The Number of the Beast

[Morgoth]

It's not often that I get genuinely scared. Pissed off, filled with a need for blood and revenge, yes, but not scared. This scares me, mainly because it paints such a clear picture of how it will happen. Credit Card companies are already slowly starting this scam, first by no longer requiring signatures for transactions under $25 and second with the abhorrent 'PayPass' idiocy where the card is simply pressed against a read (by the consumer no less) without ever handing it over to a cashier to verify identity. If nobody can see how easy that makes fraud and theft, you're a mororn. Why would the card companies do this? They want to create a situation where there is a serious problem with these kinds of fraud and where their customers will welcome new technology to fix something that would never have been an issue if old safe-guards had been manintained and enforced.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...d=968867495754

Read and shudder. Or if you are a complete idiot start singing the praises of technology. The next Hitler will thank you for your naive support.

[Dr. Strangelove]

******* Morgoth, I'm suprised. This is...new, to you? Let me be the first to welcome you to the horrors of the twenty-first century.

However! There are potential benefits to this technology. Or atleast, a branch of this technology. We can have machines destroy diseases, viruses and such, inside our bodies. Screw nature, we've moved beyond that now. Ittie' bitty robots, inside of you, acting as an uber-imune system. Or, we could use them to make ourselves stronger. Mini-machines in ourselves, releasing vairious chemicals such as adreniline, or making mini-tears in our muscles, which would cause the muscles to repair themselves, thus adding muscle mass.

Meh, just a thought. No way in hell you're putting one in me to track me though.

[Morgoth]

No, the tech isn't new to me, but I've never seen the ease with which this filth will be foisted on the public stated so clearly and chillingly before. Appeal to human laziness and you can do anything.

[Orga777]

This is not good... I definitely don't like this idea at all. Hopefully all the smart people will, you know, be out there protesting and giving the bad side of this out to the public. It does seem very 1984-Esq though and that is a very scary thought.

[Cole Deschain]

Well, I'm not surprised at all.
I recall a scintillating debate about this very subject at the lumberyard about two years ago.


I was branded a luddite for my stance, a frankly preposterous label given how damn addicted I am to the friggin' internet.

[Seer235]

This is gonna happen whether people protest it or not. It's gonna happen because it has the support of big business (at least I believe so) and it appeals to human laziness, so the general populace will eat it up. Kinda sucks for those of us who realize the problems.

Course, the best way to stop it would probably be to bring up the religion thing, draw the connections between it and the mark of the beast. That way, all the conservative christians in the country would go against it.

[Goji Son]

Ohh, it's my Orwellian dream! Not only are God, Santa, the Easter Bunny, and my dead grandparents watching me, but the federal government is too! It's like a Police song come to life!

I can only hope I am grouped with the Alphas!

But seriously, if this is forcefully implemented (I honestly doubt it) I am moving to Eastern Europe in a log cabin far up into the mountains. Either that, or Siberia, they'll never find me there!

[Goji Son]

Originally Posted by Seer235

Course, the best way to stop it would probably be to bring up the religion thing, draw the connections between it and the mark of the beast. That way, all the conservative christians in the country would go against it.

Yeah, there is also that thing call human rights, right to privacy and other such nonsense. Looks like the Bill of Rights is in need of some revising, reinterpretation or even some "contemporary" editing

[Goji Son]

Originally Posted by Dr. Strangelove

******* Morgoth, I'm suprised. This is...new, to you? Let me be the first to welcome you to the horrors of the twenty-first century.

However! There are potential benefits to this technology. Or atleast, a branch of this technology. We can have machines destroy diseases, viruses and such, inside our bodies. Screw nature, we've moved beyond that now. Ittie' bitty robots, inside of you, acting as an uber-imune system. Or, we could use them to make ourselves stronger. Mini-machines in ourselves, releasing vairious chemicals such as adreniline, or making mini-tears in our muscles, which would cause the muscles to repair themselves, thus adding muscle mass.

Meh, just a thought. No way in hell you're putting one in me to track me though.

Um... what if your body sees the robots as intruders and tries to destroy them? And what happens when these nanobots malfunction?

[godofPH]

Originally Posted by Seer235

This is gonna happen whether people protest it or not. It's gonna happen because it has the support of big business (at least I believe so) and it appeals to human laziness, so the general populace will eat it up. Kinda sucks for those of us who realize the problems.

Course, the best way to stop it would probably be to bring up the religion thing, draw the connections between it and the mark of the beast. That way, all the conservative christians in the country would go against it.

*Loads shotgun and grabs pitcher of Holy Water*

If this be the Apocalypse, I'm ready....

[Dr. Strangelove]

Originally Posted by Goji Son

Um... what if your body sees the robots as intruders and tries to destroy them? And what happens when these nanobots malfunction?

Coat them in gold. IIRC, that won't be attacked by our Search and Destroy cells.

[Burkion]

Or titanium...

[Shin lvl2 Goji]

Everytime this subject comes up, it scares the you-know-what out of me. To hear that within a generation it could be possibly implemented widespread is even scarier. I don't care if I won't be able to buy food without a chip or what- no way are they getting that in my body.

[godzy]

The sad thing is that I try to ignore things like this, but they keep on comming up........

[Saruman]

There are some very valid uses for such technology, such as implanting a chip into a child molestor that is released from prison or any felon getting out of jail.

Another use I can see is for parents having a chip implanted into their child, would be great for finding kids that have gone missing. Though the chip should be removed at the age of say 16 unless the child wants to keep it, which then it would be his/her decision as to when it is removed. This would also be good for alzheimers patients.

I guess it could also be good if your in the military, that way they can track you if you are lost or captured.

Other than that I can't really think of any other really good uses for this technology and it should never be forced upon any decent person, though you can always choose to do it if you want. Anyone that wants one so that doors will automatically open for them is just to friggin lazy and needs a bullet inserted into them, not a chip.

[Raptor]

Originally Posted by Morgoth

...I've never seen the ease with which this filth will be foisted on the public stated so clearly and chillingly before. Appeal to human laziness and you can do anything.

As for the privacy concerns, consider this:

Companies will offer discounts to individuals who pay by using funds stored on their embedded chip, on the small-print condition that the merchant can access large swaths of their personal data. These "discounts" are effectively punitive pricing schemes, charging unchipped individuals more as a way to encourage them to submit to monitoring. Corporations will seek out the personal data in hopes of producing ever more fine-grained customer profiles for marketing purposes, and to sell to other institutions.

Kroger and Albertson's and their little "membership" saver cards: Notice the two prices on the shelves at Kroger. Inventory systems already use the UPC/bar codes but using these cards identifies purchases by individuals. The register generates "targetted" coupons and such and I wouldn't be surprised if they get emails and mail outs also. They're paying you to be TRACKED IMO.
Since I don't like the idea (or the two-tier pricing) I avoid Kroger.
Everyone has a Social Security Number. If you followed the ICE raids coverage, you should have noted that a LOT of people's numbers got "appropriated" and showed up on illegal immigrants' documents so THEY could "pass" in the US. I find it odd that he SSA and IRS (among other government agencies) don't share data when it comes to tracking CRIMINAL activity. Of course, the victims of the crimes are completely left out of the picture.
I'd say technology is a double-edged sword you don't want the pointy end facing you!

This scares me, mainly because it paints such a clear picture of how it will happen.

Yes, Mr. Haggerty has written a very nice 2008 version of 1984. Want to REALLY get scared? Consider what could be accomplished if there really was "something in the water." Instant brainwashing where ALL good little citizens would docilely report to the local Health Department to get their chips.

[Raptor]

MSNBC.com's Round-up on privacy issues. I haven't reviewed the various articles yet but plan to. Anything you all find particularly interesting, please post.

[Gorjirus]

But seriously, if this is forcefully implemented (I honestly doubt it) I am moving to Eastern Europe in a log cabin far up into the mountains. Either that, or Siberia, they'll never find me there!

Nah. I'd just go back to Alaska. I doubt anyone up there would really care.

[Cole Deschain]

My homeland? We would shoot the chip-=implanters on sight! The streets would run red with the blood of our enemies!

Or so I like to think.

[Burkion]

I don't even LIKE cellphones anyways...

[Emperor Violenjiger]

With those chip implants.... who'd stop them from taking away individualistic thoughts....