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Significant Minority of Americans Open to “Disturbing” Futuristic Technology

6:35 am on October 29, 2007 | Category: Editorials, Internet, Wireless Technology

Eleven percent of Americans would be willing to safely implant a device allowing them to access the internet with their minds, according to a recent poll by Zogby International and 463 Communications.

The survey of 9743 Americans, whose results have been called “disturbing” by PC World magazine, also found that one fifth of respondents would be willing to have a tracking chip safely inserted in their young child’s body.

What the survey doesn’t seem to define is the meaning of â€œsafetyâ€ within this context. Surely, a significant percentage of users would love to access a massive library of information at will, or know the location of their child in the event of a kidnapping or natural disaster. The real questions here are about potential for abuse.

Would the internet â€œbrain implantâ€ have an upstream as well as a downstream connection? Could ISP’s (or governments) keep records of a person’s latest thoughts? Would â€œtracking chipsâ€ end up becoming an excuse to unreasonably invade a child’s (or teenager or adult’s) privacy?

Futuristic technology has plenty of potential benefits, many of which are at least worth thinking about. Until the bigger questions can be answered, however, surveys like this one will remain completely theoretical and essentially meaningless.

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