RFID chips in humans, bio-hacking or government surveillance tool?

Robocop, Star Wars, and Iron Man are all blockbuster examples of humans enhancing themselves through mechanical means. In reality, the application of the same principles is happening now through RFID (radio-frequency identification) chips in humans. These chips are incredibly small - about the size of a grain of rice - and can store information such as medical records or access to buildings and devices.

Professor Ahmed Banafa, an engineering professor at San Francisco Bay University, recently wrote a paper on the topic in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Professor Banafa states, "At first glance, such consumer technology looks like a harmless whim, or the next logical step among those who favor piercings, or the supposed ultimate in convenience. But inserting identification microchips in humans would also seem to bear the seeds of a particularly intrusive form of surveillance, at a time when authorities in some parts of the world have been forcibly collecting DNA and other biological data – including blood samples, fingerprints, voice recordings, iris scans, and other unique identifiers – from all their citizens."

Banafa teaches not only the technical side of human enhancement but also discusses the ethics and, ultimately, the why with his students. It's important to understand all of the implications of microchip implants, their humanity-changing benefits, and the potentially disastrous consequences.