Here at the University of Washington CSE Department we often have events called Tech Talks, where guest companies come in and give a demonstration of their technologies and expertise. Tech talks are usually interesting, and the visiting companies usually bring free company-branded “swag” and often have raffles for bigger, more exciting prizes. But what usually draws hungry CS students (this one, anyway) is the free food that the company inevitably brings. I’ve never won anything.<\/p>\n
Last night we had a tech talk given by Palantir Technologies<\/a>, a very promising-looking company that aims to transform the way people work with large data sets by making it easier to discover and visualizing trends and connections in the ever-accumulating mountains of data generated by our modern technological culture. They had a great sales pitch, a fascinating presentation, tons of free swag (hyperbole here, but it was really a lot), and quality free frood from Taco del Mar. And at the end of the evening they planned to raffle off an iPod touch. Not everyone stayed for the whole event, but as it wound down the time for the raffle finally came.<\/p>\n Normally everyone attending a tech talk who is interested in participating in a raffle writes their name on a piece of paper, folds it in half, and places it in a box\/hat\/whatever. Palantir had all the entries in a black beanie, and built up the suspense before reaching into the hat and pulling out a name. Drat, not me again. I could tell by the size and shape of the paper that some other student was the lucky recipient. But who? The Palantir rep unfolded the paper and read it aloud in stentorian tones: “John Smith!” (That’s not really his name, but that’s not the point of this story. We’ll call him “John Smith.”) I looked around for John, but couldn’t see him. “He’s not here!” I called, joined by several other voices. Maybe I’d have a chance to win this after all! “Not here?” asked the rep. “Well, we’ll just draw again.” He tossed the forfeited entry aside and reached into the hat again. Suspense built as he pulled out a piece of paper, unfolded it, and read aloud once again…. “John Smith!” The atrium was silent for a few seconds. After a moment or two had passed I said “Well, that explains a few things.”<\/p>\n I’d always attributed to luck the fact that some people just seem to win more often in raffles like that. Naively you might expect not to see repeat winners (after all, it has to be spread around, right?), but a little bit of probabilistic reasoning tells you that runs or repeats may be improbable in any specific case but in general are to be expected. Now I suddenly admitted the possibility that while there was something chancey going on here, it wasn’t chance. And why not, right? If you’re having a one-item raffle there’s no reason not to put your name in more than once. No one’s going to go looking through the entries afterwards, and if you win you win. Unless, of course, you’re not there and you win. Twice.<\/p>\n It’s possible that I’ve misunderstood all these years the unwritten rules that these raffle are run by, or perhaps more properly the unwritten rules that these raffles are won<\/em> by. After all, there are many raffles, sweepstakes, etc. where multiple entries are accepted. But if not, well, that’s a different story.<\/p>\n Obviously no one was hurt here, no bones broken and no innocents harmed (though perhaps some innocence was lost). But these sort of events should be treated seriously. Real things are at stake. I’ll list just some of the things I’ve seen go at tech talk raffles recently:<\/p>\n I guess in the broader context you’re not stealing anything by stuffing a raffle hat. Not from me anyway. But how far is it from there to stuffing ballot boxes? Bank accounts? Money is all just bits now anyway. A little extra here and there wouldn’t really hurt the economy. Should we be comfortable with this sort of attitude being held by the same people who may write the software that handles your bank account? I don’t think so. A paper-cut is a little thing, once. But this way of thinking, when carried to its natural conclusion, is not just one paper cut. It’s many. And that’s not sustainable.\u00a0 I used to think that around here we just didn’t have to worry about that sort of thing.<\/p>\n I wish I could have kept thinking it, if just for a little longer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here at the University of Washington CSE Department we often have events called Tech Talks, where guest companies come in and give a demonstration of their technologies and expertise. Last night we had a tech talk given by Palantir Technologies, a very promising-looking company that aims to transform the way people work with large data sets by making it easier to discover and visualizing trends and connections in the ever-accumulating mountains of data generated by our modern technological culture. And at the end of the evening they planned to raffle off an iPod touch. Continue reading \n