IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2017 - 61

sensorial extension could be re-appropriated for military uses. Military uses could currently include: access
to secure areas, military vehicles, and bases; data storage and transfer of sensitive and classified information; and input triggers for weapons. Further research
and design will reveal if the military could use insertables to detect weapons, radiation, or other enemy signals; navigate when vision is impaired; detect enemies
via haptics; receive audio transmissions while still having adequate ear protection; and monitor vital signs in
the field.
Part of understanding insertable devices demands
investigations into public attitudes towards the use of
such devices. Talkback radio and social media comments are a fascinating barometer of public opinion.
The most common question we receive in our research
is "what if someone cuts of my hand to open my
door?" These fears were echoed when fingerprint sensors were first installed in phones - "someone will
chop off my thumb to unlock my phone." For civilians,
someone cutting off ones' hand to access their house
is a big leap for a low-level criminal who would steal
your keys; it would be much easier to knock down your
door than to mutilate another person. Indeed, there
have been no reported cases of mutilation to unlock
iPhones. It remains to be seen if these fears would be
founded in mortal combat where soldiers are trained
and somewhat desensitized to such actions.
The second most common question we receive is,
"Next the government will track us." The "slippery
slope" rhetoric - that these technologies will lead to
compulsory microchips or to a new class of superhumans - is an interesting one for philosophers and
ethicists to explore. However, these fears do not
mean we should not, or cannot, explore using insertables, as indeed such use is already happening in the
civilian population.
There are many unanswered questions concerning
socio-ethical implications that need to be explored
related to the ongoing use of insertables by hobbyists
and military alike. The emergence of commercial enterprises also continues. These commercial interests provide public advocates for the use, and understanding,
of these technologies. The social and human aspects of
these technologies are in fact more important than
their engineering.

Author Information
Kayla J. Heffernan and Frank Vetere are with the Microsoft Research Center for Social Natural User Interfaces,
and the Department of Computing and Information Systems, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia.

march 2017

∕

The "slippery slope" rhetoric -
that these technologies will lead
to compulsory microchips or to a
new class of super-humans -
is an interesting one for philosophers
and ethicists to explore.

Shanton Chang is with the Department of Computing
and Information Systems, The University of Melbourne,
Parkville, Australia.

References
[1] K.J. Heffernan, F. Vetere, and S. Chang, "You put what,
where?: Hobbyist use of insertable devices," in Proc. 2016 CHI
Conf. on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2016, pp.
1798-1809.
[2] A. Graafstra, K. Michael, and M.G. Michael, "Social-technical
issues facing the humancentric RFID implantee sub-culture
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pp. 498-516.
[3] C. Smith, "Human microchip implantation," J. Technology Management & Innovation, vol. 3, pp. 151-160, 2008.
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[6] K. Michael, "Homo Electricus and the continued speciation
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www.igi-global.com/chapter/homo-electricus-continued-speciationhumans/13490.
[7] J.R. Carvalko, "Law and policy in an era of cyborg-assisted-life
1: The implications of interfacing in-the-body technologies to the
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[8] K. Michael and M.G. Michael, "The diffusion of RFID implants for
access control and epayments: A case study on Baja Beach Club in
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[9] J.P. Ganschow, "Identification of the fallen: The supply of dog
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[10] F. Nsanze, "ICT implants in the human body - A review," in
European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies to
the European Commission 2005, 2005.

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