Cyberfear staked out a new angle this week, as a British cybernetics expert claimed to have infected his body with a computer virus. Mark Gasson implanted an RFID chip into his hand, then loaded a virus onto it.
One nice viral touch: it's not enough that Gasson gets infected. He has to be able to pass his flesh-running program onto other machines.
Fearsome media: first, there's the possibility that we'll see this story get passed around and mutated, urban legend style. "My cousin's friend told her on Facebook that a college professor got sick from his laptop!"The chip has allowed him secure access to his University building and his mobile phone. It has also enabled him to be tracked and profiled. Once infected, the chip corrupted the main system used to communicate with it. Should other devices have been connected to the system, the virus would have been passed on.
Second, it serves the science fiction function of helping us think through the future. Design fiction or proof of concept, Gasson's story makes us reflect on the human body as digital storage device. Greg Bear did this in 1985 (Blood Music), but Gasson brings us up to date. We have all experienced both kinds of viruses; it's only to be expected that the future remixes them.
That's somewhat less virus and more 'hay, I can do file transfers via my RFID chip'
Posted by: Ladi | May 29, 2010 at 17:25
True. "Body as flash drive" does have its appeal, though.
Posted by: Bryan Alexander | May 30, 2010 at 09:42