Eleonore Pauwels, Director of Anticipatory Intelligence lab says the new era of technology called the Internet of Bodies is the "automating of computation and learning" in her Wilson Center interview. She wrote an article for the Wilson Quarterly.
We all know about the Internet of Things which refers to the connectivity between all our smart devices, such as phones, cars, appliances, pills, even diapers. But the Internet of Bodies takes this one step closer to home. Closer to the chest may be a better way of saying it.
What About Privacy?
Wired Magazine reported that 59 year old Middletown, Ohio resident Compton Ross lost his house due to a fire. His cat died inside the blaze. However, he managed to pack a bunch of his belongings before making it out. The authorities believed Compton may have set the fire so they drew upon data harvested from the man's Smart Pacemaker. These new devices record enough biometric data from within the body to surmise that Compton must have set the fire himself.
Stephanie Lacambra of Electronic Frontier Foundations says, "The reality is that we are no longer the sole proprietors or controllers of our personal information". Whether or not Compton wanted to plead the fifth amendment, the pacemaker is not technically a part of his God-given body and doesn't enjoy the same protections.
3 Generations of IoB
There are 3 generations of the Internet of Bodies. The first generation is seen with Apple watches and FitBits which are worn on the outside of the body. The second generation consists of Body internal devices such as Compton's Smart Pacemaker and ingestible pills that contain some medicine as well as a sensor device to read and harvest all kinds of data from the gut and transmit this data to the Smart Grid. The third generation is embedded technology such as Elon Musk's Neuralink and other devices connected in real time to the cloud and AI. Another example would be injectable devices through vaccines like Quantum Dots that became popular in the first wave of discussions about vaccines for Covid-19.
The innovation of this technology is way ahead of the regulations to govern how they will be classified, which government agency has say over protocols and how data can and will be shared. From Neuroprosthetics to implantable contact lenses from MOJO Vision, Google and other tech giants, the future of cyborgs begins now.
The implantable contact lenses can provide GPS overlay onto your field of vision, night vision, zooming capability, text translation, face recognition, constellation mapping, eye strength training and much more. But the regulations are unclear at the moment on what agency will govern them. The FDA and FTC are just two of the agencies in question. If someone has poor vision and gets the implantable contact lens, that could qualify as a medical device. However, someone with perfect vision who gets one would fall under "enhancements" and likely fall under a different regulatory agency. This is without even getting into who would be responsible if your lens manufacturer goes bankrupt and refuses to surgically remove your defunct eye tech.
The FDA has already approved insulin pumps and Smart Pancreases connected to the internet as well as smart pills. Down the line, we may see all the organs connected to the internet.
Three Classes of Brain Tech
There are three classes that Brain tech falls under.
Brain Computer Interfaces: Allows people's brains to control the mouse on a computer and navigate the web.
Neuroprosthetics: Allows people to mentally control prosthetic limbs
Neuromodulation: Allows external technology and AI to modulate neural and brain functions such as sexual drive, anger impulses, and the desire to alter consciousness.
The first two classes are technologies that allow the brain to output signals to computers but the third, Neuromodulation allows technology to take control of the brain and alter the way neurons fire and even the way thoughts form. There is even a Black Box feature to record thoughts to downgrade epileptic potential for people who are driving. However, if the driver decides to keep the epileptic suppressor off so he or she can have a conversation and an accident occurs, authorities can access the Black Box, just like in planes and helicopters, to determine the cause of the accident.
What About Personal Sovereignty?
This turns into problems that blur the line between people's personal sovereignty and privacy, and a society cultivating human / tech hybrids. When humans lose sovereignty over their physical functions, it becomes a slippery slope. What about reducing sex drive in pedophiles when the smart device determines they are near children? I'm sure not many would argue that. But what about when a schizophrenic has a device that suppresses hallucinations? What if that personal identifies with schizophrenia as the way God made him or her? What if they're simply at home where they can't hurt anyone?
This has led to conversation about how any medical condition is viewed. What if a blind or deaf person decides that what was once viewed as a handicap is actually their identity? Then getting corrective Smart technology would be classified as an enhancement rather than a medical procedure or correction.
Even in the 21st Century Cures Act in 2016, Congress amended the definition of Medical Device to include hardware and software.
Big Data and Your Dwindling Rights
Now we must turn to the worry on most people's minds. How is all the data that comes from this Internet of Bodies being used? Who owns it and where does it go? Well just like with your phone, your service provider offers an End User License Agreement. When you sign that, all your data is in the hands of the partners and 3rd party agencies that your service provider chooses. Not you.
But they are bound by that agreement, right? Technically yes. But there is a clause that says Data will not be shared outside of the agreement terms unless the new tech update or service agreements are compatible with the original agreement. Professor Andrea Matwyshyn of North Eastern University School of Law in Boston Massachusetts says that this basically means they can come up with any new agreement they decide and deem it compatible with the old one.
Cryptocurrency Hooked to Biology
Even tech company Microsoft patented a new cryptocurrency system leveraging Body Activity Data. This system allows a device, which is unknown at this time, to harvest infrared heat from the cells of your body to mine cryptocurrency. There's even the Dutch Institute of Human Obsolescence that employed a bodysuit to mine cryptocurrencies from body heat to produce electricity.
COVID-19 Tracking
In the face of the Coronavirus pandemic, groups like VivaLNK, a California based health startup, developed a multipatient remote monitoring technology using
Chinese company Alibaba on the back end to measure people's temperature, Electrocardiogram, heart rate, and respiratory rate and motion all in the name of reducing the rate of cross infection. I'd have to say that this pandemic is quite the opportunity for the Internet of Bodies to proliferate unquestioned by the masses.
Much like the Patriot Act being passed directly after September 11th in 2001 which stripped many privacy rights from the people with few objections because the world's emotions were being driven by the fear of terrorism rather than the creeping threat of a social technocracy.
SmartGrid
As every technology becomes Smart, we are indirectly being called dumb. If you don't have a smart phone, it is colloquially called dumb and if your pancreas, heart, brain, eyes, ears and other organs don't eventually update to a smart device, you seem to be passivly allowing yourself to become dumb. That's what we're led to believe.
Elon Musk says we won't be able to compete with AI so we might as well ride the wave with it by interfacing with its intelligence. Nevermind the fact that he himself said AI poses the greatest existential threat we have ever faced.
Smart Cities have been proposed in my first film Esoteric Agenda when talking about Agenda 21 (now Agenda 2030). A presenter named Michael Shaw spoke about how people will be herded into Smart Cities and not allowed to visit nature unless given special permission. This is quite like cattle, but I never understood just how technological this agenda would become.
China has over 100 Smart Cities and the traffic is controlled by Alibaba. Don't worry about bringing your Smart Device because the city itself is your device. You can step outside and just say Uber and a camera or microphone will hear you and come pick you up. There are slated to be 1 Billion cameras in China by 2023. Driverless cars will be the norm by 2030 according to industry insiders and robotaxis will be here by 2025.
We have to stop and ask: At what cost is all of this convenience?
SUMMARY
Whether it's Deep Brain Stimulation advancements such as Automated Steerable Path tech or streaming music directly into your neurons with Neuralink, the future is here and humanity is on the brink of eternal change. 5G telecommunications infrastructure is scarring the landscape and wifi radiation is at an all time high that many scientists like Dr. Martin Pall, Dr. Arthur Firstenburg, Dr. Joseph Mercola and Dr. Thomas Cowan are all proclaiming to be an extinction level agenda being rolled out by an elite few while the rest of us are bombarded by AI generated fake news with the help of TensorFlow and other brand new algorithms.
The world before us offers a Quantum Economy and Quantum Internet. The Internet of Bodies will make way for the Spacial Internet where websites can become 3D and even enter the room from off the page. Reality and Fantasy are merging in ways that many cannot conceive of yet. the conversation must start new on exactly what measures we, the one's waking up, should resort to. I never advocate violence or vandalism and believe there is a form of peaceful NON-COMPLIANCE that must occur on a major and unified scale on the sooner side of things.
In love, in all respect and in harmony... In LaKesh.
Extra Material:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0bXUxRqy8g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10Rlk8uj-lo&t=141s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdqmCQc6oXY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVUekwSOJ20
Thanks Ben