Patrick Paumen causes a stir whenever he pays for something in a shop or restaurant. This is because the 37-year-old doesn't need to use a bank card or his mobile phone to pay. Instead, he simply places his left hand near the contactless card reader, and the payment goes through. Patrick said, “The reactions I get from cashiers are priceless!”<\/p>\n\n
He is able to pay using his hand because back in 2019 he had a contactless payment microchip injected under his skin. A microchip was first implanted into a human back in 1998, but it is only during the past decade that the technology has been available commercially.<\/p>\n\n
British-Polish firm, Walletmor, says that last year it became the first company to offer implantable chips for sale. The CEO said, "The implant can be used to pay for a drink on the beach in Rio, a coffee in New York, a haircut in Paris – or at your local grocery store. It can be used wherever contactless payments are accepted.” Their chip weighs less than a gram and is little bigger than a grain of rice.<\/p>\n\n
For many of us, the idea of having such a chip implanted in our body is an appalling one. But a 2021 survey of more than 4,000 people across the UK and the EU found that 51% would consider it. However, the report added that "invasiveness and security issues remained a major concern" for some respondents.<\/p>\n\n
The issue with such chips, (and what causes concern), is whether in the future they become packed full of a person's private data. And, in turn, whether this information is secure, and if a person could indeed be tracked.<\/p>\n\n
Nada Kakabadse, professor of ethics at Reading University is also cautious about the future of more advanced embedded chips. She says, “There is a dark side to the technology that has a potential for abuse. … It opens up seductive new vistas for control, manipulation and oppression.”<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[433],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3655,3682,3685,3726,3863,3864,4033,4272,4338,4421,4488,4565,4569,4898,4899,5129],"tax_ctp_topics":[388,392,400],"class_list":["post-36267","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-computers","tax_ctp_tags-consumerism","tax_ctp_tags-control","tax_ctp_tags-culture","tax_ctp_tags-end-of-the-world","tax_ctp_tags-end-times","tax_ctp_tags-future","tax_ctp_tags-internet","tax_ctp_tags-last-days","tax_ctp_tags-manipulation","tax_ctp_tags-money","tax_ctp_tags-omniscience-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-oppression","tax_ctp_tags-secrecy","tax_ctp_tags-secrets","tax_ctp_tags-technology"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\n