What if you awake some day and find that you have become a Bar code?
The power of unlocking a door, making cashless payments and the access to your company premises or your office PC lies beneath your skin. Well, I am not daydreaming, it’s a reality!
A microchip built specially to empower you solves the purposes.
A Microchip also may be called a Chip (Integrated Circuit) and that too size of a grain can turn you into a Cyborg (combined force of a Man and a Machine) or a Bar-code.
MoA (Mechanism of Action) of a Microchip
A microchip works on the same principle as your credit and debit cards. It works on the NFC (Near Field Communication) system. Some chips also work on the RFID (Radio Frequency Identifying Device) tag system.
There are two types of microchips:
- Active Microchips
- Passive Microchips
Active microchips have their own batteries. They are equipped with better storage space and can transmit info over long distances.
Passive microchips have a unique ID and some additional data that is read by a transmitter or reader while the chip is in the near-effective zone.
There is a small antenna embedded inside the chip, which enables it to connect with a reader or transmitter. It can be embedded in the space between your thumb and index finger with the help of a syringe, just like a vaccine, through a small procedure. It does cause a little pain and a scar.
How is it going for this Cyborg thing?
The microchip technology is in its quite early stages. Some people have already embedded the chip in their bodies and are quite happy about it. They are feeling powerful and more efficient after the transformation. But the numbers are quite low as of now. There is a slow and steady rise in the numbers as more people become aware of the technology. Recently, a UK-based consumer survey firm, Propeller Insights, conducted a survey of 2000 respondents. The results of the survey seem promising for the acceptance and existence of microchips in the future. A whopping 51% of the respondents said YES to the chip implants in order to make their lives hassle-free.
The country that is leading this revolutionary tech is Sweden. The Swedes are early adopters of any new technology in comparison to the rest of the world.
The big numbers of total implants done every day come from Sweden. There are roughly 8,000 to 10,000 people who have already undergone this transformation, including men, women, and the young population. They are throwing Micro-chipping parties to celebrate the new cyborgs. All members of a family became cyborgs in a single day. That’s some cracking news for developers like the British Polish firm Walletmor, Abbott Laboratories, Encapsulate, and many others venturing in the field of microchips.
The Pros and Cons of Microchips
Everything has its own set of benefits and untoward effects as well. So, microchips are not an exception here. Let’s talk about the pros first.
- Personal benefits:
The chip implant makes a person more powerful. It makes your life hassle-free and convenient. After the implant, the person becomes his own barcode. The power to unlock his house door, his car, his PC, or any other devices at home or at work lies under his skin. It’s in his hand, embedded forever. Next time he won’t be required to say “Damn, I forgot my car keys”. The key is within him. - Health benefits:
The chip can store a lot of data. So, it can store the health data of the person who owns it. The health data we can store is as follows:- Health conditions
- Blood group
- Drug allergies
- Family Doctor info
- Emergency contact number
The chips with an enabled GPS location tracker can be used to trace the movements of patients with Dementia whenever they wander away. It can open a whole new array of saving precious lives.
A case study of a person named Alex Lewis
Alex Lewis is a 100% disabled person who lost all four of his limbs due to some medical conditions. He was finding it very difficult to lead a normal life after losing all his limbs. The microchips came as a boon for him and other disabled people like him. Even a simple task like unlocking his house door seemed impossible and exhaustive for him. He couldn’t hold or grasp anything.
Now, after getting the chip implant, his life has become so easy and hassle-free.
He even dreams of driving a car someday with another advanced version of the chip. He has a second chip to record his medical data on for emergency use.
- Social benefits
It’s quite possible in the near future that the acceptance of these cyborgs will overcome those who don’t get themselves chipped. According to a survey, cyborgs would have an unfair advantage in the labour market or a better chance of securing a job by the year 2035.
What lies in the future for the Microchips?
By the year 2025, cyborgs or biomicrochips would account for nearly 30% of the value of devices like this. We have been using these chips on pets for the last 20 years now. This helps to ascertain the owner of a lost pet by scanning the chip.
Reenita Das, Senior Vice President with the consultants Frost & Sullivan, states that microchips are the way of the future. She further adds that the microchips would record your every move. Once you have embedded a chip into your body, it will be your passport for life. It’s going to record your life, your work, your health, and everything you do. She also said that the chip would do everything your smart phone does for you. So, the era of smart phones would fade away in a decade or so.
But there are some who question the existence and benefits of these microchips. Gus Hosein from Privacy International says that every new technology that comes along has to be treated with complete suspicion in order to sort out the ethical barriers and dilemmas it carries with it. The chip leaves a digital footprint every time you use it. It can compromise your personal safety and privacy.
This is serious stuff because it’s a non-stop potential connection to your body; you can’t turn it off or put it away.
It’s inside you.
So, it’s serious advice from my side: don’t put any personal data on the chip.
A note on Elon Musk’s new project Neuralink
Elon Musk’s Neuralink project is taking this technology a step ahead. They are developing a chip or device that would be implanted within your brain with thousands of microwires. They claim that the device can cure blindness completely, whether it is congenital blindness or due to some other condition.
It already has FDA approval.
Neuralink also claims that with their device, we can use our computers, laptops, or smart phones by using telepathy. We can also type and play video games with the help of telepathy. Sounds good and out of this world. But soon it could become a reality, maybe a few years down the line.
The future seems bright and promising.
Let's summarize
As of now, it’s a voluntary decision to be a cyborg or not. It’s totally up to you what you want to be in the future. But if some institution or government breaks the ethical barriers and forces their people to get chipped, it could be the worst nightmare possible.
I would leave you with some intriguing but important questions here.
- Are the chips a threat to you and your well-being?
- Can someone exploit you and your data?
- Who ultimately owns the data?
- Can anyone hack the chips?
- How beneficial are they?
Very controversial post. This is a great read with clear intent to enlighten the reader on both sides of what lies ahead in the near future of microchips. I know it kept me on the edge of my seat. Great article!
Very informative blog.
Thanks Haider
Jai Hind Sir,
Nicely done. Although scary, very informative as well. Much obliged.
Just the thought that someone else might be able to control you or more importantly human beings are going to be like pets in the hands of authoritarian governments or insanely rich people giving me chills through the body.
And ofcourse very intriguing questions in the end indeed.
Hats off to you sir and wish you luck, but knowing you, you don’t need it anyway!
Thanks Shibu for your valued comment on this topic.
Thank you so much Rajender.
Indeed the modern technology is turning our thoughts and dreams into reality.
Let it be more beneficial to the whole mankind.
Thanks again
Gald to see such a noble uses of technology and a great postive view towards human future alongwith technology.. Very impressive. Mr. Kodan…
Thanks, Roshan
I am glad you liked it
Very nice article. keep up
I will Mr vinod Dhankhar
Thanks for your kind comments
Very informative article…keep writing
Thanks for your kind words
Dasarathi
Very impressive Blog. Worth reading and tech savvy about future advancements.
Thank you Sushant for valueable comments.
Very helpful and nice article…
Wow… Very beautiful brought out the term cyborg… Keep up the pace buddy… Well wrote…
It’s true statement after reading the article need to more informative and scure about the effects of microchips on human beings.Need to connects such types of positive blogs
Thank you so much Varun
Thank you Manprakash Mishra
Glad you liked it.
A few years back, i was reading an article on child trafficking and thinking on similar lines that can any chip be implanted in the kids as soon as they are born and they can be tracked like we track our lost phone these days with IMEI or other options.These were just thoughts but i didn’t know the tech will make advance in this subject so quick.
The article is a good read with clear thought process. Kudos to the writer (Amresh) to enlighten us on this. This is a very beautifully articulated article. Looking forward for such informative articles.