Microchip implants are coming soon, and human trials have already begun. British researcher Mark Gasson, for example, injected a microchip into his hand five years ago and has been using it ever since, according to Business Insider.
“Is the human body an appropriate place for a microchip?” Gasson asked at a 2012 TEDX Talk. “Can we enhance our body by implanting technology into it?”
Gasson seems to think that we can — after all, the vision of microchip implants is to make human lives easier. So, Gasson decided to conduct the great experiment: he had a microchip inserted into his hand. The microchip enables him to enter rooms with a wave of his hand unlock his smartphone just by holding it. Gasson said the microchip works basically like “a tiny implantable computer.”
During the TEDX Talk, Gasson explained how we already implant technology in our bodies to enhance our capabilities, like pacemakers and insulin pumps, for example.
“These devices form very intimate connections between the biology of the body and the silicon of technology,” Gasson said.
Basically, Gasson is saying that we shouldn’t be too concerned about sticking “tiny computers” in our skin because we already install false hearts in our chests.
“We’re very interested in the security of medical devices,” Gasson said. “A lot of medical devices have no access control.”
Gasson’s microchip is an RFID, which stands for radio frequency identification. This means that the microchip obtains information by reading other devices.
“Imagine technology being able to feed information directly to us, no matter what we’re doing,” Gasson said.
Microchips, according to Gasson, will become like mobile phones: the cellphone is now so necessary to every day life that a person is practically dysfunctional without one. Soon, microchip implants will become so normal and so integrated into our normal lives that we won’t be able to imagine not using them.
Already, researchers like Gasson are walking around with microchip implants. The company Dangerous Things put together a microchip implant kit which you can buy for $99 on their website.
“Are these the cyborgs of science fiction? Well, yes, I believe they are,” Gasson said. “And I believe there’s a very good chance in the future that you may become one of them too.”