Question Everything

I have heard that the information desk in the Stata Center, along with the giant question mark that marks the spot and defines its purpose, is about to become a casualty of the Institute's cost-cutting program.

Now you would think that once you have seen one question mark, you've seen them all, but somehow many of the building residents, including me, are agitated, and there is talk of a save-the-question-mark campaign. Partly it is because we use it to talk cell-phone equipped visitors through the labyrinthine structure to our offices and laboratories. “Ok, so you are in the building. Do you see a giant question mark? Good, walk to it. Now look for a bank of elevators....”

But maybe it is more than that. In a place where everything is questioned, it is nice to have something conspicuous that stays the same, such as, appropriately, a question mark.