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Employee ID badge monitors you at work – except in bathroom

washingtonpost.com

31–40 of 56 posts

Re: Employee ID badge monitors you at work – except in bathroom

#31

Engineers who help create stuff like this are assholes. How could you see this being used for good in any way?

Engineers who help create stuff like this are assholes. Asshole is s pretty strong word. There's a somewhat different explanation; it posits that engineers are ignorant rather than evil. Cory Doctorow said it better than I ever could: Engineers are all basically high-functioning autistics who have no idea how normal people do stuff. I got a lot of flack last time I posted that quip; I'll grant that it isn't strictly…

If you got flack before, you should get more now.

Engineers are able to think that way, but it gets blindsided because the potential of the ideas in front of them are far too powerful and luminescent for anything else to be visible.

We aren't as dumb as people think we are.

Re: Employee ID badge monitors you at work – except in bathroom

#33

Engineers who help create stuff like this are assholes. How could you see this being used for good in any way?

Engineers who help create stuff like this are assholes. Asshole is s pretty strong word. There's a somewhat different explanation; it posits that engineers are ignorant rather than evil. Cory Doctorow said it better than I ever could: Engineers are all basically high-functioning autistics who have no idea how normal people do stuff. I got a lot of flack last time I posted that quip; I'll grant that it isn't strictly…

No, they are definitely assholes. Additionally, dismissing engineers as "high functioning autistics" or "ignorant" is cheap stereotyping.

Thinking in a less than common way isn't an excuse or reason for doing something evil. To suggest it shows a lack of understanding of engineers, people with autism, and how things are designed and used.

Re: Employee ID badge monitors you at work – except in bathroom

#34
In ways, this is interesting. This is analyzing one's performance skill based on their behavior and physical clues. There should most definitely be a correlation, and I personally believe that one's mental state is most crucial indication for productivity at a deskjob. At the moment, it's demoralizing since there are very few known solutions to improve those that are naturally not talented in that department (including me). But, as more research in those areas happen, this might become a standard. It's kind of like if you are an athlete, you show your condition via your scores/times. To improve, you practice and workout. As a deskjob, you show your condition via new mental checking technology, and to improve you do things that come out of these research

Re: Employee ID badge monitors you at work – except in bathroom

#35
post #7

You're on company time, why not just have a huge physical neck collar, with a chain, to ensure your paid time is spent productively at your desk. 9-5 you're a company resource after all

I always thought the necktie bore a striking resemblance to a noose.

I've thought this for a long time as well. Always seemed silly to me.

Re: Employee ID badge monitors you at work – except in bathroom

#36

In ways, this is interesting. This is analyzing one's performance skill based on their behavior and physical clues. There should most definitely be a correlation, and I personally believe that one's mental state is most crucial indication for productivity at a deskjob. At the moment, it's demoralizing since there are very few known solutions to improve those that are naturally not talented in that department (includi…

You have the athlete judged by results, and the knowledge worker by some kind of proprietary algorithm that attempts to derive mental state from somatic clues. These are in no way parallel cases.

Re: Employee ID badge monitors you at work – except in bathroom

#37
post #6

I don't understand how anyone can say something like "It is also up to the employee to decide whether they want to participate." with a straight face. All historical evidence points to the fact that people will be "encouraged" to the point where this becomes mandatory.

I totally understand how they can say it. They are being machiavellian and know that saying that is a form of propaganda that allows them to slide in something unsavory.

Re: Employee ID badge monitors you at work – except in bathroom

#38
> The beacons tracking your movements are omitted from bathroom locations, to give you some privacy.

Oh why even bother. Just do it in the bathroom as well. I like how it tracks everything and then throws that little -- but look, we are concerned for your privacy, we are not creepy at all.

> If you don’t give people choice, if you don’t aggregate instead of showing individual data,

Yes, let's aggregate data in some obscure way, while hand waving about "anonymizing" stuff. People will totally buy that, and trust us.

> Their bodies swiftly respond to stressful situations and relax when calm returns, leaving them primed for the next challenge,”

Lovely.

-"Steve, I think that patch froze the kernel".

-"Sorry, I am doing my daily hyperventilating and then calming down thing, to get my stats up for upcoming reviews. Ask the intern to restart everything. I'll be there in 30 min".

Re: Employee ID badge monitors you at work – except in bathroom

#40
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks like a startup created to make exactly this, not some peons in a mega corporation doing exactly as they're told.

I'm sure they really believe in what they're doing.

If they really believed, Humanyze's own employees would be using it. I saw no such mention in the article.
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