story has a good way to sort of misdirect that nitpick while you're reading--the whole sound and fury about the cameras.  It's a sleight-of-hand, but it tells you "look, reader, I've anticipated the question of why they don't have a visual feed and answered it."  Sure, later when you pick it apart, it doesn't necessarily hold together.  But that's not important (except for the fun of nitpicking--which I totally get!) because by then the story has already delivered its emotional payload.  Without the cameras stuff, we might be spending time during the story thinking about why this all depends on an autistic girl in the first place and not get the punch of the story.  I suppose I could copy-paste this paragraph to the nitpicky aspects of a lot of EP threads, but I thought it was particularly worth noting here because I thought this story did a good job of handling the fact that it is a bit tricky to contrive up the occasion for the story it wanted to tell.



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Reply #68 on: March 04, 2014, 01:55:34 AM
Sorry I'm way behind on my podcasts I tend to binge listen between audiobooks, but I had to comment on this one. 

This story is why I love scifi!  Here we have a story of a hypothetical future that says something very clearly to my everyday life.  I work with adults with developmental disabilities (a catch all even bigger than autism's spectum), though none that I work with have AS all of them have some communication barriers.  This story reminds me in a big way to slow down and listen, try, fail, and keep trying to understand what these people have to say.  It probably won't be life or death information like in this story but if I care about them (and I really do) I want to care about what is important to them. 

Which brings me to the other part I loved: Uncle Mars' reaction to Annie.  Through out the story Annie tries to be helpful but everyone in her life (teachers, parents, Dr. Rhodes) see her as a problem to be fixed, finally Uncle Mars actually wants her help, he VALUES her just the way she is.  I know he is exploiting her but a least she is a resource not a liability in his view.  Granted she is only 12 and has a lot of developing and growing to do but if her new therapist is a bit of a better advocate for her this might be possible in this environment. 

As far as the sound quality goes I was listening on headphones with lots of ambient noise and didn't notice any problems, and the narrator seemed fine to me.

Editors take note: I have finally made the decision to become a subscriber because of this story.  I waffled and felt guilty when you put out the big plea last year but if you can bring stories like this to a wider audience you have my vote and a few bucks a month. 



SF.Fangirl

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Reply #69 on: March 08, 2014, 12:08:42 AM
I enjoyed this story alot, but I confess that because this was so long I skipped listening right away and heard the feedback on the story which explained what was going on.  So I might have found the beginning slow and confusing had I not understood from the get go that Annie was not NT and that she would have lots of trouble communicating the man's need for help to Doctor Rhodes.

I enjoyed this story a lot; although, that fairy tale ending did wrap up a tad too neatly.

That said **this** was the story where the reader struggled through the reading.  Some of the words were read as individual words instead of sentences and that makes it a bit hard to understand.  I never got the impression this was an affect for Annie, I got the impression that this reader struggled especially with some of the techy details of the mech.  It was a problem, but I don't think it really impact my enjoyment of the story since I was so into it.



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Reply #70 on: April 05, 2014, 09:57:04 PM
I tried to read through the entire thread, but it's so looong! I did try to get at least the general gist of every post.
I agreed, at first, with the naysayers. The story was slow, the narration was off, there were too many of the wrong kinds of details.... but I persevered, and I'm glad I did. During the Dr. Rhodes POV of the first session with Annie I kept asking myself about the weirdness of how it was told from his point of view. It just seemed.... off. Perhaps as if a child had written it. Or someone who doesn't how understand how other people think. This was reinforced during the Mars POV sections. That's when I firmly decided. This is the story as told by Annie herself.
Her POV parts are perfect, and the other POVs were exactly as if an autism person had told them. It reminded me of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime.
The narration was perfect for such a story, and it all fit together nicely. I'm glad I stuck it out for the whole thing.
I have nothing else new to add, except to agree with how powerful the story was, and to throw my hat in with those that say it wasn't an NT ending.

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Reply #71 on: April 11, 2014, 03:29:23 PM
I absolutely loved this story. One of the best I've ever heard on this podcast. Of course I was annoyed at first with the main protagonist, but part of dealing with autism-spectrum folks is being annoyed with them at some point. We want people to act in predictable ways, and when they don't we get annoyed. That was Dr. Rhodes' main flaw, and why he makes the perfect shill in this story: He's SUPPOSED to be patient with her. Instead, he's just a self-serving prick. In the end, a life is saved, the shill gets his comeuppance, and the heroes are all happy, after the heroine's defiant bravery conquers all. It was fun, and while moments were painful, it was certainly not a tragedy. Not that I mind a little tragedy here and there, but I love a good redemptive tale.



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Reply #72 on: April 15, 2014, 11:49:05 PM
Finally registered, just so I could comment on this story.

Awesome!!!

Best story ever.

That is all.



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Reply #73 on: May 22, 2014, 12:08:39 PM
Tons of comments here and I am way too late, but I just joined.  two small comments

1)  Coconut milk and coconut water are two different products.  Coco milk comes from grating the meat of the coconut, coconut water is the liquid inside.  The coconut water is what Evan was drinking.  It was a mistake, just like when I opened my first coconut and drank the not-so-good tasting water expecting milk.

2) Everyone is calling the Dr. an idiot, but he had the idea that led to Annie's breakthrough.  His plan with the mechano actually worked, but he interpeted the data wrong.  I found it less than believable that he would show such out-of-the-box thinking in experimental design, but remain inside the box on his data interpretation... Therefore, he was only a half idiot  ;)
« Last Edit: May 22, 2014, 12:12:15 PM by Richard Babley »



CryptoMe

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Reply #74 on: May 22, 2014, 05:33:44 PM
Still catching up slowly with my backlog.

I am amazed at how the comments on this story are so polarized. That's why I have to register my solid "it was okay". The autism POV was interesting, but I didn't really love it. Having some peripheral experience with ASD, I feel this story didn't address the "autism is a *very* broad spectrum" aspect well enough for my tastes. To me, it seemed like the story was trying to catch all the autism traits and stuff them into one main character, when that isn't very realistic.

On the other hand, the story addressed the empathy aspect of the MC very well. Many people assume autists don't feel much empathy, which is just not true. I have seen autistic children be extremely empathic. The thing is that their expressions of empathy aren't always appropriate, and their applications of this empathy aren't very consistent from an NT point of view. You can see this in the story when Annie brings Evan supplies, obviously wanting to help, but not being able to help Evan by answering his questions. So I feel the story handled this aspect of autism very realistically.

So, running against the grain of love/hated it comments on the thread, I am ambivalent about this story. But I did enjoy listening to it, which is always a win.