Obstetrician-gynecologist Alexander Volchek, who works in one of the maternity hospitals in Novosibirsk, implanted six chips under his skin, with the help of which he opens doors at work and at home with a movement of his hand, stores passwords, a business card; now he dreams of an implanted kryptonite and a blood glucose meter.
“I installed the first chip on August 8, 2014. It does not allow you to change your code and is the equivalent of an access control card from one of the Siberian ski resorts. A little later, I registered it in the access control system of the organization where I work,”Volchek told RIA Novosti, noting that the first samples of an acceptable size began to be used in veterinary medicine back in the mid-2000s.
The interlocutor explained that he first read about such implants in an article by pseudo-religious opponents of chipping, then he became interested in this and found out that chips of sizes acceptable for human implantation were already being produced in the USA, and cheaper ones - in China. After that, he began to experiment.
Photo: NGS. NEWS / Alexander Oshchepkov
There are now six chips in the doctor's body. Some of them are full analogs of intercom keys, with which he opens doors and turnstile at work, others operate at a different frequency and are capable of storing from 800 bytes to 1 kilobyte of information. One of them contains a business card, while others allow you to unlock your computer, store passwords, and so on.
Volchek said that the standard chip size is 2x12 mm, and the minimum size is 1.5x8 mm. The design, containing a wound ferrite core and a very small chip, is “packaged” in a small biologically inert glass tube. They are injected under the skin with a large syringe with a thick needle (injector). They can be easily removed if desired.
“It's really very convenient. When placed correctly, the implants are not felt. In a few days, automatic movements appear - put your hand to the door reader or your finger to the turnstile reader,”he said, noting that his colleagues and friends are no longer surprised, but arouses interest.
In the thematic group on Facebook there are already about a hundred like-minded people and developers of new functions for such implants.
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“I am not only a user, but also a developer. Now several teams in the world, including us, are actively developing an implant that will contain a microprocessor with encryption functions and can be used for electronic signatures, payment in contactless terminals, and payment for public transport. A separate problem is the inalienable implanted kryptonite. But this is the future,”Volchek reflects.
He noted that the pinnacle of technology will be the medical application of such chips and a victory, for example, can be considered the creation of an implantable glucometer for measuring blood sugar, especially since the necessary technical base for this already exists.
Photo: NGS. NEWS / Alexander Oshchepkov
In turn, surgeon Vladimir Khoroshev believes that in the future the use of chips can help people suffering from various diseases, in particular diabetes mellitus.
“If you install such a subcutaneous glucometer, which allows you to constantly read information about the glucose content in a person's blood, it will be a revolution, in fact,” he said.
According to Khoroshev, the number of people who will implant chips with various functions will grow.
“I am convinced that many people will like this innovation and will use it. What a problem for the same old people looking for keys, glasses and so on. And here everything is on hand, everything is at hand, there is no need to look for anything, it relieves a person psychologically,”the doctor explained.