Building on the theme of digital identities, we are moving rapidly to a future based upon digital implants.
I have had this vision for some time, and every day it gets nearer and nearer.
This vision stems back to the last decade, when the Baja Beach Club began chipping customers with NFC capabilities as who wants to take a wallet or purse to the beach.
Time for vacuous picture of a beach babe …
… the serious point here is that having a chip inside makes sense, and makes more sense a decade later as chips become less intrusive and easier to insert into our bodies.
For example, here’s the latest chip.
... and they are getting smaller and smaller, as nanotechnologies take over.
Soon you will be able to just swallow a unique chip tracker linked to your heartbeat, and most of us will have some form of nanotech chip inside if, for no other reason, than it can monitor our bodies and transmit our lives.
Then the question becomes: what if the identity could be linked to other tracking and monitoring services?
Obviously, it needs to be a secure monitoring service, but what if my chip could be linked to my doctor's office?
My doctor would get alerts purely in the instances of persistent unusual brain or heart activity. This would allow them to call me into the surgery and pre-analyse possibilities of a stroke or heart attack.
What if my child's chip could be monitored so that, if my son or daughter skipped class today, where were they?
I get an alert telling me that they are in the park or shopping mall.
That may be ok.
Alternatively, if the alert tells me that they are in a vehicle travelling north at speed, gives me an option to notify the authorities to monitor about what is taking place.
This is not a digital nightmare, but a reality that will be here in the near term.
For example, by having the chip inside, if that allowed you to walk across borders with no checks and no intrusion, would you use it?
If it meant that you felt more confident about your life, would you use it?
If it meant you could feel healthier, more cared for and more loved, would you use it?
We will all gladly accept being chipped if it means that we feel more secure and healthier.
As we do this, our chips will exchange information with our surroundings.
We will literally be able to talk to the trees and the animals, as our chip gauges our environment and surroundings, records our movements, monitors our activities and assists us in our lives.
Wirelessly, our intel inside will communicate with the internet of things to transact, inform and proactively serve us.
This is the vision of the digital nirvana: to have every human on the net.
The only slight concern at that point will be: who controls the net?
Source: Audio Gurus
Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...