Ergonomic Dystopia

Today I woke up early, and hauled off before dawn to the gym with (soon-to-be) Mrs. Spacetropic. There's a whole different crowd in the early AM - a buncha talkers and friendly types, which is where my better half comes in handy. (As previously noted, I am not friendly, especially before being properly medicated with coffee.)

Soon I will be able to go strait to the office, and kill two birds with one stone. A researcher at the Mayo Clinic has invented a workstation-treadmill, which allows bovine cubicle-dwellers to pad along at a few miles an hour while sending emails and making up fanciful numbers in spreadsheets. It certainly wouldn't do any harm to the thundering herd of office workers I see every day in downtown Cincinnati - a town where healthy lunch options are limited, and cheese and pastries are indeed popular.

But what does this portend for the future? I'm afraid that executives will realize that this strange contraption can backended with the benefits package. A little window will appear on the corner of the screen telling you how much of credit you will receive to the health insurance charge on your next paycheck as the result of improved physical fitness.

Exercise diligently, workers! For a brave new world awaits.