Would You ‘Incorporate Bits of the Machine World’ in Your Body If It Meant Never Losing Your Phone?
- Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:00pm by
Liz Klimas
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Technology could someday eliminate the need for armbands. The phone could be incorporated someway into the human body itself. (Photo: Shutterstock)
Just last week, the Blaze brought you the story of the professional body piercer in New Jersey who embedded magnets into his wrist so he could wear his iPod Nano like like a bandless watch. Now researchers are taking the discussion of incorporating technology and human systems to the next level, begging the question: would you consider implanting a technological interface into your body?
At the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Austin, Texas, this week, researchers are discussing just this possibility. New Scientist reports that researchers have already checked to see if current technology would make this possible. The answer is yes:
A button, an LED and a touch sensor all functioned appropriately when embedded under the skin of a cadaver’s arm. The team was even able to communicate transcutaneously using a Bluetooth connection and charge the electronics wirelessly.
“That’s the bottom line,” says Christian Holz of the Autodesk team [...].
New Scientist voices what you may be thinking about controlling a device simply by touching your skin — that it’s “creepy” and there is room for worry about malfunctions and infections — but it speculates as technology continues to become more present in our lives, the creep factor will go away. The example it offers is the now accepted use of a pacemaker to regulate the heart:
“In general, the trend has been that people are more and more willing to incorporate bits of the machine world into themselves,” says Sherry Turkle, a sociologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“The perception [of this technology] 10 years ago would differ from today and from what we would get in 10 years’ time,” agrees Holz.
Turkle wants people to be cautious about these advancements though. She told New Scientist she worries about people who can’t seem to live without their phones even for a moment. There is actually a condition for this known as nomophobia in which one has a fear of being separated from his or her cellphone.
While still reserved in its verdict on the topic New Scientist states that if such a condition exists and if humanity is getting so attached to devices, perhaps a phone implant is really the “most obvious” next step.
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Comments (64)
Rayblue
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 2:06amI have an experimental plastic shoulder from 1979. There have been implants from just as far back. Things that were not talked about except by physicians who had too much to drink at parties that I bartended.
Report Post »johnjamison
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 8:20amBut I don’t want to be a borg.
Report Post »Diane TX
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 1:48amNo! I’m not that fond of cell phones. I think that I‘m one of the last five people in the USA that doesn’t have a smart phone. One thing though, my cell phone bill is about $20 a month, and I have nationwide coverage.
Report Post »The_Almighty_Creestof
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 3:28amI don’t own one at all…and never will. I don’t want to be that accessible.
I see losers walking through stores chatting away from the moment they walk in until they leave…not showing even the simple common courtesy to stop while standing in line or dealing with the cashier.
I’ve never seen/heard such useless, asinine conversations about absolute idiocy between people simply because they had a phone in their hand CONSTANTLY.
I see people daily –freaking GROWNUPS– that can’t pick out a box of aspirin or a flavor of ice cream at the store without getting on their phone for a second opinion.
They have totally dumbed down America.
Report Post »cielorojo
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 4:17amI don’t have to worry about my cell phone. I don’t own one. :)
Report Post »Dougral Supports Israel
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 6:08amI have an old dumb phone on a pay as you go plan that costs $20 for every 3 months. No apps, no tracking, and certainly no possibility of an implant. I don‘t need 24 hour accessibility and I don’t want it.
Report Post »nuttyvet
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 6:16amCellphones are awful and an absolute degradation to society. They do serve a purpose and a useful onestop that. I‘d love to get rid of mine but don’t know if that is possible.
Here is the thing about implants. Would I want one, no! BUT I’m sure my competitors would want one and that will give them the advantage. Would you rather go to a doctor who has all the info in the world built into his retina or one that goes off memory cracking your chest?
Report Post »LeadNotFollow
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 1:47am…
Report Post »More “Big Brother” in our lives.
SkyeOne
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 1:38amNo, because first it would be voluntary and then eventually mandatory.
Report Post »Apple Bite
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 12:38amOh yeah, sure. Let the government track me everywhere I go. Just brilliant. Not only that, let the government keep tabs on what I eat and where I sleep and how I wipe my backside, and how fast I’m driving, and allow bill collectors and telemarketers bug the hell out of me 24/7 and….
Report Post »Ethereal
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 12:50amNot a good idea anyway. With how fast technology changes these days your implanted gadget would be obsolete within a few months.
Report Post »Rainbow Dash
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 12:35amShort answer?
No.
Long answer?
Report Post »Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
stoptheliesbho
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 1:18pmSame here
Report Post »christianUSA
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 12:34amOpinion: think politians like Obama or Bush hand wired to your brain or news extreme commentator or how common computer virus coming through that to your brain! oh but you can t-r-u-s-t hee hee them, even the hACKERS, right not; I think I will stay sane and have free will so no thank you.
Report Post »FromSeaToSea
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 12:32amThese type of articles are floated some by the world banking cartel to see the response. They need to judge how soon people will accept being chipped. In the mean time technology advances and new applications for under skin use develop.
Report Post »Being chipped will give a one world UN gov. total control over each of us.
Revelation says it’s coming.
Bob Hirschmann
Posted on May 17, 2012 at 12:03pmCould this be the “mark of the beast”?
Report Post »Hawaii_Conservative
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:58pmI am actually getting rid of my cell phone, In the 12 years I have had one, never had an emergency, that couldn’t wait. That is just the cell phone companies selling point. I will have a phone again when the phone companies introduce satellite phones and they are readily available like the cell phones of today. It is ridiculous that we are tied to cells with technology we have today, we should all have satellite phones… and hey it is a “greener” technology.
Report Post »Hawaii_Conservative
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 12:30amIn answer to the article, heck no. If they make me, I will do a David Banner, gamma ray that garbage… lol
Report Post »4xeverything
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:55pmAdd your comments
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 12:59amBorg Assimulator… Ready!
Report Post »Ron_WA
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:48pmAdd your commentsToday yes – I’d do it.
Three yrs ago before I retired from the special ops & intel world & worked hard to remain off the net no freakin’ way … I’m out of the game, single, w/ nothing to loose & nothing for others to gain so why not let big-B or others into my life …
The need for privacy is proportional to what one has to lose …
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 6:56amYou cannot buy or sell Freedom… so how do you value it?
Report Post »NLN
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:42pmHell no, never. 1984 knockin at your door.
Report Post »stmoad
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 12:18amI dont remember any cybernetic implants in 1984…
Report Post »Brooke Lorren
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:40pmNo thanks. I purposely ditch my phone all the time. I like being alone, not talking to people, too much…
Report Post »Wolf
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:37pmFools will say ‘yes’.
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 12:07amAnd the Uber-educated will say, “Please, with extra Gigabytes, only if it includes “Words with Friends” and ANgry Birds”.
The Sarcastic will say, “And where do you stick the batteries?”
Us dumb rednecks in the west will simply say, “Pull” Click..Boom.
Report Post »sawbuck
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 6:10amThe mid-east sand-pounders will ask…What exactly is “Virgin Mobile”…?
Report Post »kcinco
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:26pmThis is bizarre and a bit scary to think people would consider this. It’s just an implant away from a microchip for the feds to track its host.
Report Post »Bete Noire
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:26pmCertainly would consider a bio-tech replacement hand, limb or vital organ but a communication device….nope….
I’m not a conspiracy theorist but it seems to me that this would just be making it easy for potential abuse and invasion of privacy. How far can we be from devices that even when turned off would incorporate GPS, record purchases, monitor for key words in conversations etc.
And of course any technology that can be embedded in your body and could even remotely be made mandatory at some point down the road would be rejected by Christians. Too evocative of “Mark of the Beast” for most.
Report Post »heavyduty
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:25pmDon’t need a phone that bad.
Report Post »SilentReader
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:25pmNo.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:35pmH NO!
Bad enough they can track your phone .. car …. etc.
Report Post »Conservative_T-Rex
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:24pmI’ve never lost a cell phone yet. (knock on wood)
game/quiz for Fox News watchers: http://www.sporcle.com/games/Bohnfather/fox-news-personalities
Report Post »Rayford
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:24pmNo way.
To many people, their phone is their life. I see it, but cannot understand it. I hate the phone but have to use it for my business. I do not use it socially. My phone does not text, play games or take pictures.
If you all want to be chipped up and have stuff put into your bodies, go for it. Enjoy.
Report Post »Mutiny
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:21pmYes please track everything about me!!! This world is going to hell in a hand basket quick.
Report Post »vtxphantom
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:17pmHard-wire me into the matrix? No thanks.
Report Post »EnigmanDen
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:10pmNot just no, but he!! no. But then again, I don‘t have a cell phone and I don’t want one.
Report Post »spirited
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:26pmTracking device, money, medical and identification name / # –all in one.
>NO thanks.
Report Post »wvernon1981
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:06pmSign me up
Report Post »Matt
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 4:59amYup, nothing like having to get surgery done every three years to upgrade your outdated iSkin.
Report Post »NewLife24
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:06pmEasy way to ease in the mark of the beast. 666
Report Post »Matt
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 4:58amThe mark just seems to so clearly be metaphorical though. Maybe there will be a physical symbol, but it will only be a symbolic representation of the REAL mark of the beast. Thoughts (forehead) and actions (hand).
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