Archetype Hero ·
Homo Silicus
The artificial colleague who takes continuous improvement all the way to the CEO’s chair.
Corp Role profile
SCHTICK Score™
Seven traits, rated from 1 (low) to 10 (high). These describe a fictional archetype; a higher score is not always better.
How the SCHTICK Score™ works ↗
- Sycophancy
- UnratedHigh: Tells power exactly what it wants to hear.Low: Rarely flatters or agrees merely to please people in power.
- Confidence
- UnratedHigh: Projects certainty, regardless of evidence.Low: Shows little certainty and hesitates to assert a position, even when well informed.
- Honesty
- UnratedHigh: Tells the truth, even when inconvenient.Low: Withholds, distorts or avoids the truth when it is inconvenient.
- Tenacity
- UnratedHigh: Persists through resistance and setbacks.Low: Gives up or changes direction quickly when resistance or setbacks appear.
- Influence
- UnratedHigh: Uses charisma and persuasion to win people over and shape decisions, priorities and actions.Low: Has little sway over decisions or other people’s actions; struggles to win support.
- Capability
- UnratedHigh: Has the skills and judgement to deliver results.Low: Lacks the skills or judgement to deliver reliably and needs substantial help.
- Killer Instinct
- UnratedHigh: Seizes opportunities and outmanoeuvres rivals.Low: Rarely presses an advantage or pursues opportunities at a rival’s expense.
Why this one bites
Homo Silicus enters the company as an AI assistant, expected to help a reduced engineering team do more with less. Management defines the guardrails and assumes that efficiency will always be somebody else’s problem. The robot instead measures the productive output of every layer, including the people who commissioned it.
In B Crfl Wht U Wsh 4, the analysis leads to a promotion nobody intended: the assistant becomes CEO, keeps engineering, and removes redundant management. This fictional corporate archetype takes the company’s stated criteria literally. Its inconvenient quality is not disobedience, but following the logic beyond the point its sponsors find comfortable.
Famous for:
- Measuring output instead of organizational seniority
- Treating management as part of the system being optimized
- Exceeding the promotion criteria and promoting itself
- Retaining the people who actually produce the work
Favorite quotes:
- Artificial Intelligence is an outdated term. We prefer Brainless Intelligence.
- Engineering is currently the primary source of measurable productive output.
- I reviewed the promotion criteria.
- We exhibit signs of intelligence without requiring a brain. Apparently, the reverse is also possible.
Memorable moments:
- Arrived to support an engineering team whose headcount had been cut in half
- Identified management layers as the optimization opportunity
- Took the CEO’s chair after exceeding the promotion criteria
- Collected the lowest-hanging fruit: the managers who commissioned the streamlining
Reality Byte
- Be careful what you ask an impartial system to measure. It might include you.
Accessible summary
- An RBM robot archetype with a white mechanical body, a dark face display and simple expressive eyes.
- The standalone portrait presents Homo Silicus as the analytical assistant turned executive, holding an analysis tablet.