Technology to Meld Chips into Humans Draws Closer (2002)

It's 10 p.m. You may not know where your child is, but the chip does.

The chip will also know if your child has fallen and needs immediate help. Once paramedics arrive, the chip will also be able to tell the rescue workers which drugs little Johnny or Janie is allergic to. At the hospital, the chip will tell doctors his or her complete medical history.

And of course, when you arrive to pick up your child, settling the hospital bill with your health insurance policy will be a simple matter of waving your own chip - the one embedded in your hand.

To some, this may sound far-fetched. But the technology for such chips is no longer the stuff of science fiction. And it may soon offer many other benefits besides locating lost children or elderly Alzheimer patients.

"Down the line, it could be used [as] credit cards and such," says Chris Hables Gray, a professor of cultural studies of science and technology at the University of Great Falls in Montana. "A lot of people won't have to carry wallets anymore," he says. "What the implications are [for this technology], in the long run, is profound."

Indeed, some are already wondering what this sort of technology may do to the sense of personal privacy and liberty.

"Any technology of this kind is easily abusive of personal privacy," says Lee Tien, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "If a kid is track-able, do you want other people to be able to track your kid? It's a double-edged sword."

Tiny Chips That Know Your Name

The research of embedding microchips isn't entirely new. Back in 1998, Brian Warwick, a professor of cybernetics at Reading University in London, implanted a chip into his arm as an experiment to see if Warwick's computer could wirelessly track his whereabouts with the university's building.

But Applied Digital Solutions, Inc. in Palm Beach, Fla., is one of the latest to try and push the experiments beyond the realm of academic research and into the hands - and bodies - of ordinary humans.

The company says it has recently applied to the Food and Drug Administration for permission to begin testing its VeriChip device in humans. About the size of a grain of rice, the microchip can be encoded with bits of information and implanted in humans under a layer of skin. When scanned by a nearby reader, the embedded chip yields the data - say an ID number that links to a computer database file containing more detailed information.

Chipping Blocks

Most embedded chip designs are so-called passive chips which yield information only when scanned by a nearby reader. But active chips - such as the proposed Digital Angel of the future - will need to beam out information all the time. And that means designers will have to develop some sort of power source that can provide a continuous source of energy, yet be small enough to be embedded with the chips.

Another additional hurdle, developing tiny GPS receiver chips that could be embedded yet still be sensitive enough to receive signals from thousands of miles out in space.

In addition to technical hurdles, many suspect that all sorts of legal and privacy issues would have to be cleared as well.

Note:
Down the line: completely

已经是晚上10点钟了，（如果你的孩子现在还没有回家，）你可能无法知道他们身在何处，但一枚小小的芯片却可以帮你的忙。

你还可以通过芯片知道你的孩子是否摔倒了，是否需要急救。当医务人员赶到时，芯片还能够告诉他们受伤的孩子对哪种药物过敏。在医院，芯片能够告诉医生小患者的医药史。

当然，当你赶到医院去接孩子的时候，用健康保险单结算医院账单的过程将简化为摆动一下你植入了芯片的手掌。

对于一些人来说，这些事情听上去似乎有些不可思议。但是这种芯片已不再只是出现在科幻小说里虚构的内容了。并且在不久的将来，这种芯片除了帮助人们寻找走失的孩子和老年痴呆症患者之外，它还将给人类带来许多其他的帮助。

蒙大拿州大瀑布大学从事科学技术人文研究的克里斯·哈布莱斯·格雷教授说："事实上，这种芯片可以具有信用卡或者类似的功能。人们将不用再随身带着钱包了。这就意味着，从长远看，这项技术的发展前景非常广大。"

然而有些人不禁要问：这项科技对人们的隐私和自由将意味着什么呢？

电子前沿基金会的高级律师李婷说："任何一种类似的技术很容易会被人们滥用而造成对个人隐私的威胁。如果你的孩子真能通过芯片来定位，那么你希望其他人也能够通过这种方法来跟踪你的孩子吗？它（这种技术）实际上是一把双刃剑。"

小身材，大用途

将芯片植入人体并非一项全新的研究。早在1998年，英国伦敦瑞丁大学研究控制论（对信息传递和控制的研究，尤其涉及人及动物大脑与机器及电子装置的差异）的教授布雷恩·沃里克就曾经将一枚芯片植入自己的胳膊，他进行这项实验的目的是为了测试自己的电脑能否在楼内无线跟踪他的行迹。

位于美国佛罗里达州棕榈滩的Applied Digital Solutions有限公司近期正将这项技术从学术研究的范围扩大到普通人的生活中，即在普通人的手掌和身体中植入芯片。

该公司称最近他们已经向美国食品药物管理局提出申请，研制植入人体的VeriChip微型芯片。该公司研制的这种芯片体积大约只有一粒大米大小，里面载入译成代码的各种信息，然后将其植入人体表皮下。当附近的信息阅读器扫描到芯片的时候，这种微型芯片就会发送出数据，例如发送该人的身份证号码， 而电脑通过辨认身份证号码，将可以提供此人更详细的资料。

芯片研究的种种障碍

大多数芯片都是所谓的"被动"芯片，这种芯片只有在被附近的信息阅读器扫描到的时候才能发送出数据信息。但是"主动"芯片却可以随时发送出信息。但是这就意味着设计者必须为这种芯片配备某种能量来源，不断地为其提供能量。此外，这种提供能量的设备的体积还必须小到能够嵌入芯片里面才行。

而另一个不可忽视的因素则是全球定位系统信息接收芯片，它不但要能植入人体内，并且还应有足够的灵敏度，以接收来自几千英里外的太空定位卫星群发来的信息。

除了技术上的限制外，许多人认为这种芯片涉及的法律和隐私问题也同样是需要解决。