Merging of Technology
As the web continues to emerge from a monolog into a dialog, my thoughts turn to other technologies. Will TV, Phone, Computers, and Internet all eventually merge into a single platform for information, entertainment, and communications? Many people are already receiving all of these technologies from a single carrier threw cable or fiber optics being run into their homes.
I see a vision of a day when we’ll all be carrying around our portable communications device everywhere we go. This device might even be used as a sort of e-commerce and self identifying device that can be swiped passed a reader at you local store or government office, much like the new “PayPass” technologies being used with Credit Cards or how Bluetooth on cell phones is used to buy items from vending machines. This all-in-one device would have a camera and microphone for communicating with others, taking pictures, or making video and voice memos. It could also display or play your Multimedia files. You could even take it home, plug it into your home “computer” (that will have become more of a glorified docking station and backup/storage device), and use the portable device’s capabilities to provide you with internet access, or to watch videos on a full sized screen that you download as you wish instead of waiting for it to be aired; then comment about it on the providers blog.
One might be concerned that such a portable device would be easily stolen, but such crimes could be thwarted by imbedding microchips under the skin in the palm of the hand; or forehead if you don’t have hands. This microchip, much like the one’s used to identify lost pets, would be required by the device to insure you are an authorized user of the device. Reprogramming the device would automatically wipe its encrypted memory, so that if stolen it would be impossible for your personal information to be stolen as well. These devices could then be required as a tamper proof identification system, required for all transactions. It would be the end of identify theft, or at least make it much harder and greatly reduce it’s occurrence.
It will contain GPS technology so that it can be tracked down to locate anyone simply by obtaining a warrant from any judge willing to sign their name to it. It would become impossible for anyone to leave it behind because they would be instantly arrested if they were not in possession of it, or they would be defaulted to a life of exile, unable to involve themselves in any legal transaction without the device.
Of course Evangelical Christians will protest it, and call it the mark of the beast. Technology, just like anything else, can be a great help or hindrance depending on how we use it. Often times it is seen as a way to simplify our lives, and yet it seems that the more of it we have, the more complex our lives become.
(Don’t get the wrong idea, I really don’t believe in 666 and/or the mark of the beast, but I know other people do).
– Posted by Spaldam
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