Is there a flaw in the storyline?
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Is there a flaw in the storyline?
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I like this take on the question. It seems like it’s more about control and revenue (as you suggested) than about need for face to face employees!Olga Markova wrote: ↑12 Dec 2022, 19:31 I personally believe that it is not a flaw that makes a story fall apart. In my view, the compulsory commute to work has a major economic drive - the transportation company would not be able to have the revenues and the degree of control over humans it has when the commute is compulsory and with "zero tolerance to tardiness". The clothes company that exploits the "unity and equality" concepts, prospers by imposing weekly fashions - no one would care to conform to the latest fashion when working from home. More arguments can be advanced such as, controversially, the paradox control freak of the AIs as employers fearing that they will lose control over employees working from home- arguably the AIs are also vulnerable to this trait discovered among some human employers during and post-COVID pandemic.
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I think you nailed it. It's not about the practicality of working from home; it's about control. It would be easier to control people in person. That being said, I'm surprised it wasn't addressed or mentioned in the book as to why they aren't working from home. I'm assuming the author considered this possibility and decided against it.Olga Markova wrote: ↑12 Dec 2022, 19:31 I personally believe that it is not a flaw that makes a story fall apart. In my view, the compulsory commute to work has a major economic drive - the transportation company would not be able to have the revenues and the degree of control over humans it has when the commute is compulsory and with "zero tolerance to tardiness". The clothes company that exploits the "unity and equality" concepts, prospers by imposing weekly fashions - no one would care to conform to the latest fashion when working from home. More arguments can be advanced such as, controversially, the paradox control freak of the AIs as employers fearing that they will lose control over employees working from home- arguably the AIs are also vulnerable to this trait discovered among some human employers during and post-COVID pandemic.
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Julie Gebrosky wrote: ↑15 Dec 2022, 07:29I am increasingly thinking that control, if not the only, is at least one of the primary drives behind the office commute. It transpires later in the book that they have much dreaded face-to-face meetings with the Director quite often - when they are required to spot the family that kept their children, when they fail, and then when it is called off. And those meetings are always badly intimidating. And later when Kim and others are selected and do the orientation course to train higher-order AIs. They also use special office facilities for the life-threatening AI awarening - not that those special couches and VR could not be fitted at home next to the disagreeable fridge! .Olga Markova wrote: ↑12 Dec 2022, 19:31
I think you nailed it. It's not about the practicality of working from home; it's about control. It would be easier to control people in person. That being said, I'm surprised it wasn't addressed or mentioned in the book as to why they aren't working from home. I'm assuming the author considered this possibility and decided against it.
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I would agree with you. The employers had a need or they would basically lose control if everyone worked from home.Olga Markova wrote: ↑12 Dec 2022, 19:31 I personally believe that it is not a flaw that makes a story fall apart. In my view, the compulsory commute to work has a major economic drive - the transportation company would not be able to have the revenues and the degree of control over humans it has when the commute is compulsory and with "zero tolerance to tardiness". The clothes company that exploits the "unity and equality" concepts, prospers by imposing weekly fashions - no one would care to conform to the latest fashion when working from home. More arguments can be advanced such as, controversially, the paradox control freak of the AIs as employers fearing that they will lose control over employees working from home- arguably the AIs are also vulnerable to this trait discovered among some human employers during and post-COVID pandemic.
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