The Rise of Microchipping
On August 1, 2017, workers at Three Square Market, a company specializing in vending machines, lined up in the office cafeteria to be implanted with microchips. One after another, they held out a hand to a tattooist who pushed a rice-grain sized implant into the flesh between their thumb and forefinger. The group implant event, organized by company management, fitted into Three Square Market’s longer-term vision of a cashless payment system for their vending machines — workplace snacks purchased with a flick of the wrist. The televised “chipping party” was picked up by media outlets from Moscow to Sydney.
For Jowan Österlund, whose company Biohax provided the service, microchip implants were not radical or even novel. He has lived with one for years and has implanted hundreds of other young, tech-savvy (技术大咖) Swedes.
Microchip implants are essentially cylindrical (长圆形的) bar codes that, when scanned, transmit a unique signal through a layer of skin.
But Urs Gasser at Harvard University believes that extending beyond the Swedish tech-hub environment to a broader market will be legally and morally difficult. In his view, Three Square Market’s chipping event actually symbolizes the imbalances of power in the workplace. Are you a person being paid for your work, or are you the property of the company you work for?
Ifeoma Ajunwa at Cornell University adds that it is crucial to consider the implications of this technology in the context of increasing worker surveillance (管制).
| A．Microchips will deepen this dynamic, as they “literally go with the worker whenever they go”. |
| B．Chipping, thereby, has swept across the globe with its magnetic appeal. |
| C．Not all of the attention was positive, however. |
| D．Mostly, they have been used to organize warehouses or identify lost pets. |
| E．Conquered by the “almighty” microchips, workers may no longer be their own masters. |
| F．For this community, the chip signifies an all-in-one combination of biology and technology. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Flying to another country can sometimes take several days. But the designer of a futuristic jet (喷气式飞机) says his plane could take you around the world in your lunch break.
According to an article in The Sun, the plane, called the Antipode, could carry 10 people and use rocket boosters to go 12 km high.
An ordinary Boeing 747 has a top speed of 917 km/h. The fastest plane in the world right now is Air Force One. It carries the president of the United States and can reach 1,092 km/h.
Canadian designer Charles Bombardier says his plane could be 10 times faster than the Concorde, which could fly at 2,180 km/h. The Concorde was the world’s fastest passenger plane between 1976 and 2003. But the Concorde was very noisy and its nose got dangerously hot when it flew. A Concorde crashed in 2000, killing 114 people.
“It’s always something that people would like a transportation system that could take you from one place on the planet to the other side,” Mr. Bombardier told the BBC.
| A．No Concordes were flown again after 2003. |
| B．There are huge differences between high-speed planes. |
| C．But the Antipode would probably reach a crazy 25,750 km/h! |
| D．Don’t try to buy a ticket for the plane yet, though. |
| E．Then it could fly from London to New York in less than 20 minutes. |
| F．The superfast plane could only carry ten passengers. |
| G．The Antipode’s design includes a special nose. |
【推荐2】When Makayla Nunn was 8, she was diagnosed (诊断) with an illness called chronic (慢性的) fatigue syndrome. People with this condition are always affected by extreme tiredness. The feeling doesn't go away when they sleep or rest. Makayla lives in the United Kingdom. Because of her illness, she had to give up some of her hobbies.
On her doctor's orders, she started spending no more than three hours at school each day. She soon fell behind in her studies, and she missed her friends. “I would love to see them more,” Makayla, now 15, told TIME for Kids. Then Makayla's mom introduced her to a tool that would help her keep on top of schoolwork and stay connected to friends. It was a robot called AV1. AV1 is 11 inches tall and weighs about two pounds. The robot was developed to help kids who have a chronic illness.
Now, when Makayla can't make it to school, AV1 takes her place. If she feels well enough to take part in a lesson, she opens an app on her phone. She uses AV1's camera to see what's happening in the classroom.
AV1 isn't the only technology that lets kids who are sick attend school remotely (远程地). But AV1 is specially designed to encourage social interaction. The robot's expressive eyes let Makayla show emotions (情绪) to people such as happiness or sadness. The whisper function allows her to speak with friends in class. And AV1 is easily carried, so Makayla's friends can take it with them during breaks or on social outings.
Makayla's classmates nicknamed her robot Robbie. One staff member even made Robbie a coat so it wouldn't get cold.
Karen Dolva cofounded No Isolation, the company that makes AV1, in 2015. “When you're not in school, you miss out on all these small, magical moments and interactions,” Dolva told TIME for Kids. “AV1 helps you stay active in the conversation.”
1. How does Makayla differ from common people?| A．She is fighting against a deadly illness. | B．She never falls asleep at night. |
| C．She hates going to school. | D．She always feels very tired. |
| A．To get homeschooled. | B．To turn to a robot for help. |
| C．To stay at school for a limited time. | D．To talk to her classmates more often. |
| A．It is designed for disabled kids. | B．It can do schoolwork for kids. |
| C．It is hard to carry around. | D．It can express emotions. |
| A．AV1 can communicate with people everywhere. |
| B．AV1 can help people in social activities. |
| C．AV1 has been tried out many times. |
| D．AV1 has been widely used in class. |
【推荐3】High-speed trains, Alipay(支付宝), shared bikes and online payment are seen as the new Four Great Achievements of China by young foreigners, according to a video survey by the Silk Road Research Institute of Beijing Foreign Studies University. In the video, young people from 20 countries along Belt and Road Routes( 一带一路) were asked to name great inventions that had affected their lives in China. The following is what they said from 4 young people of them.
1. What does Justin think of the high-speed railways in China according to his words?
| A．fast and tidy. | B．convenient and wonderful. |
| C．cheap and amazing. | D．exciting and expensive |
| A．stay in silence. | B．be in trouble. |
| C．lose your way. | D．lose face |
| A．drive a car. | B．take the bus. |
| C．ride a bicycle. | D．take a high-speed train |
