Years ago — in the 1990s, I played with the idea of writing a book entitled, “The Bar Code” which was envisioned to be a futuristic look at the nature of human interaction in a bar in which all humans were identified by an RFID chip implant that was a record of their identity as well as the means by which they conducted all financial transactions. Not surprisingly, I never wrote the book. I did, however, read in the late 2000’s that RFID implants were already being experimented with.
I consider myself very fortunate to have the luxury of being able to ponder the enormous problems associated with getting people back to work in a safe manner. Nobody should be forced to return to work when their health cannot be assured. Nobody should be unable to feed and house themselves when they become unemployed through no fault of their own. What can be done? Until a working vaccine is available, no one can feel secure that the next person they run into could prove to be their undoing.
What I am going to suggest is a concept that might not work. Many will probably say that it is a violation of individual privacy. While I am neither a scientist or a doctor, I do know that the position we find ourselves to be untenable. I do know that there many people smarter than I who participate in the conversations here at Daily Kos, so I throw this idea out to you.
Here goes: An RFID chip inserted under the skin of every individual that is designed to detect a Covid-19 infection or antibodies in an individual’s body fluids. Each individual would be assigned a badge to be displayed on that person that indicates their status — no infection (green), past infection (Yellow) and current infection (red). Their status would be real time and allow for normal employment (green and yellow) and immediate quarantine (red). A change in the person’s status would be reflected in a change in the color of their badge as determined by the RFID chip.
I am aware that this all sounds like a good deal of the science fiction I have read in the past. Unfortunately, the future is here.
Any thoughts?
