Friday, March 23, 2012

The Novum: Dead Space for the Unexpected


The main character of “Dead Space for the Unexpected” is a man named Jonathan who works as a business manager. The novum in this story is a computer that is able to calculate how well individual business team members execute their jobs. More specifically, the device is able to calculate things such as appropriate eye contact, posture, tone, facial expressions, and even the amount of sweat released. This information is then compared to what is deemed appropriate for a given business situation (such as when Jonathan is forced to fire Simon). This comparison, in turn, yields a numeric score between 1-10, which determines how well the individual handled the situation. Each person’s score is available for every other team member to see. Through Jonathan, the reader witness how this ‘system’ results in a huge amount of stress on a person who only perceives his value by the numbers he produces. In today’s corporate world, if one doesn’t produce the numbers a company expects, then that person is fired. It’s as simple as that. Such a method compels people to work, thereby stimulating competition, resulting in progress. This is the capitalistic way. It is why countries like the United States are light years ahead of other nations in terms of standards of living. For me personally, my concern with this system isn’t the general ‘unhappiness’ it causes amongst some individuals in these developed nations. My primary concern is rooted in people overseas getting paid a few dollars a week to make products that result in billions of dollars in profit, of which company CEO’s pocket millions, sometimes billions. The people making these products are starving, while a few other people are getting million dollar bonuses in addition to their million dollar salaries? No. 

1 comment:

  1. OK, an interesting, almost tangential turn, but not a problem.

    I think that's a really interesting take on this story, and unexpectedly Marxist. Marx's issue isn't post-IR life "just because", but he notes the misery of being an underpaid, abused factory worker as a bad thing (and remember that in Marx's time, like in other areas of the word, there were very few laws protecting workers' rights). If Jonathan were happy, then no problem, but Jonathan is miserable in the almost Kierkergaardian sense where the worst despair is the kind that doesn't know that it's despair. Good work.

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