Would you get yourself chipped?

[LawabidingKhajiit]

As technology moves on, we're getting closer and closer to the time where money as we know it could get abolished, and those dozen cards we carry around in our wallet could be simply gotten rid of.

 

The technology for an electronic economy, and the replacement of cards already exists and is in very widespread use; the RFID chips used to chip pets contains a serial number which, when entered into a given database, will pull up medical and contact information.

 

The way I see it, this technology is prime for exploitation in humans too, think about it, if you had a chip implanted in your wrist, the things that the infrastructure is 99% already in place to do;

 

No more keys; many office buildings already use RFID cards for access control. With a system like this in the home too, you just register your chip with the unit and you'll never need to carry a key again.

No more cash or cards; My new card has an RFID chip embedded in it. At certain places I can wave it across a payment machine and presto, I've paid for stuff. On a small, easily lost card I hate this idea, but for a chip embedded in your wrist? Much harder to lose.

Public transport; In London, the Oyster card lets you take public transport all day without handing over a penny. Swipe the card over the pad and you're done; this is, again, RFID.

No need for ID; Driving licence, passport, proof of age, and a multitude of clubs and other IDs. Lose them and with a wave of your wrist, people will get a nice easy true or false confirmation as to whether you are allowed somewhere.

Medical care; Some people wear bracelets to alert medics to allergies or previous problems. This system is already in use for pets, where you scan them and up pops all the animal's medical data. Why not do the same for humans and make life easier for everyone?

 

I'm a staunch supporter of bioenhancement through technology, so if this were offered, I'd be first in line, but would you do it?

[Nephylim]

Absolutely not under any circumstances. If it were made compulsory where I live I would move to somewhere it wasn't.

 

Big Brother has enough of a hold on me as it is.

[Tipdin]

Technology has provided me with so many toys - - I love this stuff! However, before I would consider a chip, I'd have to see more security measures in place. Maybe a thumb or finger print, or better yet, an eye scan to verify the chip user...?

[Former Member]

No! Absolutely NO!!! Much like what Nephylim said, I'm being watched enough as it is. Sure, I can see how those chips could come in handy, but I'd feel like a robot, or at the very least like a cyborg with one of those things in my body. And who knows what damage they can do? I don't WANT to be recognized by the system everywhere I go. I'd rather keep those dozen cards in my wallet, then.

[JamesSavik]

No. Don't care to have an electronic nose ring.

[StonedOrchid]

No way. Sounds a little too "Revelations" to me.

[Nephylim]

Revalations is fun

[Westie]

in nazi germany, the tatooed identification codes onto the arms of jews. Same thing, better technology

[Agaith]

Personally I don't like the idea, but maybe we all haven't got the full picture as to how it would work.

More education on this matter is most likely needed.

[StonedOrchid]

Revalations is fun

 

 

Lol. Spoken like a true writer of the unknown. I agree that it is fun to write "Revelations", but I don't believe I would want to live it, lol. :ranger:

 

More information on it would make the decision easier, and quite possibly explain why the government feels the need to track everybody almost from birth. Fraud would be all but eliminated, but so would most of the things that make us free ... privacy would be a thing of the past since I could easily see that chip not only being a repository of information on the one its attached to, but also being a GPS beacon.

[hh5]

thats just like in the stories:

 

* Bible professies like 666 or 999 (if your reading it upside down)

* 1984 (george orwell)

* Some utopia with Soma (the depression drug for adults and ritalin for the kids)

 

oh if you get chipped - they may give you paper billing and plastic credits offf your bill

 

They may charge extra to add a GPS chip in case you get lost or missing in an emergency situation

but can use it for a man hunt ...

 

Don't forget Total Recall!! That was a big bugga chip up Arnold nose.

Are we going to wear Wet towels on our heads to prevent tracing?

 

We don't know if they will add anti- crime and anti-Terrorist control measures they'll put into the chip.

[Dark]

With all the children who get kidnapped or are otherwise lost every day, I would do it. We care more for our kids than our pets, right? so why do only pets and vet offices have this?

 

I would certainly do the electronic chip if it was available -- not right now, because the hackers are more proficient than the security measures, but I'd certainly be up for replacing all the individual, compartmentalized electronic files with one, located on me.

 

Face it, the government already tracks us (taxes, anyone?), but it's handled piecemeal. Anyone who's ever had to replace a stolen wallet or lost birth certificate or SS card or marriage license ... all these individual pieces of paper... Just think, if you buy one thing off a bad website, or forget to shred just one piece of mail with confidential info -- that's an identity theft problem. Even when we go to a restaurant, we're trusting the person we give our credit card to, and sometimes that's a bad idea.

 

With an embedded RFID chip working the way they ought to, most of those privacy things we fret over would be gone. Sure we'd have some new issues to worry about, but since when has technology made a jump without people getting their knickers in a twist over it?

[Julian Alexander]

I'm with Harrod on this.

[hayven]

I would totally do it. I get the privacy concerns, but then again, how much of our current lives are private? With stuff like Facebook and reverse address searches and random information databases, you can find tons of stuff about people everywhere.

 

And it'll make life so much easier when I don't have to carry tons of cards around with me and worry about losing/replacing them!

[Frostina]

I dont think i'll do it!! no matter how troublesome it seems, i'd rather carry a backpack filled with my id, cards, etc than get myself chipped!!

[Rilbur]

My biggest concern would be how to counter 'mugging' -- with the chip implanted the only way to mug someone would be to cut off the hand. <i>Not</i> something I'd care to invite.

 

Frankly, that's the only concern I see in a simple RFID chip. The GPS one might be more worrisome, or it might not. Health concerns are exceedingly unlikely for a chip like that; we're already continously exposed to all sorts of EM radiation by everything ranging from lightbulbs to cars. The current 'oh no, it's radioactive!' scare is an (over) reaction to the overuse of X-Rays before we understood that their danger was cumulative, a lifetime's worth of exposure rather than specific, individual exposures.

 

As for all the 'big brother' fears, frankly they already exist. Deal with it.

[Marzipan]

No way!

 

Big brother...

 

Or terrorists snatching your entire body just to get your chip...

 

Or an error in the chip and you'll loose all your rights to your identity...

 

:wacko:

[Zeoanne]

If I was a robot ......

No Way Jose!

[Skyline]

As for all the 'big brother' fears, frankly they already exist. Deal with it.

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

As for getting chipped, I dont really know I'd need much more information before I could make an informed decision. At this point both options seem equally likely I think.

[Pai-kun]

Yeah, no... I'm way to paranoid to ever do anything like that. Knowing that I can be found through my cellphone is hard enough.

[Menorain]

Um no. You're turning your body into an object, and that could lead to all kinds of trouble.

[JamesSavik]

Remember that the same people that wrote the sex crime laws that equates a rapist with a child molester with someone who was seen taking a leak are writing the laws that would govern your chip.

 

The law is an extremely blunt, no exceptions, instrument. It is subject to the whims and prejudices of the day. As a class of people with NO codified protections under US Federal law, I am shocked that you would even consider putting your head in this noose.

 

What happens if there is a swing to the right in our government? What if they Mike Huckabee (A.k.a. Huckle-berry) actually gets his way and they start rounding us up and putting us in death happy camps?

 

NO. f**k NO. Don't be foolish. There are so many potential abuses that we can't even imagine them yet. This would be a disaster and the end of human freedom.

 

Stalin is having a wet dream in his tomb at the very idea of this technology and the foolish sheep that would embrace it for their "safety".

[Rilbur]

Um no. You're turning your body into an object, and that could lead to all kinds of trouble.

 

Um, what? Please justify your statement, because I can't make heads or tails of it.

[John Doe]

sorry but when society goes to that place, it'll be a disaster. Chips really? there goes our free rights and stuff and the government will take control of our lives. They say they won't (if it ever gets to that) but people in power like power and they'll will keep and use any means necessary to keep and maintain control. If you think otherwise you are deluding yourself.

 

Jeez I'm tired... need to explain myself...

 

There will be white lies to the concept if it is introduced. Keeping track of chips is a very easy thing to do. Especially in this day and age. There are phone logs of your conversations you have on your cell phones. They can print it out. It's recorded. I have seen it used in trials to convict people (state employee). Yeah it'll be told as something great, but someone down the line will abuse the power. They will tell you the tracking will be used for the saftey of the public. They will propogate that its in your best interest, the media will add to the frenzy, to enforce that fear and people will easily accept it and before you know it you'll be living in a society that sees and determines your every move. The fact that you can't go anywhere without THAT single chip would make you a criminal. Really if everything you need is on that chip why not just have IDentification on that chip and you need id everywhere you go, so to go without one will kinda be illegal. Laws would be easier to maintain and UTOPIA seems to be in the horizon, people will believe it and what people don't understand is that there is no such thing as UTOPIA. That, for UTOPIA, to exist is to sacrifice something in return and that usually means your freedom. The freedom to choose something, the freedom to go places with free will and choice and with out someone watching your everystep. If its a micro chip they can GPS track you, much like a cell phone, or onstar for your cars. The freedom to decide if you want a piece of metal in you ro not.

 

(This would be a great story idea.)

 

I agree with James. Whoever is in power at the time, if they are kind will be kind if they are curel they will be cruel and you never want to put youself in that situation. Say you tell a friend you are gay. That friend someone else and these chips exist and then there's a gay hunt. They can track you. There will be no escape as they chipped ya. You'll be rounded up. Resistance is futile, you will be exterminated for the better society, for the majority. Not only that extreme but say a party falls from grace for good and it's bad to associate yourself with the opposite side. You won't even be able to do any protest since your every move is monitered. We have the freedom now to protest, to say what's on our mind. We have to abilities now to be able to come on here freely as we please. Our lives are better because brave souls and step fourth and spoke on our behalf. Many people rely on those single figures, because they know they will stand up for them. They/we can go support these figures who fight for our behalf because there's that security and releif that you can still keep your anonymity. With a chip that will be impossible. Forensic science added with a microchip will take away that security and those leaders who stood up and spoke for those who can't or isn't willing will be taken away and their supporter will hide away in shame never realizing the true power they had in numbers. (I know of stories of photographers being chased after because of pictures they took.) Many people only come out if they know they won't be ID'd. And with the microchip people will live in fear being "caught."

 

People have voices because they rely on those who speak for them, because they know someone else will speak on their behalf, because they won't have too, because they can support from the shadows. To have the courage to do something against the belief of the majority grows with time and experience. A microchip would destroy that. Think about it. If this was introduced in pre60's or pre30's I think the colored minority will still be enslaved. Or even homosexuals. Thrity years ago homosexuality was considered a mental defect. Its stigma was worst than now. At least now we can talk about the "issues" surrounding the fact of people being gay. Then, very few dare to mention the word "gay." HIV was thought to be only associated with homosexuals. To have microchips would subject the minority to the majority. And if your thinking it doesnt matter if your not in the minority group when that time comes... then why would you, in this moment now, believe you deserve the same rights as those others that holds more than you?

 

**I've been editing this multiple times... and the more I edit the stuff that don't make sense I find more... and when I'm done I submit done and reread and see that what I typed made worst sense or no more sense. I quit. All yall get what I'm saying though there may be errors. I'n going to bed!**

[Bumblebee]

I don't use keys, I jump our fence when the doors locked,

I like knowing how much money I have... and I love having cash,

I don't like public transport,

I don't have any real ID,

I don't have any medical problems that I would need to have emergancy care

 

And I don't like having a chip that could be used to spy on me

 

In short.... no