8:30AM - the clicking of polished black brogues echo in the marble lobby, each passing black suit flashes a sickening grin, almost as if they know something we don't as we sit nervously waiting for orientation to begin.
The pathological pursuit for profit has never been higher.
The dream is here. Ubiquitous computing has finally been realised. But is it the dream we imagined?
Imagine a world where companies adopt and monitor their profit margins by individually measuring and managing employee efficiency levels, through a complex system of networked sensory objects and devices, analysed by machines working autonomously. A radical infrastructure, where hiring, promotions and firing is more of a rational, economical process based on several carefully monitored and aligned sets of data.
Measured units of oxygen (measuring the ability to cope with stress by detecting heavy breathing), heart pulse (predicting potential health problems, such as heart attacks leading to significant time off), individual, material surplus consumption (measuring micro spending levels, such as post-it notes and staples) and noise levels (listening for abnormally high noise levels, to detect suspected fowl play)
Profits soar, the economy is healthy and risk is at an all time low. But does this outweigh the human cost? How might we cope in this technologically driven environment? How might formulated policy change? Would we embrace it, exploit it, even learn to like it?
Welcome.
Orientation will begin momentarily.