Thursday, 14 April 2022

More Than Human -人間プラス-

I read a story this week about a Dutch man who has had a microchip implanted under his skin.  This allows him to pay for items in a supermarket or shop just by waving his hand in front of the scanner.  Cashiers are often amazed to see him paying without using any cards or his smartphone, as if by magic.

Is this the future?  Are humans going to put more and more gadgets inside their bodies, like weird science fiction characters?  And if so, what gadget implants will come next?  Here are a few things I would like to see developed.

 

1 – A third hand. 

This robotic hand would be attached to the back of one of your arms.  It could be used for touching and picking things up which you didn’t actually want to touch with your skin.  For instance, during a future coronavirus pandemic, people would shake hands only with their robotic third hand. 

2 – A proximity warning system 

Are you tired of people on the street bumping into you because they are looking at their smartphones, and not looking where they are going?  If they have a radar system implanted beneath their skin, it will beep a warning when they are about to collide with something.  Cars have this system for use when parking.  Why not people?

3 – Under the skin perfume dispenser 

With so many electrical gadgets attached to your body, it is going to be dangerous to take a shower.  So you will need a perfume dispenser implanted beneath your skin.


Vocabulary:

Dutch – of or from the Netherlands

a gadget – a small mechanical or electrical device or tool, especially an unusual or cleverly designed one

an implant – something placed inside the body using surgery, such as a medical tool to monitor the heart

proximity – nearness

to collide with something – to hit something; crash into; bump into




 

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