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Researchers Push Implanted User Interfaces
MatthewVD writes "A new, user interface-enabled generation of electronics that you wear under your skin could be used for convenience, or even pleasure, rather than medical reasons. Scientists at Autodesk Research in Toronto have implanted electronics with user buttons, pressure sensors and LEDs under the skin of a cadaver's arm and wrapped in artificial skin. The electronics could buzz you when you have an appointment, carry memory cards with data, or connect you in a social network with others wearing electronics."
Isn't it better to have external gizmos? Electronic thingies tend to break, be obsolete, be hacked, be stolen.
All of the above get a lil' worse when the stuff is right inside you.
All of this without the orwellian aspects taken into account.
'electronics could buzz you when you have an appointment' I'm sure this will be used for only appointments.
For a time...I was tempted by the offer. 0.68 seconds, to be exact. For an android, that is nearly an eternity.
When the foot seeks the place of the head, the line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe.
What happens to copyrights when you can "record" what you see or hear via implants? Does this mean if you walk into a theater you cannot remember/record what you've just seen or heard?
Yay, looking forward to the operation every two years, to upgrade or repair.... seeing how long it takes for electronics to break these days, or how long hardware/software is supported by the manufacturer.
Neat technology, but the use of cadavers is a little disconcerting.
Now we will have to fight off bluetooth and WiFi enabled zombies in the coming apocalypse.
Luckily for us the Zombies will probably be content to use WEP and 2GHz. No worries!
I am confused now, depending on where they are implanted; could I use a Trojan to stop the spread of trojans?
I think a recall an 80's sci-fi book called Steel Beach by John Varley with this technology in it. What's interesting to me is that the main character was a journalist who was an early-adopter of tech and had refused to update his skin-deep tech for newer embedded technology, because he had mastered his tech and found the new interface annoying. I identified with the interface curmudgeon in him.
How long until we are encouraged to get "subsidized" implants so we get helpful reminders about "special offers". Then one day I find myself getting offers of dick pills in my sleep by my subsidized implants. I find touch interfaces annoying enough so why on earth would I be implanted with a device that will be out of date in a year? Implants mean being tracked 24/7 and being at the mercy of those making the implants. Already there's talk of companies requiring implants to access facilities. The first time I saw some one had been implanted with a tracking chip I didn't say how wonderful I got the cold sweats. Most people are sheep which means I get swept along with what they'll accept. Great our new computer system at work requires implants so I either agree to it or I get fired or handed a broom. Can't happen? Flown on a plane lately? They practically require DNA. Everyone accepts it because it makes us "safer". Millions of people jump through hoops and give up rights without a shred of proof that it makes us safer and yet they accept it. Before the technology moves forward I want a law banning a requirement to have the implants for any reason. Fine if it's an option but as soon as ANYONE requires you to have it to have a job or access a bank account our freedom is long gone. People can say how cool all they want, the first time a chip in my arm vibrates to tell me I have a new spam e-mail is the moment I dig it out with a dull spoon.
Is the Orwellian aspect where we could have mandatory health care which requires sensors for 'health monitoring' reasons...
"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet." General James Mattis
What a stupid idea. Who the hell wants to carry around a cadaver's arm just to use their electronics?
I mean what could possibly go wrong?
I once had a boss who had raging and untreated ADHD. Opening up my calendar in the morning felt like emotional abuse. The last straw was when we got new phones with a walkie-talkie feature. I couldn't get twenty consecutive minutes to myself to get anything done without being interrupted by the damn ba-beep and having to respond to whatever popped into his head.
I can imagine a few useful applications of implanted technology, like keeping all your medical records handy. But even those are only acceptable if you have a simple and fool-proof way of stopping someone from activating them when you didn't want them too. The ease of getting away from a gadget is a pretty important feature, but it's one we take for granted because up until now we *haven't* implanted gadgets in our body. We're understandably more focused on making stuff easier to carry than on getting rid of it. The desire to implant technology because of the current inconvenience of carrying devices around is like a guy who is five feet tall wishing he was twelve feet tall. If his wish were granted pretty soon he'd see the advantages of being only five feet tall.
The only really killer app for a technology like this is enslaving people. Justice Louis Brandeis, in his landmark paper on a legal right to privacy, defined it as:
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
So, when is Johnny Mnemonic going to run into trouble at the airport?