As the world continually digitizes itself, we become more and more what George Orwell wrote about in 1984, with “Big Brother” tracking your every move. And one River Falls, Wis.-based company is offering a service to its employees that brings us dramatically closer to the Orwellian.
Three Square Market, which specializes in vending machines and kiosks, is giving employees the option to have a microchip implanted in their hands. Yes, just like in Demolition Man. And some people are — very understandably — freaked out.
On one hand, it is super convenient, as Three Square Market has said the primary purpose of the chip would be doing menial tasks like buying stuff in the break room, making copies or logging into computers. Plus, the tech is passive, which means, according to CEO Todd Westby, “The chances of this being hacked into is literally nil to none.”
Conversely, it’s a digital connection to the company you can never take off. Or, to quote Twitter’s RatBag (god, I love Twitter):
I can leave a phone at home. Can’t leave a company owned micro chip implanted inside my body at home.
— RatBag (@RatBagDaRapper) July 24, 2017
Also, I’ve seen Demolition Man more than once, and if you’ll recall, Wesley Snipes’ character Simon Phoenix did not get chipped while he was in cryo-prison and was thus able to more easily avoid Sylvester Stallone’s dogged John Spartan… you know what, just go watch Demolition Man and thank me later.
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