Freaky

So here's the thing, a lot of stuff that sounds practical on paper (for example, communism, arranged marriages, and genetically engineering humans) doesn't always work out so well in practice (everyone gets an equal share of nothing, your parents do not know you nearly as well as you think, and near-sightedness is suddenly a fatal flaw).

This is another one of those things. An ID chip implant is practical, even makes a lot of sense for security. But how long before your boss is using it to figure out if you're really home sick or to track you down on your day off because "this PowerPoint presentation is really urgent."

That being said, figure out a way to make the chip a cell phone/digital camera and people will probably buy in. It's just a further erosion of the line between work and home. It used to be when people went on vacation, they left everything behind. Now, they're searching out fax machines and promising their spouse/kids "just fifteen more minutes" of checking work emails. Ugh. We're going to be owned by corporations one day. They're just figuring out the best way to tag and track us.

I predict, at some point, corporations will start offering "on-campus" living arrangements. Homes and apartments that will be partially subsidized by the company in order to keep their workers close at hand. People will do it because it saves them money, shortens their commute and brings their family closer to the place where they spend most of their time, never realizing that they are growing more and more dependent on an organization that treats them like disposable resource rather than breathing, thinking, living human being.

The value of an idea should not be based solely on its practicality, but what it says about us and does to us as human beings. If not....see Gattaca, Brave New World, 1984, Farenheit 451, etc.

A little rant-y today...sorry! : )