IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2019 - 20

I think this is going to be the same
with implantable technology and I
think that it is good that we are past
the NFC and RFID implant technology, and we are starting to talk about
how this technology should be, and
what would be that technology and
how would we integrate this technology, and what kind of scenarios and
what kinds of use cases. If I put a
sensor that is in my bloodstream and
that sensor tells me things about my
diet, and the way I live my life, that
if we scientifically looked at it, could
prolong my life by five or ten years,
would that be interesting? If I eat
healthier, and if I have this chip that I
can share with my doctor, or whomever, is that worth anything or not? I
think most people would agree that
if I could have a warning three days
before the stroke, then I do not have
to go through that. Then would you
do that? And maybe you would not
but then I think many would do that.

FIGURE 2. Embedding of the NFC chip.

sell goods. So then you have this kind
of idea that now this is the Mark of
the Beast because of course I can
use, theoretically at the very least,
NFC chips to buy and sell stuff. And
I was made into being the spokesperson for Satan, and actually I received
death threats from groups of people
after having conducted and posted
the experiment.
KM: Andreas, you are the first person
from a recognized organization to
come out and say "[NFC] implants
don't work." Why have you decided
to actually tell it as it is, when you are
a Vice President of a corporation that
specializes in digital and digital is its
lifeblood in terms of evolution of
technology and innovation? Why
has it taken this long for a professional from industry to say something?
AS: I don't know. I think that the
community, the biohackers, the enthusiasts, they so much want it to happen. They are more interested than
even the scientists, or even students
of empirical data who don't care. If
I can after the 15th try get the copier
to read the NFC chip then "of course
it works and this is the future." So I
am disregarding that two minutes
it took (Figure 2). For me as a Vice
President and CTO of this company

and you will find this of any serious
organization of this sort, if we test
something and try something and
it doesn't work, then we won't pursue it further. Obviously.
KM: Is the main problem with the
implant the lack of interoperability
between service applications? Or
it is a security or privacy issue for
you? Or simply failure of the implant
to do what it is supposed to do?
AS: Interoperability, practicality,
hygiene... and simply because there
are so many other smart ways to
authenticate myself that don't re quire a large needle and a chip.

KM: So, moving beyond just NFC
implants, do you believe in the "fasttracked" experimental methodology
for consumer electronics? That is,
"experiment now" and "ask questions later"? What are some of the
advantages and disadvantages to
this approach?
AS: If a perfect innovation methodology exists, please let me know. Most
organizations we work with are open
to rapid and agile experimentation
alongside the traditional waterfall
and stringently controlled R&D processes. Friction occurs sometimes
here since successful corporations
have now fine-tuned [their] operations engine to be efficient, rationally
managed, governed by routines and
rules, striving for calculated outcomes, and its planning is seldom
month-by-month-quarter-by-quarter.
Innovation labs, on the contrary, are
tasked to first believe that current
"as is" operations won't fuel growth
very much longer: bold ideas, agile

KM: For me, I refuse to put an
implant in myself.
AS: I think that in principle, it is
the cost-benefit. So what is the cost
of the technology? And what is the
benefit? And is it worth anything to
me? Has it enough worth to me to
bear the cost of carrying an implant?
And you're saying that it has to be on
the level that it is life sustaining or
if it is a matter of life or death then
I will adopt. That's kind of how we
go about things every day, with making that analysis with everything that
we do and we choose whether or
not it is worth it, whatever it is. And
IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

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JUNE 2019

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2019

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