Word: microchipping
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...envy of the world with one stunning triumph after another. Fostered by the largesse of a government swayed by Vannevar Bush's paean to science, it harnessed the power of the atom, conquered polio and discovered the earth's radiation belt. It created the laser, the transistor, the microchip and the electronic computer, broke the genetic code and conjured up the miracle of recombinant DNA technology. It described the fundamental nature of matter, solved the mystery of the quasars and designed the robot craft that explored distant planets with spectacular success. And, as promised, it landed...
...irrelevant pleasantries until passengers want to throttle him. A married couple debate whether to move to Mars -- as if it were the suburbs -- or to Saturn ("Everybody says it's gorgeous"). Perhaps they should visit Rekall Inc., a mind-travel company that offers "the memory of a lifetime": a microchip implant of images from a wonderful vacation. They could even buy someone else's memory. "Take a vacation from yourself," the salesman croons. "We call it the Ego Trip...
...where, oh, where has my little dog gone?" That old musical question now has a modern answer. A California-based company called Infopet is selling a - computer-age tag: a microchip that is easily implanted between a pet's shoulder blades. The semiconductor carries a ten-digit code, which can be read by a scanner. When the code is punched into Infopet's computers, an animal's finder can obtain such data as the pet's license number, medical condition and, most important, the owner's phone number...
...years since Infopet began offering the service, 10,000 pets have been micro-tagged in California, Oregon, Washington and Missouri. So far, 27 animals have been returned to their owners because of the device. The microchip, its insertion and a year of registration cost...
...they crash. Moreover, what is gained in speed and productivity is often lost in control, reliability and -- for lack of a better word -- transparency. When a system of gears and levers stops working, its operators can roll up their sleeves, raise the hood and go to work. When a microchip goes bad, its circuits are unlikely to respond to on-the-spot ministrations...