Erick Schonfeld, the author of this article, is slightly pushing the concept of cyborg here. Here is what he writes.
Recently, a Florida family agreed to have tiny, scannable ID chips implanted under their skin. Containing a radio frequency identification tag, each implant stores a number that can be cross-referenced with a database containing a person's name and medical history. The unveiling of the "first cyborg family" was staged as a publicity stunt by a struggling tech startup called Applied Digital Solutions (ADSXE), which touted the chips' ability to make monitoring patients as easy as tracking cans of soup.
Already there are millions of cyborgs walking among us. Anybody with a pacemaker qualifies, since a cyborg is merely someone whose body contains digital technology that's integrated with biological systems.
Contemporary cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators already collect data about the heart that can be gathered by passing a wireless device over a patient's chest. This procedure is typically performed at a doctor's office. But last January, medical device leader Medtronic received FDA approval to allow some defibrillator patients to collect the data themselves and send it to doctors through a modem.
It looks like already two million people received this device. And you certainly can understand why all these ideas are causing an uproar. If you doctor can "watch" your brain activity, what will be the next step? Your company? Your government? Frightening, isn't?
Big Brother scenarios aside, however, new implant technologies will be adopted only if they provide clear patient benefits. In the end, you may not own the data your body generates. But if it helps you lead a longer, happier life, you might not really care.
Source: Erick Schonfeld, Business 2.0, August 2002 Issue
6:37:56 PM
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