“This group has a 72% conversion if shown Series 12B.” “72? No. We need to sell 5,000 more by EOD to hit target, right? Ok, run the top twin categories again. Find 8,000, to be safe, and add a decent mood shift tolerance. I want at least 90% conversion from the new twin population before you send the actual blast.”

Does this sound like a sci-fi corporate sales scene? Or one just a little further into the future?

Current A/B/C+ testing — running multiple scenarios and messaging to see what causes someone to buy or use or watch something — is not far off.

1. Swap in “there’s a probability of” for “there is”
2. Drop the conversion estimate to less than 50%
3. You’re at the present state of targeted advertising. You might hear a version of the above orders in any given Wall Street-style exchange in modern day — maybe at a sales conversion meeting at a modern day, hyper-aggressive corporation.