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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 Janic is allergic(過敏的)to.At the hospital,the chip will tell doctors his or her complete medical history.
And of counse ,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(牢固地,插入)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 childen 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 aleady 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 kind is trackable,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 1988,Brian Warwick,a professor of cybernetics(控制論) 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 experments 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 chips designs are so-called passive chip 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 barrier,developing tiny GPS receiver chips that cuold be embedded yet still be sensitive enough to receive signals from thousnads of miles out in space.In addition to technical hurdles(需要克服的困難),many suspect that all sorts of legal and privacy issues would have to be cleared as well.
1. A chip is able to do the following EXCEPT——
A telling the location of your child
B telling doctors your child’s medical history
C telling whether your child needs immediate help
D telling the rescue workers which medicine your child should take at once
2. The word“paramedic”refers to ——
A one who is trained to assist a doctor
B one who drives the ambulance
C an ambulance
D a disease
3. The implications for chip technology are proound because——
A it can help people a lot in their daily life
B it is easily abusive if personal privacy
C it is easily abusive if personal liberty
D it is a double-edged sword
4. What has Applied Digital Solutions,Inc,recently done?
A It has recently implanted a chip into Professor Brian Warwick’s arm.
B It has recently pushed the expermients into the realm of academic research.
C It has recently made the research of embedding microchips.
D It has recently applied to the Food and Drug Administration for permission to test its VeriChip device in humans.
5. To produce active chips,the problems designers need to solve are as many as — —
A two B three
C four D five
