The Microchip Agenda

[Freeski]

Control freaks!

I like this part:

2. Better Brains: There are three ways we could improve our cognition. In order of likelihood of being used in the near future they are: cognitive enhancing drugs, genetic engineering, or neuro-implants/ prosthetic cyberbrains.

Insane control freaks!

Only three ways?

[bovvered]

A Pacemaker For Your Brain; Or, How They Will Control Us
Posted by Michael_Byrne on Wednesday, Jun 30, 2010



While you’re still thinking hard about just how much your unconscious brain is more in control of you than ‘you’ are, chew on this too: scientists at Israel’s Tel Aviv University are crafting a tiny implantable chip that delivers precise electrical impulses to different parts of the brain. This may be, they believe, the cure for not just depression, but Parkinson’s disease – both of which respond well to conventional electro-therapies—and maybe even brain damage from strokes or injuries.
 
Which is a potential breakthrough and amazing but, from where I sit, the part to chew on is the sort of almost literal rewiring or reconfiguring of consciousness. Like, the brain functions as a tangled mess of electrical impulses. It’s just pathways of electricity. So: What else can we do? How precise can we get? Or am I just being freaked and paranoid about the idea of people running around with behavior-modifying chips in their skulls?
 
The heart kind of pacemaker is purely mechanics; the ReNaChip—as it’s being called—deals with consciousness. That thing we know really nothing about. We don’t even really understand all that well how ECT therapy works in its traditional, seizure-inducing form.
 
It all feels like when you’re a kid and you take a radio apart or something and it’s not working anymore, but after jamming some stuff around in it, a warble comes out. You have no reason why, but you take it as a discovery and just keeping poking it and making that warble again, imagining you fixed something. Then again, you could argue that that describes a lot of medicine.

[bovvered]

IBM unveils chips that mimic the human brain
by Stuart Sumner
18 Aug 2011



IBM has unveiled a new experimental computer chip that it says mimics the human brain in that it perceives, acts and even thinks.
 
It terms the machines built with these chips "cognitive computers", claiming that they are able to learn through experience, find patterns, generate ideas and understand the outcomes.

In building this new generation of chip, IBM combined principles of nanoscience, neuroscience and supercomputing.
 
It has been awarded $21m (£12.7m) of new funding by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the next phase of the project, which it terms "Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics" (SyNAPSE).
 
"This is a major initiative to move beyond the von Neumann paradigm that has been ruling computer architecture for more than half a century," said Dharmendra Modha, project leader for IBM Research.
 
Modha added that the chip may see applications in business, science and government.
 
"Future applications of computing will increasingly demand functionality that is not efficiently delivered by the traditional architecture.
 
"These chips are another significant step in the evolution of computers from calculators to learning systems, signalling the beginning of a new generation of computers and their applications in business, science and government."
 
IBM states that the chips, while certainly not biological, are inspired by the architecture of the human brain in their design. Digital silicon circuits make up what it terms the "neurosynaptic core".
 
The scientists have built two working prototype designs. Both cores contain 256 neurons, one with 262,144 programmable synapses and the other with 65,536 learning synapses. The team has successfully demonstrated simple applications like navigation, machine vision, pattern recognition, associative memory and classification.
 
But what are the potential real-world applications of this technology? Tsunami warnings for one, claims IBM:
 
"A cognitive computing system monitoring the world's water supply could contain a network of sensors and actuators that constantly record and report metrics such as temperature, pressure, wave height, acoustics and ocean tide, and issue tsunami warnings based on its decision making," said IBM in a statement.
 
Going slightly more Minority Report, IBM goes on to suggest an instrumented glove that a grocer could use to flag bad or contaminated produce.
 
On a more practical note, IBM has said that this technology could result in computers that take up far less space and use less power than those in use today.

[bovvered]

Hospital patients now being microchipped with "electronic tattoos"
Thursday, August 25, 2011 by: Christina Luisa

(NaturalNews) Being microchipped is now being spun as a method of protecting the health of hospital patients. To help mask the practice of this bodily invasion with a trendy, high-tech appearance, microchipping sensors are being referred to as "electronic tattoos" that can attach to human skin and stretch and move without breaking.

Supposedly the comparisons of this hair-thin electronic patch-like chip to an electronic tattoo are being made because of how it adheres to the skin like a temporary tattoo using only water.

The small chip is less than 50 micrometers thick, which is thinner in diameter than a human hair. It is being marketed as a "safe" and easy way to temporarily monitor the heart and brain in patients while replacing bulky medical equipment currently being used in hospitals.

This device uses micro-electronics technology called an epidermal electronic system (EES) and is said to be a development that will "transform" medical sensing technology, computer gaming and even spy operations, according to a study published last week.

The hair-thin chip was developed by an international team of researchers from the United States, China and Singapore and is described in the Journal of Science.


The proven link between animal microchipping and cancer

Pet microchips have become increasingly common over the past few years. These chips are marked with a small barcode that can be scanned just like the tags on grocery items.

This seems to suggest that microchips are meant to turn the wearer into an object that can be tracked and catalogued. Once inserted in an animal, the chip stays there for the entirety of its lifetime and can be used to identify the pet if it should be found on the street or turned into a shelter. The subdermal chips are often recommended by vets and animal care experts as a way to ensure lost pets find their way home again.

But research suggests that despite their proclaimed usefulness, pet microchips may cause cancer. Multiple studies have clearly linked pet microchips with increased incidence of cancer and tumors in mice and rats.

In the past, public disclosure of these suggested links between microchipping and cancer in animals stirred widespread concern over the safety of implantable microchips in living beings. The animal microchip study findings that created such an uproar were so persuasive that Dr. Robert Benezra, head of the Cancer Biology Genetics Program at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, was quoted in an article about microchipping as saying, "There's no way in the world, having read this information, that I would have one of those chips implanted in my skin, or in one of my family members."

A 2001 study found that 1% of rats with implanted microchips developed cancerous tumors near the chip location. At least a dozen animal studies have been done between 1990 and 2007 and most concluded that microchips significantly increased the risk of cancer at the microchip site.


Soon we'll all have "cool electronic tattoos!"

All the electronic parts of the new EES chip are built out of wavy, snake-like components which allow them to be stretched and squeezed. They also contain tiny solar cells which can generate power or get energy from electromagnetic radiation. The sensor is mounted on to a water-soluble sheet of plastic and attached to the body by brushing the surface with water - hence the comparison to a temporary tattoo.

This new device being implanted in hospital patients certainly looks and acts like a microchip - yet it is persistently being referred to as an "electronic tattoo" in order to make the concept appear harmless, friendly - even trendy!


Invasive microchips - is the cost worth the convenience?

Scientists claim the supposed advantage of the EES chips is their ability to cut back on the bevy of wires, gel-coated sticky pads and monitors that are currently relied on to keep track of the vital signs of hospital patients. Apparently these traditional forms of bulky equipment and monitors are overly "distressing" to patients.

It appears scientists believe these new microchips are convenient enough that they outweigh the potential risks.

In test trials, the microchip was purposefully attached to the throat of a human and used to detect differences in words such as up, down, left, right, go and stop. Researchers used these functions to control a simple computer game.

Is the convenience of not having to manually operate equipment great enough to justify the implantation of an electronic sensor beneath the skin of humans? Would you trust a microchip to monitor your bodily functions without causing health hazards in the process?


The future of America: microchipped zombies

Researchers believe the technology could be used to replace traditional wires and cables, but this sounds remarkably like an excuse used to cover up the real truth: that this new microchipping method is a way to ensure all of us are eventually microchipped and able to be tracked and monitored. Soon, everyone will be required to wear chips or "tattoos" that prove they got their vaccinations, to link to health records, credit history and social security records.

If the government can require Americans to carry microchipped documents including your work, financial and health records, it seems it is only a matter of time before these chips will be implanted for the sake of "convenience" or "security." According to them, all of this is being done "for our own good."

Read more and watch videos about the government's agenda to microchip all humans by 2017 here: http://yedies.blogspot.com/2010/11/microchipping-humans-by-2017.html

Sources used and further reading:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14489208

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.6e1e2ad90e2d94b12b6258b7e9c5b33d.611&show_article=1

http://www.suite101.com/content/do-pet-microchips-cause-cancer-a127237

[bovvered]

Scared Mexicans try under-the-skin tracking devices
By Nick Miroff, Published: August 21

QUERETARO, Mexico — Of all the strange circumstances surrounding the violent abduction last year of Diego Fernandez de Cevallos, the Mexican power broker and former presidential candidate known here as “Boss Diego,” perhaps nothing was weirder than the mysterious tracking chip that the kidnappers allegedly cut from his body.

Lurid Mexican media accounts reported that an armed gang invaded Fernandez’s home, sliced open his arm with a pair of scissors and extracted a satellite-enabled tracking device, leaving the chip and a streak of blood behind.


A radio frequency identification chip (RFID) is essentially a small antenna in a tiny glass tube.

Fernandez was freed seven months later with little explanation, but the gruesome details of his crude surgery have not dissuaded thousands of worried Mexicans from seeking out similar satellite and radio-frequency tracking products — including scientifically dubious chip implants — as abductions in the country soar.

According to a recent Mexican congressional report, kidnappings have jumped 317 percent in the past five years. More alarming, perhaps, is the finding that police officers or soldiers were involved in more than one-fifth of the crimes, contributing to widespread perceptions that authorities can’t be trusted to solve the crimes or recover missing loved ones.

Under-the-skin devices such as the one allegedly carved out of Boss Diego are selling here for thousands of dollars on the promise that they can help rescuers track down kidnapping victims. Xega, the Mexican company that sells the chips and performs the implants, says its sales have increased 40 percent in the past two years.

“Unfortunately, it’s been good for business but bad for the country,” said Xega executive Diego Kuri, referring to the kidnappings. “Thirty percent of our clients arrive after someone in their family has already experienced a kidnapping,” added Kuri, interviewed at the company’s heavily fortified offices, opposite a tire shop in this industrial city 120 miles north of Mexico’s capital.

Xega calls it the VIP package. For $2,000 upfront and annual fees of $2,000, the company provides clients with a subdermal radio-frequency identification chip (RFID), essentially a small antenna in a tiny glass tube. The chip, inserted into the fatty tissue of the arm between the shoulder and elbow, is less than half an inch long and about as wide as a strand of boiled spaghetti.

The chip relays a signal to an external Global Positioning System unit the size of a cellphone, Kuri said, but if the owner is stripped of the GPS device in the event of an abduction, Xega can still track down its clients by sending radio signals to the implant. The company says it has helped rescue 178 clients in the past decade.

Skepticism abounds

In recent years, all manner of Mexican media reports have featured the chips, with some estimating that as many as 10,000 people are walking around with the implants. Even former attorney general Rafael Macedo told reporters in 2004 that he had a chip embedded “so that I can be located at any moment wherever I am.”

That’s pure science fiction — a sham — say RIFD researchers and engineers in the United States. Any device that could communicate with satellites or even the local cellular network would need a battery and sizable antenna, like a cellphone, they say.

“It’s nonsense,” said Mark Corner, an RFID researcher and computer science professor at the University of Massachusetts.

The development of an RFID human implant that could work as a tracking device remains far off, said Justin Patton, managing director of the University of Arkansas RFID Research Center, which specializes in product and merchandise tracking for retail companies such as Wal-Mart.

“There’s no way in the world something that size can communicate with a satellite,” Patton said. “I have expensive systems with batteries on board, and even they can’t be read from a distance greater than a couple hundred meters, with no interference in the way.” Water is a major barrier for radio frequency, he added, and because the human body is mostly made up of water, it would dull the signal, as would metal, concrete and other solid materials.

Xega executives declined to respond to questions about the technical specifications of their products, citing security protocols. When pressed, Kuri acknowledged that a Xega implant would be essentially useless unless the client carried the GPS-enabled transmitter — meaning the chip might bring psychological security but little practical benefit for a rescue operation.

Several other Mexican companies also sell GPS-enabled tracking units with panic buttons, relying on more-proven forms of technology. The transmitters, smaller than a cellphone, can fit on a key chain, and they work by communicating with cellular networks.

“Demand is huge right now,” said Guillermo Medina, director of Max4Systems, which sells the devices for $200, with a $20 basic monthly fee. “Our sales are increasing 20 to 25 percent every month.”

Limits to GPS devices

But researchers say the GPS devices also have limitations. Unlike a GPS-enabled cellphone, which sends a signal only when the user requests location coordinates, a GPS rescue device would have to emit a distress signal at regular intervals — every few minutes or so. That would quickly drain the battery.

And if the device is in an area with no reception — whether a cabin in the woods or the basement of a safe house — its signal can’t be detected.

Then there is the likelihood that kidnappers will dispose of the victim’s belongings soon after the abduction, including any GPS device. Companies have responded by creating GPS-enabled watches or fashion bracelets, which emit a distress signal to a monitoring station, in the hopes of duping kidnappers. “The technology is evolving fast,” said David Roman, Mexico sales manager for the company Globalstar.

Clients often inquire about the chip implants and the GPS units, said Armand Gadoury, managing director of Reston-based Clayton Consultants, a division of the security contracting firm Triple Canopy that has seen its Mexico caseload double since the start of 2010. Gadoury tells clients not to bother.

“The technology just isn’t there,” he said, adding that a fancy-looking tracking device can end up sending an unwanted signal to the criminals: that the person they have abducted has lots of money.

“If the expectation is that you’re going to hit a panic button and that law enforcement is going to mount a raid, then there will be zero planning,” he said. “And that’s even more dangerous for the victim.”

-----

Alan Watt discussed this article in the following RBN show:

Aug. 26, 2011
Alan Watt "Cutting Through The Matrix" on RBN:
Poem Copyright Alan Watt Aug. 26, 2011:
The Psychopath Creates Chaos and Wrath
While Directing People Down Garden Path:
"Politicians, Gov. Employees Should All Be Tested,
Psychopathy if Found, They Should Be Disinvested,
The Clubs, Associations and Oaths Taken
Must Mean No Entry, They're Already Forsaken,
Why Give Them Power to Rule Over You?
They Never Do what People Want Them to Do,
Look at Trilateral Commission and CFR,
With Their Globalization They've Come Far,
Put Members In as Government Heads
Throughout Bureaucracy and the Feds,
Better Investigate what Modern Gov. is For,
International Gangsters Who Profit Off War"
© Alan Watt Aug. 26, 2011
* Poem & Dialogue Copyrighted Alan Watt - Aug. 26, 2011 (Exempting Music, Literary Quotes, and Callers' Comments)
* LISTEN / DOWNLOAD


Topics of show covered in following links:

New Mexico Border Police Chief Pleads Guilty to Running Guns to Mexico

Ga Ga Songs Banned in China for Fear of Cultural Contamination

McCain Wants Libya Style "Uprising" in Syria, Russia and China

Dick Cheney--Like Psychopath Tony Blair--No Regrets

Global Governments Must get Tough on Obesity--BBC

French Children's Lingerie--a Paedophile's Dream

Pedo-Normalization Conference

Judges Weaken Rules on Paedophiles

Enviro-Enforcement Targets Musicians

Man Faces 2 years in Prison for Shooting a Grizzly while Defending Family

Montana Grizzly story Bears Resemblance to 1989 Case

Feds' Bill to Grab Land for Homeland Security--Really Agenda 21

Mexicans and Satellite Tracked Chip Implants

Where the Pictures of "Popular Libyan Protests" Came From

[bovvered]

IBM unveils chips that mimic the human brain
by Stuart Sumner
18 Aug 2011



...

Alan Watt discussed this article in the following RBN show:

Aug. 19, 2011
Alan Watt "Cutting Through The Matrix" on RBN:
Poem Copyright Alan Watt Aug. 19, 2011:
Purpose of the Lowly is to Serve the High Holy:
"The Powerfully Corrupt, Like Birds of a Feather,
CEOs and Bankers All Stick Together,
Their Morals and Ethics are On a Higher Plane,
Too High for Plebeians Whose Thoughts Bring Pain,
Fact is We're Dumbed-Down to the Point of Stupid,
Searching for Games, Dames or Obsessed with Cupid,
Social Engineering is Called Basic Education,
Prepares You for a Lowly Occupation,
There's Proles, Overseen by Aggressive Rulers
Who're Cocky, Arrogant Proletarian Foolers,
Pesticides, GMO, Fluoride Cause Brain Damage,
No Wonder We're So Easy to Manage"
© Alan Watt Aug. 19, 2011
* Poem & Dialogue Copyrighted Alan Watt - Aug. 19, 2011 (Exempting Music, Literary Quotes, and Callers' Comments)
* LISTEN / DOWNLOAD

Topics of show covered in following links:

Comparison of Street and Government Robbery and Violence

Goldman Sachs Vice President Changed Name--Now Advancing Goldman Lobbying Interests as Top Staffer to Darrell Issa

Lord James and Wealthy Foundation's Offer

Wall Street Firms Donated 11.2 Million Dollars to Members of Debt "Super-Committee"

Updated Contribution Profile of US 12-Member "Super Congress"

Israel Wines and Dines Congress

Lockheed Martin's Airship of the Future

IBM and Brain Mimicking Chip

Dissent and War on Social Media

USDA Downplays Own Research on Negative Effects of Monsanto Herbicide

Obama Appoints Michael Taylor from Monsanto as Senior Advisor to FDA

GM Crops--Farmer to Farmer

Thailand's Red-Shirt Movement Backed by Globalists

Holdren, Obama's Science Czar Wants Forced Sterilizations and Abortions

[bovvered]

These Robots Can Hear Each Others' Robot Thoughts
Rebecca Greenfield Aug 15, 2011

The future is now: Robots can communicate and join forces to take care of business, Voltron style, reports New Scientist. The robots have been taught to work together. "In a striking display of military-like precision, the robotic team, dubbed the "Swarmanoid", attacks the problem with flying 'eye-bots' and rolling 'foot-bots.' A 'hand-bot' then fires a grappling hook-like device up to the ceiling and scales the bookshelf." For now, they're only using their powers for relative good--as you can see in the video below, the robot clan also known as the Swarmanoid, has banded together to fetch a book.

See video here.

The future holds promising possibilities for the Swarmanoid. Researcher Marco Dorigo hopes they're used as crime fighting bots, acting as a safety crew springing into action when hazard strikes. But maybe some human will wrong them down the line and they'll turn, Terminator style.

---

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at rgreenfield@theatlantic.com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

---

Sources

Robot 'Mission Impossible' wins video prize , Melissae Fellet, New Scientist

[bovvered]

http://www.youtube.com/user/DeusExOfficial

Deus Ex: The Eyeborg Documentary (12mins 33s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW78wbN-WuU

To celebrate the launch of critically acclaimed video game DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION, Square Enix has commissioned filmmaker Rob Spence aka Eyeborg (a self proclaimed cyborg who lost an eye replaced it with a wireless video camera) to investigate prosthetics, cybernetics and human augmentation. How far are we from the future presented to us in DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION?

DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION
OUT NOW
PC | PS3 | X360
www.deusex.com
www.eyeborgproject.com

[bovvered]

Predictive Programming and the Human Microchipping Agenda (1hr 18mins)
http://vimeo.com/26487586

Good film, thanks.

Cheers.

A few websites have picked it up now, and hopefully some more will do the same in the near future.

Predictive Programming and the Human Microchipping Agenda
26 August 2011 00:38:27

http://vimeo.com/26487586

Predictive Programming and the Human Microchipping Agenda confirms the reality of the microchip agenda, and shows that the weapon of propaganda has been used against the public for decades in order to familiarize us with the idea of being chipped. This process is called predictive programming and its purpose is literally to program the mind of the victim so as to accept without question whatever is required by the programmer - in this case, the idea of being microchipped at some point in the future. The victim is generally unaware of being programmed, believing that it's all just harmless entertainment. For this reason it can be a powerful and effective weapon against us.

 By explaining this process and giving example after example, Predictive Programming and the Human Microchipping Agenda is an attempt to alert the viewer to some of the ways in which we have been manipulated throughout our lives for the specific purpose of slowly but surely shepherding us all into a Hellish world of microchip implants and totalitarian control.

It's approaching 1,500 views as I write this.  Hopefully a couple of the big websites will pick it up and the view count will shoot up into several thousands.

[bovvered]

IBM supercomputer Watson to assist doctors
Agence France-Presse
September 13, 2011
 

Watson, the television game show-playing supercomputer from IBM, is teaming up with health insurer WellPoint to assist medical professionals in diagnosing and treating patients.

WASHINGTON - Dr. Watson will see you now.
 
Watson, the television game show-playing supercomputer from IBM, is teaming up with health insurer WellPoint to assist medical professionals in diagnosing and treating patients.

IBM and WellPoint announced on Monday they have agreed to develop the first commercial application for the computer which defeated two human champions on the popular television game show "Jeopardy!" in February.

"Watson is expected to serve as a powerful tool in the physician’s decision making process," the New York-based IBM and Indiana-based WellPoint said in a statement.

WellPoint, which has 34 million members, said it will "develop and launch Watson-based solutions to help improve patient care" and IBM will supply the Watson technology powering the health care products.

Jeopardy! tests a player’s knowledge in a range of categories, from geography to politics to history to sports and entertainment.

Watson, which understands spoken language, uses what IBM calls Question Answering technology to tackle Jeopardy! clues, gathering evidence, analyzing it at dizzying speeds and then scoring and ranking the most likely answer.

"Imagine having the ability to take in all the information around a patient’s medical care - symptoms, findings, patient interviews and diagnostic studies," WellPoint chief medical officer Sam Nussbaum said.

"Then, imagine using Watson analytic capabilities to consider all of the prior cases, the state-of-the-art clinical knowledge in the medical literature and clinical best practices to help a physician advance a diagnosis and guide a course of treatment."

Watson, named after IBM founder Thomas Watson, can rifle through 200 million pages of data and provide precise responses in just seconds.

"Watson’s ability to analyze the meaning and context of human language, and quickly process vast amounts of information to suggest options targeted to a patient’s circumstances, can assist decision makers, such as physicians and nurses, in identifying the most likely diagnosis and treatment options for their patients," IBM and WellPoint said.

"Using this extraordinary capability WellPoint is expected to enable Watson to allow physicians to easily coordinate medical data programmed into Watson with specified patient factors, to help identify the most likely diagnosis and treatment options in complex cases," they said.

IBM and WellPoint said Watson could help with treatment of medical conditions such as cancer, diabetes and chronic heart or kidney disease.

"New solutions incorporating Watson are being developed to have the ability to look at massive amounts of medical literature, population health data, and even a patient’s health record," they said.

Physicians could use Watson, for example, to consult patient histories, recent test results, recommended treatment protocols and the latest research findings, they said.

WellPoint said it expects to begin employing Watson technology in early 2012 in clinical pilots with selected physician groups.

Watson has been under development at IBM Research labs since 2006.

[bovvered]

Does Superman Really Want To Know Himself?
2011 09 14

By R.U. Sirius | HPlusMagazine.com



Transhumanists seek enhancement in all aspects of existence. Or so they say. The average H+ers want better bodies, better and more deeply embedded tools for living, smarter brains and so on. But do the supermen and women want enhanced knowledge or awareness of themselves?



Ibogaine is a hallucinogenic compound containing Iboga, a substance largely found in the African Tabernanthe Iboga root. It’s safe to say it’s the world’s least popular psychedelic substance. An Ibogaine trip lasts 36 hours and is understood to launch the deepest probe into personal psychological material available to humans on planet earth. A couple of hours into the experience, the Ibogaine tripper experiences an irresistible need to lie down and close her eyes. After than, (s)he will usually receive information — often experienced as though watching scenes on a giant screen —about all the accumulated traumatic events and the other types of awkward, uncomfortable, pathetic elements of personality and experience that the vulnerable human organism represses — partially or entirely — in order to “grow up” and maintain the socialized ego required by a complicated and competitive civilization.

What seems to emerge from these experiences is not a shipwrecked husk of a human being (as occasionally happened with LSD). It’s more like the tripper has undergone a very positive “extreme makeover” — but not one of a superficial sort. Indeed, many of those in the West who have had the opportunity (and need) to experience Ibogaine arrived at the experience as shipwrecked husks — they were drug addicts.



In 1962, Howard Lotsof was a 19-year-old heroin addict who also enjoyed experimenting with a variety of mind-altering drugs. Knowing only that it was another exotic psychedelic to add to his list of heady adventures, he bought some Ibogaine from a dealer. A friend of his tried some and reported back enthusiastically, “That’s not a drug. It’s a food!” So Lotsof decided to take a dose. He underwent the sort of experience I described above. Then he slept. When he woke up, he no longer had a craving for heroin. In other words, aside from having an illuminating self-examination, somehow his body reset itself so that it would not experience a very difficult and very physical period of sickness.

From that day forward, Lotsof dedicated his life to organizing and legalizing experiments with this substance as a possible cure for addiction. Years of experimentation yielded positive results. The drug didn’t work for everybody, but it worked for most. It wasn’t always a permanent cure, but it stopped or lessened the pains of withdrawal for most — and usually kept the opiate lover away from his or her favorite kick for at least a few years without the usual need for a replacement opiate like Methadone. And it turned out to not just be a cure for heroin withdrawal. Similar results were observed in experiments with habitual cocaine and methamphetamine users. One guy even used it because he was tired of feeling like he needed to smoke pot every day. It worked for him too.

My own fascination with Ibogaine came about as the result of picking up a book called The Ibogaine Story: Report of the Staten Island Project, written by Paul De Rienzo and Dana Beal. It was like the book was written just for me, since Beal was a NYC Yippie leader, and a narrative about underground life in the East Village and other parts of Gotham was woven throughout the book, which was organized much like a scrapbook. So it had Yippies and Black Panthers and High Times magazine and New York Dolls and Warhol acolytes — a variety of touchstones of my early adulthood. You might say I was hooked.

But once my curiosity about the in the ins and outs of these movements and social scenes was sated, something else emerged that has been with me ever since. In gathering together the reports of the experiences shared by the trippers (and aside from psychological content, most of the trips also seem to involve lessons from a severe African god), Beal found himself compelled to reread Valis by Philip K. Dick. And through the book, he weaved various threads about Ibogaine research, the psychedelic movement, the NYC counterculture with Dick’s strangest and most amazing exploration into Gnosticism and — if that wasn’t enough — a smattering of experiential and scientific discourses on the nature of reality (quantum physics, neurology…).

As I explored this brilliant mess, a promise beyond even the deepest psychological self-exploration and the cure for drug addiction began to emerge. It seemed that Ibogaine might not just be a cure — or at least a tool — against drug addiction. It may be a tool against addiction itself. In other words, it may be a cure — or at least a tool — for resolving overconsumption, neediness, and habitual behavior. It may be a counteragent against what William Burroughs (yet another reference point in the book) — in explaining how he saw heroin addiction as a metaphor for the functioning of our entire civilization — labeled “the geometry of need.”

So, superman… can you pass the Ibogaine test? I’ve trembled before it in trepidation myself for the last 14 years and haven’t yet worked up the nerve. But surely, some of you stout rugged individualists amongst us who insist on a relentless dispassionate pursuit of objective reality however harsh or cruel… certainly you will want to chance a plunge into deeply buried psychological materials and know thyself. Or maybe not. My sense is that most people would rather “work on themselves” for 40 years than be dragged in front of stark actuality — a terrifying something that we have no control over.

So… will you take the red pill? Or will you take the blue pill… “you wake up in bed and believe whatever you want to believe”… for a long, extended time?

Article from: hplusmagazine.com

-----


Robotized human from the movie "Superman 3".
Did the Singularity occur in 1983? Or is this just transhumanism on drugs? (Video)

Superconflict: The epic showdown of Kal-El’s Ego and SuperEgo. (Video)

-----

Related Articles

Acceler8or
Mormonism: The Most Transhumanist Religion?
The Transhuman Separatist Manifesto
Technocalyps - Transhumanist´s Wet Dreams (Video)
Transhumanism Technology Glossary
The Transhumanist and Police State Agenda in Pop Music
The Psychedelic Transhumanists
Celestial Symbolism of Superman II
Superman, citizen of the world?
"Crappy" American Education: "Waiting for Superman" Official Trailer (Video)
Norway’s Hiddens History - "Aryan" Children Subjected to LSD Experiments, Sexual Abuse & Mass Rape
CIA accused of poisoning French village with LSD in mind-control tests
French Government Queries US re 50s Secret LSD Experiment
Allen Ginsberg talks about the origins of LSD (Video)
LSD - The Beyond Within (Video)
The Psychology of Superman

---

See also http://www.theageoftransitions.com/

The Age of Transitions (58mins)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdzepK-LVtU

[bovvered]

Disabled Patients Mind-Meld With Robots
by Sara Reardon on 6 September 2011, 1:17 PM


Deus in machina. A semiautonomous robot can be controlled with the brain waves of paralyzed patients.

They're not quite psychic yet, but machines are getting better at reading your mind. Researchers have invented a new, noninvasive method for recording patterns of brain activity and using them to steer a robot. Scientists hope the technology will give "locked in" patients—those too disabled to communicate with the outside world—the ability to interact with others and even give the illusion of being physically present, or "telepresent," with friends and family.

Previous brain-machine interface systems have made it possible for people to control robots, cursors, or prosthetics with conscious thought, but they often take a lot of effort and concentration, says José del R. Millán, a biomedical engineer at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, who develops brain-machine interface systems that don't need to be implanted into the brain. Millán's goal is to make control as easy as driving a car on a highway. A partially autonomous robot would allow a user to stop concentrating on tasks that he or she would normally do subconsciously, such as following a person or avoiding running into walls. But if the robot encounters an unexpected event and needs to make a split-second decision, the user's thoughts can override the robot's artificial intelligence.

To test their technology, Millán and colleagues created a telepresent robot by modifying a commercially available bot called Robotino. The robot looks a bit like a platform on three wheels, and it can avoid obstacles on its own using infrared sensors. On top of the robot, the researchers placed a laptop running Skype, a voice and video Internet chat system, over a wireless Internet connection. This allowed the human controller to see where the robot was going, and, because the laptop also showed a video of the user, it allowed others to interact with the user as though the user were actually there. The user also wore a cap of tiny electroencephalogram (EEG) electrodes, which measured his or her brain activity. This system translates the EEG signals into navigation instructions and transmits them in real time to the robot.

EEG patterns for movement and navigation are similar from person to person, and Millán's group has previously demonstrated that after a little practice, a healthy person can share control with the robot with very little effort. But would a bed-bound patient, who hasn't used his limbs for years, have the same pattern of brain waves and be able to control robots as effectively?

The researchers recruited two patients whose lower bodies were paralyzed and who had been bed bound for 6 or 7 years. The researchers trained the patients to control the robot for 1 hour per week for 6 weeks. With the instructions being transmitted over a wireless connection, the patients didn't need to leave the hospital and were able to control the robot in Millán's lab at EPFL, 100 kilometers away. At the end of the training period, the researchers instructed the subjects to drive the robot to various targets, such as furniture, people, and small objects, around the lab for 12 minutes.

The disabled patients performed just as well as healthy subjects, Millán and colleagues report this week at the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society conference in Boston. When the researchers turned the shared control off, forcing the subjects to constantly concentrate on controlling the robot, the subjects took considerably longer to navigate the maze than when they shared control.

Millán says he wasn't terribly surprised that disabled people could control the robot, as previous research using brain scans has shown that even patients who have been paralyzed since birth can still imagine moving their limbs. But he was surprised how fast they learned. He is now hoping to involve more bed-bound patients, including locked-in patients in the study. He also sees future applications for the shared control brain-machine interface, such as modifying it to let a user control a prosthetic limb or a wheelchair. And the researchers may eventually add an arm to the current telepresent robot to allow it to grasp objects.

Neuroengineer José Carmena of the University of California, Berkeley, says Millán's approach "has a lot of novelty" in how it integrates both natural and artificial systems. There are some disadvantages, he says, to a system that uses a cap instead of a device implanted directly in the brain, such as the background signals that the cap might pick up. But for this application, he says, it is "an interesting avenue for telepresence."

Millán says that the bed-bound patients were thrilled to participate in the study. "This opens a new possibility for families," he says, who could interact with their bed-bound loved ones over a video connection without having to sit in front of a computer. But would the families of the disabled patients be creeped out by a robot following them around in the kitchen while they make dinner? "Well, that's something we'll have to ask," he says.

[bovvered]

Soldier who almost died in rocket attack in Afghanistan gets bionic arm powered by the brain
By Mail On Sunday Reporter
Last updated at 8:17 PM on 18th September 2011

A soldier who was almost killed in a rocket attack in Afghanistan is set to become one of the rarest bionic men in history.

Corporal Andy Garthwaite, 24, will be one of only a few people in the world to be fitted with an arm powered by the brain.

He will undergo a three-day operation in Vienna to have the prosthetic limb attached to his right arm. The soldier from South Shields, South Tyneside, faces a further 18 months learning to control his bionic limb – using only the power of the mind.


Brave soldier: The 24-year-old pictured in Afghanistan before he lost his limb

Currently Corporal Garthwaite has a prosthetic limb that uses his pectoral muscles to pick something up and his back muscles to put it down again.

He has had to learn to be careful when he exerts pressure with his bionic hand, which can easily smash an egg or be painful for anyone he shakes hands with.

But now he is getting something even more advanced.

Cpl Garthwaite said: ‘I think there are only five people in the whole world fitted with such a limb.


Pioneering: Corporal Andrew Garthwaite lost his right arm after a grenade attack

‘It works by electronic pulses, and it will take between 16 and 18 months for me to learn how to control it. The surgery is highly complex and will last three days. The operation will be paid for by the Army – I believe it’s in the region of £100,000.’

Cpl Garthwaite’s right arm was virtually severed when he took a direct hit from a rocket-propelled grenade in September last year. The attack killed a fellow soldier, and Cpl Garthwaite also suffered wounds to his chest and eye and was left deaf in his right ear.

[bovvered]

A few websites have picked it up now, and hopefully some more will do the same in the near future.

Predictive Programming and the Human Microchipping Agenda
26 August 2011 00:38:27

http://vimeo.com/26487586

Predictive Programming and the Human Microchipping Agenda confirms the reality of the microchip agenda, and shows that the weapon of propaganda has been used against the public for decades in order to familiarize us with the idea of being chipped. This process is called predictive programming and its purpose is literally to program the mind of the victim so as to accept without question whatever is required by the programmer - in this case, the idea of being microchipped at some point in the future. The victim is generally unaware of being programmed, believing that it's all just harmless entertainment. For this reason it can be a powerful and effective weapon against us.

By explaining this process and giving example after example, Predictive Programming and the Human Microchipping Agenda is an attempt to alert the viewer to some of the ways in which we have been manipulated throughout our lives for the specific purpose of slowly but surely shepherding us all into a Hellish world of microchip implants and totalitarian control.

It's approaching 1,500 views as I write this.  Hopefully a couple of the big websites will pick it up and the view count will shoot up into several thousands.

Thankfully, Vigilant Citizen posted about this video and consequently the view count has shot up by over 30,000:

Predictive Programming and the Human Microchipping Agenda (video)
By VC | September 3rd, 2011 | Category: Latest News | 99 comments

Here’s an interesting and well produced film about the microchipping agenda and how it is promoted to the masses through mass media and predictive programming.

http://vimeo.com/26487586

-----

Also, infowars and prisonplanet itself also made posts about the video, which appeared briefly on their respective home pages.

At the time of writing, the view count is just over 35,000.

Here an interview by Bruce Collins with Wes, one of the Faull brothers - the production team that put this video together:
mp3 (109MB, 59mins, the interview with Wes is in the first half.)

And apparently, Greg Nikolettos of We The People Will Not Be Chipped will be interviewed by James Corbett on or around September 29th.

[attietewd]

Thanks for your posts bovvered!

[Kilika]

"Watson is expected to serve as a powerful tool in the physician’s decision making process," the New York-based IBM and Indiana-based WellPoint said in a statement.

WellPoint, which has 34 million members, said it will "develop and launch Watson-based solutions to help improve patient care" and IBM will supply the Watson technology powering the health care products.

THAT is a MAJOR problem for patients. The spin this clown from Wellpoint is spewing is so typical. It's not about improving healthcare, it's about cutting costs for the insurer, plain and simple. My wife works in a medical office and has to deal with these insurers daily. They are cold-hearted, indifferent slugs that will do anything they can to keep from covering a patient's care, to include using a supercomputer to figure out who's care they should cover, based on the computer's prognosis, and not the patient's primary care physician. Extremely bad precident and a nightmare for patients and their rights to care.

[bovvered]

Thanks for your posts bovvered!

Thanks for yours too.

-----

Swedish daycare centers use GPS to track children
By MALIN RISING - Associated Press | AP - Wed, Sep 21, 2011



STOCKHOLM (AP) — Daycare centers in Sweden have started using GPS systems and other electronic tracking devices to keep tabs on children during excursions — a practice that has raised ethical and practical questions.

Some parents are worried day care centers will use the technology to replace staff. Others wonder whether getting children used to being under surveillance could affect their idea of privacy when they grow older.

Monica Blank-Hedqvist, the principal of a daycare center in the city of Borlange told The Associated Press Wednesday her staff have been using such devices during supervised walks in the forest: the kids wear vests with transmitters that staff can track on a screen.

"It is excellent, it has been only positive for us," Blank-Hedqvist said.

The devices are used as extra security by three preschool teachers watching around 20 children, to quickly discover if one of them strays away from the group, she said.

Par Strom, an author and commentator on issues related to technology and privacy, told news agency TT he is of two minds about the tracking.

"On the one hand I can see the practical advantages in some situations. At the same time you get children used to constant surveillance at a very young age," he said.

Not everyone is convinced the tracking systems can increase security for their children.

"What a shame we don't use the money and energy on salaries (for daycare employees) instead," columnist and mother of three, Malin Wollin wrote on tabloid Aftonbladet's website Wednesday. "Everyone who has ever had a cellphone, or a TV, or a computer know that technology sometimes plays up."

Johan Stromhage, spokesman for GPS device maker Purple Scout, said the trackers should be seen as a complement to staff at daycare centers and not a replacement. He also stressed the system doesn't store any personal information.

Purple Scout is currently testing its product at a daycare center in southern Sweden, but has already received orders from dozens of private childcare facilities, he said.

Erik Janzon, team leader at Sweden's Data Inspection Board, said the authority may investigate the matter.

"It could be quite harmless, or it could affect aspects of privacy," Janzon said. "It depends on what kind of information you feed into the system and the purpose of the use."

Problems could arise if the devices store personal details or information about a person's whereabouts, Janzon said, adding that even if a system is initially developed for good causes it could be misused for other purposes in the future.

[bovvered]

Thankfully, Vigilant Citizen posted about this video and consequently the view count has shot up by over 30,000:

Predictive Programming and the Human Microchipping Agenda (video)
By VC | September 3rd, 2011 | Category: Latest News | 99 comments

...

Here an interview by Bruce Collins with Wes, one of the Faull brothers - the production team that put this video together:
mp3 (109MB, 59mins, the interview with Wes is in the first half.)

And apparently, Greg Nikolettos of We The People Will Not Be Chipped will be interviewed by James Corbett on or around September 29th.

Interview 379 – Greg Nikolettos
mp3

Regular guest Greg Nikolettos of WakeUp.tv joins us after a lengthy absence to continue discussing the technological enslavement grid. This month we discuss some of the latest videos from the We The People Will Not Be Chipped movement, including Predictive Programming and the Human Microchipping Agenda and Satan’s Minions and Global Warming. We also discuss location based services as Big Brother tracking tools, the elimination of cash via contactless payment technologies, airport screening procedures, and how to argue with people who don’t understand the dangers of these technologies.

mp3

[bovvered]

Canadian film-maker's bionic eye
By Neil Bowdler
Health reporter, BBC News
20 September 2011

See video here - Rob Spence shows how his camera eye works

Canadian documentary maker Rob Spence has always loved science fiction.

So much so that when he lost his eye six years ago, he took inspiration from some of his heroes.

"There are so many characters in pop culture and science fiction that have a camera eye that pretty much anyone who loses an eye at least makes a joke about getting a camera eye.

"In my case, I just actually did it."

With the help of a former satellite company employee, he developed a camera which fits into his eye socket, and "eyeborg", as he calls himself, was born.

Shooting accident
 
The original damage to his right eye came from an accident when he was just nine years old.

"I was visiting my grandfather in Northern Ireland and I decided it would be a good idea to take his 12-gauge shotgun and go and shoot some cowpats.

"I wasn't holding the gun properly and it caused a lot of trauma to my eye."

The deterioration was gradual, with years passing before all vision was lost in the eye. When it was lost, surgeons recommended its removal to prevent any deterioration in the other eye.

Spence has felt no great loss of ability, perhaps because the deterioration was so gradual. Nor was his quest for a camera eye motivated by any hope of improving his sight, he says.


Spence says he can achieve more natural results with his eye camera than with conventional cameras

"The motivation to put a camera in there was a combination of being an immature adult who wants to be like Star Trek or the Bionic Man, and an opportunity to make more interesting documentary films that a have a more literal point of view."

The camera was built by friend and engineer Kosta Grammatis, who used to work for satellite and rocket company SpaceX. They got on so well that he moved in with Spence, and the first prototype eye was built on a coffee table.

The eye is currently in its third incarnation, and transmits live video pictures to a wireless monitor.

It attaches to a coral ball and coupling device which was fitted into the socket after his natural eye was removed (for the purpose of an aesthetic eye). This means it moves in tandem with his remaining eye and that Spence can direct the camera to its target.

It has become a fundamental part of his documentary making.

"When I'm filming someone, they're looking right in my eye and they're talking to me, not me through a camera, and there's blinking and glancing. It's much more similar to the way we see the world."

Bionic journey

His latest film is a 12-minute documentary pegged to the launch of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, a video game which features a bionic human with their own camera eye.

For Spence, it was a chance to explore some of the innovations in bionics that are happening around the world, and to meet some of the people testing them.

This included interviewing Miikka Terho, a Finnish man with an inherited form of blindness who has been testing an eye implant which has enabled him to pick out large shapes and lights.

Spence thinks the future of bionic vision will be played out in high definition.

"I liken bionic eye technology - that is the sight-restoration kind, not my kind - to very early television. Just as television progressed from blurry terrible images to something that approximates to human vision, I see that happening as well with sight-restoration technology."

-----

Related Stories

Eye chip 'helps blind people see' - 03 NOVEMBER 2010, HEALTH
Bionic eye gives blind man sight - 04 MARCH 2009, HEALTH

[bovvered]

23 September 2011
Internet of things: Should you worry if your jeans go smart?
By Katia Moskvitch
Science and technology reporter, BBC News


More and more objects are getting on the web

What if those new jeans you've just bought start tweeting about your location as you cross London Bridge?

It sounds far-fetched, but it's possible - if one of your garments is equipped with a tiny radio-frequency identification device (RFID), your location could be revealed without you knowing about it.

RFIDs are chips that use radio waves to send data to a reader - which in turn can be connected to the web.

This technology is just one of the current ways of allowing physical objects to go online - a concept dubbed the "internet of things", which industry insiders have shortened to IoT.

This is when not only your PC, tablet and smartphone can connect to the web, but also your car, your home, your baseball cap and even the sheep and cows on a farm.

And as we switch from IPv4 towards IPv6, which will support some 340 trillion trillion trillion addresses, more and more objects will jump into the web.

Smart buildings and intelligent cars with assigned IP addresses are already making cities smarter - and soon enough, the entire planet may follow.

"A typical city of the future in a full IoT situation could be a matrix-like place with smart cameras everywhere, detectors and non-invasive neurosensors scanning your brain for over-activity in every street," says Rob van Kranenburg, a member of the European Commission's IoT expert group.

This vision might still be years off, but one by one, "smarter" cities are beginning to crop up around our landscape.

Endless opportunities
 
IoT advocates claim that overall interconnectivity would allow us to locate and monitor everything, everywhere and at any time.


In Italy, a group of elderly people have had sensors placed at their homes for remote monitoring

"Imagine a smart building where a manager can know how many people are inside just by which rooms are reflecting motion - for instance, via motion-sensitive lights," says Constantine Valhouli from the Hammersmith Group, a strategy consulting firm.

"This could help save lives in an emergency."

But as more objects leak into the digital world, the fine line that separates the benefits of increasingly smart technology and possible privacy concerns becomes really blurred.

"The IoT challenge is likely to grow both in scale and complexity as seven billion humans are expected to coexist with 70 billion machines and perhaps 70,000 billion 'smart things', with numbers infiltrating the last redoubts of personal life," says Gerald Santucci, head of the networked enterprise and RFID unit at the European Commission.

"In such a new context, the ethical worries are manifold: to what extent can surveillance of people be accepted? Which principles should govern the deployment of the IoT?"

Talking shirts
 
Peter Hustinx, European data protection supervisor, says that sometimes firms tend to overlook the importance of personal data.

"In much of the monitoring, tracking and tracing [devices] which are embedded in these facilities, there's privacy relevance, and it will have to be compliant with the new European Commission Framework," he says.


Toyota Friend lets cars communicate with the drivers on a private social network

The Framework was signed by the European Commission in April 2011, and its main purpose is to safeguard consumer privacy and assure the public that web-connected objects are safe for the industry to develop - and for people to consume.

Take clothing, for instance.

A number of stores, among them major retail chain Wal-Mart, have started using RFID tags to enable employees to quickly check the stock by scanning items on shelves, and to track products more easily from manufacturing to the final delivery.

But privacy advocates are concerned that the same RFID reader could also read the data on, say, a consumer's passport or driving licence equipped with the same kind of chip - and it could lead to identity theft.

And although the tag is supposed to be removed at the checkout, if a consumer leaves the shop with the chip still attached, the item could be tracked on the street.

Once the tag is thrown away, it can still be scanned, enabling someone to get an idea of your shopping habits.

Hackers also know how to decode RFID tags.

And because the information is transmitted via radio waves, one can simply listen in.

That's exactly what happened when the Soviets presented a US ambassador during the Cold War with a wooden carving of the Great Seal, bugged with an RFID predecessor - a device called The Thing.

The Americans failed to find it - just like modern RFID tags, it only worked when enabled by a radio wave - which led to the Soviets eavesdropping on the conversations at the ambassador's office by beaming radio signals to it.

Going smart
 
Another way to make things smarter is by embedding sensors in them and sending data online via a wireless low-power technology called Zigbee.


Sensors "tell" the driver where free parking spaces are

IBM is doing just that - its project that remotely monitors the environment that could affect the health of elderly people in Bolzano, Italy, extended caretaker supervision with sensors embedded all over the patients' homes, providing round-the-clock peace of mind not only for the patients but for their families too.

The sensors read the levels of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, temperature and smoke, and send the information to the caretakers' PCs and mobile devices.

To protect the patients' personal data, IBM uses encryption, says Bharat Bedi from the firm's lab in Hursley, UK.

"And we've also added some anonymous features to the system - when you log on to the dashboard, you don't see the person's name or their exact address, they've been given almost like code names which only mean something to the council workers and the relatives," he says.

A Spanish company Worldsensing has come up with a similar sensor-based technology.

With help of a special app on your smartphone, drivers can receive data from sensors installed in parking spaces, telling them where the closest free spot is.

"So that no one tries to sneak into your system and steal personal data - such as where you parked and how long you stayed - we use encryption, and also apply a decoupling technique that separates personal information from purely technical data," says the firm's chief technical officer, Mischa Dohler.

Chatting cars
 
Cars are rapidly becoming smart, too.

Toyota, for instance, has always been one of the frontrunners in telematics - and now it has decided to team up with Salesforce.com to allow cars to chat to their drivers on a private social network.

The venture, called Toyota Friend, will first work only for hybrid and electric cars. So if the battery is almost flat, for instance, the driver would receive a short message via Bluetooth on his or her smartphone.

In a demonstration at a Tokyo showroom, one of the Toyota owners showed such a message: "The charge will be completed by 2:15 am. Is that OK? See you tomorrow."


Stores all over the globe are tagging their items with RFID chips

The car will also be able to update its - and hence the driver's - location.

And it is here that privacy issues may come into play. What if the location is revealed automatically, for instance if the owner forgets to modify the privacy settings, just like on Facebook?

But Salesforce.com's Tim Barker says that privacy should not be a concern.

"Social Enterprise applications provide customers an opt-in to allow them to share information such as their location and 'likes', to enhance their experience as a customer and the information that they receive," he says.

It is hard to predict how well all these issues will be addressed once the entire planet gets on the web.

But as Mischa Dohler from Worldsensing puts it, in our already digital and high-tech society, the IoT privacy issues have to be taken with a little pinch of salt.

"It's just like with your phone and a credit card - your mobile phone operator and your bank know much more about your life than your wife or husband does," he says.

"And this data is likely to be more critical than the type of jeans you wear or for how long you've been parked."

[bovvered]

30 September 2011
Smart cities get their own operating system
By Katia Moskvitch
Technology reporter, BBC News


Smart cities with devices chatting to each other may dot the planet in the near future

Cities could soon be looking after their citizens all by themselves thanks to an operating system designed for the metropolis.

The Urban OS works just like a PC operating system but keeps buildings, traffic and services running smoothly.

The software takes in data from sensors dotted around the city to keep an eye on what is happening.

In the event of a fire the Urban OS might manage traffic lights so fire engines can reach the blaze swiftly.

The idea is for the Urban OS to gather data from sensors buried in buildings and many other places to keep an eye on what is happening in an urban area.

The sensors monitor everything from large scale events such as traffic flows across the entire city down to more local phenomena such as temperature sensors inside individual rooms.

The OS completely bypasses humans to manage communication between sensors and devices such as traffic lights, air conditioning or water pumps that influence the quality of city life.

Channelling all the data coming from these sensors and services into a over-arching control system had lots of benefits, said Steve Lewis, head of Living PlanIT- the company behind Urban OS.


The system can help with monitoring patients at hospitals

Urban OS should mean buildings get managed better and gathering the data from lots of sources gives a broader view of key city services such as traffic flows, energy use and water levels.

"If you were using an anatomy analogy, the city has a network like the nervous system, talking to a whole bunch of sensors gathering the data and causing actions," said Mr Lewis.

"We distribute that nervous system into the parts of the body - the buildings, the streets and other things.

Having one platform managing the entire urban landscape of a city means significant cost savings, implementation consistency, quality and manageability, he added.

"And it's got local computing capacity to allow a building or an automotive platform to interact with people where they are, managing the energy, water, waste, transportation, logistics and human interaction in those areas."

Urban apps
 
The underlying technology for the Urban OS has been developed by McLaren Electronic Systems - the same company that creates sensors for Formula One cars. The Urban OS was unveiled at the Machine-2-Machine conference in Rotterdam.

To support the myriad of different devices in a city the firm has developed an extensive set of application services that will run Urban OS, dubbed PlaceApps - the urban environment equivalent of apps on a smartphone.

Independent developers will also be able to build their own apps to get at data and provide certain services around a city.

Mr Lewis said that eventually applications on smartphones could hook into the Urban OS to remotely control household appliances and energy systems, or safety equipment to monitor the wellbeing of elderly people.

It could also prove useful in the event of a fire in a building, he said.

Sensors would spot the fire and then the building would use its intelligence to direct people inside to a safe stairwell, perhaps by making lights flicker or alarms get louder in the direction of the exit.

"That's dealt with by the building itself, with the devices very locally talking to each other to figure out what's the best solution for the current dilemma, and then providing directions and orchestrating themselves," said Mr Lewis.

'Magical actions'
 
Living PlanIT is working with Cisco and Deutsche Telekom on different parts of the system.


Urban OS might help people escape during a fire

Markus Breitbach of the Machine to Machine Competence Center at Deutsche Telekom said that his firm was helping to bring all the parts of the Urban OS together.

"Everybody's talking about 50 billion connected devices, which effectively means huge amounts of data being collected, but nobody is really caring about managing it and bringing it into a context - and Urban OS can do just that," he said.

"If there's a fire alarm on the fifth floor and the elevator is going to the next floor, the light will switch on - but in addition the traffic lights will be switched accordingly to turn the traffic in the right direction so that fire workers can get through.

"And this is what Urban OS is providing, this kind of solution to analyse mass data, enter it in a context and perform magical actions."

A test bed for the Urban OS is currently being built in Portugal. For its work in developing smart cities, Living PlanIT was selected as one of the World Economic Forum's Technology Pioneers of 2012.

-----

Related Stories

Smart jeans: A cause for concern? - 23 SEPTEMBER 2011, BUSINESS
'Talking' cars to reduce pile-ups - 12 JULY 2011, TECHNOLOGY
Business discovers the 'web of things' - 03 JUNE 2011, BUSINESS


Related Internet links

Living PlanIT
M2M Machine to Machine Telekom

[bovvered]

Darpa Underwear Will ‘Harvest’ Soldiers’ Energy
2011 10 06
By Mark Riffee | Wired.com



Soldiers: Your underwear of the future will do more than prevent crotch rot. It’ll protect you from injuries, monitor your vitals, and even “harvest” your energy. That is, if a new project from Darpa’s Defense Sciences Office works out as planned. That’s an illustration, to the right, of what Darpa thinks its “Warrior Web” onesie might look like.

So far, the project is still in the draw-a-cartoon-with-a-six-pack-in-tights stage — a long way off from the “adaptive, compliant, nearly transparent, quasi-active joint support suit,” which can “mitigate musculoskeletal injury caused by discrete dynamic events while maintaining soldier performance,” dreamed up by Darpa. An introductory meeting of potential researchers is set for mid-October.

Musculoskeletal injuries (a blanket term for anything from pain caused by overuse to stress fractures and joint derangements) are a real problem in the military. According to a 2010 study, there were 743,547 injury-related musculoskeletal conditions amongst military personnel in 2006. In 2004, 44 percent of military fatalities resulted from unintentional injuries. These Achilles tendon strains, torn meniscuses, and sore labrums slow our soldiers down, rendering them less effective and placing them in more danger.

But protecting their knees is just the start of what Warrior Web aims to do. Darpa says it’s looking for experts in the following fields for the Warrior Web:

• Joint support and musculoskeletal injury mitigation

• Dynamics of soldier action and external load

• Biomechanical and joint modeling and testing

• Efficient and compliant actuation

• Energy regeneration and harvesting

• Dynamic structural stiffness tuning

• Adaptive sensing and control for biomechatronics

• Materials, fabrics, and structures to enhance the human-to-equipment interface


Wait — “musculoskeletal injury mitigation”? “Energy regeneration”? Is this glorified pair of long underwear supposed to reduce inflammation and heal stress fractures while it pumps B-12 (or maybe amphetamines) into the blood stream? Sounds, uh, ambitious. And if I were a soldier, I’d be wary of modeling any garment that is going to “harvest” anything from me.


Read the full article at: wired.com

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

Video games of today inspiring creations of the future? Or are they merely a reflection of what Darpa already tests?

[Crysis] The Nanosuit (1min 32s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbVpkJctrQI

Frontpage Image: Source: Crysis 2 by EA

-----

Related Articles

Army embeds PSYOPS soldiers at local TV stations (Video)
Memorial Day: How America Screws Its Soldiers
Last First World War soldier dies, weeks after 110th birthday
CIA Implanted Electrode Chips in Unsuspecting Soldiers (Video)
Remembering the US Soldier Who Committed Suicide After She Refused to Take Part in Torture
Super Soldiers: DARPA Launches Batman and Robin Projects
Love hormone Oxytocin helps soldiers like each other and hate the enemy
Sleep Problems Are Common in US Soldiers Returning from Wartime Deployment (No, really?)
No sex please, we’re soldiers
Drug could turn soldiers into super-survivors
Lockheed’s HULC Super-Soldier Exoskeleton Gets More Juice
Pentagon hires British scientist to help build robot soldiers that ’won’t commit war crimes’
Could Soldiers Be Prosecuted for Thought Crime?
Crysis 2 - Be The Weapon

[bovvered]

Introducing Siri: DARPA’s Ghost in Apple’s Machine
October 5th, 2011

So their eyes are growing hazy
 cos they want to turn it on
 so their minds are soft and lazy, well…
 give em what they want
 
—10,000 Maniacs – Candy Everybody Wants


One of the stocks that I used to kick around in the 1990s was that of a now long dead company called General Magic. Back then, I looked into the company and learned that it was, in essence, divested from Apple in 1990. It was made up of former Apple employees and Apple held 10% of the company.
 
Apple has been thinking about the post PC era (that we’re actually entering now, according to them) since the 1980s. Here’s Apple’s Knowledge Navigator concept from 1987:

Apple Futureshock (5mins 46s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WdS4TscWH8

This wasn’t going to happen anytime soon, so they spun it off into General Magic.
 
If you’ve seen Apple’s Siri in action, that’s the type of thing that General Magic wanted to do back in the 1990s. With the old Portico system, users called into the service, rather than the service running on the phone, as is the case with Siri. Here’s an almost unwatchable promo for General Magic’s Portico product (circa 1997):

Agent Jack Meets Serengeti (General Magic) - 6mins 11s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG26dWNTiDY

If you’re interested in Siri, definitely read Wired’s, Bill and Andy’s Excellent Adventure II from 1994. The point is that Apple and Apple alumni have been beating around this bush for a very long time.
 
Flash forward to what Apple unveiled yesterday:

Apple iPhone 4S Siri demo (1min 33s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4D4kRbEdJw

Now, what’s in a name?
 
Look closely at the name: Siri. What letters stand out?
 
See it yet?
 
S i R I.
 
SRI = Stanford Research Institute.
 
It turns out that Apple’s Siri used to be SRI’s Siri, and SRI’s Siri is… Are you ready? A spinoff of DARPA’s PAL (Perceptive Assistant that Learns) program, which SRI called CALO (Cognitive Agent that Learns and Organizes).

DARPA's PAL Project (4min 38s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF-KNFlOocQ

This is SRI’s CALO information page:

SRI International is leading the development of new software that could revolutionize how computers support decision-makers.
 
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), under its Perceptive Assistant that Learns (PAL) program, has awarded SRI the first two phases of a five-year contract to develop an enduring personalized cognitive assistant. DARPA expects the PAL program to generate innovative ideas that result in new science, new and fundamental approaches to current problems, and new algorithms and tools, and to yield new technology of significant value to the military.
 
SRI has dubbed its new project CALO, for Cognitive Agent that Learns and Organizes. The name was inspired by the Latin word “calonis”, which means “soldier’s servant”. The goal of the project is to create cognitive software systems, that is, systems that can reason, learn from experience, be told what to do, explain what they are doing, reflect on their experience, and respond robustly to surprise.
 
The software, which will learn by interacting with and being advised by its users, will handle a broad range of interrelated decision-making tasks that have in the past been resistant to automation. It will have the capability to engage in and lead routine tasks, and to assist when the unexpected happens. To focus the research on real problems and to ensure the software meets requirements such as privacy, security, and trust, the CALO project researchers will themselves use the technology during its development.
 
SRI is leading the multidisciplinary CALO project team, and, beyond participating in the research program, is also responsible for overall project direction and management and the development of prototypes.

Here’s more from Venture Beat, Shadowy Government Project Spins Off Siri to Help Direct Your Affairs:

Conspiracy theorists will love this one: A computerized assistant that can help you manage your day to day life, built atop an artificial intelligence platform developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the United States’ internal military research group. Siri, the startup building the assistant, is today announcing $8.5 million in venture funding.
 
As befits its spookish origins, Siri isn’t saying a great deal yet about what it will do. Co-founder Dag Kittlaus, who licensed technology from DARPA’s CALO (Cognitive Agent that Learns and Organizes) project, calls it “a smarter, more personal interaction paradigm for the Internet.” Unfortunately, that’s about as specific as calling Google “a thing that finds stuff.” Those who want a sneak peek at Siri will instead have to look to CALO.
 
So here’s what we know about CALO: It’s a concerted effort to take the first real step toward artificial intelligence, with five years of work and $200 million in funding to date. Rather than being immediately useful, it learns about the user over time, much like a real personal assistant would. As it learns, it becomes capable of making logical associations and initiating its own actions.

Siri, Apple's Implementation of DARPA Sponsored Artificial Intelligence Technology

People are going to pay a lot of money to have their asses tracked to within a couple of meters by a device running a civilian version of DARPA’s soldier’s servant software.
 
The most disturbing aspect of this is not what the iPhone 4s is going to be phoning home to Apple (which is unknown), or the invasion of The Complex into most aspects of our lives, but the fact that, in general, people would think that you were nuts for having these reservations at all. I mean, what could possibly be wrong with re-purposed DoD AI software running on a mass market consumer device that persistently reveals the user’s location to the state?
 
Ah well, give em what they want.

[bovvered]

A Florida School District is Taking Attendance by Scanning Students’ Fingers
October 7, 2011 by POPEYE   

(POP SCI)   Roll call is going high-tech in Washington County, Fla. Rather than the usual name calling and response, students are now checking into class with finger scanning devices. And to keep better track of students from the minute they come under district supervision until they are delivered safely home again, the scanners are now moving from the school building to the school bus.
 
The systems have been active inside Washington County schools for roughly two months, but since most of the students in the district ride the bus anyhow, officials have decided the best place for the scanners is on the buses themselves. In the next week, a handful of buses will get the scanners. If the system proves worthwhile, all buses will have them by semester’s end.
 
At $30 per student per year, the system isn’t necessarily cheap. But considering the uptick in attendance (which means more money from the state in many districts) and the inherent increase in accountability and student safety, it may well be worth the cost. And naturally, parents who don’t want their children fingerprinted coming to and from school for whatever reason can opt to have their kids check in with their teachers in a more analog fashion.
 
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-10/florida-school-district-taking-attendance-scanning-students-fingers

[bovvered]

Back to the Future 2 is definitely an example of predictive programming, including the use of brain implants (in the year 2015); Biff's grandson Griff has brain implants.

There is a new ad campaign that is deliberately mixing fact with fantasy, reality with fiction etc.  Nike are selling the trainers from BTTF2 and the advertising uses Back to the Future themes, music, characters, etc. i.e. it goes out of its way to mix fiction and reality.

2011 Nike MAG: Back For The Future - Kevin Durant, Tinker Hatfield & Doc Brown (2mins 16s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkCVdAnxMLA

There is also a message from Michael J. Fox explaining that proceeds go towards funding research into Parkinson's disease i.e. to help the "poor unfortunates", like Fox himself.

Back For The Future - A Message From Michael J. Fox (38s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYMyEqRb2cw

The "poor unfortunates" are usually used in order to promote the first wave of a supposedly new technology.  A good example is DARPA funding the research into brainchipping paraplegics so that they can use email, as though the Pentagon is in the business of helping paraplegics, rather than creating them (and worse, obviously).

Can we expect a similar ad campaign involving Back to the Future and the highly marketable celebrity of Michael J. Fox, promoting brain implants as some sort of cure for Parkinson's disease? (as has already been suggesting by some of the pro-brain implant propaganda.)

This would be an excellent way of normalising the concept of brain implants, familiarising the public with the idea of having a chip in their brains, even if the first wave of propaganda is used to promote the brain chip only to help the "poor unfortunates".

[shipgeek]

There are already neural implants being used for medical purposes - for controlling epilepsy or other.  Seems that they have been used for some time.

Combine these neural implants with artificial intelligence. You can just imagine what the development of these can do.
Researchers are working on neural implants 24/24 not only medical I guess.

 

[bovvered]

There are already neural implants being used for medical purposes - for controlling epilepsy or other.  Seems that they have been used for some time.

Indeed.  But they haven't really been introduced to the public on a large scale yet.  The information is there, in the public domain, so that people who want to look for it can find it.  There have been a few documentaries with the likes of Michio Kaku and Ray Kurzweil discussing this, for example.

But when the time comes for the technology to become mainstream, then there will have to be another layer of the propaganda campaign suitable for a much larger audience.  Celebrities are the obvious tool for that sort of marketing campaign, especially a celebrity with Parkinson's disease, and especially a celebrity with Parkinson's disease who is associated with a predictive programming movie that has already featured in a mainstream ad campaign with a giant multi-national corporation i.e. Nike.

[Freeski]

spooky world ahead (actually it's already pretty spooky)

[bovvered]

Oct. 11, 2011, 8:30 a.m. EDT
PositiveID Corporation Receives VeriChip Order for Use With Israeli Military
 
DELRAY BEACH, Fla., Oct 11, 2011 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- PositiveID Corporation ("PositiveID" or "Company") PSID -13.04% , a developer of medical technologies for diabetes management, clinical diagnostics and bio-threat detection, announced today that it has received an order for its VeriChip(TM) microchip to be used for disaster preparedness and emergency management in Israel by an integration partner.

The VeriChip radio frequency identification (RFID) microchip was cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2004 for patient identification. The VeriChip can also be used to assist in the management of emergency situations and disaster recovery in conjunction with a customized camera capable of receiving both RFID scanned data and GPS data wirelessly, and a Web-enabled database for gathering and storing information and images captured during emergency response operations.

The Company's integration partner intends to provide the microchips to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the State of Israel's military force.

Marc Poulshock, PositiveID's Vice President of Business Development, said, "We believe there are many important applications for the VeriChip and our associated intellectual property including next-generation identification and bio-sensing capabilities. Our partner is looking to help healthcare organizations, militaries including the IDF, and governments with their disaster preparedness and emergency response needs."


About PositiveID Corporation

PositiveID Corporation develops unique medical devices and molecular diagnostic systems, focused primarily on diabetes management, rapid medical testing and airborne bio-threat detection. Its wholly-owned subsidiary, MicroFluidic Systems, is focused on the development of microfluidic systems for automated preparation of and performance of biological assays. For more information on PositiveID, please visit www.PositiveIDCorp.com .

The PositiveID Corporation logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=7717

Statements about PositiveID's future expectations, including the likelihood that the VeriChip will be used for disaster preparedness and emergency management in Israel by an integration partner; the likelihood that the VeriChip can also be used to assist in the management of emergency situations and disaster recovery in conjunction with a customized camera capable of receiving both RFID scanned data and GPS data wirelessly, and a Web-enabled database for gathering and storing information and images captured during emergency response operations; the likelihood that the Company's integration partner intends to provide the microchips to the IDF; the likelihood that the Company's partner is looking to help healthcare organizations, militaries including the IDF, and governments with their disaster preparedness and emergency response needs; and all other statements in this press release other than historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and as that term is defined in the Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, and PositiveID's actual results could differ materially from expected results. These risks and uncertainties include the Company's ability to successfully deliver the VeriChip to its integration partner and the ability of the integration partner to provide the VeriChip to the IDF; as well as certain other risks. Additional information about these and other factors that could affect the Company's business is set forth in the Company's various filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those set forth in the Company's 10-K filed on March 25, 2011, and 10-Qs filed on May 13, 2011, and August 15, 2011, under the caption "Risk Factors." The Company undertakes no obligation to update or release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this statement or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law.

This news release was distributed by GlobeNewswire, www.globenewswire.com

SOURCE: PositiveID Corporation


        CONTACT: Allison Tomek
        561-805-8000
        atomek@positiveidcorp.com

[bovvered]

14 Oct. 2011
Gov't cameras in your car? E-toll patent hints at Big Brotherish future
By Bob Sullivan

Imagine that you couldn't drive on major highways without agreeing to put a camera in your car -- one that could film either the occupants or the vehicle’s surroundings and transmit the images back to a central office for inspection.

You don't have to read George Orwell to conjure up such an ominous surveillance state. You just have to skim through filings at the U.S. Patent Office.

It's hard to imagine Americans would tolerate such a direct, Big-Brotherish intrusion.  But they might not notice if the all-seeing cameras were tucked inside another kind of government tracking technology that millions of Americans have already invited into their cars.

Kapsch TrafficCom AG, an Austrian company that just signed a 10-year contract to provide in-car transponders such as the E-Z Pass to 22 electronic highway toll collection systems around the U.S., recently filed a patent on technology to add multi-function mini-cameras to their toll gadgets. Today, transponders are in about 22 million cars around the U.S. Adding inward and outward facing cameras to the gadgets would create surveillance capabilities far beyond anything government agencies have tried until now.

The stated reason for an inward-pointing camera is to verify the number of occupants in the car for enforcement of HOV and HOT lanes. The outward-pointing camera could be used for the same purpose, helping authorities enforce minimum occupant rules against drivers who aren't carrying transponders.

But it's easy to imagine other uses.  The patent says the transponders would have the ability to store and transmit pictures, either at random intervals or on command from a central office. It would be tempting to use them as part of a search for a lost child, for example, and law enforcement officials might find the data treasure trove irresistible.  The gadget could also be instructed to take pictures when the acceleration of a car "exceeds a threshold," or when accidents occur, so it could be used like an airplane cockpit flight recorder.

It's important to note that a patent filing is a far cry from the invention and manufacturing of a new product.  Many patent filings are nothing more than a defensive measure taken to protect the farthest reaches of intellectual property. Officials at Kapsch declined to be interviewed for this story, but in a statement said that citizens shouldn't read too much into the filing.

“This patent filing is part of the standard intellectual property protection process followed by every company that invests in research and development," said Erwin Toplak, chief operating officer of Kapsch, in an e-mail. "Kapsch, for example, files approximately 20 patent applications a year. This process protects our unique ideas; it does not signify that a commercial product is in development or even contemplated .”

And P.J. Wilkins, executive director of the E-Z Pass Group consortium that manages the massive toll collection cooperative, said he hadn't even heard of camera technology when told about the patent by msnbc.com.

"It's not an upgrade we are working on here," said.  "We just signed a long-term contract with them and this wasn't a requirement."

Enforcement of HOV and HOT lanes is a labor-intensive and expensive issue for many state agencies, he said, and he understood why a company like Kapsch would try to invent a technology to deal with the problem, But he said he couldn't imagine it being used in the E-Z Pass system.

"Before anyone goes down that road there's a whole host of questions that would have to be answered,” he said. “What's the impact on privacy? What's the impact on the data stream? I just don't think it's something that would gain a lot of traction."

Kapsch sells its technology in 41 countries around the globe, and 64 million cars worldwide have been outfitted with its transponders, according to the firm's website.  Occupant cameras could be attractive, and more acceptable, outside the U.S.

And while it's possible cameras-in-cars technology would be a non-starter in America, that doesn't mean Americans shouldn't be worried, said Lee Tien, a privacy expert with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

"I think (drivers) should be pretty concerned," he said. "You want to make sure any use of that technology is very carefully regulated. People should let the E-Z Pass folks know now what they think about any possible plans to introduce cameras in their cars, now, while it's being developed, rather than before it's already a fait accompli, and some agency says it's already spent millions on it and can't turn back now."

Tien said there's nothing inherently bad about using new technology to enforce tolls, but he cautioned against what is sometimes called "surveillance spillover."  Technology designed for one function is inevitably used by law enforcement officials and other government agencies in unintended ways.

"You could imagine that they could limit the capacity of devices  -- say the images would be destroyed after a very short period of time -- so it would not be as powerful a surveillance device. But that's not the general dynamic," he said. "Once you have the device out there, someone says, 'Why not use it for this, or that.' That's usually where the battle between privacy and other social goals is lost."

The dynamic is playing out right now in a European scandal surrounding use of a secret government program used by German law enforcement officials to monitor citizens' Internet behavior through the use of Trojan horse software called R2D2.  German courts had permitted use of the software only when officials were fulfilling a legal wiretap order, and only to listen in on Skype conversations. But the R2D2 Trojan has allegedly been used by German authorities to send thousands of screen shots detailing suspects' Internet explorations, to keylog their typing, and in a host of other potentially illegal evidence-gathering methods.

The solution, says Tien, is to design privacy right into the gadget in the first place, to minimize the inevitable temptations for law enforcement and security officials.

"It doesn't bother me that (Kapsch) filed this patent. Surveillance technology is constantly being developed. There is money in surveillance," he said. "The question is less about lamenting the invention of these things and more about questioning our demand for surveillance, and thinking about the kind of society we are building and encouraging when we legitimize the continual, gradual architecting of the social world into a surveillance society."

News of the camera patents comes as electronic toll collection continues to expand around the U.S. -- and while options for using the systems anonymously have finally become commonplace.  After years of complaints from skeptics that E-Z Pass toll paying created an undesirable public record that could be used to track individuals, systems in Texas and Washington state now allow users to register for the devices without disclosing their identities.  And a new "E-Z Pass On the Go" gadget is being sold in the Eastern U.S. that functions much like a disposable prepaid phone card, allowing anonymous use of the E-Z Pass tolls.

E-Z Pass has had to beat back a lot of conspiracy theories through the years, Wilkins noted -- such as the idea that the gadgets would be used to catch speeders and issue tickets.  E-Z Pass users now register very few complaints, he said, and are overwhelmingly happy with a system that helps them avoid delays at long toll booth lines.

"The whole tracking thing is a bogus argument," said Wilkins. "If you have a cell phone you are being tracked anyway. Law enforcement can get to cell phone records just as easily (as E-Z Pass records). And the phone company keeps that data a very long time."

---

[You can] Follow Bob Sullivan on Facebook or Twitter.

-----

Alan Watt discussed this article in the following RBN broadcast:

Oct. 17, 2011
Alan Watt "Cutting Through The Matrix" LIVE on RBN:
Poem Copyright Alan Watt Oct. 17, 2011:
The Planned Authoritarian Society:
Ones Higher, Owning Those Elected,
Lead Masses to Demand the Expected:
"Beware of Mobs Following the Direction
Of Moneyed Celebrities Escaping Detection
But Speaking as Though from Labouring Class,
You'd Hope Some Would Pick Up, But Alas,
It's Always Intelligentsia Who Give the Voice
To Bring in Socialism, Big Gov., No Choice,
For it's Time to Implement the Big Society,
Post-Consumerism, Communitarian Variety,
'The People Have Spoken', Presidents Will Say,
'Implement the Agenda Without Delay',
What's Left of Rights All Up for Big Steal,
Smiling Bankers' Offer, 'Here's the New Deal' "
© Alan Watt Oct. 17, 2011
* Poem & Dialogue Copyrighted Alan Watt - Oct. 17, 2011 (Exempting Music, Literary Quotes, and Callers' Comments)
* LISTEN / DOWNLOAD


Topics of show covered in following links:

Automotive Black Boxes Spying on You

In-Car Cameras Coming--Keeps you Safe etc..

Pay for Your Brainwashing--EU Parliament Opens its Own Propaganda Centre

Greece Could Take National Property to Pawn Shop

[bovvered]

Oct 10, 2011 12:38 EDT
How to reduce reliance on cash

When the financial crisis hit, the smart money went to cash. Literally, in the case of Mohamed El-Erian:

On the Wednesday and Thursday after Lehman filed for Chapter 11, I asked my wife to please go to the ATM and take as much cash as she could. When she asked why, I said it was because I didn’t know whether there was a chance that banks might not open. I remember my wife sort of pausing and saying, “Are you serious?” And I said, “Yes, I am.”


It turns out that this was a worldwide phenomenon. Here’s Ravi Menon, the managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, in a speech last week (HT IK):

Physical cash commands a premium during times of uncertainty. We saw this during the 2008 global financial crisis. Within the first month of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, there was an exceptionally large withdrawal of high denomination notes by banks in Singapore. Typically, 90 per cent or more of the high-denomination notes withdrawn from banks are re- deposited within the month. During the initial months of the 2008 crisis, only 70 per cent of the $100, $1,000 and $10,000 notes withdrawn were returned.


This is understandable. But the fact is that cash is a very expensive payments mechanism:

Handling cash is costly. According to a 2010 study by Retail Banking Research, the cost of distributing, managing, handling, processing and recycling cash in Europe is estimated at €84 billion. This is equal to 0.6 per cent of Europe’s GDP.


For individuals, cash clears at par: if you give me a $100 bill, then I’m $100 richer and you’re $100 poorer. No one’s going to jump in and charge a fee for facilitating the transaction. And if I then deposit the $100 bill into my checking account, once again I see the full amount appear on my statement.

But the fact that most people never get charged for cash transactions is corrosive, in its own way: it helps to impede the inevitable-yet-glacial move away from cash and towards more secure, easier, and cheaper forms of payments.

Which is one reason why Bank of America’s $5 charge for debit transactions is so mindblowingly stupid. The more that people use their debit cards, the less they’ll use cash. And Bank of America spends billions of dollars every year processing heavy, dirty cash flowing in and out of its branches. If banks can persuade people to move to weightless forms of payment like debit, it will save them enormous amounts of money. After all, most of that 0.6%-of-GDP cost of processing cash is borne by retail banks.

And much of the rest is borne by the government. Minting physical currency is expensive! And wasteful! (Menon reveals, in his speech, that those charity-donation buckets in airports are placed there largely at the behest of the monetary authority, to try to stop local coins from leaving the country and having to be re-minted.)

Which means there’s a massive public-interest argument in favor of slowly phasing out cash in favor of other kind of payments. That’s never going to be easy, but it’s going to be pretty much impossible if the alternative payment mechanisms don’t clear at par.

I don’t know what kind of payment mechanism the world will ultimately alight on; I suspect however that it will use NFC technology in cellphones, and that it will be owned and run by a consortium of large retail banks. In the meantime, however, it behooves everybody, from the government to the banks, to do everything they can to wean people slowly off cash. If cash transactions cost the US 0.5% of GDP each year, that’s $70 billion a year at stake — significantly more than all credit and debit interchange fees combined. Don’t any of our greedy banks see the opportunity here?

[bovvered]

Cashless payment bracelet allows access to medical records, personal information
Monday, October 17, 2011
by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer

(NaturalNews) Marketed as a simple and convenient way to carry identification, make payments, and furnish quick and easy access to medical records in the event of an emergency -- all with one single bracelet. But the VITAband also has the potential to become a serious invasion of privacy as it allows third parties to access personal data and other information, all of which is linked to a users individual ID tag.

If the US government suspects you might be a "terrorist," it already has the ability to access and monitor, in real time, your credit and debit card transactions as they occur, as well as listen in on your landline and mobile phone calls. But if you tie your personal medical records and other information directly to your credit card use through VITAband, imagine just how much more exposed your personal information will be.

Back in July, US Bank announced that it had adopted the VITAband for its customers. The company first tested it on employees from multiple states earlier in the year, and eventually unveiled it for everyone. Each bracelet contains a special chip linked directly to a user's account, as well as a unique ID number that can be traced back to that user's personal and medical history (http://www.contactlessnews.com/2011/07/18/u-s-bank-launches-wristband-for-contactless-payments-health-records ).

VITAband users are free to decide for themselves what, and how much, information they wish to upload in association with their bracelet. All medical information uploaded into the system is handled by Microsoft's HealthVault, a system that compiles health records from many sources into one, single source. This data aggregation, of course, makes it much simpler for the government to spy on citizens personal information (http://www.naturalnews.com/028663_health_care_technology.html ).

Vita Products, Inc., the creator of the VITAband, claims it has implemented certain safeguards to protect users information from being improperly accessed or used. While this may be reassuring as it pertains to private third parties, it is meaningless when the government gets involved, as the potential for possible terrorist activity is all Big Brother needs to justify invading someone's personal privacy.

The FAQ section for VITAband is also quite telling. It explains that even though certain safety measures have been established, "no technical measures are guaranteed to prevent unauthorized access, use, or disclosure of your User Information, and VITA makes no such guarantees."


Sources for this article include:

https://vitaband.net/home

http://www.contactlessnews.com/2011/07/18/u-s-bank-launches-wristband-for-contactless-payments-health-records

[bovvered]

Scientists Create Rat Cyborg With Artificial Cerebellum
2011 10 18
From: newscientist.com

Newscientist.com used an image of a human brain with this article:



An artificial cerebellum has restored lost brain function in rats, bringing the prospect of cyborg-style brain implants a step closer to reality

AN ARTIFICIAL cerebellum has restored lost brain function in rats, bringing the prospect of cyborg-style brain implants a step closer to reality. Such implants could eventually be used to replace areas of brain tissue damaged by stroke and other conditions, or even to enhance healthy brain function and restore learning processes that decline with age.

Cochlear implants and prosthetic limbs have already proved that it is possible to wire electrical devices into the brain and make sense of them, but such devices involve only one-way communication, either from the device to the brain or vice versa.

Now Matti Mintz of Tel Aviv University in Israel and his colleagues have created a synthetic cerebellum which can receive sensory inputs from the brainstem - a region that acts as a conduit for neuronal information from the rest of the body. Their device can interpret these inputs, and send a signal to a different region of the brainstem that prompts motor neurons to execute the appropriate movement.

"It's proof of concept that we can record information from the brain, analyse it in a way similar to the biological network, and return it to the brain," says Mintz, who presented the work this month at the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence meeting in Cambridge, UK.

One of the functions of the cerebellum is to help coordinate and time movements. This, and the fact that it has a relatively straightforward neuronal architecture, make it a good region of the brain to synthesise. "We know its anatomy and some of its behaviours almost perfectly," says Mintz. The team analysed brainstem signals feeding into a real cerebellum and the output it generated in response. They then used this information to generate a synthetic version on a chip that sits outside the skull and is wired into the brain using electrodes.

To test the chip, they anaesthetised a rat and disabled its cerebellum before hooking up their synthetic version. They then tried to teach the anaesthetised animal a conditioned motor reflex - a blink - by combining an auditory tone with a puff of air on the eye, until the animal blinked on hearing the tone alone. They first tried this without the chip connected, and found the rat was unable to learn the motor reflex. But once the artificial cerebellum was connected, the rat behaved as a normal animal would, learning to connect the sound with the need to blink.

"This demonstrates how far we have come towards creating circuitry that could one day replace damaged brain areas and even enhance the power of the healthy brain," says Francesco Sepulveda of the University of Essex in Colchester, UK, who was not involved in the research. "The circuitry mimics functionality that is very basic. Nonetheless, this is an exciting step towards enormous possibilities."

The next step is to model larger areas of the cerebellum that can learn a sequence of movements and test the chip in a conscious animal - a much greater challenge. "This is very demanding because of the decrease of [neural] signal quality due to artefacts caused by movement," says Robert Prueckl of Guger Technologies in Graz, Austria, who is working with Mintz. He thinks this can be achieved, though, by developing improved software to tune out noise and better techniques for implanting the electrodes. Ultimately, the goal is to build chips that can replicate complex areas of the brain.

Such implants will be vastly more complex, but Sepulveda says the challenges aren't insurmountable. "It will likely take us several decades to get there, but my bet is that specific, well-organised brain parts such as the hippocampus or the visual cortex will have synthetic correlates before the end of the century."


Electrode memories

Theodore Berger at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and his colleagues announced in June that they were able to restore a lost memory in rats (New Scientist, 25 June, p 14). They did this by recording the neural signature of the memory then blocking neural communication and using an electrode to replay the code.

Prostheses based on this principle might one day be used to enhance brain function in healthy people - to speed up learning or enhance memory. For example, as people age, their ability to learn can diminish. "You can imagine that you could speed up learning by adding an artificial network in parallel to the biological one," says Mintz.

-----

Related Articles (from Red Ice Creations)

12,000 Drones, Lethal Cyborg Insects, See-Shoot Robots -- How Machines Are Taking Over War
Cyborg cat walks on bionic feet
Military Soldier Cyborgs - Digital destiny, or Prophetic Holocaust?
Japans cyborg research enters the skull
One Brain, Hundreds of Eyes: Darpa Plots Manhunt Master Controller
DARPA: Hacking Nature to Create Weapons of the Gods

[bovvered]

Fri, Oct 21, 2011
Bionic exoskeleton helps wheelchair users walk
The bionic device developed by Ekso Bionics is a wearable, battery-powered, robotic exoskeleton, designed to aid wheelchair users and those who have suffered from spinal chord injuries to stand and walk.



LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 21: Engineer Thomas Dwyer stands with the new Bionic Exoskeleton next to Amanda Boxtel during its launch at the Excel centre on October 21, 2011 in London, England. The bionic device developed by Ekso Bionics is a wearable, battery-powered, robotic exoskeleton, designed to aid wheelchair users and those who have suffered from spinal chord injuries to stand and walk.



LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 21: Amanda Boxtel (L), who is paralysed, is helped to walk with the aid of the new 'Bionic Exoskeleton' during its launch at the Excel centre on October 21, 2011 in London, England. The device developed by Ekso Bionics is a wearable, battery-powered, robotic exoskeleton, designed to aid wheelchair users and those who have suffered from spinal chord injuries to stand and walk.

[bovvered]

Apple’s Siri and the Future of Artificial Intelligence
2011 10 16
By E.D. Kain | Forbes.com



Apple’s new iPhone 4S has met with record sales, topping the release of the iPhone 4 last year. The iPhone 4 debuted with 1.7 million units sold. The iPhone 4S is projected to sell anywhere between 2 and 4 million units by the end of this weekend.

With an improved camera and a faster chip, the iPhone 4S easily outpaces its predecessor as well as most of its competitors.

Even Samsung’s Galaxy SII can’t compete with the remarkable voice recognition software included on the new iPhone: Siri.

Siri is smart voice recognition software, capable of intuitively answering a wide array of questions from iPhone users. But Alexis Madrigal says it’s more than that:

“The genius of Siri is to combine the new type of information bot with the old type of human-helper bot. Instead of patterning Siri on a humanoid body, Apple used a human archetype — the secretary or assistant. To do so, Apple gave Siri a voice and a set of skills that seem designed to make everyone feel like Don Draper. Siri listens to you and does what you say. “Take this down, Siri… Remind me to buy Helena flowers!” And if early reviews are any indication, the disembodied robot could be the next big thing in how we interact with our computers.

The way we interact with technology is changing rapidly. Recently, I.B.M. super-computer “Watson” beat its human competitors on Jeopardy. The intuitive way that Siri answers questions on the iPhone 4S is certainly reminiscent of Watson’s ability to quickly parse through enormous amounts of data on the quiz show. How long before Watson is in our pocket, and Siri is just a thing of the past?

Of course, as Alexis points out we probably won’t ever want our disembodied robots of the future to be smarter than we are, or at least we won’t want them to occupy a status that suggests they’re smarter than us. Science fiction authors have grappled with artificial intelligences and robots for decades.

Iain M. Banks’s Culture novels describe an intergalactic techno-cratic-Utopia ruled over by computers called Minds – artificial intelligences so vast in intellect that they no longer require any inputs from humans at all.

William Gibson’s Neuromancer posits a future in which artificial intelligences are strictly regulated by an international organization to prevent them from becoming too powerful. This scenario strikes me as more likely than a world ruled over by beneficent A.I. such as La from Joe Halderman’s The Accidental Time Machine.



Either way, someday the voice recognition software on your smart phone will evolve. Already Siri goes beyond simple commands and simple answers. But whether the Watson of the future will be a Wintermute is impossible to say.

Follow me on Twitter or Facebook. Read my Forbes blog here.

-----

Apple iPhone 4S Siri demo (2mins 46s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKRwV3DTVLo

Terminator: The Beginning [Skynet Soldier] (1min 53s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEtrzdGSXCU

---

Related Articles (from Red Ice Creations)

Apple iPhone 4S Siri Video Tutorial 1st Look (Apple Video)
IBM supercomputer Watson to assist doctors
IBM’s Watson Wins Everytime. Or Else. (Satire)
Technology pioneer IBM celebrates 100 years of ’Think’
IBM Internal Document Outlines Knowledge of Planned Pandemic With 100% Certainty
New IBM Chip Moves Data at Light Speed
Why AI is a dangerous dream
Researchers create child AI simulation
The Singularity Summit to Address Promise and Peril of Advanced AI to Future of Humanity
Beijing Controls Tibetans Using Skynet Electronic Surveillance
Siri, Apple’s Implementation of DARPA Sponsored Artificial Intelligence Technology

[bovvered]

New World Order: Implantable RFID chips capable of remotely killing non-compliant 'slaves' are here
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

(NaturalNews) Positioned as the solution to eliminating identify theft, lost wallets and purses, and a host of other information breaches, the all-inclusive implantable RFID tracking chip is gaining momentum for widespread implementation. Recent news reports indicate that an RFID tracking chip capable of killing humans (that presumably do not comply with rogue government demands) has already been invented.

There is simply no denying the fact that "the powers that be" are working towards microchipping all of humanity. Countless news reports, including those compiled in the following YouTube clip, openly speak of microchips designed for implant into human skin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl2LMmwteCA

But what many people do not realize is that this technology exists now, and has already been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in humans. Not only do these chips "silently and invisibly" store and transmit personal data, but they can also be encoded to perform a variety of other functions (http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2004/10/4305.ars ).

Beginning at 00:42, the YouTube clip contains a segment on a "killer" RFID microchip that, upon being remotely triggered, can send a lethal dose of cyanide into a person's skin. The FOX News reporter that introduces the segment can be heard saying that the chip "will kill you if you get out of line" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl2LMmwteCA ).

Later in the YouTube compilation around 04:45, Chairman and CEO of Applied Digital Solutions Scott Silverman, who happens to have a "VeriChip" in his own arm, promotes the technology as useful and beneficial during a CNBC segment. Several of the hosts can be heard questioning Silverman about the "slippery slope" of the technology, and how it could be used to control the world's populations.

The PositiveID Corporation, which produces the VeriChip, has also announced that the Israeli Military recently ordered implantable microchips for its soldiers. The stated reason for this is that the chips will supposedly aid in "disaster preparedness and emergency management" (http://www.rfidnews.org/2011/10/11/positiveid-receives-verichip-order-for-israeli-military ).

Assuming that they will only be used for the benign-sounding purposes that their proponents claim (which is highly unlikely), human microchips are a privacy nightmare that is much worse than credit cards and cash. Because human microchips transmit information via RFID and GPS signals, criminals can easily hijack personal information by intercepting transmission signals.


Sources for this article include:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl2LMmwteCA

http://www.rfidnews.org/2011/10/11/positiveid-receives-verichip-order-for-israeli-military

-----

Articles Related to This Article:
 
• Swine flu vaccine recipients could be tracked with RFID bracelets using Big Brother medical technology

• RFID - It May Be Inescapable, but Should It Be Implantable?

• Scientists push to implement edible RFID tracking chips in food

• IBM's new RFID "clipped tag" aims to assuage consumer privacy fears

• Would a Tommy Thompson presidency mandate microchipping Americans?

• Security breakdown: E-passport chip easily hacked, cloned

[bovvered]

Predictive programming through video games

Purity First (3mins 36s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAio1dpebJA

Purity First takes over the airwaves to share some disturbing truths about Tai Yong Medical and Sarif Industries...

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Conspiracy trailer (2mins 1s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9T6oi7j7D0

Explore the intricate conspiracies of 2027.

Communicate with us:
twitter.com/eidosmontreal
facebook.com/deusex
eidosmontreal.tumblr.com

[bovvered]

http://paleo-future.blogspot.com/2007/04/1999-ad-1967.html

1999 A.D. (1967)



Split second lunches, color-keyed disposable dishes, all part of the instant society of tomorrow. A society rich in leisure and taken-for-granted comforts.

In 1967 the Philco-Ford Corporation released a short film titled 1999 A.D. In it the inevitable advances of the future are demonstrated. This clip of the kitchen of the future showcases a world of automation, maximized health, and a push-button culture; themes we see throughout the film.





Like the film Future Shock, you can find 1999 A.D. on the DVD Yesterday's Tomorrows Today, released by A/V Geeks.

See also:
Call a Serviceman (Chicago Tribune, 1959)
Monsanto House of the Future (1957-1967)

-----

1999AD-Wink Martindale-Entire Film, part1of3 (8mins 23s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7hXmab4T1A

1999AD-Wink Martindale-Entire Film part2of3 (9mins 14s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5Mir98dsIs

1999AD-Wink Martindale-Entire Film part3of3 (7mins 2s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHlDmJn6u4E

Produced in 1967 by Philco-Ford Company, this futuristic film made predictions of the future that will be ours in the year 1999. Many of the things shown in this film have indeed come true, such as programmable microwave ovens , flat-screen computer monitors and Online shopping. This is a video transfer from an ultra-rare 16mm film which shows a bit reddish and color fading from its mere age, allthough I have worked with the color to compensate for that and performed some noise reduction on the sound.

---

The Internet in 1969 (1min 57s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Prison Planet ForumyYtiBc

-----

Alan Watt discussed this article in the following RBN broadcast:

Oct. 28, 2011
Alan Watt "Cutting Through The Matrix" LIVE on RBN:
Poem Copyright Alan Watt Oct. 28, 2011:
Dangerous Diagnosis, Poor Prognosis:
"Signs Everywhere of Moralistic Destruction,
Relativity Taught, Government Corruption,
Yet Chaos is Planned and Directed,
Symptoms Evident and Disease Suspected,
How Could an Elite a Hundred Years Ago
Make Global Plans then Make It So?
It Took Men of Moneyed Occupations,
Creators of Debt, Owners of Nations,
Putting in Charge of Each Institution
Sworn Members, Demons of Destitution,
Owning All Media, Setting the Pace
Of Planned Changes for the Human Race,
All Privately Owned in System Feudal,
Enforced by Degenerates, Uniformed, Brutal"
© Alan Watt Oct. 28, 2011
* Poem & Dialogue Copyrighted Alan Watt - Oct. 28, 2011 (Exempting Music, Literary Quotes, and Callers' Comments)
* LISTEN / DOWNLOAD


Topics of show covered in following links:

NYPD--Smuggling Guns, Slot-machines, Stolen Cigs, etc..

Police involved in Drugs, Kidnapping

Unmanned Border Checkpoint--Electronic Scanners

Euro-Crises Moves to Synthesis with China for Financial Interdependence

CDC Director Arrested for Child Molestation and Bestiality

Futurist Documentary from 1967

& Video

& Video--The Internet in 1969

Wartime Contracting Commission Inquiry to be Withheld from Public for 20yrs

Canada--Banknotes go Plastic

Researchers Conclude Study on Bisphenol A Causes Girls as Young as 3yrs. to be Hyper and Aggressive

Prince Charles "Inspired by Family Connections to Count Dracula"

Prince Charles "Transylvania is in My Blood"

Global Warming from the Ministry of Truth

Private Cops in Britain

[bovvered]

EU mulls smart biometric borders
27/10/11

The European Commission has adopted a Communication which sets out the main options for using new technologies, such as biometrics, to simplify life for foreigners frequently travelling to the EU and to better monitor third-country nationals crossing the borders.

Enabling smooth and fast border crossing for travellers, while ensuring an adequate level of security, is a challenge for many Member States. Every year more than 700 million EU citizens and third country nationals cross the EU's external borders. This number is expected to rise significantly in the future. By 2030 the number of people at European airports could increase by 80%, which will result in longer delays and queues for travellers if border checking procedures are not modernised in time.

"The Union must continue to modernise the management of its external borders and ensure that the Schengen area is better equipped to cope with future challenges", said Cecilia Malmström, Commissioner for Home Affairs. "The 'Smart Borders' initiative would speed up border crossing for regular travellers but could also help us to better secure our external borders. We now need to make sure that the most efficient systems are in place and I am looking forward to discussing the available options with the European Parliament, the Council and the European Data Protection Supervisor".

The 'Smart Borders' initiative would consist of:
 
•An Entry/Exit System (EES) which would record the time and place of entry and the length of authorised short stays in an electronic database, replacing the current system of stamping passports. This data would then be made available to border control and immigration authorities.
•A Registered Travellers Programme (RTP) which would allow certain groups of frequent travellers (i.e. business travellers, family members etc.) from third countries to enter the EU, subject to appropriate pre-screening, using simplified border checks at automated gates. This would speed up border crossings for 4 to 5 million travellers per year and encourage investments in modern automated border controls (e.g. on the basis of e-passports) at major crossing points.

One of the key questions is whether or not the EES should use biometrics and which type. The Communication suggests that the system could either only record alphanumeric data (e.g. name, nationality and passport number) or also include biometric identifiers.

The inclusion of biometrics would make it easier for a system to identify undocumented persons not requiring a visa (as visa holders can be identified using the VIS). It would also provide a more precise matching of entry and exit records (e.g. in the case of persons travelling with two passports) by linking the travel history to a specific individual on the basis of a unique property shown by the biometric identifier.

On the other hand, a certain negative impact on border crossing times could occur because of requiring biometrics from all travellers not subject to the visa requirement. The best way forward would therefore be to start in a first phase with alphanumeric data only, the Communication recommends. The biometric identifiers could be activated at a later stage, based on first evaluation results both in terms of the overall impact of the system and on border management.

The development costs for such a transitional approach would be generally comparable to activating  biometrics from the start and only marginally more expensive than excluding biometrics from the start, a choice which cannot be reversed at a later stage.

As to the choice of biometric identifier, in line with the identifier used for EURODAC, the VIS, the SIS II, passports and residence permits, the most commonly used and reliable identifiers are fingerprints and (also in case a fingerprint is not available) a digital image of the face. This choice would also mean that full use could be made of already installed equipment, bringing about significant cost savings.

Eleven Member States are currently implementing national entry/exit systems, which systematically collect all entry and exit records of third-country nationals crossing their respective external borders. However these national systems are not linked to similar systems in other Member States.

Seven Member States have implemented a form of a national RTP for EU citizens. But again these systems cannot be used for third-country nationals and membership of a national RTP in one Member State will not automatically allow the traveller to benefit from facilitated border crossing in another Member State.

The implementation of these systems needs to be discussed in light of their added value, technological implications, data protection implications and costs. The Commission will discuss all these elements with the European Parliament, the Council and the European Data Protection Supervisor. It will then present legislative proposals during the course of next year.

---

See also http://www.cogentsystems.com/

-----

Alan Watt discussed this article in the following RBN broadcast:

Oct. 31, 2011
Alan Watt "Cutting Through The Matrix" LIVE on RBN:
Poem Copyright Alan Watt Oct. 31, 2011:
The World's a Stage, Crisis All the Rage:
"More Crises Needed to Bring in New Order,
Global Financial Departments Across Every Border,
You See We're in a Mess, The System's Antique,
Solutions Will Give Bankers the Power They Seek,
It Takes Lobbying and Time to Get Things Done,
But Crisis Accelerates with Profits and Fun,
Sovereign Separate Systems Must Be Gone,
Oversight Committees, Well, They Catch On,
A Separate Global Government's Required,
Managing Peoples, All Finances, Secrecy Desired,
With the Same Big Families Running the Show,
Same Big Banks Ripping-Off as They Go,
In Peace it Would Need Transforming by Slices,
That's Why the Globalists Prefer Using Crises"
© Alan Watt Oct. 31, 2011
* Poem & Dialogue Copyrighted Alan Watt - Oct. 31, 2011 (Exempting Music, Literary Quotes, and Callers' Comments)
* LISTEN / DOWNLOAD


Topics of show covered in following links:

Farce of US Securities and Exchange Commission

International Labour Organization warns of Growing Social Unrest

Governments Look to Biometric Fast-Track for Travelers

Cogent Biometric Systems

Blair Defends Mass Immigration Policy

'Dishonest' Blair and Straw accused over secret plan for multicultural UK

New Labour and Mass Immigration

Migrationwatch Releases "Censored" Government Paper Which Outlines Political Objective of Mass Immigration

Company Insurance Costs and Forcing Employees to be Healthier

Prince Charles Has Veto Rights over Legislation

Heidi Klum and Degenerate Party Scum

Oh What Fun!--Home Foreclosure and Evictions Law Firm Dress as Homeless People for Halloween Party

Climategate Part 2

& More on Above

EU Bailout Funds Could Go Yuan Bonds

Obama to Host Next North American Free-Trade Summit in Hawaii

Police Spend Millions on Spy Plane

Money Network that Rules the World

More than 150,000 Mexican Trucks Await US Permits

[Freeski]

Beginning at 00:42, the YouTube clip contains a segment on a "killer" RFID microchip that, upon being remotely triggered, can send a lethal dose of cyanide into a person's skin. The FOX News reporter that introduces the segment can be heard saying that the chip "will kill you if you get out of line" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl2LMmwteCA ).

Forget the drones because they can just kill us from within. And remotely, of course. Ah, the perfect world...