From: Craig Hubley Subject: Re: Telecommuting doomed? Date: Fri, 22 Nov 1991 01:37:12 -0500 Organization: UTCS Public Access In article mauah@warwick.ac.uk (Ian Bygrave) writes: >A rather disenchanting conversation I had recently: If this conversation disenchanted you, maybe you needed it. :) >J:Then, when I'm a qualified accountant, I could afford 70K for a small 1 > bedroom flat in London... You mean L70K? Or $70K ? Seems to me you need the former for a flat in London. >I:Or you could telecomute from... >J:Eh? >I:Telecomute, >J:Go on... >I:You work from home and... Did you ever finish this ? >J:I could never -work- at home! >I:Well, you have an office at home that's connected... It seems not. >J:No! When would I get out and meet people? You would meet people every day, on the net. Hi, by the way! >I:Well... >J:I couldn't imagine anything more boring than staying at home all day. You > know I need to get out every day. Anyway, I want to wear an expensive > suit in a big office in the middle of a city. And J. can damn well pay for the privelege. >I:I suppose if you need your ego massaged... >J:Most people do, Ian. >I:Oh... Ah, most people (even Englishmen :) ) get over it when they realize it costs L70K and a country house in Yorkshire only costs L20K and that leaves them L50K to blow on trips into the City to impress their yuppie friends, who will envy their lifestyle. >J:I want to commute, I want to sit on the train and read my FT wearing an > expensive walkman, that's my aim in life, to be a yuppie. Ever read the comic strip "Alex" ? Damned appropriate... > Obviously telecomuting isn't for everybody, but who IS it for? A common point >of view is that telecommuting is the only way to stop the criminal misuse >of resources of millions of people commuting into our comercial centres every Yes, of course. >day, without giving up our comercial life. But is telecomuting doomed by a >cultural inability to change? What cultural conservitivism resists >telecommuting? The valuation of sitting in an office wearing an expensive suit as being far more valuable than the billions of gallons of fuel consumed and all the other nasty consequences of commuting. The $$$ valuation. >And is this conservativism otherwise valuable to our culture? Not more than other conservatism. >Would telecommuting be more valuable in the short/middle/long >term? How can our culture/telecommuting be changed to make it seem more >attractive? Is only a slow change possible? Is ONLY a slow change desirable? You jack up the price of the alternatives 500%. Gee, what if gas taxes had to pay for *all* the environmental damage caused by the automobile ? Hmm... sounds both fiscally and socially responsible to me. But try getting a politician to agree, once you have roused him and paid his bail and dried him out. >Do we have the resources or the MOTIVE to try and make the change? What if we >don't? Are we still stuck on the slippery slope towards environmental >disaster? I'm not talking about saving the planet, I'm talking about >saving the species. But if we don't even have the stomach to make the first Who cares about the species ? Save the planet, that way there'll always be more species. Maybe Homo Sapiens needs to buy it, and be replaced by Homo Steady-State.... >small sacrifice, a sacrifice of a way of life that many despise, but still >seems to be worshiped, then we may as well give up now! Your friend J. will change his mind when he realizes commuting is making him a pauper, and that his silly suit gets him no respect anyway. Besides, if VR teleprescence works, he can afford an even better suit: "Nice Suit, J., I like the way Madonna videos play in the pinstripes and shadowy parts!" "Thanks Clive, yours is nicely rendered too. Love those tiny waterfalls." "Now, about that promotion to Vice President of Buttering Up Brussels..." >J:Could you stand to be in the house all day? >I:Maybe I'm just a boring old fart, but I'm happy at home. >J:I don't think you're a boring fart. >I:Maybe it depends on how comfortable you are with your home life. >J:Mm... Mm... exactly. > Would we rather work in a house, or at our home? Is the family the last >refuge of our hopes for the future? How about satellite offices? Then J. could go to an office in the suburbs, wear his suit, and network with others who aren't necessarily doing the same thing as him (and therefore not necessarily in direct competition for promotions, etc.). They would all talk to head office via telecommuting. I recently read about this happening in BC, will try to dig up some details. Craig -- Craig Hubley -- Consultants in object-oriented technology & techniques, -- Craig Hubley & Associates -- user interface design & user productivity -- craig@gpu.utcs.Utoronto.CA UUNET!utai!utgpu!craig craig@utorgpu.BITNET craig@gpu.utcs.toronto.EDU {allegra,bnr-vpa,decvax}!utcsri!utgpu!craig 61 Tiverton Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M4M 2N1 Canada (US TC) call 416-362-7632