POSTED:
12/20/2013 06:18:46 PM PST
UPDATED:
12/21/2013 02:28:32 PM PST
It's
likely the world in the not-so-distant future will be increasingly populated by
computerized people like Amal Graafstra.
The
37-year-old doesn't need a key or password to get into his car, home or
computer. He's programmed them to unlock at the mere wave of his hands, which
are implanted with radio frequency identification tags. The rice-size gadgets
work so well, the Seattle resident says, he's sold similar ones to more than
500 customers through his company Dangerous Things.
Implantable technology
proponent Amal Graafstra of Seattle demonstrates how one of the doors to his
home can be unlocked by passing either of his hands past a sensor which reads
the signal from an implanted RFID chip. ((Courtesy of Amal Graafstra))
The
move in the Bay Area and beyond to outfit people with electronic devices that
can be swallowed, implanted in their bodies or attached to their skin via
"smart tattoos" could revolutionize health care and change the way
people interact with devices and one another. Critics call the trend intrusive,
even sacrilegious. But others say it ultimately will make life better for
everybody. Some researchers and executives envision a day when devices placed
in people will enable them to control computers, prosthetic devices and many
other things solely with their thoughts.
"In
the next 10 to 20 years we will see rapid development in bioengineered and
man-machine interfaces," predicted Graafstra, who wrote a book about the
technology, adding that the trend is going to "push the boundaries of what
it means to be human."
Bay
Area companies and researchers are keenly interested in the topic.
In a
patent application made public in November, Google's (GOOG)
Motorola Mobility branch proposed an "electronic skin tattoo" for the
throat -- with a built-in microphone, battery and wireless transceiver -- that
would let someone operate other devices via voice commands.
When
asked, Google said it often seeks patents on employee brainstorms and that,
while "some of those ideas later mature into real products or services,
some don't." But Google CEO Larry Pageapparently
is intrigued with enhancing people electronically. A 2011 book about the
Mountain View search giant quoted him saying, "Eventually you'll have an
implant, where if you think about a fact, it will just tell you the
answer."
Similar
notions are under study by others, including UC Berkeley researchers. In a
scholarly paper published in July, they proposed implanting people's brains
with thousands of tiny sensors they called "neural dust."
This X-ray depicts the
hands of Amal Graafstra, founder of Dangerous Things. He has had two radio
frequency identifier inplants in his hands which he uses to unlock his car,
computer and door to his Seattle home. ((Courtesy of Amal Graafstra))
The
idea initially is to have the little circuits gather detailed data on brain
functions. But eventually, lead researcher Dongjin Seo said, the electronic
swarms may prove useful for "controlling devices via thought" or
stimulating malfunctioning brain regions to restore "limb motor control
for paralyzed patients."
Among
the most widely anticipated uses for implants, smart pills and electronic
tattoos are medical.
In
October, Stanford doctors implanted the brain of a Parkinson's disease sufferer
with a new device that gathers detailed data on the "neural signatures"
of his illness. They hope to use the information to make a gadget that will
ease Parkinson's symptoms with electrical impulses that adjust to any activity
the patients do.
Last
year, Proteus Digital Health of Redwood City won approval to sell a pill that
relays information about a person's vital signs via a mobile phone to their
doctor. And officials at Santa Clara-based Intel (INTC)
envision their microchips one day in devices ingested or implanted for medical
and other uses.
Some
fear implants might become mandatory for health insurance or jobs.
After
learning about a Cincinnati video surveillance firm that required employees to
have a chip inserted in them, California Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto,
introduced a bill that became law in 2008 forbidding anyone in this state from
making similar demands.
Two
years later, when the Virginia House of Delegates passed a similar measure,
some of the lawmakers -- citing biblical references about the Antichrist --
denounced implanted chips as "the mark of the beast."
It's
unclear how widespread those concerns are. A study Intel made public this month
found that 70 percent of the 12,000 adults it surveyed were receptive to having
their health data collected by various means, including "swallowed
monitors."
Nonetheless,
Intel futurist Brian David Johnson thinks the public initially will be more
amenable to smart tattoos than computerized pills or gadgets inserted into
them, because "something on your skin, that's a baby step" compared
to a swallowed or surgically implanted device.
One
tattoo being developed by MC10 of Cambridge, Mass., would temporarily attach to
the skin like an adhesive bandage and wirelessly transmit the wearer's vital
signs to a phone or other device. The company, which has a contract for a
military version, plans to introduce one next year for consumers, according to
MC10 official Barry Ives Jr., who touted its use for "athletes, expectant
and new moms, and the elderly."
In a
recent patent application, Finnish phone-maker Nokia proposed a tattoo that would
vibrate when the person gets a phone call or serve as a mobile-device password
and attach to the skin with "ferromagnetic powder."
Other
envisioned gadgets would go under the skin.
MicroCHIPS,
of Lexington, Mass., recently reported success testing a microchip implanted
waist high that automatically provided daily doses of medicine to osteoporosis
patients. In February, regulators approved an eye implant by Second Sight
Medical Products of Sylmar that lets the visually impaired see shapes and
movements transmitted to the implant from a camera on their glasses. And
University of Southern California scientists are studying implanted chips to
restore memories in people with dementia, strokes or other brain damage.
Among
the critical issues to be resolved is how to keep implanted devices updated
with the latest software, maintain their battery power and shield them from
hackers. But Eric Dishman, who heads Intel's health care innovation team,
predicts the gadgets -- particularly those providing health benefits -- will
become common some day.
"There's
going to be an ecosystem of things on and in the body," he predicted.
"This is the ultimate in personalized medicine."
Contact
Steve Johnson at sjohnson@mercurynews.com or 408-920-5043. Follow him at
Twitter.com/steveatmercnews.
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