alexandermcmanus

Getting Under Your Skin

The Baja Beach Club in Barcelona made headlines three years ago when it began to “tag” it’s patrons with microchips embedded in the arm. The chip is used to identify people when they enter and pay for drinks.

So, let’s say, you go to the Baja Beach Club. A nurse preps you with a local anesthetic. She then injects the micro chip into you arm with an intimidating syringe. Now you can enter the Club and listen to the DJ as he mixes music and order a drink from the bikini-clad waitress. She sweeps the tag reader across your arm and bingo, you’re good to go. It seems a bit much for a PiÃ±a Colada.

“I know a lot of people have fears about it,” [the Club’s co-owner] says. But he points out that many people already have piercings and tattoos. “Having a radio-transmitted chip under your skin makes you very unique,” he says wryly.

All this might seem a bit extreme….But as go the bohemians, so, eventually, go the rest of us.

Here’s the prediction. People now aged 50 or under “are quite likely to have some form of wireless gizmo attached or implanted in their lifetime.” (The Economist 2007, April 28 Issue)

See you in the Mystic …

Posted by:

alexandermcmanus

6 responses to “Getting Under Your Skin”

tony sheng

May 15, 2007

Hi Alex,
I just read this article which talks about robots and the connection with their operators, sort of along the same lines as your post.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/05/AR2007050501009_pf.html
Thought you might enjoy it.

Reply
Joe Kennedy

May 15, 2007

I’m still just paranoid enough not to want one of those. Geez. What next, radio collars? “Tag’em and release’em!”

I like the idea of being able to disappear into the woods and nobody can find me, regardless of the risks. But microchips? Eww.

Reply
Shaman

May 15, 2007

my dog (phoebe, the beagle) has a scanning chip implanted under the skin on the back of her neck so that if she were ever lost without a collar any vet or animal control facility could scan her and get her name, our name, and our contact info. when it was done to her i remember wondering why we don’t already have these for our children’s safety or for seniors or people with special medical needs or drug allergies. the tech for an implanted child ID or Medi-Alert bracelet has been in my dog for years.

Reply
Deana

May 15, 2007

yikes…we don’t even want the passports with a tracking chip in it!

i chuckled though because i remember being little and the old guy who would come to church and tell you how the “mark” would be a barcode on your hand “just like at the grocery store”. That always freaked me out.

Reply
Shaman

May 15, 2007

sorry to burst your bubble Joe, but even now, if they want to, they can find you (even in the woods).

Reply
Sue

July 31, 2007

Deana – My father wrote various books about the “End of the World”. You know the whole America is Babylon and the president is the antichrist? (she says so casually) Well, my pops told me that the bar code thingy was the MARK OF THE BEAST! Mind you I was about 5 when he told me this. Needless to say, I had a very strange childhood. (she laughs madly)

Reply