Meet the Chipsons

Jeffrey, Leslie and their boy Derek will be America's first cyborg family. Are you ready to"Get Chipped"？

With his school uniform and his plump, pinchable cheeks, Derek Jacobs of Boca Raton, Fla. , looks like an ordinary youngster. But looks can deceive. When he was 12, Microsoft certified Derek as a qualified systems engineer, one of the youngest ever. At 13 he was running his own computer－consulting company. Now he's 14, and what's Derek doing for an encore？He 's becoming a cyborg--part man－child, part machine.

走近芯片之子

   杰佛里、莱斯琳和他们的儿子德里克将成为美国的第一个电子人家庭。你准备好"植入芯片"了吗？

   佛罗里达州贝卡--拉顿市的德里克·雅各布斯穿着校服, 两腮胖嘟嘟的, 看上去和一般男孩没有什么不同。但是不要以貌取人。他12岁时, 就被微软公司认证为合格的系统工程师, 成为最年轻的系统工程师之一。13岁时, 他经营起了自己的计算机咨询公司。现在德里克14岁了, 他又要做出什么惊人之举呢？他将成为一个电子人--一部分是人, 一部分是机器。

Derek, his mom Leslie and his dad Jeffrey are the first volunteer test subjects for a new, implantable computer device called VeriChip.

 In some respects Derek is a regular eighth－grader. He's quiet and polite. He plays the drums. He used to be on the swim team before he quit to make time for his computer business. He remembers vividly when he first saw VeriChip on the Today show. "I thought it was great technology, "he says. "I wanted to be a part of it. "His mom Leslie Jacobs remembers, "He kept bugging me to call the company until I finally broke down.

 "Leslie set up a lunch with Keith Bolton, vice pres－ident of Applied Digital Solutions, the company behind VeriChip. Since the first wave of VeriChip publicity, he has heard from roughly 2,500 would－be cyborgs. But the Jacobs family is particularly well suited to test VeriChip for use in medicine. If a patient with VeriChip were injured, the theory goes, a harried ER doc could quickly access the victim's medi cal back－ground by scanning the chip with a device that looks like a Palm handheld computer.

    德里克的妈妈莱斯琳和爸爸杰佛里是一种叫做"绝对芯片"的人体植入电子装置的第一批自愿试验者。

   在一些方面, 德里克是很普通的8年级学生。他安静而有礼貌, 是个鼓手。为了有时间做计算机生意, 他停止了校游泳队的活动。他清晰地记得第一次在《今日》上看到有关绝对芯片的消息时的情景。"我当时就认为它是伟大的技术, "他说, "我想成为它的一部分。"他妈妈莱斯琳回忆道："他不停地缠着我打电话给那个公司, 直到最后我妥协。"

   

   莱斯琳邀请基思·博尔顿一起共进午餐。博尔顿是拥有绝对芯片技术的"应用数码解决方案"公司的副总裁。自从绝对芯片技术公开并引起强烈关注以来, 他已接触到大约2500个想要成为电子人的志愿者。而雅各布斯一家最适合试验绝对芯片在医学上的作用。如果一个植入了绝对芯片的人受伤了, 急救室的医生可以用一个看起来像掌上电脑的装置读出芯片中的数据, 从而快速地获得伤者的医疗背景。

In the case of the Jacobses, that could be a lifesaver. Derek has allergies to common antibiotics,and Jeffrey is weakened from years of treatment for Hodgkin's disease. "The advantage of the chip is that the information is available at the time of need,"Jeffrey explains. "It would speak for me, when I can't. "

   Applied Digital Solutions--which is trademarking the phrase"Get Chipped!"--has big plans for its little device. In the next few years, it wants to add sensors that will read your vital signs -- pulse, temperature, blood sugar and so on -- and a satellite receiver that can track where you are. The company makes a pager－like gadget called Digital Angel that does both those things, and its engineers are doing their darnedest to cram Digital Angel's functions into a package small enough to implant. Once they do, VeriChip will be very powerful indeed.

    对于雅各布斯一家人来说, 这可能成为救命索。德里克对一般抗生素有过敏反应, 而杰佛里则由于常年治疗淋巴恶性肉芽肿病而变得很虚弱。"芯片的优点就在于它能在任何需要的时候提供信息。"杰佛里解释道。"它能在我不能说话的时候替我说话。"

    应用数码解决方案公司正在宣传"植入芯片"的新概念。他们在这个小装置上有更宏伟的计划。在以后的几年中, 他们计划在芯片中加入传感器, 使它可以读出一些至关重要的信息--脉搏、体温、血糖量等等。并且用卫星接收器, 追踪你所在的方位。公司已经制成了一个称为"数码天使"的呼机状小装置, 它具有上述的两个功能。公司的工程师们正在用尽解数将数码天使的功能压缩到一个小得足以植入人体的装置中。一旦他们成功了, 绝对芯片就会具有强大的功能。

 Security is part of the VeriChip business plan. The company has already signed a deal with the California department of corrections to track the movements of parolees using Digital Angel. Seelig believes VeriChip could function as a theft－proof, counterfeit－proof ID, like having a driver's license embedded under your skin. He suggests that airline crews could wear one to ensure that terrorists don't infiltrate the cockpit in disguise.    The FDA is expected to approve the Jacobses'implants within two months, and there are other ways to speed up the evolution. Two weeks ago, Applied Digital Solutions signed a deal to distribute VeriChips in Brazil, where kidnapping has become epidemic, especially among the rich and powerful. Government officials hope that VeriChips implanted in people considered at high risk could be used to track victims via satellite.

      安全功能是绝对芯片的业务计划的一部分内容。公司已经和加利福尼亚罪犯改造所签订了一项协议, 计划使用"数码天使"来追踪假释犯的行为。公司的西利格先生相信绝对芯片还可以作为一种能够防盗、防伪的身份证明, 就像把驾驶执照植入到了你的皮下一样。他建议飞机机组人员可以戴上一个, 以确保恐怖分子不会伪装混入驾驶舱。

      食品和药品管理局将在两个月内批准雅各布斯一家的植入试验。然而有其他方法可以加速这一人类的进步。两星期前, 应用数码解决方案公司签署了一项协议, 准备在巴西销售绝对芯片。那里绑架泛滥成灾, 特别是对富人和要人的绑架。政府官员希望对处境比较危险的人植入绝对芯片, 再利用卫星追踪, 寻找受害者的下落。