X-Message-Number: 14438
Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2000 08:08:37 -0700 (PDT)
From: Scott Badger <>
Subject: Re: Motion Sensors

Lee Corbin <> wrote:

> Quite a number of cryonicists are naturally looking
> forward to the advent of cheap and practical
> monitoring devices that would send an alarm in case
> of death.  An idea that I'm wondering about is this:
> why not have three or four motion sensors watching
> while I sleep?  If they all report no movement
> for a certain time, then a small chime begins to
> sound.  The longer that they continue to see no
> movement, the louder the chime.  Within a minute or
> so of the first alert, the noise has become enough
> to wake me, and if I fail to respond after that,
> then signals are sent to emergency response or
> a cryonics service.

From an aritcle at salon.com:

"One technology with the deliciously sci-fi name of
the "Digital Angel," a prototype of which will be
unveiled next month, could be implanted under the skin
and used to monitor not only the chip-wearer's
location, but vital signs like heart rate and body
temperature."

Full article at: 

http://salon.com/tech/feature/2000/09/07/chips/index.html


And from the company's website:

http://www.digitalangel.net/

**********************
Digital Angel has numerous potential applications: 

Medical Applications 

Digital Angel  could be used for monitoring patients.
Doctors could access their patient's vital signs
remotely and then analyze them. They could detect
potential problems before the patient even begins to
notice the symptoms. The doctor would know where to
locate the patient at the same time. This differs from
the emergency pendulums some people wear. In many
cases, patients are unable to push the button, and
even if they do, the doctor would not know where to
find the patient in order to help them. 


Commodities Supply Chain Management - Food Safety 

Digital Angel  can be attached to commodities such as
cattle and other livestock to track health and
location information from birth to processing. This
will improve the standard of quality control and
ensure a higher level a safety for commodity-related
products provided to the customer. 


Security 

Another application is in the area of security.
Digital Angel  would be very useful in locating people
who are in danger of being kidnapped. 

In the case of little children, the elderly, and
athletes, such as skiers, getting lost is always an
issue. In these cases, Digital Angel  could be used as
a guardian. 


Warfare 

In warfare, knowing where the soldiers are located, if
they are alive or wounded, is a crucial factor to the
Commanders. 


Law Enforcement 

Digital Angel  can be used in law enforcement in
keeping track of parolees, people under house arrest,
and in the witness protection programs. 


Animal Protection 

Although Digital Angel  is designed for the human
being, it can be applied to household pets and
endangered species. 


Tracking 

This device can be used to protect and trace valuable
items such as museum art pieces, computer equipment,
etc. 


Identification 

Digital Angel  could be an important security method
of protecting information because it could carry
personal identification information. It could transmit
this ID via wireless communication with personal
computers. In this way, only the individual would be
able to access his or her own information source. 


Firearms Safety 

Another example to this would be the accessing of
firearms. It could be limited to the owner of the
weapon only. 


There could be many other applications, but, in
essence, Digital Angel  will become an interface
between the human body and the electronic network. 
******************** 

Wow, that last sentence is (to use an archaic term)
... very heavy!

There is, of course, considerable controversy over how
slippery this slope is by those who fear being tracked
by dark government or corporate forces. 

Personally, I suspect my activities could already be
pretty easily monitored if dark forces wished to do so
.. what with my usage of credit cards, the phone,
e-mail, etc.  Plus, these devices may be deactivated
by the bearer at any time and are actually dormant
most of the time (though I'm sure there will be those
who refuse to believe the device is truly
deactivated). Still, I don't know how that would work
for certain groups (e.g. prisoners or soldiers). Would
the institution have the ability to activate the
device whenever they wished?

With all it's potential problems, this still seems to
be an exciting breakthrough product for cryonicists. 

Vita Perpetuem,

-- Scott

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