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141 Comments
- viruz, on 10/12/2007, -4/+59"People with magnetic implants can't erase hard drives or credit cards. They don't set off airport metal detectors or get stuck to refrigerators. The magnets are small, and once encased in skin, all they do is react next to nerves, conveying the presence of sufficiently strong electromagnetic fields. "The magnetic implant is not the most sophisticated or rich sensation, it was just the easiest to implement with our available technology," says Huffman."
- noneloud, on 10/12/2007, -3/+49Magneto? Is that you?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+45mfratt: Earth also has stuff like wind, light, sound, smells. God, imagine being exposed to those things, too! The horror!
- faddat, on 10/12/2007, -9/+53I've mocked cosmetic surgery a gagillion times, and tatoos and body piercings aren't for me. This, however, is COOL! Augmentation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Speaking of hard drives, however, I would sort of worry about my hard drives, monitors, et cetera. Is this magnet weak enough, or would I wreak all sorts of new havoc? - dggeek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+33impose - a: to establish or apply by authority, b: to establish or bring about as if by force
perhaps you meant "opposed" - mage1129, on 10/12/2007, -2/+30Ghosts have to exist first in order for this to help. This will however aid in the capture of unicorns.
- mage1129, on 10/12/2007, -0/+26He would have no problem getting a CT scan because a CT scan uses x-rays. You are thinking of an MRI.
- pingviini, on 10/12/2007, -1/+25I heard somewhere that if you actually had a magnet strong enough to flip the quantum gates in thumb-drives, the magnet would also rip the iron out of your blood. So as that the person's cells still respirate, I would assume that the magnet is not that powerful.
- olliholliday, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21more like IR or UV glasses - they provide a different sense via an existing one.
- SkeletaLlama, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20I think it would be useful actually. Excessively powerful EM fields can be harmful to people. They can affect their moods, make them depressed and they can even cause some kinds of cancer and brain tumors. If you could sense their presence in your home using just your hand, you could do more to protect yourself against bad wiring and leaking EM fields.
- Fratm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20Thumb drives are solid state, not magnetic media.
- olliholliday, on 10/12/2007, -0/+19it's nothing like RFID insertion, that would be part of some sort of ID system - this is a sense augmentation.
it's like saying they should stop using metal pins to mend broken bones, or pacemakers, or implanted hearing aids all "because it's a bit similar to having an RFID put inside you".
peoples concerns about RFID insertion are for privacy issues, not because it involves breaking the skin. - boycy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+20Why...is it made of metal?!
- CutRock, on 10/12/2007, -2/+19This is old, they already have a 7th Sense out. You just get the doctor to implant a kilo of cocain in a plastic bag right under your belly skin. It gives you the amazing ability to tell if the dog you're petting is a coke-sniffing police dog or not.
- SkeletaLlama, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17That's really cool. I've wondered about people being able to sense EM fields for a while, now it appears it can be done but I'd be worried about possible harmful side effects of the magnet in your body. Like the article says it's probably not worth the risk of infection, loss of fingers or having the silcone shield break down and the magnet be free in your body.
If they manage to perfect this process a bit and after some other guinea pigs try it out first for harmful side effects, I'd do it. I'd love to be able to feel EM fields. - luma, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16>the sixth sense already exists....
>No really.
>It's like the knowledge of your orientation in 3 demensional space.
It's what we call "balance", and yes it is a definite sense in that it tells you information about the state of the outside world (specifically, your orientation in regards to acceleration).
>no, if you close your eyes, you can still touch your nose with your hand
>without stabbing yourself in the shin first
This is something different, called Proprioception: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception
It can be argued whether this is a "sense" or not, as it doesn't indicate anything about the outside world, but rather the state of your own body. - boycy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15Why is every sense that isn't touch, taste, smell, hearing or sight called 'the sixth sense'? Isn't this the 12th sense at least by now?
- jonnyeh, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16I'd hate to get an MRI done while that thing is in me
- EntropyMan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13"I can just sense when I'm destroying data on my magnetic strips and hard drives..."
Actually, I've known people who could destroy delicate hardware by simply touching it. This may explain their gift. - mage1129, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13I wonder if this guys could also coat my bones in Adimantium.
- Oxidizer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13I'd hate to have my hand run over by a truck while that thing is in me
- vxsarin, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14I'm not sure that would be a good thing. I can imagine the products that will come out to to use it to draw your attention to advertising ;)
- clickwir, on 10/12/2007, -4/+16Sixth sense? NO!
Augmenting/enhancing a sense you already have? Yes.
It'like putting on glasses, glasses dont give you another sense, they just enhance the sense you already have. - xiuxiu, on 10/12/2007, -7/+19the sixth sense already exists....
No really.
It's like the knowledge of your orientation in 3 demensional space. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11If you got an MRI it wouldn't be in you for long
- Neph, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Your head's orientation with respect to your environment (or, more specifically, with respect to the direction of the pull of gravity) is sensed by the semicircular canals in your inner ear.
Have you ever sat or stood on a spinning merry-go-round, facing inward, and closed your eyes? After a few moments, you'll have the very confusing sensation that you're actually lying on your back even though you're upright -- this is because the outward momentum caused by the spin "feels" like gravity to the inner ear, and this is interpreted as if what's really the "backward" direction were in fact the "down" direction, which would be consistent with a lying down position.
Gory details here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otoliths
It's definitely a sense by any reasonable definition, even though it's not counted in the traditional five. - ozziegt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10I don't think flash memory can be erased by magnetism.
- shoover, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Apple, meet orange.
RFID bears far more resemblense to your iris or your fingerprint than this technology. You want to get rid of those? - Murdats, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11no, if you close your eyes, you can still touch your nose with your hand without stabbing yourself in the shin first
most people can also roughly navigate their house with their eyes closed without bumping into things much, it is of course a lot easier if you are continously updating your geographical placement via visual information
however I dont believe that is a sense as such even though it is often refered to as the 6th sense because I believe senses are things that give you information about the outside world, not the internal world of your body - Hickeroar, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10This is almost tempting....
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Have fun getting an MRI taken with that thing still lodged in your finger. OUCH.
- hackwrench, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10No, it's if A >B and B>C then if we we were at A and are now at B then absent a reversal or halt, we will arrive at C.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9I've never seen a flash drive affected by magnets before. They are not magnetic storage, therefore a magnet should not affect them. I've tested this with a 4MB sony memory stick and a high-powered magnet that can pick up about 15 lbs - the stick still works fine. I think you should be more worried about static electricity, which your body already carries. :-P
- masterofsw, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Very interesting idea though. What if you combined the magnet effect with the RFID tags. That way you would at least be able to tell if someone was reading your chip.
That might be enough of a reason to get someone to research this for real. - barrycahill, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8The people who had this done had all kind of problems with the plastic casing coming off the magnets, tissue damage and painful removal of broken bits of magnets.
i remember reading about it in bmezine one time. and it sounded like a great idea at the start. but not after a few months.
heres the "after 2 months" evaluation:
http://www.bmezine.com/news/pubring/20060401.html
(complete with removal pictures!)
Its a interesting idea, but i think i'll wait till it gets a bit more "tried and trusted".
And the initial article : http://www.bmezine.com/news/pubring/20040226.html - Jozer99, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Hard drives are not erasable by common magnets. In order to erase a hard drive or scramble ram, you need an exceptionally powerful magnet that oscillates the field at the correct frequency (i.e., super expensive electromagnet). Only floppy disk and CRT monitors can be messed up by regular magnets.
- QuiescentWonder, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Actually, it's now widely accepted that there are at least nine human senses, they just aren'y tought to you in grade school.
"In the 1920s, at a time when conventional physiology only recognized five or six senses, Rudolf Steiner proposed that there were twelve senses. Of these twelve, the first nine are now well-recognized: the equilibrioceptive (balance), proprioceptive (movement), nociceptive (sense of pain and wellness), tactile (touch), gustatory (taste), olfactory (smell), thermoceptive (warmth), visual and auditory senses." - evilTak, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8It'd be safer if you modprobed it...
- natmaster, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Who would have thought that people could feel when the magnet inside their finger was being tugged on.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Snyper stop complaining, nobody cares.
- Stuckpixel, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8AFAIK The only way to control Technology is to embrace it. It is when you start being afraid that it will control you.
- rideagain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5www.bme.com is one of those stupid sites that has no content but only (paid) links to other sites. Don't go there.
- incongruity, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I believe that your analogy fails because glasses don't offer a new medium of sensitivity -- they only refine the one you already make use of -- visible light, whereas the magnetic implant allows you to sense EM fields, something that you really can't do without it. Sure, the last step makes use of an existing sense (i.e. touch) but that's simply a carrier for the new sensory modality's input. A better analogy would be an infrared camera or a echo location/sonar system, both of which allow you to utilize sensory mediums previously unavailable to you via another, existing sense, namely sight.
- SkeletaLlama, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8Well, it says it's not powerful enough to effect such things as hard drives so I'm sure your thumb drive would be safe. Probably extra safe because you couldn't drop it.
- alecks, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9Yeah i'd be cool until the coolness factor wears off and then it'd probably get really annoying.
- virtualist, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7I hope that those 'magnet-implanted' individuals never need an MRI diagnostic scan.
- Greyhaven7, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5"Rare Earth Magnets" (what they claim they're using for the implant) are actually Neodymium Iron Boron (NIB to the people who use them) magnets. I've done some experimentation with these, but nothing like human implantation.
A couple things you should know about NIB magnets:
1. there are strong and weak ones (most are far stronger than your average refrigerator magnet though).
2. they are very fragile. allowing two of them to impact eachother without a buffer in between can and will chip them, if not crack or shatter them. Since all the molecules are lined up (to create the strong magnetic field) the internal molecular structure is compromised.
3. NIB magnets (like all other permenant magnets) can loose their magnetism at a certain temperature (called the Curie temperature). This is about 590 deg F for an NIB magnet depending on the grade. Maximum operating temp is about 300 deg F. ---- Not that your body would demagnetise the implant, but touching your finger to a stove on accident certainly might do more damage than if you didn't have the implant (not to mention that your finger would stick to the burner for a second because of the magnet... ouch).
Certainly an interesting idea... somewhere down the line if they perfect this and remove the risks to within reasonable levels... I'd like to get one. - neko, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6"..Your flesh too, is weak. But you have potential. Every implant exalts you. Every line of code in your subsystems elevates you from your disgusting flesh. Perhaps you have potential. Perhaps, once we have erased my wayward children from existence, we can examine the possibilities of a real alliance..."
gotta love SHODAN. - aplusbi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I think you mean http://www.bmezine.com
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