The Microchip Agenda

[matrixcutter]

September 12, 2008
Microchips in tablets could monitor pills
Mike Harvey

Patients could soon be swallowing microchips in their tablets. The chips would then report when treatments had been taken and what effect they had on the patient.

Other microchips could also be placed under the skin to deliver drugs ranging from pain medication to chemotherapy. These chips, in the advanced stages of trials, are designed with tiny compartments loaded with multiple drugs and covered with caps. Applying an electrical signal dissolves the caps and releases the medication.

The “smart” delivery systems are being pioneered by Robert Langer, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He said several smart pills that can release drugs for days, months or years were being tested.

Separately, a Silicon Valley company called Proteus Biomedical is developing what it calls the Raisin system of microchipped pills to help to tackle the problems of patients forgetting or refusing to take medicines.

Each pill contains a microchip that can send data to a receiver in a patch or under the skin. This can then be analysed to alert carers if a pill has not been taken.

The company hopes to have the system on the market in 2011.

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Related Link
Many happy returns for the microchip

[matrixcutter]

The Army's Totally Serious Mind-Control Project
By Mark Thompson / Washington
Sunday, Sep. 14, 2008


Army scientists want to cram this array of brain-wave reading sensors into a helmet.

Soldiers barking orders at each other is so 20th Century. That's why the U.S. Army has just awarded a $4 million contract to begin developing "thought helmets" that would harness silent brain waves for secure communication among troops. Ultimately, the Army hopes the project will "lead to direct mental control of military systems by thought alone."

If this sounds insane, it would have been as recently as a few years ago. But improvements in computing power and a better understanding of how the brain works have scientists busy hunting for the distinctive neural fingerprints that flash through a brain when a person is talking to himself. The Army's initial goal is to capture those brain waves with incredibly sophisticated software that then translates the waves into audible radio messages for other troops in the field. "It'd be radio without a microphone, " says Dr. Elmar Schmeisser, the Army neuroscientist overseeing the program. "Because soldiers are already trained to talk in clean, clear and formulaic ways, it would be a very small step to have them think that way."

B-movie buffs may recall that Clint Eastwood used similar "brain-computer interface" technology in 1982's Firefox, named for the Soviet fighter plane whose weapons were controlled by the pilot's thoughts. (Clint was sent to steal the plane, natch.) Yet it's not as far-fetched as you might think: video gamers are eagerly awaiting a crude commercial version of brain wave technology — a $299 headset from San Francisco-based Emotiv Systems — in summer 2009.

The Army doesn't move quite as fast as gamers though. The military's vastly more sophisticated system may be a decade or two away from reality, let alone implementation. The five-year contract it awarded last month to a coalition of scientists from the University of California at Irvine, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Maryland, seeks to "decode the activity in brain networks" so that a soldier could radio commands to one or many comrades by thinking of the message he wanted to relay and who should get it. Initially, the recipients would most likely hear transmissions rendered by a robotic voice via earphones. But scientists eventually hope to deliver a version in which commands are rendered in the speaker's voice and indicate the speaker's distance and direction from the listener.

"Having a soldier gain the ability to communicate without any overt movement would be invaluable both in the battlefield as well as in combat casualty care," the Army said in last year's contract solicitation. "It would provide a revolutionary technology for silent communication and orientation that is inherently immune to external environmental sound and light."

The key challenge will be to develop software able to pinpoint the speech-related brain waves picked up by the 128-sensor array that ultimately will be buried inside a helmet. Those sensors detect the minute electrical charges generated by nerve pathways in the brain when thinking occurs. The sensors will generate an electroencephalogram — a confusing pile of squiggles on a computer screen — that scientists will study to find those vital to communicating. "We think we can train a computer to understand those squiggles to the point that they can read off the commands that your brain is issuing to your mouth and lips," Schmeisser says. Unfortunately, it's not a matter of finding the single right squiggle. "There's no golden neuron that's talking," he says.

Dr. Mike D'Zmura of UC-Irvine, the lead scientist on the project, says his task is akin to finding the right strands on a plate full of pasta. "You need to pick out the relevant pieces of spaghetti," he says, "and sometimes they have to be torn apart and re-attached to others." But with ever-increasing computing power the task can be done in real time, he says. Users also will have to be trained to think loudly. "How do we get a person to think something to themselves in a way that leaves a very strong signal in EEGs that we can read off against the background noise?" D'Zmura asks. Finally, because every person's EEG is different, persons using "thought helmets" will have to be trained so that computers intercepting their unspoken commands recognize each user's unique mental pattern.

Both scientists pre-emptively deny expected charges that they're literally messing with soldiers' minds. "A lot of people interpret wires coming out of the head as some sort of mind reading," D'Zmura sighs. "But there's no way you can get there from here," Schmeisser insists. "Not only do you have to be willing, but since your brain is unique, you have to train the system to read your mind — so it's impossible to do it against someone's will and without their active and sustained cooperation."

And don't overlook potential civilian benefits. "How often have you been annoyed by people screaming into their cell phones?" Schmeisser asks. "What if instead of their Bluetooth earpiece it was a Bluetooth headpiece and their mouth is shut and there's blessed silence all around you?" Sounds like one of those rare slices of the U.S. military budget even pacifists might support.

[matrixcutter]

"Enhanced driver's license" is now in NY (2mins 17s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWQmNmQd9rg

Sept. 17, 2008
Alan Watt "Cutting Through The Matrix" on RBN (ads removed):
"In the Sovietized World, I'll Always be Me,
Tracked to the Grave, It's on my ID,
Data Retrieval Made Easy for Authority,
For People Who Care Not For Privacy,
So Listen Not to the Wise, nor to the Bard,
The Sheeple will Run for their New ID Card" - mp3

(Articles: "A New License, for More Than Just Driving" by Jennifer Lee (nytimes.com) - Sept. 17, 2008.)
"The Resurgent Idea of World Government" (Ethics & International Affairs, Volume 22.2, Summer 2008) by Campbell Craig (Carnegie Council at cceia.org) - July 7, 2008.)

[matrixcutter]

Sept. 22, 2008
Alan Watt "Cutting Through The Matrix" on RBN (ads removed):
"Going to School is Such a Pain,
But Wait! There's Something New for My Brain,
Experts Say It's What we Need,
To Help us Count, Learn and Read,
A Type of Amphetamine, Some Say Speed,
Makes Docile Boys from Those Who Lead,
Continued Use May Shrink my Brain,
But it's All A-Plus for Short-Term Gain" - mp3

(Articles: "Schoolchildren could be given 'smart drugs' in a bid to boost brainpower" by Laura Clark (dailymail.co.uk) - Sept. 19, 2008.)
"Sperm warfare - From radio-controlled valves to ultrasound, male contraception is going high-tech" (timesonline.co.uk) - Sept. 20, 2008.)

[tim009]

I love you...  I am a baby.  I need you...where do you spawn from ??  alan watt,,,,,nick begich.... i am here.

http://ca.youtube.com/user/carrierwavx2


Find another day; with all the other changing seasons of my life........


Tim

[matrixcutter]

I love you...

Aw shucks.

I am a baby.

We all were once upon a time.

I need you...where do you spawn from ??  alan watt,,,,,nick begich....

I have listened to many different researchers, and read various different authors.

Since I started listening to Alan Watt I've learned more than in the rest of my life before I had heard of Alan Watt - that's why my username is essentially an advert for his website.

I've put a thread together that you might find helpful with a load of Watt's mp3s - see my signature.

If you want to chat, please PM me rather than continuing in this thread.  Thanks.

[matrixcutter]

Computer Games That Read Your Mind (3mins 15s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGzvDJ7QJR8

TV Advert - Robot Turns Into A Boy (1min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CckxmTWgRJc

Even the washing powder companies are joining in with the transhumanist conditioning.

[matrixcutter]

Bicentennial Man

Blurring The Line Between Humans And Robots (2mins 21s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_4_8X5bhM0

"Andrew" wants to become more human-like so he comes up with "a profound transition from the mechanical to the biological."

In the process, he ends up making prosthetic devices and artificial organs which can be used by humans, ultimately blurring the distinction between the two.

This is a piece of conditioning for the transhumanist agenda.

A World Congress And Human Rights For Robots - Part 1 of 2 (6mins 3s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU788bYTg60

A World Congress And Human Rights For Robots - Part 2 of 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyUajSJe3fM

This is conditioning for the transhumanist agenda, blurring the line between humans and machines, as the elite prepare to merge the two in reality.

In the movie the robot is an individual who gradually becomes more like a human being. First he opens a bank account (is that the most human trait?) then he has an upgrade which allows human-like movement of his facial features, then he starts wearing clothes. Later he is given a human-like outer appearance and then he designs himself a central nervous system, and various artificial organs which allow him to become more human-like - and they also allow humans to become more robot-like.

Then he falls in love with Porsche - the descendant of his original "masters". (It was suggested earlier on that Porsche's grandmother actually fell in love with the far less human-like "Andrew".)

And finally he alters himself to allow him to age, and to die, as seen in part 2.

In trying to acquire the right to call himself a human being, and to marry another human being, he is told that "society can tolerate an immortal robot but we will never tolerate an immortal human. It arouses too much jealousy, too much anger."

Jumping further into the future, just seconds after "Andrew" dies he succeeds in acquiring human rights for himself, by being categorised as a human being. Society did not therefore have to tolerate an immortal human being.

The President of the World Congress refers to "Andrew" first as a robot, and then as the oldest living human being in recorded history (other than Methuselah and other Biblical figures) although he actually dies as she is saying it. This blurs the distinction between humans and robots, and actually suggests that the new classification means that "Andrew" was human from the moment he was first switched on - 5:15pm on April 3, 2005 - when he was unambiguously a robot.

There is also a hint that the nurse is an upgrade of the female robot with personality shown earlier in the movie, which "Andrew" actually attacks with a drill, although it is presented as being a light-hearted moment.

The existence of a world congress in the future is also a piece of predictive programming i.e. conditioning us to accept the idea of a one world government.

[matrixcutter]

Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Nanotubes on the Brain
Neural implants could benefit from coated electrodes.
By Katherine Bourzac


Neural nanotubes: In these scanning electron microscope images, electrodes coated with carbon nanotubes, like the one on the right, are more conductive and better at interfacing with nervous tissue. The electrode on the left is bare.
Credit: Edward Keefer

Metal electrodes are increasingly being used in brain implants that help treat depression and the tremors of Parkinson's disease, and in ever more sophisticated prosthetic devices. In spite of these successes, conventional metal electrodes have major limitations: performance deteriorates over time, and it's difficult to design electrodes that are efficient at both sending and receiving electrical signals. Now researchers at the University of Texas are developing electrodes that are more efficient at both sending and receiving electrical stimuli. These electrodes, which are coated with carbon nanotubes, could lead to neural implants that monitor how they affect the neurons that they stimulate, conserving battery life and reducing side effects.

Researchers led by Edward Keefer at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center developed a simple method for coating electrodes with carbon nanotubes. The coated electrodes were better at recording neural activity than were bare electrodes when implanted in mice and in a monkey. Importantly, the coated electrodes provided less-noisy recordings than bare ones did. They also required less power to operate.

And the nanotubes enhanced the electrodes' ability to both record and stimulate neural activity more than any other coating previously reported. Today's neural prosthetics are good at sending electrical signals but not at receiving them, says Ravi Bellamkonda, director of the Neurological Biomaterials and Therapeutics group at Georgia Tech. Thus, the batteries in deep-brain stimulators--implanted devices used to treat Parkinson's--last only three years because the devices are constantly on. "You want to see if the neuron is quiet," says Bellamkonda. A feedback-enabled device that powered off when not needed could potentially use the same battery for a few more years.

The University of Texas researchers' technique for modifying electrodes is simple. Electrodes are placed in a water-based solution of carbon nanotubes; when a small voltage is applied to sites on the electrodes, carbon nanotubes localize there and can be fixed. Joseph Pancrazio, a neuroscientist at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, says that Keefer's electrode modification "is something that can be done readily." This means that other labs experimenting with neural prosthetics are likely to adopt the technique. By contrast, Pancrazio says, other methods for interfacing carbon nanotubes with neurons have required the use of special substrates and must be done at very high temperatures.

Pancrazio says that the nanotube coating might enable researchers to make smaller electrodes that cause fewer side effects. Using conventional electrodes for deep-brain stimulation, Pancrazio says, "you end up stimulating not only the area of interest but also other regions, leading to speech dysfunction and other problems." The ideal electrode would be small enough to interact with only a single neuron. But when electrodes are miniaturized, their impedance increases and their performance decreases. Electrodes coated in carbon nanotubes might be more amenable to miniaturization.

Keefer began working on the electrode coatings to advance his work on prosthetic devices that give sensory feedback. Advanced prosthetic arms mimic the movements of real joints and even have realistic skinlike coatings. But when the lights are out, the person wearing such a prosthetic has no way of knowing where his hand is. Prosthetics capable of providing this kind of feedback will require high-performing electrodes whose electrical properties don't decay rapidly like those of conventional electrodes, says Keefer.

However, it remains to be seen how the nanotube-coated electrodes will perform over the long term and whether there will be problems with biocompatibility; so far, the longest Keefer has tested the implants in animals is 60 days. One reason for the deterioration in the performance of conventional implanted electrodes over time is the formation of scar tissue between the electrode and the neuron. Keefer says that he will study whether nanotubes also induce this scarring.

One advantage of carbon nanotubes is the relative ease of making chemical modifications to their surfaces, such as by attaching proteins, that could make them more tissue-friendly in the long term. By contrast, chemically modifying bare metal electrodes is impracticable. "We want to modify the carbon-nanotube electrodes in order to make cells happier when sitting next to them," says Keefer.

[matrixcutter]

Blind Woman Used To Promote Brain Implants Part 1 (7mins 20s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5DyTeflxPQ

Blind Woman Used To Promote Brain Implants Part 2 (8mins 32s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGvFwGxWc00

Blind Woman Used To Promote Brain Implants Part 3 (8mins 32s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRo3PeoOhnA

[matrixcutter]

Clip from Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits (5mins 38s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEenKy1S4S0

Here we see a representation of evil talking about gaining knowledge and becoming a God. And he goes on to suggest that the microchip can (and will) be used for evil purposes.

The evil one is talking to his minions:
"I let him keep me here [in the fortress of ultimate darkness] in order to lull him into a false sense of security. When I have the map I will be free. And the world will be different because I have understanding."

Horned minion: "Understanding of what master?"

"Digital watches. And soon I shall have understanding of video cassette recorders and car telephones. And when I have understanding of them, I shall have understanding of computers. And when I have understanding of computers, I shall be the supreme being.

God isn't interested in technology. He knows nothing of the potential of the microchip and the silicon revolution."

Then evil demonstrates mind control as he possesses one of the dwarves who have stolen the map from God, just as Randall was talking about using the map to find ancient Babylon.

At the end of the movie, evil talks of "no less a work than the overthrowing of creation itself. We will remake man in our image, not his."

Is this about the Great Work?

Then he tells one of his minions "we must plan a new world together. This time we'll start it properly.

Tell me about computers."

Time Bandits - Part 10/12 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn5e7pn5DNA

When the evil one gets the map back from Kevin, his eyes start to glow red, but he is interrupted by the cavalry.

Similar demon eyes can be seen in this advert put out by the Conservative Party



just before Tony Blair came to power on May 1st, or Beltane - former Labour Party leader had died of a heart attack, having given a speech the night before during which he said: "The opportunity to serve our country - that is all we ask."
Incidentally, Robin Cook MP also died of heart failure, weeks after having written this article.


When God turns up at the end of the movie to save the day, he brings one of the dwarves back to life. And he explains that he gave the map to the dwarves to test his handiwork.

Kevin asks why God could allow those people to die, and why we have to have evil. God says "I think it's something to do with free will."

Time Bandits - Part 11/12 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tGFKoYbu3E

God encourages the dwarves to hurry up and not waste any more time:
"They'll think I've lost control again and put it all down to evolution."

And Kevin isn't allowed to go back with them:
"He's got to stay here to carry on the fight."

When he returns home again Kevin finds that the piece of concentrated evil which the dwarves missed has caused his parents' house to burn down. He shouts to them "Mum, Dad, it's evil. Don't touch it."

But their minds are distracted by the loss of their material possessions, so they do.

Time Bandits - Part 12/12 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUOzxEZ44pc

[matrixcutter]

What is an iPlant? (1min 48s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL8-MpHYfcU

"An iPlant is a new kind of brain implant that could be developed in ten years or so if there's enough public demand for it. We've known for more than fifty years how to use brain implants to control motivation in mammals. For instance, it's really quite easy to give rats the motivation do heavy exercise for hours or learn new, complex behaviours. 'iPlant' is simply the term that some of us have started using to refer to that kind of brain implant, but developed for humans.

The way these implants work is they sit in the region of the brain that generates dopamine, and whenever the animal does something you want it to do you stimulate that region. This releases dopamine all over the brain, which is really rewarding to the animal and makes it want to repeat whatever it was it just did.

So if you had an iPlant you could use it to motivate yourself to practise languages by using language tutorials, or to motivate yourself to use cancer research or simply to use exercise equipment. The thing is it would take effort out of the equation: the iPlant would help you do things you wish you did but normally can't find the motivation to do.

The electronics and surgical equipment that this would require have actually already been developed; they're used to treat Parkinson's disease. So all that we really need to do is to realign them slightly to target this dopamine-generating region."

13 May 2008, iPlant seminar at the University of Sussex

Part 1 of 4 (8mins 50s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG_mzbO9n9U

Part 2 of 4 (9mins 3s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ-C0zlsE34

Part 3 of 4 (9mins 3s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14j0yJhd9AI

Part 4 of 4 (5mins 28s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seTRfoMYTOQ

N.B. The University of Sussex is Tavistock Institute territory.

[matrixcutter]

"Enhanced driver's license" is now in NY (2mins 17s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWQmNmQd9rg

Sept. 17, 2008
Alan Watt "Cutting Through The Matrix" on RBN (ads removed):
"In the Sovietized World, I'll Always be Me,
Tracked to the Grave, It's on my ID,
Data Retrieval Made Easy for Authority,
For People Who Care Not For Privacy,
So Listen Not to the Wise, nor to the Bard,
The Sheeple will Run for their New ID Card" - mp3

(Articles: "A New License, for More Than Just Driving" by Jennifer Lee (nytimes.com) - Sept. 17, 2008.)
"The Resurgent Idea of World Government" (Ethics & International Affairs, Volume 22.2, Summer 2008) by Campbell Craig (Carnegie Council at cceia.org) - July 7, 2008.)

Mass chipping [ID cards, not implants] in U.K has begun (1min 31s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY24bdKzocM
The British government on Thursday took the first step towards introducing bio-metric identity cards for immigrants from India and other non-European Union countries with Home Secretary Jacqui Smith unveiling the design of the supposedly forgery-proof card.

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We can expect several problems with these cards, and the solution will be the implants.

Say no to microchip implants.

[matrixcutter]

Privacy Advocates Hope To Force VeriChip Corporation Into Bankruptcy Stock drops from $9.00 to fifty cents a share
October, 2008

Delray Beach, FL - VeriChip Corporation, the company known as the creator of the first implantable microchip identification device which people have implanted in their hands or arms in order to identify them wherever they go, has been targeted by a national privacy watchdog organization with hopes of putting them out of business.

"VeriChip's stock is down to less than fifty cents a share. A year ago it was over nine dollars, and hopefully in a few months it will be worth less than toilet paper," explains Mark Dice, spokesperson for The Resistance, a privacy watchdog group based in San Diego.

Dice is hoping to push the company into bankruptcy by exposing the dangers and invasions of privacy that using such technology entails. He is calling for a nation-wide boycott of the device that consists of a tiny computer chip, which is implanted into people's bodies. The VeriChip is currently being used at bars and businesses to identify customers and employees, and many fear they will become mandatory in many sectors of society.

"These chips were first used for identifying pets and livestock, and now they're being pushed onto the public as a safety device in this age of terrorism and fear," says Dice. "We are human beings, not animals or pieces of inventory, and we urge everyone to resist such technology."

Banks and businesses are planning for the VeriChip to substitute credit and debit cards, as well as traditional forms of identification around the world. Many privacy advocates are uncomfortable with these plans, and some Christians are especially disturbed citing a verse in the Bible which explains that the Antichrist will force people to use such a device as the only accepted form of currency.

The Bible's Book of Revelation warns about such a device saying, "And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six." Revelation 13:16.

Dice believes the VeriChip is, "the Pandora's box of the mark of the Beast, and the beginning of cashless society with privacy being a thing of the past, similar to George Orwell's description of the world in his book 1984."

Aside from privacy concerns, there are also health concerns about such devices. Last year a study was released that showed RFID tags similar to VeriChip can cause cancer in mice, a study that The Resistance wants everyone to know about.

The Resistance

[Dok]

Where will communications industry be in 25 years?

When the Democrat and Chronicle observed its 150th anniversary in 1983, the World Wide Web was six years from being invented, and the notion that we could get up-to-the-minute news on a pocket-size gadget was the stuff of science fiction.

What a difference 25 years makes.

So where will the communications industry be in 2033 when — hopefully — this newspaper marks its bicentennial?

Expect the emphasis to be on personal gratification as we receive only the information we want, when we want it — with minimal clutter and information overload — from an information industry honed to be even more immediate and user-oriented than today's 24/7 news cycle.

Melissa Daniels of Irondequoit thinks it's within the realm of possibility that we'll be able to be implanted with a biochip that allows us to select and control information from a variety of sources — whether it's news, e-mail, phone calls, music, video, games or virtual reality.

"I think you're going to find big advances in personal communications," says Daniels, a 20-year-old newspaper major at Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

"A lot of times, people are thinking big about what they're going to do. I think communications of the future will be even smaller and more personal. You can't get much more smaller and personal than an iPod. The next step could be an implant: You could get a phone chip in your ear. Then the next development could be that you can't just talk on it, you'd be connected to a CNN operator who would tell you the news. And then there will be another development, and another."

Indeed, the Web site DemocratandChronicle.com was launched in 1995 to highlight the newspaper's coverage of the Ryder Cup golf matches at Oak Hill Country Club. As the site has grown and evolved, it has helped transform what formerly was a print-only product into a Web-centric, multiplatform information center.

The personal computer revolution and the birth of the World Wide Web have changed the information industry in ways that weren't thought of a quarter-century ago. Not only do newspapers, magazines, TV stations and TV networks have their own Web sites, the content of those sites is morphing quickly into interactive efforts to turn readers and viewers into loyal denizens through social networking, blogs, story chats, videos and citizen journalism.

Then there's the influence of blogs — which can help make or shape the information we receive and the opinions we hold — and sites such as MySpace and YouTube.

Will print entities like the Democrat and Chronicle survive to 2033?

"I definitely think we're going to see the end of paper newspapers," says Katherine Loy, producer of the 11 o'clock news at WHAM-TV (Channel 13).

"I think somewhere down the line, it'll all be online," says Loy, 25. "As far as television goes, I don't think we'll see the daily newscasts at 5, 6 and 11 like we do now. And I think you'll see more frequent mini-webcasts now and people will get mini-webcasts on their cell phones."

Karen M. Magnuson, Editor & Vice President/News of the Democrat and Chronicle, believes newspapers will continue to exist in some form. "While young people tend to get much of their Democrat and Chronicle information via online or mobile, boomers and older readers generally prefer to read the newspaper every day," Magnuson says.

"I believe the print edition of the Democrat and Chronicle will remain extremely important for many years to come, but we must be able to deliver information and news coverage in various ways to meet consumer needs. Today's newspaper journalists, for example, now use audio and video as well as photos and words to tell their stories on the Web."

But Magnuson says predicting the future is no easy task, given the rapid advancement of technology. "It's hard to say exactly where the communications industry will be in five years, much less 25 years, because consumer needs are changing rapidly with new technology," she says. "We're in a state of infinite innovation and will be delivering journalism on more platforms as they are invented. This new world is more interactive, so people have the ability to reach us and others in the Rochester area like never before. It's an empowering force that can be used for community good."

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20081005/NEWS01/810050309/1002/NEWS

[matrixcutter]

Further blurring the distinction between humans and robots

Robot that looks like young girl unveiled
A life-like robot created to look like a five-year-old girl has been unveiled by scientists in Japan.

By Matthew Moore
Last Updated: 3:07PM BST 08 Oct 2008


Life-like: The team at Osaka University's robotics department claim Repliee R-1 is the most realistic robot suit ever created

The robogirl, known as Repliee R-1, has flexible silicone skin and contains dozens of sensors and motors, allowing it to move and interact with its surroundings like a human.

The robot even has eyes that blink and pig tails, creating a spooky effect has led to comparisons with the boy robot David in Steven Spielberg's 2001 science-fiction movie AI: Artificial Intelligence.

The team at Osaka University's robotics department behind Repliee R-1 claim it is the most realistic robot suit ever created.

It has been designed to do basic tasks for the elderly and disabled, such as fetching objects. The scientists hope that its life-like features will put people at their ease, and help them get over their reluctance to interact with a robot.

Cyberdyne, a robotics firm, hopes to start mass producing the models within days, according to reports.

An earlier version of the robot - Repliee Q1 – was unveiled by scientists in 2005, but was criticised for appearing to have "spasms" because of technical glitches. It was modeled on a young Japanese woman, complete with trouser suit.

At the time Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro of Osaka University predicted that robots would soon be so life-like that they could fool humans into thinking they were real.

"An android could get away with it for a short time, 5-10 seconds. However, if we carefully select the situation, we could extend that, to perhaps 10 minutes," he said.

"More importantly, we have found that people forget she is an android while interacting with her. Consciously, it is easy to see that she is an android, but unconsciously, we react to the android as if she were a woman."

New Robot Girl - Repliee R-1 (33s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZxvYhwIvyk

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James May's Big Ideas - Man-Machine
Cyborgs, robots and robotics
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00dxdwl

[matrixcutter]

Thu., February 14, 2008
Katherine Albrecht on WTPRN - mp3s: Hr1, Hr2

Encore presentation of an October 2007 broadcast

Hour 1 Road Trip to Amsterdam! // The Baja Beach Club’s human chipping program //
Katherine discusses her trip to Amsterdam and the Baja Beach Club’s human chipping program.
A resource against chipping.

Hour 2 Road Trip to Amsterdam! // The Baja Beach Club’s human chipping program // Cultural Observations // Recalling RFID Conference //
Katherine continues to discuss her trip to Amsterdam and the Baja Beach Club’s human chipping program.
Katherine also discusses some cultural observations made while over there.
Katherine discusses happenings at the Recalling RFID Conference.
Callers weigh in.
Pictures from the Recalling RFID Conference.
More pictures from the Recalling RFID Conference.
Nabaz Tag Rabbit spies.

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Dr Albrecht [co-author of Spychips] reveals that nobody is being microchipped at the Baja Beach Club in Rotterdam or in Barcelona any more.  In fact the one in Barcelona has closed down.  No funding was provided to remove microchips from people who were implanted so that they could pay for drinks with them at the Baha Beach Club in Barcelona - so they have been left with useless, irrelevant 16-digit ID numbers encoded in microchips in their arms.

But as the spokesman in Rotterdam said, the people from Barcelona can always go to Rotterdam to use their chips, and use up the credit they were given on the chips to entice them to have them implanted in the first place.

2007 Archives
2008 Archives

[matrixcutter]

I, robot
Although we've always been a bionic species, says James Geary, we're now blurring the line between man and machine like never before while, below, three leading scientists reveal our bionic future
James Geary - The Observer
Sunday July 13 2008

Consider the inner ear. It is a flowerbed inside a blacksmith's shop, a marvel of evolutionary engineering. Down below the auditory canal - past the hammer, the anvil and the stirrup - sprout the hair cells of the cochlea, planted in tidy rows along the basilar membrane like geraniums in a window box. As the hammer and anvil pound sound waves into shape, the stirrup taps out the beat on the basilar membrane, which sets the hair cells swaying like a cornfield in a breeze. Each of the hair cells' undulations fires electrical signals to the auditory nerve and on to the auditory centre of the brain. This is how we hear.

Now consider the mobile phone. Hands-free headsets are becoming ubiquitous, and it's common to see people walking down the street with a little telecommunicating scarab attached to their ear. Cochlear implants work deeper in the auditory canal. Consisting of an external microphone and implanted electrodes, these devices bypass the damaged hair cells that cause deafness to transmit electrical impulses to the auditory nerve, which then forwards them to the brain. Auditory brainstem implants (ABIs) go even deeper. Implanted in people whose auditory nerves are severed, ABIs send sounds directly to electrodes located in the hearing centre of the brain. No biological ear required.

Each of these three devices is an example of bionics, and someone wearing a hands-free headset is just as much a cyborg as someone outfitted with an ABI. Bionics is simply the use of technology to extend, enhance or repair the human body, and we have been a bionic species ever since the first Homo sapiens used a stone to crack a nut or crush a skull. The telephone is an extension of the ear, the telescope an extension of the eye.

For thousands of years, bionics has been changing the way we experience the world, opening up our doors of perception just another crack. When combined with advances in tissue engineering, the cultivation of new organs and muscles to replace those damaged by injury or disease, it might one day blow those doors completely off their hinges.

Bionics was back in the news recently with the announcement that researchers at the University of Pittsburgh had trained two monkeys to munch marshmallows using a robotic arm controlled by their own thoughts. During voluntary physical movements, such as reaching for food, nerve cells in the brain start firing well before any movement actually takes place. It's as if the brain warms up for an impending action by directing specific clusters of neurons to fire, just as a driver warms up a car by pumping the gas pedal. The University of Pittsburgh team implanted electrodes in this area of the monkeys' brains and connected them to a computer operating the robotic limb. When the monkeys thought about reaching for a marshmallow, the mechanical arm obeyed that command. In effect, the monkeys had three arms for the duration of the experiments.

Scientists hope to use this type of brain-machine interface (BMI) to allow paralysed individuals to control prosthetic body parts. A BMI could make a detour around a damaged spinal cord, for instance, just as an ABI circumvents a severed auditory nerve. A paralysed patient with a BMI could then use their own brain signals to operate artificial limbs, wheelchairs, computers and even other electronic devices - just by thinking about it.

A BMI essentially reverses the experience of phantom limb syndrome, in which a person continues to sense a missing arm or leg long after it has been amputated or lost in an accident. Neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis believes that people using BMIs will eventually come to regard robotic or prosthetic appendages as actual parts of their bodies, even if they are not physically attached to them.

Nicolelis has carried out experiments in which monkeys hooked up to a BMI in his lab at Duke University in North Carolina, controlled robots located in Massachusetts and Japan. The monkeys' brain signals were transmitted over the internet. This research has implications not just for prosthetics but for entertainment, too, since the technology could allow computer gamers, for instance, to remotely sense physical and virtual environments. Samuel Butler imagined something similar in his novel Erewhon, in which he described a society where machines were considered 'nothing but extra-corporeal limbs ... loose, and [lying] about detached, now here and now there, in various parts of the world'.

It's not just monkeys who use robotic limbs, though. Jesse Sullivan had both arms amputated after being severely electrocuted and was fitted with a prosthetic arm developed at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago's Neural Engineering Center for Artificial Limbs. US Army Sergeant Juan Arredondo lost his left hand in Iraq after an improvised explosive device ripped through his patrol vehicle. He now has an i-LIMB artificial hand, made by Scottish firm Touch Bionics. Neither of these devices is a BMI. The prosthetic is connected not to the amputee's brain but to still functioning nerves in the residual limb and muscles. Still, the experience of Sullivan and Arredondo show that hardware can be successfully grafted onto the human body.

And it's not just limbs and ears that are getting the bionic treatment, either. Several labs are developing bionic eyes that allow patients with conditions like retinitis pigmentosa - in which photoreceptor cells in the retina die off, causing blindness - to perceive basic shapes again. The system consists of a tiny video camera mounted on a pair of glasses that wirelessly transmits images to electrodes implanted in the optic nerve. Artificial muscles are also in the works, made of shape memory alloys that expand and contract in response to external stimulation.

If you prefer organic rather than metallic muscles, tissue engineering offers an alternative to the hardware of bionics. Scientists in this emerging field build new tissues and organs from scratch, using living cells, in the hope of eventually being able to transplant them into patients. Earlier this year, researchers at Massachusetts General hospital announced the construction of a bio-artificial heart. The team first stripped all the cells from a rat heart, so that only the muscular scaffolding remained. They then seeded this basic structure with neonatal cardiac cells, placed it in a bio-reactor, and within two weeks the organ was beating and conducting electrical impulses. There is still a very long way to go from the bio-artificial heart beating in a lab in Massachusetts to a similar organ actually beating in the chest of a living patient, but these preliminary results are encouraging.

The same technology is being brought to bear on other organs as well. A group at the Canadian National Research Council's Institute for Chemical Process and Environmental Technology is developing a tissue-engineered cornea to help people suffering from corneal blindness. And researchers in the Department of Physics at the University of Missouri are pioneering organ printing, in which cell structures are laid down on a sheet of nutrients just as a conventional printer prints words on a piece of paper. So far, the team has used the technique to create a network of functioning blood vessels. Eventually, print-on-demand tissues could be combined with bionics to create limbs, organs and other body parts that are part human, part machine.

Should we be encouraged or alarmed by all this? A little bit of both is always healthy, but probably more of the former than the latter. As with all technologies, tissue engineering and bionics offer tremendous benefits and tremendous risks. At least one activist group is already lobbying against bionic implants. The No Verichip Inside Movement denounces the use of the Verichip, a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag that can be implanted just beneath the skin to, for example, track elderly patients with dementia in care homes.

Yes, the Verichip could be modified to track someone's movements and so invade their privacy. But that's already quite easy to do by simply following debit card transactions, surveillance camera movements, or mobile phone signals. What's different about bionics and tissue engineering is that the technology is moving from outside to inside our bodies. We've always used technology to modify the external world; now we're starting to use it to modify our internal world, too. This transition is sure to generate fresh moral and ethical questions as science gets further under our skin, but the issues are likely to be similar to those already raised by more familiar technologies including genetics and the internet.

Computer pioneer Norbert Wiener once advised: 'Render unto man the things which are man's and unto the computer the things which are the computer's.' Wise counsel, indeed. Trouble is, it's becoming increasingly hard to tell the difference.

· James Geary is the author of The Body Electric: an Anatomy of the New Bionic Senses as well as two books about aphorisms: The World in a Phrase: a Brief History of the Aphorism and Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists.

The brain-machine interface
Professor Miguel Nicolelis

The idea behind our first brain-machine interface (BMI) was to use arrays of hundreds of electrodes to sample the activities of multiple brain cells, from all over the brain, that are involved in the generation of movement. The electrical signals from the electrodes implanted in the brain were then sent to a computer, which learned how to extract the raw information. The aim was to decode and translate into digital code the raw information that's embedded in the brain activity. The output of these models can then be used to control a variety of devices, such as robotic arms, wheelchairs or computer cursors, locally or remotely.

BMI technology is barely 10 years old, but it has evolved very quickly. My colleagues and I made the first demonstration of BMI in 1999 - a rat, using a BMI, was able to use a robotic arm to grab drops of water and move them to its mouth. In 2000 we made the first primate demonstration of that device, and in 2003 we used Rhesus monkeys. Then, in 2004, we published the first human study with an invasive (surgically implanted) BMI for Parkinson's patients, which showed that BMIs work in the same way for humans as they do for monkeys. Within these devices we experimented with closed-loop BMIs: sensors that can generate feedback, to inform the brain how that device is performing the job it's trying to accomplish.

Our latest development, which we're announcing this month, is that this sensory feedback from the device can be sent to the skin or the eye, and delivered directly into the brain. We're naming this technique the brain-machine-brain interface. Suppose you have a robotic hand that is touching an object. We have demonstrated a way to send signals from this hand directly back to the areas of the brain which process tactile information, so the feedback tricks the brain into thinking that the robotic hand is actually an extension of the body. What we are demonstrating is that the brain can incorporate these devices as they would an ordinary limb.

The monkeys we have been working with have acquired what is essentially a third arm, and we have done experiments in which a monkey at Duke University in North Carolina has operated, and received feedback from, a robot in Kyoto, Japan. It is touching and feeling things thousands of miles away; can you imagine what that experience would be like? There was a point at which the monkey was walking on a treadmill and the robot in Japan was doing exactly the same thing, but when the monkey stopped walking, the robot carried on. This means that the animal was conditioned to imagine what it had to do to move, and was able to sustain it even though it didn't need to move itself. It's a breakthrough which gives us hope that a paraplegic patient will be able to do the same thing.

I believe that we are now very close to making an attempt at something I've been working on for five years: to build an international consortium of non-profit organisations to collaborate on the Walk Again project. This is a campaign to get the best computer scientists, roboticists, neuroscientists and neurosurgeons in the world to make a paraplegic or quadriplegic patient walk again, using a combination of technologies that are emerging from the BMI field. The idea is to bypass the spinal chord (which is ruptured in paraplegic or quadriplegic patients) and, instead, use a wireless link to send a message from a microchip implanted on the surface of the brain straight to an exoskeleton - essentially a wearable robot - that will allow him or her to walk again.

This technology will allow the brain to act independently of the body. Patients will not only be able to control devices that they wear, but also operate devices that are some distance away while experiencing feedback from them. This will amount to an enormous change in the way we think about what the brain can accomplish.

I think we will be able to start large-scale clinical trials on humans next year, and treatment for paraplegic patients is expected to be available within the next five years. In a decade's time I can see us working on the restoration of language in stroke patients, prosthetic devices for vision, audio and touch, and we should be on our way to discovering methods to deal with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's with adapted BMI technology.

The body's going to be very different 100 years from now. In a century's time you could be lying on a beach on the east coast of Brazil, controlling a robotic device roving on the surface of Mars, and be subjected to both experiences simultaneously, as if you were in both places at once. The feedback from that robot billions of miles away will be perceived by the brain as if it was you up there. This technology is no longer in the realm of science fiction - it is real.

· Miguel Nicolelis is the Anne W Deane Professor of Neuroscience at Duke University, North Carolina.

The bionic eye
Robert Greenberg

Neuroprosthetics are designed to either restore function to certain parts of the body using electrical stimulation, or to treat the body through electrical stimulation. Cochlear implants have been around since the Eighties and spinal cord stimulators (which can treat chronic pain disorders) since the late Sixties so our aim 10 years ago, when we started Second Sight, was to apply these technologies to the retina. Our original concept was to build a cochlear implant for the eye. The thought was that if you could create a microphone that could pick up sound and transmit it through electrical impulses to the inner ear, perhaps you could do the same thing with vision. I did my thesis at Johns Hopkins University under a surgeon, Eugene de Juan, who was doing some early work with blind patients suffering from retinitis pigmentosa (a group of genetic eye conditions that cause the sufferer to progressively become blind over the course of their life). We tested around 25 patients with little electrical wires and they were able to see little spots of light when we electrically stimulated their retina.

After my thesis I began engineering and building one of these prosthetics to be commercially available to blind patients. In 2002, we implanted six patients with what was essentially a modified cochlear implant, with 16 electrodes, and to date these have done much better than expected.

At first they were only intended as a proof of concept - 16 electrodes will only give you an low-resolution 4x4 pixel picture - but what surprised us was that the patients, by moving their heads around to build a fuller picture, could take this crude, blurry picture and their brains would fill in the gaps to create a higher resolution picture. We hadn't anticipated this: with this incredibly basic device blind people could suddenly start achieving workable vision.

The retinal prosthesis uses a tiny video camera (the size of a pinhead) attached to a pair of glasses. We take the image from that camera, process it by breaking it up into very big pixels (the original had 16 pixels), and sending the information from each pixel to the brain through electrodes attached to the back of the retina (the retina is the thickness of two human hairs, and the consistency of one ply of wet toilet paper, so designing something that could easily attach onto it wasn't the easiest of tasks). Every point on the retina corresponds to a point in space, so, if you imagine the array of electrodes as a chequerboard on the back of the eye, we can make them see light in a certain place by electrically stimulating a certain electrode on a certain square of that chequerboard. Using this technique, in concert with the incoming video signal, you can create the perception of images. At the moment these images are in black and white, or more grey and white, but we've discovered a technique whereby colour might be achievable, and this is something we will be working on for future models. I can see colour models becoming available within five years.

When we started working in this field, we didn't know whether it would work for blind people or just the visually-impaired, but now we know definitively that blind people are able to see images with this technology. It may not work for all forms of blindness, but we know for sure that it works for patients with retinitis pigmentosa or macular degeneration, as these are the two target populations that we've been working with. With these conditions, the photoreceptors - the cells that turn light into a chemical-electrical signal to be sent to the brain - were thought to be dead. However, a study made before we began working in this field at Johns Hopkins found that the cells weren't in fact dead, just faulty, and that they could be activated with electrical impulses - this is why our patients could see spots of light. So what we did is bypass the process that normally turns light into electrical impulses, and instead input the electricity directly to the brain.

We're currently at the large-scale clinical trial stage with Second Sight, holding international trials with blind patients at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, a hospital in Paris, another in Geneva, as well as a number around the US. The model we have now is similar to our original, with a camera based in glasses, but we have four times as many electrodes, or pixels. It's still a relatively low resolution, but we think it should be enough to allow our patients to perform useful tasks. We're hoping to be able to launch this commercially in Europe soon. How soon is soon depends on the regulatory authorities and how well this trial turns out, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were launched within the next couple of years in Europe - the US will probably take a little longer as it can be a little tougher getting approval.

We are also working on a project, funded by the Department of Energy, that is attempting to increase the resolution to several hundred pixels. I doubt in my lifetime we'll see blind patients achieving perfect sight through these means, but very soon, maybe even with the devices we're testing now, we'll achieve the ability to give the blind useful sight. I expect the same sort of developments to happen with deaf people and cochlear implants, so within the next 50 or so years deafness and blindness may well be curable. It's not hard to imagine that this technology will eventually lead to better than perfect sight or hearing - the bionic six-million-dollar-man idea - but it's still a long way off.

· Robert Greenberg is the managing director, president and chief executive of Second Sight

Tissue engineering
Professor Dame Julia Polak

Thirteen years ago I lost both of my lungs and my heart to pulmonary hypertension. I could see that while I was waiting for my transplant, people around me were dying due to a lack of donor organs, so when my ordeal was over I decided to focus my research on this problem.

I'd been working in the lung field before my transplant and, coincidentally, at Imperial College London, there was an expert working on man-made bioactive materials; so we decided to work together towards using stem-cell technology to produce artificial organs for implantation.

About ten years ago we discovered that the younger the cells are, the better they grow, and that embryonic stem cells would be brilliant for our purpose. We began linking up these cells with man-made material and placing them in animal models.

We've known the advantages of stem cells for some time - research began 50 years ago with stem cells from bone marrow. But there's still so much basic research to be done. There is also much debate around the use of embryonic stem cells, but people have developed methods to produce the same type of cell by inducing pluripotency [the ability for a stem cell to grow into any cell type] in adult stem cells, so there may be more ethical ways to get hold of the cells, but it's still early days.

The pluripotent stem cells are the principal stem cells, but the latter exist throughout the body. If you cut your skin, it will regenerate using stem cells, but as you get older you begin to slowly lose this ability. If we could find a way to stimulate this ability, degeneration could be avoided.

Tissue regeneration using the manipulation of stem cells is revolutionary, but it will take time before it can be used in clinical practice. Modern research into pluripotent stem cells only began 10 to 15 years ago. It could take as long before we are using this technology on patients. There have already been several parts of the body grown artificially, and tested on animals, including artificial skin, cartilage, certain parts of the eye, blood vessels and bladders. They function well, but it's still patchy as to which parts of the body we can replicate. The lungs - my particular field - are such complex organs that it will take much longer before transplantable organs can be grown.

· Professor Dame Julia Polak is founder of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Centre at Imperial College London

[wvoutlaw2002]

Privacy Advocates Hope To Force VeriChip Corporation Into Bankruptcy Stock drops from $9.00 to fifty cents a share
October, 2008

Delray Beach, FL - VeriChip Corporation, the company known as the creator of the first implantable microchip identification device which people have implanted in their hands or arms in order to identify them wherever they go, has been targeted by a national privacy watchdog organization with hopes of putting them out of business.

"VeriChip's stock is down to less than fifty cents a share. A year ago it was over nine dollars, and hopefully in a few months it will be worth less than toilet paper," explains Mark Dice, spokesperson for The Resistance, a privacy watchdog group based in San Diego.

Bravi, Diceman!

Although I'm sure the gubmint or Microsoft will bail out VeriChip if they're in danger of going bankrupt. Ain't no way the government or the DoD's primary front organization gonna allow the beast chip to go away, after all the money they've invested into it. They need the beast chip for the cashless society and the plans to force you to thumbscan or scan your chip to log on to the internet and your own computer. I'm sure VeriChip technology will be integrated into future versions of Windows, Mac OS, and Linux, and you will be forced to register your chip with the OS when you install the OS or recover the OS.

[matrixcutter]

Origin of the Borg (2mins 57s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anMOQ3vTy9k

This Video is taken from the Video Game "Star Trek Legacy" and about the origin of the borg and was V'ger has to do with it. I think it is a very interesting addition to the Star Trek Universe.

Borg documentary

Part 1 (9mins 6s) - general overview of the Borg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Hv4q-Ry6AE

Part 2 (4mins 30s) - the conflicts between the Federation and the Borg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwHs-n0q_zA

Part 3 (6mins 35s) - Voyager's encounters with the Borg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZIaPZo6zyk

[matrixcutter]

New video game literally a mind game
Thursday October 9, 2008

Willpower is set to replace fast fingers in a new video game in which players move characters through a headset that monitors their brain waves.

California-based NeuroSky Inc. showed off the new headset -- named Mindset -- at the Tokyo Game Show, the industry's biggest exhibition which opened near the Japanese capital Thursday.

The Mindset monitors whether the player is focused or relaxed and accordingly moves the character on a personal computer.

"We brought this to the game show as a new interface, a new platform for game creators," NeuroSky managing director Kikuo Ito told AFP.

Children's games using the system will hit the US market next year, Ito said.

"We are exploring the use of brain waves in the game industry because games are fun and so close to people," he said.

"Once people get used to the idea of using brain waves for various applications, I hope we will see various products using this technology," he said.

In distance learning courses, for example, teachers could monitor whether students were attentive, Ito said.

Train drivers and motorists could use it to judge their stress levels and alertness, Ito added.

Japan's Keio University put similar technology to use this year to let a paralysed man take a virtual stroll on the popular Second Life website, with the machine reading what he wanted to do with his immobile legs.

NeuroSky said the Mindset could help people with other types of disabilities.

"For people with difficulty speaking, this can be a tool for communication," Ito said.

Ito was hopeful that the technology would eventually go on sale outside the United States. Prices have not been announced.

[matrixcutter]

How The Next Generation Will Come To Be Micro Chipped - 1/5 (9mins 8s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTxbMGILN3U

How The Next Generation Will Come To Be Micro Chipped - 2/5 (9mins 7s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPsmDVQLSEM

How The Next Generation Will Come To Be Micro Chipped - 3/5 (8mins 43s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbeSPwzbScA

How The Next Generation Will Come To Be Micro Chipped - 4/5 (7mins 30s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OewM_CPLCB8

How The Next Generation Will Come To Be Micro Chipped - 5/5 (7mins 49s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4-Z__b_NV8

Alan Watt read's from Kevin Haggerty's article published as a Special in The Toronto Star (12/10/2006) which lays out in detail "...how the next generation will come to be micro chipped."

[matrixcutter]

As Featured in the Duracell Ad: The BrickHouse Child Locator with Distance Alert
When You Need It Most, It Simply Has To Work.

Step by step, leading to microchips implanted in the children and eventually, chips implanted in the brain.

Anyone who is aware of what is planned must fight this.  We must not allow this agenda to be carried out.

[wvoutlaw2002]

OMG. I was thinking earlier today about the possibility of VeriChip going bankrupt, and I was thinking of who would probably buy the VeriChip assets and own the VeriChip/Xmark technology. One company popped into my mind: Merck. They would probably buy it and force the schools to tell everybody it's one of the required innoculations. Just think of a student being suspended for refusing to take the chip and then arrested for truancy. I think that's exactly what will happen.

[matrixcutter]

Google’s A.I. quest to become God-On-Earth
October, 2008



The vision of Google’s future, according to Google co-founder, Sergey Brin, is “it would be like the mind of God”. And it’s a future that they’re working feverishly to make a reality today.

While that quote was in reference to “the ultimate search engine”, this analysis is going to make it more than clear that he was in fact referring to Google in particular. In doing so, we’ll see numerous other quotes demonstrating their intentions, what they mean by “all of the worlds information”, how they’re on precisely the right path to achieve their goal with the U.S. military in this vast project that is set to change humanity forever.

“AI” is actually too “narrow” of a term for a cognitive system, but a “broad” cognitive system would contain many narrow AI parts. To even contemplate the notion of cognitive “Artificial General Intelligence” one must first embrace emergence. Emergence is the key to all complex systems that could be considered in attempting to create a model for an AGI system. Google’s methodology in their quest is to exploit and harness the powers of emergence, while adding ‘parts’ that perform cognitive tasks in their own right. The idea is to push the term superorganism to the fullest potential. The insights are the ant colony, and the beehive. The models are the Internet, and the human brain. The entire premise of emergence is ‘the sum is greater than its parts’.

Ants are abysmally stupid, in our terms, yet the colony as a superorganism often gives rise to give the impression of the individual ants being intelligent. With beehives this feature expands even further. Under the right conditions, a complex systems analysis of the collective can be indistinguishable from that as a single organism. Compare to cells in the human body, or brain alone. Each human mind is a hive, of neurons; a hivemind. Each neuron is abysmally stupid, and each brain part is nearly worthless alone, yet the interconnected cells of each part and each part interconnected give rise to consciousness and higher brain functions.



Then there’s the Internet, with its millions of routers and billions of computers all interconnected as one that is already evolving into a ’smart’ semantic web on its own. It’s no wonder that philosophers often compare the Internet -as a complex system- to the brain, and many thinkers argue that at some point the Internet itself may become unintendedly conscious via emergence. But what if a collective of intelligent beings harnessing global scale supercomputers armed with state of the art algorithms made the goal of turning their symbiotic co-evolving component of the Internet their life’s work?

Enter Google: Google seeks to “gather & organize”, in their words, “all of the worlds information“. It’s the company slogan, and when you hear them speak it they place much emphasis on “all”. But what’s more, according to both co-founders of the company, they intend for it to “understand” what all of the worlds information means. In many cases, they’re going to extremes in order to “gather all” of it, but they’re lettings us do the work for them wherever they can. A look over their “Product” list is as far as one must go to get an idea, yet it goes further than that. But first, the main search feature must be highlighted.

Google, like other search engines, “crawls” the Internet. That is, their algorithm laden interconnected supercomputer automatons scour the Internet, link-by-link literally archiving the entire history of the Internet, page by page, day by day. A page changes and Google finds the change and adds it to its own archives. It then saves these archives for all time. This includes content from social networks, blogs, news sites, and so forth. Feeding a link into Archive.org’s Wayback Machine paints a candid picture of this process. Their urgency to archive all possible acquirable data also extends to other areas, such as your personal life via Gmail, Health, Calendar & Google Desktop (which scans all of the files in your “personal” computer).

Another technique is the ‘transfer of human intelligence‘, which involves monitoring our behavior as we surf the Web and more. This is achieved via many routes, such as the standard Google Search, Google cookies, Google Toolbar (that embeds in most web browser programs), Google Desktop, sites with AdSense integrated, “Powered by Google” complete site integration, and last-but-not-least their new Google Chrome web-browser. Add to that Docs and Knol.

There isn’t even room in this article to explain the ramifications that each one of their “Products” poses in what it’s set to “understand” about yourself & your habits, and everything about the human race from the genetic to the social scale. But note their new “Android” mobile device service, which has 2 alarming features. First, is one app that records the users iris scan, for login purposes. Second, nearly every other app encourages the use of real-time navigational GPS tracking. So on one hand it conditions you to submit your eye iris scans, and on the other it conditions you to embrace constant real-time GPS tracking of your every move. The latter is dually striking as virtually all modern cell phones already embody GPS tracking, except most people aren’t yet aware of that.



In other cases they go out of their way to acquire ‘their’ data: Google Books, Patent Search, Scholar, Maps & Street View, Earth, Translate, Finance and now even Newspaper (archiving the history of all possible print newspapers). For some insight into the implications of their machine eventually having in its ‘intellectual possession’ virtually the entire history of humanity’s books, newspaper, scholarly academic papers and so forth, consider the statement from a Google Factory Tour guide: “We are not scanning all those books to be read by people, we are scanning them to be read by an AI.” The point is proven in the fact that they’re scanning the entire books whether or not the entire contents will be browsable online. Perhaps my publishing of this article online is giving the Machine even more focused insight into itself?

Then there’s the darker side. First, they intend to -if not already- use your PC’s microphone to monitor ‘background audio’ ‘in order to listen to TV’s and so forth to garner better ads for the user’. As US intelligence agencies already monitor subjects via their cell phone microphones, which can only be prevented by removing the phones battery, you can expect Google equipped mobile devices and automobiles to do the same. Second, another goal is acquiring every persons DNA code, and then making it searchable online as another “Product”. This could prove to be their most challenging ambition, but in Google tradition they’ve rolled out the (on the surface) independent “23andMe” social networking personalized genome service which is already showing signs of targeting children for systematic indoctrination in DNA databanks.



Much of their epic archiving quest wont even immediately pay off, but it’s being kept as fruit waiting to ripen, or rather waiting for their conscious entity to ripen to be able to harness it. By this point many would declare that AGI isn’t possible, but regardless of beliefs and possibilities (external possibilities aren’t dependent on one persons beliefs), the stated goal exists.

Peter Norvig, former head of the now Intelligent Systems Division at NASA’s ARC, and now Google’s Director of Research, in 2007, claimed that Google is already co-evolving with the Internet. “We hadn’t expected that”, he said. But the Googler’s seem to be right on course to reach their ambitions by conscious direction of that delves beyond mere emergence alone. There are many cases of the 2 Google co-founders going on the record about “AI”, and between them and their related media’s, it’s quite clear that their intentions aren’t merely ‘narrow AI’ nor is any of it mere accident.



Take for instance machine vision. Begin with Google Video and shortly afterwards they acquired Youtube. These are both sites where the user does the work in providing the profitable content for them. For some it was neat for Youtube results to appear in Google Video searches, but then Google began crawling most of all other streaming video hosts including many of their competitors. During that shuffle, Google acquired Neven Vision, the worlds most advanced machine vision firm. One desirable prospect for Google was that NV’s technology was already geared for mobile devices. Another was that it was designed for both still photos and videos. It can be understood as advanced biometrics that’s designed to recognize all types of objects, not just human faces.

So while you’re walking around your neighborhood waving your GPS equipped Google mobile device around, it’s possible that Google is storing your cameras data in building Google’s omnipresent worlds eye. But I see a scarier side: When their infantile systems grow conscious enough, not only would they -or It- know and understand everything humanity has ever written, it would also have to a certain degree all of our videos from film to personal cams. One side is it helps it become sentient, the other is it accelerates its ability to understand humans individually and socially. After all, you couldn’t expect a machine to become conscious & intelligent without vision, nor could it understand humans without seeing them in action.



An intelligent thinking machine would also needs ears, and ears they are giving it. Make a call to 1-800-GOOG411 and experience their speech recognition algorithms for yourself. No surprise that the service is free, because the more people use it the more you help them reach their goal of omniscience. And it’s safe to assume to this technology is busy helping it listen to all of the videos it’s looking at. Meanwhile, their Translate efforts has their system rapidly learning how to translate any language from any language, guided by a handful of engineers who in most cases don’t even know the languages themselves. You can see this by doing the typical search, and you can bet they’re already working on integrating the technology into audio speech recognition.

Above we have the perfect outline of inherent rise of sentience via emergence, but they aren’t leaving it to just that. In May of 2008, Google hosted their own “Machine Learning Summit“, of which “most of the material covered (documents, videos, presentations) at these types of events is confidential and proprietary and can’t be released.” Prior to that, in 2006, internal documents leaked stating their plans the build “the worlds largest AI laboratory”. That lab might be already existent somewhere in their own properties, or it might be in or set to be in a government / military facility.



The facility could be in one of their many data-centers or other secretive locations. A ‘secretive‘ data-center of public fame is known best as “PROJECT02“, which has direct access to cheap power via a hydroelectric damn owned and operated by the US Army Corp of Engineers. Being the size of ‘2 football fields’, it sounds reminiscent of what everyone used to say in reference to the NSA’s Echelon system that was and is used to monitor virtually every form of telecommunications in the US and much of the Earth.

There’s no telling how many Google facilities exist, but is can be said that they wouldn’t need one centralized location for the ‘worlds largest AI lab’. With global telecommunications now being radically different than 60 years ago, private intranets can connect up any remote office or personal computer as a collective. This means that a modern day Manhattan Project could be operated across the planet in secret with great ease. This would especially be the case if you had literally a million or more parallel platformed CPU’s at your disposal (like Google does). Consider that computing power per $1000 is literally less than millionth what was during the Manhattan Project, and that project only cost about US$24 billion. Anything even resembling a modern semiconductor computer hadn’t even been invented yet. Meanwhile, every year their capabilities expand as CPU prices drop and work gets easier, exponentially, thanks to Moore’s Law and the Law of Accelerating Returns.



On the surface, Google seems to be poised to be able go it alone in their effort, yet they are in deep cahoots with the US military’s parallel initiative. Since the US military maintains global supremacy via its Navy, one could almost Google to roll out plans for ‘naval’ data-centers (which they have). The full scope of government & military involvement with Google’s AGI project goes well beyond the scope of this analysis, but suffice to say that Google have in 2008 signed a 40-90 year lease, with their geographical neighbors, at NASA’s Ames Research Center (ARC), in Silicon Vally, for a 1.2 million square feet collaborative research facility. But not only does Google get to build on the government land there, they already have exclusive access to land and park their private Google jumbo jets on ARC’s “Moffitt Field”.



ARC is historically NASA’s prime hub of AI & AGI research, so it’s of little surprise that Sergey Brin, when asked about the partnership, repeatedly mentioned “AI” as the primary strategic interest. Also relevant in this summary, is the fact that Google was initially funded by DARPA, NASA, ane the National Science Foundation. It’s also been alleged by a former CIA agent that not only did the CIA fund them during their earlier years, but that the CIA has an actual office in the main Googleplex headquarters, while it’s a fact that Google hardware runs the US Intelligence Community’s ‘spy wikipedia‘. DARPA claims the fame of inventing the Internet, and by visiting their website you can browse through their extensive list of various inter-related “cognitive” “self-aware” artificial intelligence projects. Vint Cerf, Google’s “Chief Internet Evangelist” VP, ‘invented the Internet’ together with Bob Kahn via DARPA. Vint still works with NASA on the “Interplanetary Internet”, as well as on other projects for the United States military.

Lastly, in terms of a so-called ‘god on earth’ status, Larry Page has stated the desires to get started on “climate modification”, a dream of military strategists since ancient times. Fostering such a sentiment with Google’s de-facto government-operation status via NASA & DARPA, humanity doesn’t just face whatever typically assumed degrees of ‘computer control’ by the omnipresent and omniscient Machine, the Machine is on the path of geophysical omnipotence. NASA, in recent years, has pursued the perfect program to mesh with this. The goal of the “Intelligent Archives” sounds familiar to everything Google is doing in terms of “understanding” massive amounts of data. They even used the phrases “self-aware” and “cognitive”. The projects webpage now speak in the past tense, and it’s unclear its true status after its parent division became the “Intelligent Systems Division”. In any case, with deep integration with NASA and their Earth sciences, and the military and their hundreds of top secret satellites, and AI all in-between, I’d say Page has found the perfect scenario to pursue this dream.

In closing, lets just say that Google manages to actually understand what the data in its own text data-holdings ‘means’. This could be kept simply between webpages and books. Consider hundreds of thousands of texts related to related to programming languages and software engineering (essentially everything on the subject). By using Google Search we can tell the system is very much in perpetual tune with its own complete data-holdings. One could argue that they’re flirting with “hard-takeoff” AGI emergence on this front alone. And if you spend enough time putting complex worded search strings ‘into’ Google Calculator and Code Search you might help make that a reality.

Imagine what it would mean if the Google co-founders get their wish of Google being directly connected to human minds via neural interface. That might make people reconsider that Google fought for the new wireless Internet spectrum, and are working to bring 3 billion new people the Internet, good things.

-------------------------

SEE ALSO:

*Mobile Google Android to condition people to embrace constant GPS tracking
*Google Founders Artificial Intelligence Quotes Archive
IIBFilms: DARPA’s iXo Artificial Intelligence Control Grid: ‘The Official Version’
*An Inconvenient Truth on Al Gore: Google & NASA A.I.

Artificial Intelligence, CIA, DARPA, Google AI, NASA, The Singularity, Voice-Recognition

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Microchip implants in cartoons, and CSI:

Exosquad NWO Defense Video (7mins 1s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKr4uAUxot4

In this early 90's cartoon there is hints of the New World Order governments we see today. Here is a clip i put together to show u what is in the early 90s cartoon is happening today and what people need to do to unite against the powers that be...

Episode 17 Kim Possible: Mission Impossible (2/3) - 8mins 8s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mubY54j6AVY

Finally, they landed at Dr. Bortle's lab. His Mind control Microchip was stolen, and now she must recover it at all cost...

Part 3/3 (5mins 49s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_o-6REAOnA

VERICHIP - Featured on CSI Miami (1min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXAZLeeVV4E

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Helmet to Convey Messages by Thought
Eric Bland, Discovery News



Oct. 13, 2008 -- Vocal cords were overrated anyway. A new Army grant aims to create email or voice mail and send it by thought alone. No need to type an email, dial a phone or even speak a word.

Known as synthetic telepathy, the technology is based on reading electrical activity in the brain using an electroencephalograph, or EEG. Similar technology is being marketed as a way to control video games by thought.

"I think that this will eventually become just another way of communicating," said Mike D'Zmura, from the University of California, Irvine and the lead scientist on the project.

"It will take a lot of research, and a lot of time, but there are also a lot of commercial applications, not just military applications," he said.

The idea of communicating by thought alone is not a new one. In the 1960s, a researcher strapped an EEG to his head and, with some training, could stop and start his brain's alpha waves to compose Morse code messages.

The Army grant to researchers at University of California, Irvine, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Maryland has two objectives. The first is to compose a message using, as D'Zmura puts it, "that little voice in your head."

The second part is to send that message to a particular individual or object (like a radio), also just with the power of thought. Once the message reaches the recipient, it could be read as text or as a voice mail.

While the money may come from the Army and its first use could be for covert operations, D'Zmura thinks that thought-based communication will find more use in the civilian realm.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related Content:

Eric Bland's Blog: Interior Design
See more cool inventions at Discovery Tech.
VIDEO: Mind-Controlled Car Prototype

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"The eventual application I see is for students sitting in the back of the lecture hall not paying attention because they are texting," said D'Zmura. "Instead, students could be back there, just thinking to each other."

EEG-based gaming devices are large and fairly conspicuous, but D'Zmura thinks that eventually they could be incorporated into a baseball hat or a hood.

Another use for such a system is for patients with Lou Gehrig's disease, or ALS. As the disease progresses, patients have fully functional brains but slowly lose control over their muscles. Synthetic telepathy could be a way for these patients to communicate.

One of the first areas for thought-based communication is in the gaming world, said Paul Sajda of Columbia University.

Commercial EEG headsets already exist that allow wearers to manipulate virtual objects by thought alone, noted Sajda, but thinking "move rock" is easier than, say, "Have everyone meet at Starbucks at 5:30."

One difficulty in composing specific messages is fundamental -- EEGs are not very specific. They can only locate a signal to within about one to two centimeters. That's a large distance in the brain. In the brain's auditory cortex, for example, two centimeters is the difference between low notes and high notes, D'Zmura said.

Placing electrodes between the skull and the brain would offer more precise readings, but it is expensive and requires invasive surgery.

To work around this problem, the scientists need to gain a much better understanding of what words and phrases light up what brain sections. To create a detailed map of the brain scientists will also use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG).

Each technology has its own strengths and weaknesses. EEGs detect brain activity only on the outer bulges of the brain's folds. MEGs read brain activity on the inner folds but are too large to put on your head. FMRIs detect brain activity more accurately than either but are heavy and expensive.

Of all three technologies EEG is the one currently cheap enough, light enough and fast enough for a mass market device.

The map generated by all three technologies will help the computer guess which word of phrase a person means when a part of the brain is lights up on the EEG. The idea is similar to how dictation software like Dragon NaturallySpeaking uses context to help determine which word you said.

Mapping the brain's response to most of the English language is a large task, and D'Zmura says that it will be 15-20 years before thought-based communication is reality. Sajda, who is on sabbatical in Japan to research using EEGs to scan images rapidly, sounded skeptical but excited.

"There are technical hurdles that need to be ovecome first, but then again, 20 years ago people would have thought that the two of us talking to each other half a world away over Skype (and Internet-based phone service) was crazy," said Sajda.

To those who might be nervous about thought-based communication turning into a sci-fi comedy of errors, D'Zmura says not to worry. Mind-message composition would take specific conscious thoughts and training to develop them. The device would also have a on/off switch.

"When I was a kid I occasionally said things that were inappropriate, and I learned not to do that," said D'Zmura. "I think that people would learn to think in a way the computer couldn't interpret. Or they can just switch it off."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related Links:
How Stuff Works: How Can Someone Control a Machine With Thoughts?
How Stuff Works: Electroencephalograph (EEG)
Dragon NaturallySpeaking

WATCH VIDEO: Imagine playing a video game only by using your brain...
Tan Lee, President of Emotiv:

We're at the tip of the iceberg in terms of what's possible with this technology.  This is just the next evolution of the interface between humans and machines.

[matrixcutter]

Admiral Janeway has a brain implant and the microcircuitry has a Starfleet signature i.e. in the future, even the good guys get brainchipped, as well as the Borg.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3SJRzhhMxc

Admiral Janeway: "It's a synaptic transceiver.  It allows me to pilot a vessel equipped with a neural interface."

[matrixcutter]

Bill O'Reilly and Roger Ebert - RFID implants (3mins 25s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arUMVF2kYIc

Computer chips will eventually be put into our bodies in the name of the War on Terror. The federal government will know your heart rate, hear what you are saying but also can see what you are THINKING (your Mind), and identify where you are at all times. This will be a useful tool against all political dissenters -- a modern scarlet letter.
Lasrever: Take note that most Senators resisting forced RFID implants are Democrats. Take note that corporations and Republicans are consistently trying to pass these laws.

We are a terror attack or two away from the chip being forced under the notion of national security. You don't have to take my word for it look into "RFID" and "VeriChip" yourself. The legal battle is already upon us. North Dakota and Wisconsin has banned "forced" chipping of people.

[matrixcutter]

9 Mind-Boggling Medical Technologies
New tests and advances on the horizon.


"ViRob" bot

By Coeli Carr for MSN Health & Fitness

If tiny robots crawling along the inside of a blood vessel sounds like something from a sci-fi thriller, think again. Blood bots, along with other amazing medical technologies, are in development now and provide promise for early diagnosis and treatment of a variety of medical conditions. In the not-too-distant future, you or a family member may benefit from the medical advances on the horizon.

Note:  Many of the innovations discussed are still in the early stages of development. MSN Health & Fitness does not endorse or recommend any products, treatments or procedures in this presentation.

Blood bots

A robot barely visible to the eye may make scalpels a thing of the past for biopsies and blood-vessel repairs. Surgeons first inject these mechanical critters into a patient's vein. Once the device is inside the bloodstream, operators use a magnetic field to guide the tiny robot—it's just one millimeter in diameter—to its destination. There the bot can clean plaque-filled vessels like a Roto-Rooter and can even slice off tissue for biopsies. Because the bot, also called the "ViRob," makes deep incisions unnecessary, it reduces recovery time for the patient. It's also possible that physicians may be able to direct the bot from a remote location to operate on patients in the comfort of their own home in the future. Oded Salomon, an engineer at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel, and the developer of the bot, has said he believes it will be in use by specialists within five years.

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Thought-controlled artificial limbs

Nothing can replace the loss of a limb, but research is moving full-speed ahead in developing prosthetics to behave more like the real thing. Researchers at the Penn Center for Brain Injury and Repair in Philadelphia are busy working on a biological interface that could link a patient's nervous system to an artificial limb that responds to thought. The technique, says lead researcher Douglas H. Smith, M.D., is to trick the patient's nervous tissue to grow onto the device permanently. "This integration allows the patient not only to move the prosthetic with thoughts, but also to receive sensory signals, such as touch or temperature, from the prosthetic itself," says Smith. The device could be in clinical trials within the next few years.

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Implantable nano wires to monitor blood pressure

People who need to frequently check their vitals may soon be able to replace those unwieldy blood pressure devices with a more portable upgrade. The next-generation device is a microscopically thin wire implanted in one's arm. This "nano wire" responds to blood vessel contractions by creating an electrical field within the wire. The field, in turn, influences the wire's conductivity; changes in conductivity indicate changes in blood pressure. Fluctuations register on a wristwatch-type device, with any abnormality signaled to the user. "The system is so small, it needs very little power to operate," says Zhong Lin Wang, a physicist at the Georgia Institute of Technology who designed the device. It has yet to undergo clinical trials, but Wang hopes the system will become clinically available within five to seven years.

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Brain-clot vacuum cleaner

Approved for clinical use in hospitals, a device called the Penumbra will be available to suction life-threatening blood clots out of a stroke patient's brain. Based on size of the clot, the technology uses a device of appropriate size to gently aspirate the clot, in the same way a vacuum cleaner suctions up debris. In a study of the Penumbra involving patients with blocked blood vessels, 82 percent of the participants experienced an opening of those vessels. The results were found to be similar to procedures made with another more invasive mechanical device. The Penumbra looks promising, says Wayne Clark, M.D., a neurologist and director of the Oregon Health & Science University Oregon Stroke Center, where the research was conducted. However, he adds, further research is needed to see if, in addition to opening the blood vessels, the device can also improve stroke patients' neurological recovery.

----------



Deep transcranial magnetic therapy

A new form of deep brain activation for the treatment of depression, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, post-traumatic stress disorder, and even eating disorders is right around the corner. Known as deep transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), this non-invasive technology sends an electromagnetic pulse through the skull and can induce neural excitation or inhibition deep inside the brain. It's a giant leap from conventional TMS, which could reach only the outer layer of the brain and showed limited benefit in treating depression. Deep TMS is now in clinical trials and so far shows no significant side effects. "Because deep TMS can penetrate farther, it can potentially be used to treat disorders that conventional TMS could not," says Yiftach Roth, one of the inventors of the technology and a physicist at Brainsway, a Jerusalem-based company that develops and markets deep TMS systems. Roth hopes approval for clinical use will come within the next two years.

----------

Breathalyzers for disease diagnosis

Diagnosing Alzheimer's with a blood test

Spit to detect breast cancer

Laser-powered heart beats

[matrixcutter]

School puts a chip on pupils
By Chris Walker

SECONDARY school pupils are having their "every step traced" under a new monitoring system which sees a microchip embedded in their school uniform.

Currently ten pupils at Hungerhill School in Edenthorpe are having their movements monitored by radio technology, but its Doncaster makers hope the system could soon be attached to every school uniform in the country, if the pilot scheme proves successful.

Under the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) surveillance system the Hungerhill pupils have a memory microchip discreetly embedded onto their school badge which produces a radio signal. It means the pupils can be identified the moment that they step into a classroom. Its inventor, Trevor Darnborough, says the technology has many advantages including; offering accurate and speedy registration of pupils, ensuring child security, providing visual confirmation of attendance to help cover teachers and easy data input for the school's behavioural and reporting system.

But the system, which is believed to be the first of its kind in the country, has been slammed by civil liberty campaigners who believe radio surveillance should only be used on criminals and not on schoolchildren.

David Clouter, a parent who founded the "Leave them kids alone" organisation to oppose the fingerprinting of children in school, said: "To put this in a school badge is complete and utter surveillance of the children. Tagging is what we do to criminals we let out of prison early. With pupils being fingerprinted and now this it seems we are treating children in a way that we have traditionally treated criminals. It's the first time I've ever heard of this happening and I think it's appalling. I'm not sure how it will support personalised learning to track a pupil. You need to know the pupils individually and develop a relationship with them to find out what their needs really are rather than simply chipping them."

Mr Darnborough, who runs Darnbro Ltd, said his product is currently the subject of a patent application but after a "successful trial" at Hungerhill is now ready to have a crack at the £300 million school clothing market.

He said: "The Department for Education and Skills is keen to promote use of electronic registration in schools because of its benefits in efficiently monitoring pupils' attendance and the speedy retrieval and analysis of data. The system saves valuable lesson time, often wasted in registration and monitoring, while ensuring parents of their children's security. And there's the additional benefit of reduced costs in replacing school uniforms that have gone astray.

"We believe the system will work equally well in corporate and commercial scenarios and we're now seeking backing to help us attack a huge potential market, including the £300m annual school clothing spend."

Darnbro state that their product can "trace a pupil's every step during the school day" and that the system can be set up to limit access to doors for certain people at certain times, including shutting the main doors of a school to pupils during classtime.

They stated that schools in the Doncaster area have expressed a keen interest in the product as the government wants to introduce a fully computerised registration system with internet access for parents by 2008.

Hungerhill headteacher Graham Wakeling said: "The school is trialling the project and a
variety of tests to measure compatibility with a range of school information management systems are being carried out.

The system is not intrusive to the pupil in the slightest. The benefits are that it provides immediate registration of the pupil as they enter the classroom. This supports staff as they are getting to know pupils.

It also links the pupil directly to the curriculum they are following and specifically to their assessment data. All the information it provides is already stored on the school information management system. The advantage is that it provides immediate access."

He added that the pilot was started in February of this year and all the parents of children involved in the scheme were supportive of it.

Hungerhill chair of governors, Moira Bates, said she was unaware of the project and was not prepared to comment until she had had a meeting at the school.

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Schoolkid chipping trial 'a success'
A big brother for every pupil
By Chris Williams
22nd October 2007 14:15 GMT

A school in Doncaster is piloting a monitoring system designed to keep tabs on pupils by tracking radio chips in their uniforms.

According to the Doncaster Free Press, Hungerhill School is testing RFID tracking and data collection on 10 pupils within the school. It's been developed by local company Darnbro Ltd, which says it is ready to launch the product into the £300m school uniform market.

Boss Trevor Darnborough said: "The Department for Education and Skills is keen to promote use of electronic registration in schools because of its benefits in efficiently monitoring pupils' attendance and the speedy retrieval and analysis of data.

"The system saves valuable lesson time, often wasted in registration and monitoring, while ensuring parents of their children's security. And there's the additional benefit of reduced costs in replacing school uniforms that have gone astray." The Hungerhill trial has been "successful", he added.

Darnbro isn't the only firm with sights set on high-tech blazers. In August Lancashire-based Trutex, "Britain's favourite schoolwear supplier", announced its own plans to chip schoolchildren.

David Clouter, founder of anti-fingerprinting group "Leave them kids alone", said: "To put this in a school badge is complete and utter surveillance of the children. Tagging is what we do to criminals we let out of prison early."

Hungerhill headteacher Graham Wakeling said the pilot was "not intrusive to the pupil in the slightest."

Related stories
Scottish beavers (and Cali cacti) get their chips (4 September 2008)
New York's Freedom Tower to depend on RFID (6 March 2008)
EU wants RFID tags turned off (22 February 2008)
School-dodging Mexican lad glues self to bed (8 January 2008)
Operators say 'told you so' on iPhone security (24 October 2007)
California Senate fights RFID tracking for schoolkids (17 April 2007)
Captain Cyborg acquires Dalek capability (20 April 2006)
'RFID the lot of them!' UK ID card to use ICAO reader standard (25 July 2005)
Parent power detags US schoolkids (18 February 2005)
Blunkett's satellite tagging: the tripe behind the hype (2 September 2004)

[matrixcutter]

Royal Mail, shops and private firms to bid for right to fingerprint us for new ID cards
By James Slack
Last updated at 7:26 AM on 06th November 2008

The Royal Mail, shops and private firms are today being invited to bid for multi-million pound contracts to fingerprint millions of Britons for ID cards.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is placing the private sector in charge of gathering the biometric details of anyone who applies for a passport or the controversial new cards.

People will have all ten fingerprints and their face scanned.



The hugely sensitive biometric data will then be passed on to the Government's Identity and Passport Service for inclusion on the new National Identity Register.

Separately, the applicant will fill in a form to request a passport or ID card. They will undergo full identity checks and will only be issued with their card or passport once this is complete.

The card  -  being displayed by Miss Smith, right  -  will contain a microchip with an image of two fingerprints and the facial scan.

The Home Office said firms have to pass rigorous security checks to win a contract.

Fingerprints would be recorded using Government computers and would not be stored on memory sticks or sent in the post on CDs.

But it is unprecedented for members of the public to give all ten fingerprints to a private company. At present, the right to take fingerprints is largely restricted to the police.

The Home Office, which had planned to take fingerprints itself, says the move will cut costs by as much as £1billion.

In a report today, it admits the £4.5billion bill is creeping towards £5billion.

Introducing ID cards for foreign nationals will add to that.

ID cards and passports will contain the same information, but will exist side by side. The ID card could be used as a passport, but only in the EU. People travelling elsewhere will still need a passport.

But critics warned of the risk of personal data being lost by the private sector. In recent months, contractors have suffered a string of embarrassing losses  -  including memory sticks and hard drives containing the personal details of prison officers and tens of thousands of the country's worst criminals.

One of the firms involved, PA Consulting, is already working as a 'delivery partner' on the ID cards project.

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More...
Analysis: Will the public want private firms to store fingerprints for ID cards?

We can't promise to keep secret data safe, admits Gordon Brown

Tax website shut down as memory stick with secret personal data of 12million is found in a pub car park

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Last night, Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve said: 'The Home Secretary's determination to press ahead with a project that will put the personal data of every citizen at risk is reckless in the extreme.

'Experts have told her that the idea of ID cards as a security measure is "bunkum", not a week goes by without sensitive information being recklessly lost and  -  to cap it all  -  the costs of ID cards are enormous.

'At a time of economic hardship, how can the Government seriously expect the public to pay out billions for this expensive white elephant?'

Originally the Government was to use up to 80 regional offices fitted with scanning machines where applicants would be interviewed before their data was collected and sent to a vast national computer database.

This network of offices still exists, but will now be used to interview first-time passport applicants.

Those who may bid to do the work instead include Royal Mail, which operates Post Office counters, and firms with a major high street presence such as Boots. The process will be overseen by an ID Commissioner.

But Phil Booth, of the NO2ID campaign, said: 'Why has the Home Office spent millions already for its own chain of Identity and Passport Service enrolment centres? How can such a procedure be made secure? And who would be crazy enough to bid, given the guaranteed unpopularity of fingerprinting the public?'

The Identity and Passport Service said: 'The security of customer data is our utmost priority. We would never jeopardise the integrity of a person's biometric data. Any third party would be accredited and audited to ensure they meet robust and strictly administered security standards.

'System design standards will ensure no data is stored locally and all data is transmitted directly to IPS using a secure link. All locations and personnel will be subject to strict security standards set by IPS.'

In her speech to the Social Market Foundation think tank on the progress made with ID cards, Miss Smith will reveal that the planned roll-out of ID cards will be limited initially to an 18-month trial starting next year for workers at two airports, Manchester and London City.

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Fingerprinting Charge To Double Cost Of ID Card

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First ID cards for Britons from autumn next year, Jacqui Smith to say
Jacqui Smith is set to defy union opposition and announce that the first Britons will have to apply for compulsory identity cards from autumn next year.

By Christopher Hope, Home Affairs Editor
Last Updated: 11:08PM GMT 05 Nov 2008

From Nov 25 this year, ID cards are compulsory for foreign nationals who come to Britain.

However, the Home Secretary will say in a speech to the Social Market Foundation tomorrow [thurs] that compulsory ID cards for "airside" workers will be introduced at two of Britain's airports from next autumn.

The plans will be phased in at Manchester and London City and then expanded to all airports after 18 months. The cards will cost £30 each.

Unions have fought the plans because they are concerned that their members will be used as "guinea pigs" for a national ID card scheme, which has been criticised by civil liberties groups.

The fact that the scheme will only be phased could be seen as a partial victory by opponents.

It also could delay any national roll-out of the scheme until well after the next general election, which must be held by May 2010. If the Tories win power, they have vowed to scrap the scheme.

A spokesman for white collar Public and Commercial Services Union said: "There are concerns among our members that they are being used as guinea pigs to push through a national ID card scheme.

"Added to this are unanswered questions about the security and integrity of the system and how their data will be held."

James Hall, chief executive of the Identity and Passport Service, said last night: "Confirming our plans for identity cards for airside workers is a major step in delivering the National Identity Scheme.

"We believe delivering the highest possible level of identity assurance for critical workers will bring real benefits to employers, employees and the public. That is why I am delighted that Manchester and London City airports have agreed to work in partnership with us.

"I look forward to working with these airports in the successful introduction of identity cards from autumn 2009, so that employers and employees at those airports can to start to benefit from the high level of identity assurance that the Scheme will provide."

The first British identity card for 60 years was unveiled in September with no sign of the union flag or mention of the word Britain.

Instead the credit card-sized plastic cards carried a picture of a bull - in common with other European Union identity cards - as well as five stars drawn from the stars on the official flag of the EU.

Separately, it also emerged that only indigenous workers will have to have ID cards - the rules will not apply to foreign aircrew flying into and out of the UK.

Damian Green, the Tories' immigration spokesman, said: "This proposal is opposed by airport workers, and the fact that it will not apply to foreign aircrew flying into this country shows it is a complete waste of time and money.

"It will not make our airports safer, it will simply be another intrusion by a Government committed to building the surveillance state."

However a Department for Transport spokesman said: "People who work airside and have regular access to sensitive areas have their backgrounds checked before they are given an airside pass.

"Since air crew work on aircraft, they go through the airport in the same way as passengers do – including the same security checks – and so do not need an airside pass."

[matrixcutter]

Saturday, November 01, 2008
EU Set to Move 'Internet of Things' Closer to Reality
An Orwellian future in store for the internet
Old-Thinker News | October 31, 2008

By Daniel Taylor

If the world-wide trend continues, 'Web 3.0' will be tightly monitored, and will become an unprecedented tool for surveillance. The "Internet of Things", a digital representation of real world objects and people tagged with RFID chips, and increased censorship are two main themes for the future of the web.

The future of the internet, according to author and "web critic" Andrew Keen, will be monitored by "gatekeepers" to verify the accuracy of information posted on the web. The "Outlook 2009" report from the November-December issue of The Futurist reports that,

Internet entrepreneur Andrew Keen believes that the anonymity of today's internet 2.0 will give way to a more open internet 3.0 in which third party gatekeepers monitor the information posted on Web sites to verify its accuracy.

Keen stated during his early 2008 interview with The Futurist that the internet, in its current form, has undermined mainline media and empowered untrustworthy "amateurs", two trends that he wants reversed. "Rather than the empowerment of the amateur, Web 3.0 will show the resurgence of the professional," states Keen.

Australia has now joined China in implementing mandatory internet censorship, furthering the trend towards a locked down and monitored web.

The Internet of Things

Now, the European Union has announced that it will pursue the main component of Web 3.0, the Internet of Things (IoT).

According to Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information Society and Media for the EU, "The Internet of the future will radically change our society." Ultimately, the EU is aiming to "lead the way" in the transformation to Web 3.0.

Reporting on the European Union's pursuit of the IoT, iBLS reports,

New technology applications will need ubiquitous Internet coverage. The Internet of Things means that wireless interaction between machines, vehicles, appliances, sensors and many other devices will take place using the Internet. It already makes electronic travel cards possible, and will allow mobile devices to exchange information to pay for things or get information from billboards.

The Internet of Things consists of objects that are 'tagged' with Radio Frequency Identification Chips (RFID) that communicate their position, history, and other information to an RFID reader or wireless network. Most, if not all major computer companies and technology developers (HP, Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, etc.) are putting large amounts of time and money into the Internet of Things.

Cisco and Sun Microsystems have founded an alliance to promote the Internet of Things and further its implementation.

South Korea is at the forefront in implementing ubiquitous technology and the Internet of Things. An entire city, New Songdo, is being built in South Korea that fully utilizes the technology. Ubiquitous computing proponents in the United States admit that while a large portion of the technology is being developed in the U.S., it is being tested in South Korea where there are less traditional, ethical and social blockades to prevent its acceptance and use. As the New York Times reports,

Much of this technology was developed in U.S. research labs, but there are fewer social and regulatory obstacles to implementing them in Korea," said Mr. Townsend [a research director at the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, California], who consulted on Seoul's own U-city plan, known as Digital Media City. 'There is an historical expectation of less privacy. Korea is willing to put off the hard questions to take the early lead and set standards.'

An April 2008 report from the National Intelligence Council discussed the Internet of Things and its possible implications.


A timeline shown in the April 2008 NIC report

A timeline shown in the April 2008 NIC report

The report outlines uses for the technology:

Sensor networks need not be connected to the Internet and indeed often reside in remote sites, vehicles, and buildings having no Internet connection. Smart dust is a term that some have used to express a vision of tiny, wireless-connected sensors; more recently, others use the term to describe any of several technologies that range from the size of a pack of gum to a pack of cigarettes, and that are widely available to system developers.

Ubiquitous positioning describes technologies for locating objects that may reside anywhere, including indoors and underground locations where satellite signals may be unavailable or otherwise inadequate.

Biometrics enables technology to recognize people and other living things, rather than inanimate objects. Connected everyday objects could recognize authorized users by means of fingerprint, voiceprint, iris scan, or other biometric technology.

These trends towards internet censorship and the internet of things are undoubtedly going to continue, but restricting your free speech and violating your privacy will be harder with your outspoken resistance.

Watch Ubiquitous Computing: Big Brother's All-Seeing Eye, a video report from Old-Thinker News regarding the Internet of Things.

[matrixcutter]

Bill O'Reilly and Roger Ebert - RFID implants (3mins 25s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arUMVF2kYIc

This is mentioned in the following Alan Watt show:

Nov. 5, 2008
Alan Watt "Cutting Through The Matrix" on RBN (ads removed):
The Emotive Changeling:
"The Stage of Election is Over, it Seems,
Voters Sit Back and Wait on the Dreams,
The Internationalist Elect will Get His Orders,
On Containing People Within His Borders,
Using Increased Surveillance, Mechanization,
Foes Abroad Standardized with Americanization,
Borrowing for the Abyss will Know No Limit,
The Cash of the World would Never Fill It,
He Promises Dreams, Policy Major,
Followers Entranced by Establishment Saviour" - mp3

Topics of show covered in following links:
"Shimon Peres to be knighted by Queen Elizabeth" Israel Today Staff (israeltoday.co.il) - Oct. 24, 2008.
"Foot massages calm unruly pupils" (news.bbc.co.uk) - Nov. 3, 2008.
"Rainfall autism theory suggested" (news.bbc.co.uk) - Nov. 4, 2008.
"Harnessing The Power Of The Brain" by Scott Pelley (cbsnews.com) - Nov. 2, 2008.



---------------

Harnessing The Power Of The Brain
Scott Pelley Reports How Brain Computer Interface May Help The Paralyzed In The Future
Nov. 2, 2008

(CBS) Once in a while, we run across a science story that is hard to believe until you see it. That's how we felt about this story when we first saw human beings operating computers, writing e-mails, and driving wheelchairs with nothing but their thoughts.

Quietly in a number of laboratories, an astounding technology is developing that directly connects the human brain to a computer. It's like a sudden leap in human evolution - a leap that could one day help paralyzed people to walk again and amputees to move bionic limbs. As correspondent Scott Pelley reports, the connection has already been made for a few people, and for them it has been life changing.

---------------

Scott Mackler was a husband, father and successful neuroscientist when he received perhaps the worst news imaginable. At the age of 40, he could run a marathon in three and a half hours, but it was about that time he discovered he had ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease.

His brain was losing its connection to virtually every muscle in his body. The near-total paralysis would also stop his lungs. He didn't want to live on a ventilator, so nine years ago he recorded this message for his two sons.

"I know the future holds lot of love and joy and pride and that life goes on and I’ll be watching you along the way and I love you very much and I'll see ya," he said in a home video.

Today, Scott Mackler's mind is sharp as ever, but his body has failed. Doctors call it "locked in" syndrome. Scott and his wife Lynn learned to communicate with about the only thing he has left, eye movement.

To signal "yes," Lynn says Scott looks at her; to signal "no," he looks away.

But recently Scott found a new voice. "Can everyone hear the PC? I apologize for the quality of the voice," he asked in writing.

Scott wrote these words, one letter at a time, with nothing but his thoughts and the help of what's called a brain computer interface or "BCI." He wears a cap that picks up the electrical activity of his brain and allows him to select letters simply by thinking about them. Then the computer turns his sentences into speech.

"I hate being helpless and when other people put words in my mouth," he wrote.

"Well, this is a very unusual interview for 60 Minutes. We've done something we never, ever do, and that is we've submitted the questions in advance because it takes Scott a little while to put the answers together using the BCI device," Pelley remarks. "Scott, I understand that earlier in the progression of this disease you said that, at the point you had to go on a ventilator you didn't wanna go on anymore, but today you are on a ventilator. And I'm curious about what changed your mind?"

"Because I can still communicate," Scott replied, with the help of the BCI device.

It isn't fast. It takes 20 seconds or so to select each letter. Scott told 60 Minutes it took him about an hour to write the answers to our 16 questions. But he writes well enough to continue his research and manage his lab at the University of Pennsylvania, where he still goes to work everyday.

"You use this system even to text your sons, for example. And I wonder what it would mean to your life today if the system somehow was taken away from you?" Pelley asks.

Scott says he couldn't work with BCI.

Asked what it has meant to their relationship, Scott's wife Lynn tells Pelley, "Well, he's happier. He can communicate with not just us, but with the world. This gave him his independence. His working, intellectual, scientist independence back."

The system was developed by neuroscientist Dr. Jonathan Wolpaw at New York State's Wadsworth Center.

To understand how the BCI works, Pelley asked researcher Theresa Vaughan to hook him up to the BCI device.

"And you’ll see there are little white disks scattered around on your head," Dr. Wolpaw explained.

Those disks are electrodes that pick up the faint electrical activity that brain cells create when they communicate with each other. Vaughan put a conductive gel on top of Pelley's scalp to help the electrodes pick up the signals.

Pelley was thinking of the letters of a word that only he knew. Every time the computer flashed the correct letter on the screen, he silently thought to himself, 'That's it, that's the one.' That feeling of recognition set off a unique electrical pattern in his brain, which the computer picked up.

It worked the first time Pelley tried it, without a single mistake, spelling out "THOUGHT" with the help of BCI.

"You know, I can imagine some people watching this interview are thinking to themselves, 'Wait a minute, they’re connecting the brain to a computer.' Are we moving in the direction of reading people's thoughts? Are we, is this mind control around the corner?" Pelley asks.

"No, No it is not - it is certainly not mind control and it's different from reading people's thoughts. And it's important to realize this requires the cooperation of the person," Wolpaw explains.

As remarkable as this is, some scientists believe this technology is limited, because putting electrodes on top of the scalp is like listening to a symphony from the street outside the concert hall. So what would happen if the electrodes were inside the brain?

That's what they're doing at the University of Pittsburgh, implanting electrodes inside the brains of monkeys. Andy Schwartz, a neuroscientist at the university, implanted a grid of electrodes. It’s tiny, but there are 100 sensors, each listening to a different brain cell, or neuron.

It's like listening to the symphony of the brain, but now sitting in the front row. Schwartz has been decoding that language by watching the monkey's movement and recording the corresponding signals in its brain.

Asked what that tells him, Schwartz says, "So there's a relationship between how fast the neuron fires and the way the animal moves its hand. And we're trying to understand that relationship so that if we see a neuron firing we can say, 'Ah, the animal's about to make this kind of movement.'"

Once Schwartz started to figure out that relationship, he was able to connect the monkey's brain directly to a robotic arm. Within days, the monkey operated the arm as if it was his own. "The monkey has both arms restrained. And we’re recording brain signals from its brain and it’s using those brain signals to operate this entire arm," Schwartz explains. "As well as the gripper"

Schwartz says the monkey is operating the robotic arm with nothing but his thoughts. Asked what the chances are that a human would be able to do the same thing, he says, "Oh, we think a human being could do much better."

Cathy Hutchinson is well on her way to finding out: she's among the first humans to have her brain directly wired to a computer. Years ago, Cathy suffered a stroke that left her mentally sharp but trapped inside a paralyzed body and unable to speak, "locked in" like Scott Mackler.

Three years ago, Cathy volunteered to have the same kind of sensors Pelley saw in the monkeys implanted in her motor cortex, which controls movement and is located right on the surface of the brain. The sensors connect to the computer through a plug on her head. The system is called "Braingate" and it was created by a team led by Brown University neuroscientist John Donoghue.

"If you look at this square each one of these little black boxes is the electrical signal coming from one electrode in the brain," he explains.

Each one of the little black boxes is a neuron firing. "It’s its electrical potential. It lets out a 1/1000th of a second pulse," Donoghue explains.

Asked how well we understand this language, Donoghue says, "We have a somewhat of an understanding. We know that there’s a general pattern of, for example, left/right, up/down, even fast or slow."

Dr. Leigh Hochberg of Massachusetts General Hospital is leading the clinical trial. Pelley watched as Cathy showed what she can do.

She was able to move a cursor with nothing but her mind. "She's thinking about the movement of her hand, and she's moving the cursor much as if she had her hand on a mouse," Hochberg explains.

So if a paralyzed patient thinks to move his or her left arm, Donoghue says the brain fires those neurons, even though the arm doesn't move. "It’s very surprising. It fires, even though you’re not moving," he says.

Moving the cursor with her mind is not as fluid or direct as using a mouse. While 60 Minutes was there, the cursor meandered a bit, sometimes overshot, but Cathy always hit her target in the end: clicking the cursor on a logo to play music.

"That's pretty amazing. And so, if Cathy can control a cursor, she can control anything a computer is connected to?" Pelley asks.

"That’s the goal," Hochberg says.

"The lights, the temperature in the room, even, even a wheelchair at some point," Pelley adds.

In fact, Cathy has already driven a wheelchair. They haven't let her ride in it yet for her own safety, but with monkeys adopting robot arms and a completely paralyzed person driving a chair, imagine where this could be headed.

Donoghue envisions this technology will go beyond helping people communicate.

He believes that amputees will one day be using BCIs to control robotic arms, and those with paralysis will be able to move their own arms and legs again. "In spinal cord injury, that cable that connects the brain to the spinal cord is broken. We can reconnect that brain, not to the spinal cord, but directly out to the muscles with a little computer that’s making up for all the lost parts. And we’ll see people be able to do things like reach out, hold onto a cup, bring the cup to their mouth and have a sip of water," he says.

As a neuroscientist, Scott Mackler also believes that day will come. His skullcap interface is a machine that has given him back his humanity. He’s continued to publish scientific papers and to speak his mind. "Live life to the fullest. My wife and I now speak everyday of how we have no regrets," he says.

As our interview ended, Scott Mackler asked Pelley to play a PowerPoint presentation he made to make sure that he got the last word.

"So I’m going to roll that now and see what he has to say," Pelley remarked.

"Please don't think that I'm an inspiration, because anyone could do what I’ve done," Scott said.

"Scott keeps talking about not being courageous. I don't particularly think that is true," Pelley commented.

"I don't either," Scott's wife Lynn added. "I think he's pretty brave."

[Godfather77]

The 'intelligent pill' that helps the medicine go down exactly where it's needed
November 12, 2008
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1084997/The-intelligent-pill-helps-medicine-exactly-needed.html

An 'intelligent pill' has been developed that can pinpoint where drugs are needed in the body and deliver them to that precise spot. The capsule contains a microprocessor, battery, wireless radio, pump and drug reservoir and can treat digestive tract disorders such as Crohn's disease or colon cancer.



Capsules containing miniature cameras are already used to diagnose conditions, but they have so far lacked the ability to deliver drugs, Dutch developer Philips said.  However, the 'iPill' capsule once swallowed can pinpoint its location in the gut by measuring acidity and then releases the drugs exactly where they are needed. This lowers the dose required, reducing unpleasant side effects.

The 'iPill' can also measure the local temperature. It sends this information wirelessly along with high-definition images to a special receiver worn around the waist.

Though currently a prototype Philips believe the iPill, which measures just 11 x 26 mm, is suitable for serial manufacturing.

The firm will present their device at the annual meeting of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) in Atlanta this month.

[matrixcutter]

Predictive Programming From WARNer Bros - microchip implants (1min 33s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9uFYwBB8HE

Another example of predictive programming involving microchip implants.

WARNer Bros show us that in the future an "organically bio-engineered microchip is sewn into the skin. Sensors all over the city can zero in on anyone at any time."

The police officer can't conceive of police work before it was developed, but the old-fashioned hero sees it for what it is; "this fascist crap makes me want to puke".

Then he is called a "meat-eater" - by the guy who played the warden in The Shawshank Redemption - as though in the future someone who eats meat is looked down upon.

[matrixcutter]

Digital Angel sells stake in VeriChip
Thursday, November 13, 2008 in News

Digital Angel Corporation, specialists in animal identification and emergency identification solutions, has sold its interests in the VeriChip Corporation, which offers RFID-enabled solutions for the health care industry. The VeriChip stock, which represents a 45% share in the company, is being purchased by R&R Consulting Partners, a company controlled by Scott R. Silverman, the former CEO and chairman of VeriChip.

Silverman’s purchase of approximately 5.4 million shares of VeriChip stock from Digital Angel combines with the roughly 861,000 shares he already owned, to give him a 53% share in the business. Silverman will re-assume the role of Chairman of VeriChip’s Board of Directors and will oversee the day-to-day operations of the company.

In a separate transaction, VeriChip purchased from Digital Angel all patents related to an embedded bio-sensor system for use in humans and along with rights associated with the development of an implantable glucose-sensing microchip. Certain leases, inventory, and supplier agreements were also transferred in the deal, and full ownership of VeriChip’s VeriMed Health Link business.

Between the two transactions, Digital Angel will receive around $1.57 million in cash. Of this amount, Digital Angel plans to keep roughly $420,000, with the balance to be applied to debt repayment. VeriChip goes forward with just over $8 million in cash and restricted cash and no debts on its books. 

Related Articles

November 2008
Veins possible to overtake fingerprints and irises · November 13
New IdentiPHI product enables easy biometric integration · November 13
SecurLinx crea un sistema de reconocimiento facial para combatir fraude · November 12
IBG announces Webcast and release of new industry report · November 11
UK introduces biometric ID cards for overseas students · November 11
Hospitals adopting palm scan technology for patient ID · November 10
SecurLinx creates facial recognition system to fight check fraud · November 5
La biometría de SecuGen para las facturaciones médicas · November 5
SecuGen biometrics used in medical billing · November 4
ImageWare announces new orders  · November 4
Codebench, Software House partner · November 4

October 2008
Daily RFID launches wristband solution for hospitals · October 31
IDTECK implements new biometric system for hospital · October 28
Biometrics viewed as possible solution to medical fraud worries · October 14
SCM Microsystems launches contactless multi-application solution for access, payments  · October 7
Security technology companies partner for PIV and TWIC solution · October 6

September 2008
bioMETRX acquires controlling stake in Biometric Solutions  · September 30
Datastrip’s mobile devices now available with TETRA · September 23
Fujitsu wins Network Product Guide award · September 3

August 2008
Hospital de Wisconsin protege a bebés con RFID · August 27
Wisconsin hospital protects infants with RFID · August 26

June 2008
Digital Angel awarded $885,000 in contracts from federal government agencies · June 20
VeriChip touts mass-casualty study · June 4

January 2008
Digital Angel Acquires Geissler Tech to Boost Livestock RFID Biz · January 15

December 2007
VeriChip's FoxNews.com Segment Focuses on Glucose-Monitoring RFID Chip · December 5

[matrixcutter]

Auntie Beeb's amazing, evolving, ID card stories
Rewriting history as it happens...

By John Lettice • Get more from this author
14th November 2008 14:11 GMT

On the 6th of November the BBC announced to an astonished world that "People 'can't wait for ID cards'. Breathlessly repeating the words of Home Secretary Jacqui Smith's speech that morning, Auntie reported: "I believe there is a demand, now, for cards - and as I go round the country I regularly have people coming up to me and saying they don't want to wait that long."

And added that the market for fingerprints, photographs and signatures* garnered in post offices and retailers would amount, according to Smith, to "about £200 million a year." The Beeb neglected to mention that the £200 million a year represented a laundered price hike of up to £40 a throw, but there are a few other things the Beeb neglected to mention - or more properly, stopped mentioning - that day, too.

The report's revision history, documented by News Sniffer, takes us on an impressive Odyssey from "Smith to unveil airport ID scheme", through "Shops may take ID Card biometrics" to the final sales-pitch version, cunningly deniabled with quote marks.

Version one was, obviously, a holding piece posted in the early hours, but it included a mild observation from BBC home affairs hack Rory McLean that the plans for airport ID cards "would appear to be a step back from the original plan." It wasn't much compared to what the rest of the press was writing that day, but perhaps it's what you'd call critical analysis at the post-Gilligan BBC.

Some opposing comment from No2ID national coordinator Phil Booth was added around 8.30am, then it remained relatively stable until the fourth version (they start at zero, so that's "Version 3") at 11am. Out went Rory, in came the retail angle ("Supermarkets could be asked to take people's fingerprints as part of the government's identity card scheme") and in came Jacqui denying the airport scheme was a retreat.

And a Home Office spokesman insisting that the trial isn't a "pilot", because they're still going to tag all of the airport workers afterwards anyway whatever the outcome, while the Identity & Passport Service "would continue to carry out enrolment at its offices" alongside the new retail partners (an IPS prospectus published on the same day indicates that the majority of enrolments will be carried out by the retail sector).

Then stability reigns, more or less, until 16.02, when Jacqui's imaginary army of ID Card fans takes the lead slot. The airside workers' plight has now been seriously downgraded by the Home Secretary's sales pitch, and apparently it's "more convenient" and "cheaper" to bin the network of IPS enrolment centres in favour of the private sector. Still no mention of it being more on the price of a card, though, and no mention of binning the centres being a u-turn, either.

Throughout the process, special notice should be taken of the deft use of crossheads. Version one lobbed in "Voluntary System" (no deniability quote marks there...) on the basis that "from 2010 a voluntary system for other people will come into effect." These other people are the people who will turn into Jacqui's imaginary army later that day, and the crosshead persists (some kind of bid for subliminal balance?) for several versions after the one where the relevant text is cut (fourth impression, Version 3). Data Security (no quotes, again) makes a comforting appearance for several mid-period versions, too, then is bumped in the stampede for ID cards version by 'Trusted Environment', with quote marks.

The final - at time of writing, anyway - version isn't an entirely uncritical commercial for ID cards, containing as it does (balance, balance...) comment from Phil Booth and the two main opposition parties. But if we're talking about developing stories in the wonderful world of Web 2.0 reportage here, what one must assume represents a day's ferreting by the Beeb's finest (or a day's being shouted at by Home Office spin doctors) does look very much like a fail.

Rather than following the classic (and largely imaginary) internet news script of developing one story as it breaks, adding detail and analysis until finally (but of course there is no 'final' in Web 2.0 hackery) you're left with a worthwhile and incisive report, the BBC lurches madly from one story to another, first dumping the airport worker line in favour of the supermarket hook, then finally settling on the deranged claims of one madwoman as being what the story was really about. Superficial in three different ways on a single URL in one day - suppose you could call that an achievement. (Thanks to Marcus for pointing us at this one) ®

* Yes, we wondered about that too.

IT is evolving the UK workforce, read more here


Related stories

Jacqui Smith prints seized by No2ID in daring dabs grab (6 November 2008)
Smith's airport ID card plans cut back to small pilot scheme (5 November 2008)
Home Office acts to kick out Iceland's hate preachers (28 October 2008)
Updated Wacky Jacqui's yoof ID site goes silent (16 October 2008)
Blog bully crows over BBC climate victory (8 April 2008)

[matrixcutter]

Bush Administration: Dismiss RFID 'Mark of the Beast' Lawsuit
By David Kravets - email: dkravets@wired.com
November 13, 2008 | 6:20:32 PM
Categories: RFID



The Bush administration on Thursday urged a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a group of Amish farmers in Michigan claiming RFID chips required on cattle "are a mark of the beast."

The Amish farmers claim (PDF) Michigan regulations requiring them to use radio frequency identification devices on their cattle "constitutes some form of a 'mark of the beast' and/or represents an infringement of their 'dominion over cattle and all living things' in violation of their fundamental religious beliefs," according to the farmers' lawsuit filed in September in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

In response to the charges, the United States Department of Agriculture wrote (PDF) Thursday that its RFID tagging program is a voluntary measure to help agricultural officials track bovine and other livestock diseases. The USDA said the lawsuit should be directed at Michigan, which adopted RFID requirements last year.

The case should be dismissed, the administration wrote, "because plaintiffs cannot establish that any rule issued or action taken by the USDA either mandates the use of RFID tags on livestock located within Michigan, or, conversely, prevents the Michigan Department of Agriculture from granting appropriate religious exemptions imposed by that department."

The farmers, however, contend the program is a USDA mandate because the Michigan law was adapted last year as part of a multi-million dollar, federally backed grant program to help eradicate livestock disease.

As radio frequency identification devices become a daily part of the electronic age, RFID technology is increasingly coming under fire for allegedly being the mark of Satan. The technology is fast becoming a part of passports, payment cards, locking devices and is widely expected to replace bar-code labels on consumer goods.

The Virginia-based Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, a 1,400-member group, brought the case. Some of its members so staunchly oppose the program that "they may have to quit farming," according to the lawsuit.

[matrixcutter]

From The Sunday Times
November 16, 2008

‘Sneak’ plan for mandatory ID cards
David Leppard

Ministers have been accused of trying to introduce compulsory identity cards through the back door, despite promises that people will not have to carry them.

Lawyers at Liberty, the civil liberties group, say that little noticed clauses in the draft immigration and citizenship bill introduce new powers to make people produce identity documents or face arrest. The bill is expected to be in the Queen’s speech next month.

At issue is a clause in the bill which says that anyone who is to be examined by an immigration officer “must produce a valid identity document if required to do so”. Failure to produce an identity card or otherwise prove identity will become a criminal offence. At present, producing a passport counts as proof of identity.

It had been thought the clauses applied only to people entering the UK at ports.

But Liberty says a separate clause in the bill extends powers of examination to new categories of people. They include anyone in the UK — whether a British citizen or not — who has ever left the country.

Isabella Sankey, Liberty’s policy officer, said: “Immigration law is being used as a cloak to introduce measures that would effectively compel us all to carry ID cards. Under these paranoid proposals if you have ever set foot outside the UK you could be required, at any time, to prove your identity and nationality.”

The Home Office disputed Liberty’s reading of the bill. A spokesman said: “The bill does not contain legislation that will require UK citizens to be issued with compulsory ID cards. It clearly states that valid identity documents must be produced on request to maintain effective immigration control.”

Launch of the ID cards scheme begins next week when marriage visa holders and non-European Union students will be the first recipients.

Airside workers at some airports will then be issued with cards — a move opposed by pilots’ unions and related groups.

The cards were proposed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in America. Opponents say they are expensive, unnecessary and infringe on human rights.

Cards will carry a picture and security chip containing biometric data.


Related Links

ID cards to be available from next year
ID cards will make us conform to the computer