Man-Machine? Inside The Growing “Human Chipping” Movement

WORLD CRUNCH

“Human chipping” is moving out of the marginal spheres of biohacking pioneers and into that of body-implant lovers, and it’s seducing a geeky youth free of all taboos. But just what is the point of such technology?

For now, the chip’s use is similar to that of the plastic loyalty cards that we use to get discounts at the supermarket. When placed in front of a communication reader, the device emits in short waves (13.56 MHz) the unique identification number of its owner.

The reading device can be programmed to execute different tasks — for example, to unlock a door or to start an electronic device like a printer, a computer or a smartphone. “I have two chips,” Österlund explains. “The one in my arm calls my wife when I move my cellphone closer to it. And the one on my hand activates the light.”

Other “chipped” people also use it to send their virtual business card to compatible smartphones. Apps such as NFC Tools Pro on Android can read and edit these electronic labels, which have a capacity of 880 bytes. Bikers can use them so that their motorbikes start when they touch them.

“We’re clearly pioneers,” says a conventionally clad Hannes Sjöblad, the event’s organizer. He’s the co-founder of Swedish biohacking group BioNyfiken. Biohackers are ordinary citizens who explore biology with hacker ethics, meaning sharing and openness. “For now, there are only a handful of possible uses,” Hannes says. “But the more people adopt chips, the more companies and public institutions will be encouraged to develop new features.”

He says the number of disciples is constantly growing. “Here alone, we have already implanted about 300 people since September,” he says. But his main supplier, the U.S. website DangerousThings.com, has a more global overview of the phenomenon. “I sold about 4,000 of these chips over the past year, most of them in the U.S., the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Belgium,” says the website’s creator Amal Graafstra. “And even a few in France.”

The next generation of chips

Graafstra fears this technology could be developed in a closed way by companies such as Honeywell, and so he opted for the open ISO standard instead. “I created this online shop because I had been using these technologies myself since 2005,” he explains during a Skype interview. “I realized when I was talking to suppliers that people were implanting themselves with chips created for livestock or industries, which sometimes contain toxic substances and metals!”

Overwhelmed with people asking for advice, the Seattle native says he then developed “safe material and procedures,” which he now sells. “Unlike RFID chips for livestock, mine are made so that human flesh doesn’t stick to it, which means they can easily be removed.”

Sjöblad is also convinced that beyond these first applications, the “connected body” has a great future ahead. “We carry with us loads of personal objects — bank cards, driving licences, library cards, house keys, office keys, car keys, which have no other goal than to identify us. Eventually, we’ll be able to get rid of all that and to replace them all with one unique digital identification.”

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