there are so many people out there who have plenty of things to say when they find out you have a chip. everything from “the government is going to track you!” to “it’s the mark of the beast!”
and i’ve seen so many good responses to that. my favorites are @amal’s “the mark of the beast goes in your right hand, so we encourage customers to put it in their left.” or things as simple as “your phone tracks you 100 times more than an nfc chip would”.
what are your favorite things to say when people try to fearmonger?
We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.
Then I stare at them for a moment before finally turning around and walking away intently while never making any movement with any part of my body from the waist up… then probably have more pints, because, well, pints
But in all seriousness, if it’s someone that you think will be open to a good conversation and learning, then the best response is to educate and explain to them how it works and what it does for you. If the person isn’t going to be willing to change or at least have a civil conversation with you, then they aren’t worth your time, as confirmation bias is a bitch.
I also find that it’s relatively easy to compare it to pet chips… you can’t find a lost pet… it works using the same RFID technology… that usually calms people down pretty quick.
For the the “mark of the beast” skeptic it can’t be for a few reasons. 1) You aren’t forced to get it. 2) You can pay for items without it. 3) (This is more interpreted) It isn’t a visible mark or sign.
I like reading fake news to see how ridiculous stuff on the internet can be and that some people believe it.
One of the things regarding technology that I see that infuriates me is how fake news says RFID is a technology used for tracking, and people who don’t know what it is will likely believe it is a micro GPS device or something (I mean that would be awesome tech to fit in a tiny chip).
This is how I explained it to the HR at my work and honestly the whole tone of the conversation shifted and that’s when it became an actual open minded conversation
I tried that approach a few times. The first time, the underwhelming response I got was “But we’re not animals!”
But mostly people laugh and ask me whether I fit through my cat’s RFID catflap - to which I smartly answer that I once had to fix said catflap, and I could conveniently test if the electronic latch worked properly by sliding my hand through the disassembled catflap frame, which is a whole lot easier than trying to catch the cat and run him through it on my electronics workshop table next to the hot soldering iron. Not that it’s a terribly useful skill to possess though, unless you’re a catflap designer…
I’m lucky because in here Europe, we don’t really have US-style religious nutcases or conspiracy theorists. We only have people who may not see the point of implants, or who think implants are an extreme solution to a non-problem. Those folks can be difficult to talk around, and the discussion can be long-winded and boring. But the conversation usually isn’t nonsensical or threatening.
Oh and yeah, there is one line I use with people who fear getting chipped by the government or some crypto-fascist governmental agency: get the chips you like, that you can control or rewrite yourself, implanted in your hands before the government mandates chipping. That way, when they want to inject their evil chip in you, there won’t be any room left, or yours will cross-talk with theirs and mess up the communication
I tell them “It isn’t economically feasible, socially practical, or even that effective to chip people… just look at what China is doing with biometrics… not a single chip was used there.”
That reminds me of a video I watched, a good while ago, of people trying to explain to skeptics that the moon landing was real and broke it down economically. They found that it would have cost more money to develop the technology and implement it than it cost to actually go to the moon.
No need to go as far as China. Orwell got it wrong: ubiquitous surveillance came from the corporate world, not from the government. These days, most people are quite aware they’re being tracked and their personal data mined and monetized up the wazoo - and curiously submit to it quite happily too, to my undying amazement.
So it’s quite simple to tell people who fear being chipped that they already carry a tracker on them 24/7 in the form of a cellphone, that snitches on them constantly when they move about, go on the internet or pay for things. And the beauty of it is, Big Data - and the government that’s in cahoots with it - doesn’t need to spend a penny to put people under surveillance: ironically enough, people pay for and maintain their corporate trackers in good working orders themselves. So why go to all the trouble of chipping them?
Incidentally, Google disabling NFC screen unlocking in Android a few years ago is quite telling in that respect: they’d much rather get a scan of people’s fingerprints or a photo of their mush several times a day than a UID. Why spend time and money maintaining code that does nothing to help collecting biometrics? I can totally see them disabling PIN or pattern unlocking in a few years.
Usually what I do with the tracking is point out the effective range by comparing it to a company badge or some such. Then tell them that if someone wants to follow me around all day, keeping a scanner within a few inches of my hand, then yes they could track me, but if they’re capable of that why would they need the chip? The lunacy of that image usually provides an opening for some actual information / education.
Interesting point. The reasons given, (mark of beast, tracking, privacy, etc) are all in direct relation to just how personally uncomfortable the person is with the idea. And the more uncomfortable, the more strongly it will be expressed. It’s not a well logically defined position, just a knee jerk emotional response that attaches to the first negative concept they can reach for.
I tend to think this is why most (certainly not all) people drop, or at least walk back from, their objections once they start to comprehend / think about it, especially when a little knowledge is provided.
I agree (sousveillance), but people need something tangible to hate on… and in this case that is “China” as a concept. I’ve learned the hard way how people can easily hate on implants because of the tangible chip but simultaneously have a very hard time understanding the true threat from ethereal sources like passive biometric observation or mobile phone based data collection… and that’s because they actually don’t understand the threat models at all… nothing… they are completely and totally ignorant as to why a CCTV camera feeding back to a central location where all footage is analyzed with facial recognition and stored indefinitely is actually more of a threat to you and your “privacy” than a chip implant ever could be… so they fall back to pointing at objects they can easily identify… and chips get the shit rep while biometrics are just “well whatever”… so in the same way when I point out China, the totally ignorant are ready to jump on that bandwagon and equate “the Evil Empire of China” with biometrics and now “suddenly” somehow they understand that chips aren’t as bad as biometrics… it’s a really fucked way to hack someone’s pre-concieved notions, but it works.
Unfortunately people think this is also some kind of 24/7 location tracking device. This is why I use the pet chip analogy because even though people actually think that lost pets can be found with a chip implant, a little googling shows that actually no, they can’t be found with a chip implant… however googling “work badge tracking” comes up with a ton of positive hits from bullshit FUD sites to actual services selling tech solutions with wifi or BLE badges that actually do track employee locations at all times … and not being technically savvy, they say “see, work badges can be tracked!” …
Fuck, there just needs to be a kind of like scarlet letter we can get people to wear or be tattooed with if they are “non-technical” and “not willing or able to learn the differences”… like a big D on their right hand or forehead for “don’t wanna hear it”… maybe THAT could be the Mark of the Beast.
I prefer not to let them know that I know. You can get them to tie themselves up in knots, and it’s suprisingly satisfying. Wind 'em up and let 'em go. Usually right into a wall.
Note, I’m not sadistic enough to do this all the time. Just when I’ve had enough.
