The following LA Times news item strikes me as a candidate for receiving an
"ancient prophecy comes to life on the five-o-clock news" of the decade
award.

I've posted a back-up copy for archive purposes at
www.greaterthings.com/News/Chip_Implants/LATimes011219/

Sterling

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http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-000100545dec19.story

December 19, 2001

THE NATION
A Chip ID That's Only Skin-Deep
Biotech: Firm plans to sell implantable devices that can store a variety of
data about you.

By DAVID STREITFELD, TIMES STAFF WRITER

A Florida company is poised to become the first to sell microchips designed
to be implanted into human beings, an achievement that opens the door to new
systems of medical monitoring and ID screening.

Implantable chips have long been discussed by technologists and denounced by
those who object on religious grounds or fear their use by a totalitarian
state. But the company that did the test, Applied Digital Solutions of Palm
Beach, said the specter of terrorism is shifting attitudes. The direct union
of man and computer is no longer dismissed out of hand.

"The bottom line is, when people are trying to regain their peace of mind,
they're more open to new approaches," said Keith Bolton, Applied Digital's
chief technology officer. Applied Digital, which had revenue of $165 million
last year, has made its mark by selling electronic chips that help farmers
keep tabs on the health and safety of their cows and other livestock. The
company also makes a monitoring bracelet for Alzheimer patients, so that
families can use global positioning satellite systems to help find loved
ones who might have wandered off.

Now the company sees a market among those who have artificial organs and
limbs. These folks will have up to 60 words of relevant medical information
implanted on chips. If the patients are brought unconscious into an
emergency room, technicians equipped with special scanners will easily
decipher the body's internal topography.

The chips would need approval from the Food and Drug Administration, which
Applied Digital said it expects to receive by midyear. The company said it
already has secured permission from the Federal Communications
Commission--necessary because the chips use radio frequencies.

Regulatory approval is not necessary overseas, however. Applied Digital
expects to be selling chips in South America in about 90 days. One potential
market is kidnap targets, who could use these chips in combination with
global positioning devices.

Other potential applications would put the chips in the role of an ultimate
ID, capable of performing many of the roles that are performed by keys and
ATM cards.

"I'd be shocked if within 10 years you couldn't get a chip implanted that
would unlock your house, start your car and give you money," said Chris
Hables Gray, an associate professor of computer science at the University of
Great Falls in Montana and author of "The Cyborg Citizen."

English cyberneticist Kevin Warwick won considerable notoriety three years
ago by implanting an electronic transmitter above his left elbow. The
implant opened doors and switched on lights at his British University of
Reading offices. He now is working on experiments in which his nervous
system is linked with a computer.

If Warwick is the equivalent of the mad genius who injects himself with a
new vaccine to see whether it works, the Applied Digital volunteer,
55-year-old New Jersey surgeon Richard Seelig, sees himself as simply a
consultant thrust by events into an unexpected role.

Seelig had been working with Applied Digital since early this year. He
expected to do a traditional scientific study, calling for volunteers who
wanted to test out the role of chip implants. Then came the terrorist
attacks Sept. 11. Five days later, Seelig injected himself with the chips.

"I was so compelled by what had happened," he said in a phone interview.
"One of the potential applications suddenly jumped out--the ability to have
a secure form of identification--and I felt I had to take the next step."

So he injected one chip into his left forearm; the other went in his right
leg, next to his artificial hip. Each could hold several sentences of
information, although at the moment they just contain serial numbers.

"There's no deformity of the skin," Seelig said. "I feel just the same as I
did before."

The chips that will be marketed next year are not true tracking devices. For
one thing, they have no internal power source. Their data can't be read
without a scanner.

The next generation of body chips, which transmits signals from a distance,
is still several years away. At the moment, this kind of tracking device
would have to be about 1 inch by 1 inch, raising the likelihood of a rather
unsightly bulge.

Applied Digital has a market value of 95 million. Its shares closed
unchanged Tuesday at 38 cents on Nasdaq.

No one interviewed Tuesday questioned that Applied Digital had done what it
said it did, but not everyone thought there would be a huge market.

"It's a glorified bar code, and there are not a lot of people who are going
to want it," said Michael Nova, the founder of Graviton, a La Jolla company
developing wireless machine-to-machine communication systems. Using such a
chip as a built-in credit card, Nova said, would require a great deal of
work.

"Stores would have to get the right software; credit card companies would
have to want to do it," Nova said. "At the moment, this is an intriguing
idea that doesn't have a market."

Which isn't necessarily going to keep it from being popular, said futurist
Paul Saffo.

"As some people wring their hands about the invasion of privacy and civil
liberty, a whole other generation is going to go, 'Cool! I've always wanted
to embed technology in my body.' It's going to be fashion," Saffo said. "One
sure sign that teenagers will love it is if it terrifies their parents."

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Forwarded by Greater Things News Service
http://www.greaterthings.com/News/

Ron Paul for President 2004
www.Paul2004.com