Artist Volunteers for Controversial ID Chip Implant
By Matt Markovich and Suzanne Brahm, Tech Live
March 15 Nancy Nisbet of Vancouver, Canada, took her dog to the vet to be chipped, and she had an idea. She decided to be chipped herself.
The 34-year-old digital performance artist and teacher at the University of British Columbia had a surgeon implant two ID-oriented microchips between her fingers the same kind of chip the vet implanted in Nisbet's dog.
Each chip emits a 12-digit number which can be read by a scanner. Typically, when a chip is scanned inside a cat or a dog, the number is matched to a database that identifies the lost pet's owner. Nisbet's chip works in exactly the same way.
"I push this little button, and the number pops up here on the screen," Nisbet said while demonstrating how a veterinary scanner reads her implanted chip.
Only Nisbet knows her numbers, and she plans to keep them to herself.
"I haven't registered this number because it's really important to me and my work that I control my own database," she said.
Nisbet plans to make this entire experience art art with a specific message.
"I'm not trying to conform to what this technology is intended for," Nisbet said. "I'm trying to subvert this technology, that's why I've implanted two of them. I'm going to control the database. I'm going to choose who has control, who has access to it, how it's used, what information is gathered."
Multiple Personalities
With two chips implanted and possibly more to come, Nisbet says she wants to prove that a person can have multiple identities. It all depends on which chip is scanned.
"I've identified my left chip to be my work chip and my right chip to be play," she said.
Nisbet said she intends to add a scanning component to the mouse at her computer, making her computer the gateway to chronicling the activities of each of her "personalities," represented by the chips in her hands.
"If I think I'm working at any given time, I'll mouse with my other hand, and it will be scanning this chip and all that same associated data will go into a work database," Nisbet said.
Eventually the art piece would consist of a comparison of the two databases, a look at how her two different personalities behave.
Controversial 'Art'
Although veterinarians commonly implant the kind of chip that's in Nisbet's hand into animals, the device has not been approved for implantation into humans. Nisbet contacted four different surgeons before she found one who would fulfill her request.
"One of them said he'd do it if he had a letter, another said no way, and the fourth one said sure," Nisbet said.
The doctor inserted the chip underneath her skin inside the barrel of a needle. She can't sense it within her hand, but if she touches it with her other hand, she can feel it.
Some Bible prophecy teachers consider the implanting of microchips in humans to be the "mark of the beast" written of in Revelation 13:16-18.
But Nisbet sees her decision to chip herself as nothing but art.
"I think there is an element of craziness to this, and I think that is part of the reason that it's a bold gesture," she said. "I don't think I'm crazy, and the reasons why I'm doing this are strong."
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/TechTV/techtv_chippedartist020315.html
By Matt Markovich and Suzanne Brahm, Tech Live
March 15 Nancy Nisbet of Vancouver, Canada, took her dog to the vet to be chipped, and she had an idea. She decided to be chipped herself.
The 34-year-old digital performance artist and teacher at the University of British Columbia had a surgeon implant two ID-oriented microchips between her fingers the same kind of chip the vet implanted in Nisbet's dog.
Each chip emits a 12-digit number which can be read by a scanner. Typically, when a chip is scanned inside a cat or a dog, the number is matched to a database that identifies the lost pet's owner. Nisbet's chip works in exactly the same way.
"I push this little button, and the number pops up here on the screen," Nisbet said while demonstrating how a veterinary scanner reads her implanted chip.
Only Nisbet knows her numbers, and she plans to keep them to herself.
"I haven't registered this number because it's really important to me and my work that I control my own database," she said.
Nisbet plans to make this entire experience art art with a specific message.
"I'm not trying to conform to what this technology is intended for," Nisbet said. "I'm trying to subvert this technology, that's why I've implanted two of them. I'm going to control the database. I'm going to choose who has control, who has access to it, how it's used, what information is gathered."
Multiple Personalities
With two chips implanted and possibly more to come, Nisbet says she wants to prove that a person can have multiple identities. It all depends on which chip is scanned.
"I've identified my left chip to be my work chip and my right chip to be play," she said.
Nisbet said she intends to add a scanning component to the mouse at her computer, making her computer the gateway to chronicling the activities of each of her "personalities," represented by the chips in her hands.
"If I think I'm working at any given time, I'll mouse with my other hand, and it will be scanning this chip and all that same associated data will go into a work database," Nisbet said.
Eventually the art piece would consist of a comparison of the two databases, a look at how her two different personalities behave.
Controversial 'Art'
Although veterinarians commonly implant the kind of chip that's in Nisbet's hand into animals, the device has not been approved for implantation into humans. Nisbet contacted four different surgeons before she found one who would fulfill her request.
"One of them said he'd do it if he had a letter, another said no way, and the fourth one said sure," Nisbet said.
The doctor inserted the chip underneath her skin inside the barrel of a needle. She can't sense it within her hand, but if she touches it with her other hand, she can feel it.
Some Bible prophecy teachers consider the implanting of microchips in humans to be the "mark of the beast" written of in Revelation 13:16-18.
But Nisbet sees her decision to chip herself as nothing but art.
"I think there is an element of craziness to this, and I think that is part of the reason that it's a bold gesture," she said. "I don't think I'm crazy, and the reasons why I'm doing this are strong."
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/TechTV/techtv_chippedartist020315.html
