Why does Bobby never sleep in the same grid section twice?

I have thought about it a lot, and could not come up with an explaination.

Sure, he's paranoid and obsessive, but what's his own rationale for doing so?

i guess the point is that he was irrational.
but maybe, being obsessed with location, he was trying to always be one step ahead of where people expected him to be? which is obviously illogical, but thats the kind of thinking we are trying to understand.

Fear of commitment. Doesn't want to be tied down.

Unplugging his servers when he baled LA is symptomatic of his loathing of commitments. Rather than moving the information to another server, he's giving a clear message. I don't want you to rely on me.

His need for squares reflects at the same time his desire for stability. He needs a sturdy support frame around him but isn't willing to give it to anywhere else.

He's afraid of growing up.

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he was irrational.

Was he?

I saw him as a really skilled geek, gone obsessive/paranoid after learning 'too much' about tracking systems.

So I figured there was something behind his behaviour : a thing he knows. A glitch in the tracking system, that he can exploit by sleeping in a different square.
And by doing so, he would alleviate his fear of being tracked down.

well, its all relative isn't it.
even if he hasn't learnt something, what could it possibly even been that sleeping in a different square every night, but in the same building, made a difference?
even if he were justified, without ever explaining his reasons, he appears irrational. so from our point of view, to guess the reason, we would need to explore outside our current idea of rational thinking.

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He's afraid of growing up.

He's immature, like many talented geeks are.
(I'm in a roomful of them, and I can assert that they have the sense of humour of gradeschoolers)

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he's giving a clear message. I don't want you to rely on me.

Definitely, but maybe it's not out of fear of commitment.
Maybe it's fear of being located.
Maybe by unplugging, he means : "I'm gone. Do not look for me. Find someone else."

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even if he hasn't learnt something, what could it possibly even been that sleeping in a different square every night, but in the same building, made a difference?

My question exactly.

Where did Gibson get this idea?
Did he read something the prompted this detail, or did he make it all up?

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Originally posted by ArkanGL:
Maybe it's fear of being located.
Maybe by unplugging, he means : "I'm gone. Do not look for me. Find someone else."

in the vein of being located, maybe is also concerned that the equipment has been compromised, and cutting the connection is a move to block that?

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Originally posted by ArkanGL:
Where did Gibson get this idea?
Did he read something the prompted this detail, or did he make it all up?

and is that your question for london?

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and is that your question for london?

Yes.
A very geeky, very specific question that only he can (hopefully) answer.

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maybe is also concerned that the equipment has been compromised, and cutting the connection is a move to block that?

I don't remember exactly : do we know where the servers are?
If not, then I guess you're right : disconnecting them prevents them from being located.

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Originally posted by ArkanGL:
Where did Gibson get this idea?
Did he read something the prompted this detail, or did he make it all up?

My guess would be that he wanted to give Bobby Chombo an obsessive trait, similar to the guy in Microserfs who would only eat 2 dimensional foods - and since one of the major themes in Spook Country is all about the *grid*, he wanted to place Chombo's obsessive trait squarely in the grid.

That sounds highly likely.

But the 2 dimensional food has an 'explaination' : it can be slid under a door.

It can also have something to do with constraints feeding creativity...

some many angles to this - and all of them are right!

quote:

Originally posted by ArkanGL:
I don't remember exactly : do we know where the servers are?
If not, then I guess you're right : disconnecting them prevents them from being located.

started to respond to this before, but boss came in. as you do.

i couldn't remember the specifics either, but had that real sense of disconnection, of severing the system, and making himself as unattainable as possible.

as for the question, i predict an evasive answer...

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i predict an evasive answer...

Me too

My guess :

"Oh well... it's been a while since I wrote that part.
I remember that I has a good reason for including this idea, and it most certainly made sense. I just can't seem to remember...

Isn't it time for me to sign some books?
Do I have to stand, or is there some sort of chair?
How do these things usually go?"

quote:

Originally posted by ArkanGL:
"Oh well... it's been a while since I wrote that part.
I remember that I has a good reason for including this idea, and it most certainly made sense. I just can't seem to remember...

yeah, something very much along those lines.
damn those pesky readers and their relevant questioning!!

Bobby has a mild form of OCD and agoraphobia.

People believe all kind of irrational things. Maybe he thinks that his aura can be tracked if he stays too long in the same physical place. Or maybe he is in a quest to sleep in as many grid squares as possible. Or he may need to just move on and the obsession is how he rationalizes this need. It makes sure he does not stay anywhere for long.

Or he may use the grids as thinking/visual aids (or out of an obsessive need to always know his own grid position) and the sleeping thing is an Urban legend among his customer base, without any reality to it. People lie or may be mistaken in novels too, and it is likely he had already slept where he was found, in the past.

Yes, something in that. I'd wondered if the sleeping squares might have (partly) been a literary device to secure that message - the book's being all about the grid.

Interestingly, when I read "grid", I thought "matrix". It's not difficult to imagine a continuing story or sub-plot about how the concept of the grid leads to development of THE matrix. Could Bobby be a link between the current book series and the central idea of the original masterpieces?

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Originally posted by Fashionpolice:

quote:

Originally posted by ArkanGL:
Where did Gibson get this idea?
Did he read something the prompted this detail, or did he make it all up?

My guess would be that he wanted to give Bobby Chombo an obsessive trait, similar to the guy in Microserfs who would only eat 2 dimensional foods - and since one of the major themes in Spook Country is all about the *grid*, he wanted to place Chombo's obsessive trait squarely in the grid.

It may have started as something he suspected would have more significance than just Bobby's neuroses, but nothing developed, it didn't intertwine with the plot, but it was sufficiently weirdly cool, and hey, it's all grid.

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Originally posted by ArkanGL:
Why does Bobby never sleep in the same grid section twice?

Did you ever see Real Genius?

Yes, that's right. A laser shot from space.

A rather silly, way out there theory, but I enjoy it.