living in a robot world

we use a touch sensor in our office now. when it was first announced that we would be using it instead of time sheets, it felt a little too big brotherish. we were assured that it didn't really record our fingerprints, but rather that it assigned a numeric value to them--like an algorithm. eh hem, comforting. i've gotten somewhat used to entering my assigned three digit number, then scanning my right index finger to clock in and out everyday. unfortunately it makes me feel more dronelike than ever. i've been thinking about picking up 1984 and reading it again. i think i would get more out of it than i did when i was in high school and thought it too bizarre to read willingly. maybe it'll shed some light as to why i found it slightly unnerving when i overheard the production manager, who sits behind me, giving this directive to someone else: "take her out. deactivate her." her tone was so ominous that it scared me.