IN THE BUBBLE JOHN THACKARA - witz cultural

an identification document. The rollout of these chip-bearing cards to 1.3
billion citizens is expected to be completed by the year 2008, according
to the official news agency Xinhua. 41 Surveillance is permeating our environments.
As the writer Mike Davis puts it, ‘‘Tall buildings are becoming
increasingly sentient and packed with firepower. The sensory system of
the average office tower already includes panoptic vision, smell, sensitivity
to temperature and humidity, motion detection, and, in some cases, hearing.
Some architects predict the day when the building’s own AI security
computer will be able automatically to screen and identify its human population
and even, perhaps, respond to their emotional states (fear, panic,
etc.).’’ 42
Bodies in the Network
Smartness 201
We seem equally unperturbed by—or are simply unaware of—the new
machines and systems that scan, probe, penetrate, and enhance our bodies.
As often happens, artists and writers have seen the big picture more
clearly. Donna Haraway, in her celebrated ‘‘Cyborg Manifesto,’’ wrote back
in 1991 that ‘‘late twentieth century machines have made thoroughly ambiguous
the difference between natural and artificial, mind and body, selfdeveloping
and externally designed. Our machines are disturbingly lively,
and we are frighteningly inert.’’ 43 The ethical issues raised by these developments
are profound but remain low to invisible on the radar of public
awareness.
In chapter 6 I described this passive acceptance of technology into our
bodies as ‘‘Borg drift.’’ It’s what happens when knowledge from many
branches of science and design—a million small, specialized acts—converge
without our really noticing. Bio-mechatronics and medical telematics
are spreading at tremendous speed, not because there’s a Dr. Frankenstein
out there, but because thousands of creative and well-meaning people go
to work every day to fix or improve a tiny bit of our bodies. Oticon, in Denmark,
for example, is developing hundred-channel amplifiers for the inner
ear. 44 Scientists are cloning artificial livers and hearts and kidneys and
blood and knees and fingers and toes—smart prostheses of every kind. 45
Progress on excellent artificial skin is excellent. 46 Tongues are a tough challenge,
but they’ll crack that one, too, in due course. As one prosthetic manufacturer
somewhat creepily puts it, ‘‘Artificial limbs are taking on new life