Monitored, tracked, analyzed, and under control.
It’s called WBAN. Wireless Body Area Network. Look it up. I’m not kidding.
Here, take this indigestible pill. It’s a sensor. As it passes through your digestive system, it transmits medical data—and the data are picked up by personnel through the Internet. Boom. Someday, maybe tomorrow, AI will pick up the data instead, make a disease diagnosis, and write out a drug script for you.
These sensors can be placed on the skin, just under the skin, and even inside your body’s organs. They’re also wearable. Wearable suggests monitoring for purposed other than medical. Like surveillance.
This isn’t the future. WBAN is being deployed widely right now.
“Doc, my balls hurt.”
“OK, we’re going to put four sensors on them, inject two inside them, and we’ll get real-time data on what’s going on.”
“Including my sexual activity?”
“Of course not. You don’t think we’re some kind of perverts, do you?”
“But the sensors transmit night and day.”
“Just call my nurse, Frank, when you’re about to get laid, and he’ll shut down our Internet connection for what, 30 seconds?”
WBAN. It’s here and it’s wonderful. You didn’t suppose wireless tech was developed just for TV, cell phones, and smart toasters, did you?
“How many sensors do you have inside your body, Bill?”
“Sixteen. I’m checked out from all angles.”
“Only sixteen. Geesh. I’ve got thirty-two. Dr. Finkel says I’m one of the most surveilled people on the planet.”
Heart rate, blood pressure, glucose levels, PH levels, temperature—WBAN is measuring and reporting all sorts of body data. They’ve even got sensors that STIMULATE parts of the brain.
How about using WBAN to measure physiological population response?