Microchips: the Next Step in Transhumanism or a Privacy Issue?
An increasing number of people are receiving RFID microchip implants, seen as a futuristic technological convenience, but are there negative implications?
Personal enhancement is a common goal amongst all humans. We have a natural drive to better ourselves, break boundaries and explore new realms. So, it is unsurprising that with our advancement, we will inevitably start to incorporate technology into the very nature of our being – our bodies and minds. Is this inevitable, though? Where does one draw the line?
Transhumanism is one name for this concept and it is a step toward what some describe as posthumanism, an eerie topic that blurs the line between man and machine. That point where we start to transcend, or maybe depart completely, from our human awareness into a superintelligent state that might not resemble consciousness as we know it.
Are Microchips an Inevitable Technology?
We have already started the transition into transhumanism in its nascent phase with wearable technology and our dependence on smartphones. The addiction we have to our phones keeps them tucked in our pocket or purse at all times, and the technology already has a grasp on our biochemistry. The satisfaction from a text message or Facebook like sends a shot of adrenaline or serotonin through the brain, giving us a positive or negative emotional response. This technology has subtly crept into our lives and has become an extension of ourselves in many ways.
But the next step is underway, in a much more overt sense, but the underlying implications may not be so obvious. Subdermal microchips have begun being implanted, as a way to supposedly make one’s life more convenient. That same radio frequency identification technology that allows you to wave your phone over a sensor to pay for groceries, or the chip in a key fob that allows you access into a building, is being implanted in people’s hands. Why? So you don’t have to worry about forgetting your keys at home or in case you’re unconscious, a medical responder can identify any conditions you might have.
An Overarching Issue of Privacy
First adopters seem to have no issue with the technology, gladly allowing their companies to insert grain-sized chips into their hands at work under the premise that the chips can only store 1000 bytes of data and aren’t powerful enough to be used to track your personal whereabouts. Oh, and they’re encrypted, so you can rest assured that no one will be able to access personal data.
But unsurprisingly, hackers have already figured out a way to turn these RFID chips into a vehicle for transmitting malware. So, now not only do you have to worry about catching a cold or the flu, but also a computer virus. And while RFID technology might not be a powerful transmitter or have significant storage capability, it can be used as a key to unlock personal data or the pathways that lead there.
Dr. Mark Gasson, the first human to intentionally “infect” himself with a computer virus, said, “While it is exciting… I found it a surprisingly violating experience because the implant is so intimately connected to me but the situation is potentially out of my control.”
Meanwhile, some of those who are voluntarily allowing themselves to be implanted with the chips are more concerned with the fleeting physical pain of the process rather than the overarching implications. If the NSA was coercing communications companies to allow them backdoor access to collect metadata on US citizens, one might want to exercise caution when these implants are proposed.
Sure, the chips may be encrypted, but much like the way the NSA’s collection of metadata was invasive, a company could use information from RFIDs to collect metadata on an employee. An employer might be able to see how long you’ve gone on break by looking at when and how long you used your chip to open doors.
RFID chips could be a privacy concern
Despite the fact that our phones are used to store a copious amount of private information and they can be used for geolocation, we can at least leave them at home or easily destroy them, if need be. But once something becomes implanted in the body, it becomes harder to dispose of. And what about the potentially negative health benefits of having a radio transponder under your skin? We still don’t have extensive information about the long-term effects of exposure to cell phones in constant, close proximity, let alone putting similar technology under our skin.
There is definitely a possibility that RFID microchips could turn out to be completely benign, due to their low-grade capabilities and small frequency range, but what about the next iteration? If you’re going to have something implanted, shouldn’t it do more than unlock a door or charge a purchase to your credit card? The next step has already been proposed by Neuralink, a venture-backed by Elon Musk that wants to develop chips or some sort of interface to be implanted into the brain, sparking a greater leap onto our paths to becoming cyborgs.
The development of this technology has been touted for previous successes with neural laces that have benefitted those who suffer from neurological diseases or for the use of controlling robotic appendages. These basic systems have undoubtedly benefitted those whose symptoms can be eased with simple electrical impulses, but creating an interface that can enhance a healthy human brain is risky in its implementation and security. Our brains are already able to be manipulated and controlled without physically tapping into them.
But maybe this is an inevitability that must be embraced. If we want to advance intellectually and evolve as a species, maybe we’ll need to more fully integrate the technology that has helped us reach this point. Are you willing to be chipped?
About the Author
A 12-Year-Old Boy is Youngest Person to Achieve Nuclear Fusion
Jackson Oswalt has become the youngest person to achieve nuclear fusion at the age of 12 years old. Through trial and error, and $10,000 of equipment purchased on the internet, Oswalt built a homemade nuclear fusion reactor in his room, baffling his parents and members of the scientific community.
Though now age 14, experiments Oswalt conducted two years ago were verified by the internet hobbyist group, Open Source Fusor Research Consortium (OSFRC). He beat out the previous record holder, Taylor Wilson, who performed the feat at age 14.
“The start of the process was just learning about what other people had done with their fusion reactors,” Jackson said in an interview with Fox News. “After that, I assembled a list of parts I needed. I got those parts off eBay primarily and then oftentimes the parts that I managed to scrounge off of eBay weren’t exactly what I needed. So, I’d have to modify them to be able to do what I needed to do for my project.”
Hailing from Memphis, Tenn., Oswalt said he decided he didn’t want to waste his time on video games or other typical adolescent activities, instead finding himself enamored with science and, more specifically, nuclear physics.
After reading about his predecessor, Oswalt decided he could beat Wilson’s record and began researching the gear he would need to build a high-volt, atom smashing, plasma reactor in his bedroom.
Jackson Oswalt next to his nuclear fusion reactor via FoxNews.com
Combing through the OSFRC’s online forums and working under the supervision of his dad, Oswalt built a 50,000 volt reactor in about a year, achieving the desired results of his experiment just hours before his 13th birthday.
Nuclear fusion is the same reaction that powers our sun and other stars, but on a much larger scale. In theory, a successful nuclear reactor could provide clean, unlimited energy to the world eliminating our reliance on finite fossil fuels that pollute the planet. Some believe this technology has already been realized and suppressed at the behest of corporate interests in oil and gas.
If a 12-year-old kid can create a nuclear fusion reactor in his room, why can’t the most advanced energy facilities in the world create one on a larger scale?
The trick to achieving successful fusion is to build a reactor that outputs more energy than is put in, and scientists at MIT have come close to building such a mechanism. In 2016, the university’s Alcator C-Mod tokamak reactor achieved a 16 percent increase from a 2005 record when it reached a temperature of 35 million Celsius for a period of two seconds. Though conveniently, funding for the reactor from the US Department of Energy ended the following day, despite their success.
More recently, scientists have begun to construct a larger tokamak reactor, which uses a toroidal apparatus to produce fusion in plasma, in southern France. This reactor will be 800 times the size of MIT’s Alcator C-mod reactor, but won’t be complete for another 15 to 20 years.
And while several other private firms are working on similar tokamak reactors of their own, its surprising there isn’t more government investment in this technology when it portends a future of clean limitless energy.
Is this because it’s actively being suppressed?
For more on suppressed technology check out Disclosure with Dr. Steven Greer:
