A small chip under the skin is enough to stir up fears in Sweden and everywhere else in the world. The Swedish company "Epicenter" chooses convenience over privacy and make one with it bold step towards the future.
May the Force be with you
Who does not know it? You have a new job and you get your work ID. Doors open, you have an identity. You somehow feel important – even if you only open the door to get coffee. intern. But what if this ID wasn't an ID, but a microchip in your hand?
One thing is clear: the emotional world would probably move somewhere between professionalism, importance and Jedi Knight. The employees of the Swedish entrepreneur "Epicenter" know exactly what I'm talking about. The young start-up made headlines when it turned its employees into cyborgs with a microchip as an HR measure. Opening doors, ordering drinks, monitoring working hours - everything is now easy for the equipped employees to do by hand. Another advantage: forgetting your ID is now more difficult.
But convenience has its downsides. The young Jedi pays with a privacy varnish. Both to external competition and to your own employer, who could theoretically access private information. Theoretically, since the technology is said to be NFC based. This eliminates some security risks Table.
NFC stands for Near Field Communication. Credit card payments and other contactless connections also use NFC. The advantage here is that the respective chip does not have its own energy source and therefore does not constantly transmit data. Data is only sent in the immediate vicinity.
Reasonable risk, unfounded fear
Nevertheless, a development is emerging here that many people are afraid of. A fear that is not unfounded. Despite all the enthusiasm for technology and the Jedi feeling - with the progress of digitization there is inevitably an increasing security risk. With the microchips, the Swedish company implants thoughts of cyborgs, a monitored world, the transparent human being and, last but not least, the matrix in the masses.
However, what always applies applies here too: fear is useless. The advancing digitization is unstoppable and instead of being afraid of the risks, one should accept the risks and find solutions. Instead of looking at these future developments with fear in your eyes, you should think about the corresponding opportunities. What, for example, with a Connection of man and machine in the field of medicine would be possible.
And before we let ourselves be carried away by a realistic analysis back to Sci-Fi dreams - what do you think of the topic?
