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Somehow this reminds me of the government office description in "Snow Crash". "So there is no paper in a Fed office. All the workstations are the same. You com

Somehow this reminds me of the government office description in "Snow Crash". "So there is no paper in a Fed office. All the workstations are the same. You come in in the morning, pick one at random, sit down, and get to work. You could try to favor a particular station, try to sit there every day, but it would be noticed. "

quantumhobbit 10y ago
In the book this is the same office that timed how long employees spent reading emails. Too short and you are penalized for skimming, too long and you are a slacker. I wouldn't be surprised if offices are doing that now too.
- falcolas 10y ago
  Yahoo tracked their remote worker's activity by their VPN traffic (to access email). So yes, it is being done.
thaumasiotes 10y ago
It takes a lot of effort for humans to pick a seat at random, though. School desks fit this description exactly -- they have no features and there is no reason to sit in one over another. The natural result is a fixed seating arrangement. The only way the Fed offices in Snow Crash wouldn't also end up with entrenched seating arrangements is if employees were subject to penalties for favoring a particular seat. You can't "notice" that one of your employees is behaving exactly the same as every other employee.
- jimmywanger 10y ago
  Have you read the book? The whole point of the chapter is that if you want to work for the feds, you don't want to get noticed. Ever. Later in that chapter she mentions how you're just supposed to sit in the first unoccupied desk closest to the door. That also serves as a visual indication of when you got in to your coworkers.
  - thaumasiotes 10y ago
    No, I haven't read the book. How did this situation arise? A penalty for being noticed can't apply to using a fixed desk, because in a state of nature 100% of employees use fixed desks, making the trait impossible to "notice". The first guy to sit at someone else's desk would be noticed. You'd need to implement a penalty for favoring a desk. This makes up most of my prior comment, but you haven't responded to it at all. > That also serves as a visual indication of when you got in to your coworkers. This sounds like an excellent way to be noticed. If you don't want to be noticed, you need your actions to carry less information, not more.
    - jimmywanger 10y ago
      > because in a state of nature 100% of employees use fixed desks. I didn't bother replying to that part of your comment, because it was obvious that we were talking about two different things. There is nothing "natural" about the office seating arrangement. The management wanted to reduce the employees to interchangeable cogs. You don't have personal desks, and any attempt to favor one, to make it "your" desk was quickly noticed and frowned upon. > If you don't want to be noticed, you need your actions to carry less information, not more. If everybody else acted the same way as you did, the way that management favored, your actions carry absolutely no information at all except for the fact that you follow management's dictates. If everybody just grabbed the closest desk to the door that was unoccupied, nobody is giving up any information that they didn't already have to give up by following management.
      - thaumasiotes 10y ago
        > If everybody else acted the same way as you did, the way that management favored, your actions carry absolutely no information at all except for the fact that you follow management's dictates. You just specified that the accepted method of sitting reveals who arrived when. Sitting at random wouldn't do that.
        jimmywanger 10y ago

quantumhobbit 10y ago

In the book this is the same office that timed how long employees spent reading emails. Too short and you are penalized for skimming, too long and you are a slacker. I wouldn't be surprised if offices are doing that now too.

falcolas 10y ago
Yahoo tracked their remote worker's activity by their VPN traffic (to access email). So yes, it is being done.

thaumasiotes 10y ago

It takes a lot of effort for humans to pick a seat at random, though. School desks fit this description exactly -- they have no features and there is no reason to sit in one over another. The natural result is a fixed seating arrangement. The only way the Fed offices in Snow Crash wouldn't also end up with entrenched seating arrangements is if employees were subject to penalties for favoring a particular seat. You can't "notice" that one of your employees is behaving exactly the same as every other employee.

jimmywanger 10y ago
Have you read the book? The whole point of the chapter is that if you want to work for the feds, you don't want to get noticed. Ever. Later in that chapter she mentions how you're just supposed to sit in the first unoccupied desk closest to the door. That also serves as a visual indication of when you got in to your coworkers.
- thaumasiotes 10y ago
  No, I haven't read the book. How did this situation arise? A penalty for being noticed can't apply to using a fixed desk, because in a state of nature 100% of employees use fixed desks, making the trait impossible to "notice". The first guy to sit at someone else's desk would be noticed. You'd need to implement a penalty for favoring a desk. This makes up most of my prior comment, but you haven't responded to it at all. > That also serves as a visual indication of when you got in to your coworkers. This sounds like an excellent way to be noticed. If you don't want to be noticed, you need your actions to carry less information, not more.
  - jimmywanger 10y ago
    > because in a state of nature 100% of employees use fixed desks. I didn't bother replying to that part of your comment, because it was obvious that we were talking about two different things. There is nothing "natural" about the office seating arrangement. The management wanted to reduce the employees to interchangeable cogs. You don't have personal desks, and any attempt to favor one, to make it "your" desk was quickly noticed and frowned upon. > If you don't want to be noticed, you need your actions to carry less information, not more. If everybody else acted the same way as you did, the way that management favored, your actions carry absolutely no information at all except for the fact that you follow management's dictates. If everybody just grabbed the closest desk to the door that was unoccupied, nobody is giving up any information that they didn't already have to give up by following management.
    - thaumasiotes 10y ago
      > If everybody else acted the same way as you did, the way that management favored, your actions carry absolutely no information at all except for the fact that you follow management's dictates. You just specified that the accepted method of sitting reveals who arrived when. Sitting at random wouldn't do that.
      - jimmywanger 10y ago