Bjorn Cyborg

Why Swedes are inserting microchips into their bodies

No more worries about losing your wallet—but plenty about privacy

据报道，只要挥挥手就能实现刷门禁、购物支付等操作，这看似只在科幻电影中出现的场景如今已经在瑞典实现了。据报道，目前有超过3000名瑞典人体内植入了带RFID技术的这一微芯片。有科学家担忧，这一微芯片是否会泄露隐私，或者破坏人体免疫系统呢。

ON SOME Swedish trains, passengers carry their e-tickets in their hands—literally. About 3,000 Swedes have opted to insert grain-of-rice-sized microchips beneath the skin between their thumbs and index fingers[食指]. The chips, which cost around $150, can hold personal details, credit-card numbers and medical records. They rely on Radio Frequency ID (RFID), a technology already used in payment cards, tickets and passports.

By one estimate there are 10,000 cyborgs[半机器人] with chip implants around the world. Sweden, home to several microchip companies, has the largest share. Fifty employees of Three Square Market, a Wisconsin-based firm, volunteered to receive chip implants that can be used to pay at vending machines and log in to computers. Individuals can order do-it-yourself kits, which come with sterilisation[灭菌法] tools and a needle to inject the device, or attend “implant parties”, where a professional gives chips to a group. Sometimes they get T-shirts that say “I got chipped”.

Jowan Österlund, the founder of BioHax, a Swedish firm, claims chips are more secure[1] than mobile phones because they are hard to hack. But sceptics still have concerns. RFID chips do not have GPS, but they leave a digital trail when they interact with doors, printers or turnstiles[十字转门]. In 2004 the Mexican attorney-general and his staff had chips inserted in their arms that tracked who had accessed sensitive information.

[1]secure: safe from and protected against damage or attack 安全的，受保护的

Companies can offer secure credit card transactions over the Internet.

公司可以提供安全的网上信用卡交易。

So why take the risk? Convenience is one draw[2]. The infrastructure for microchip use exists wherever contactless IDs or payments are accepted. Sweden is well suited, as the world’s second most cashless country (after Canada).

[2]draw: someone or something that a lot of people are interested in 有吸引力的人（或事物）

We need someone at the event who'll be a big draw and attract the paying public.

我们需要一个深受大家喜欢的人到场，以吸引人们花钱买票。

But the chips have little use unless companies play along. Few shops recognise chip implants yet. Even those organisations that do have had teething troubles[3]. When Swedish rail officials began scanning passengers’ microchips, they saw LinkedIn profiles rather than evidence of ticket purchases. For now the chips are used largely as digital business cards, substitutes for keys or to store emergency documents such as wills[4].

[3]teething troubles: problems that happen in the early stages of doing something new 初期困难，创业阶段的困难

There were the usual teething troubles at the beginning of the project, but that's to be expected.

这项工程在开始阶段遇到了通常会碰到的初期困难，但那是意料之中的。

[4]will: 这里作为名词表示 a legal document that says who you want your money and property to be given to after you die 遗嘱

Have you made a will yet?

你立遗嘱了吗？

So exhibitionism[出风头癖] is another explanation. Chip enthusiasts include followers of a “transhumanist” ideology[5] that seeks to optimise human bodies with technology. Elon Musk, an American entrepreneur, has invested in tech that merges machines with human brains. Some Christians, meanwhile, fear that microchips are “marks of the beast” foretold in the Bible. Hardly, says Mr Österlund. After all, “people once thought the Beatles were the Antichrist.”

[5]Transhumanism (abbreviated as H+ or h+) is an international intellectual movement that aims to transform the human condition by developing and making widely available sophisticated technologies to greatly enhance human intellect and physiology.

超人类主义(英文缩写：H+) 有时也被称为超人文主义、超人主义、过渡人文主义，是一场断定可以并值得应用理性（科技）来根本改进人类自身条件，特别是要开发和制造各种广泛可用的技术来消除残疾、疾病、痛苦、衰老和死亡等不利于人类生存与发展的消极问题，同时极大地增进人的智力、生理和心理能力的国际性的科技文化运动。

https://v.qq.com/txp/iframe/player.html?vid=z1419h0u1c3&width=500&height=375&auto=0

（视频：柚子木字幕组）

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline "Bjorn Cyborg"  (Aug 2nd 2018)