The Japanese telephone monopoly NTT has just announced inner ear control using electrodes. The idea is to manipulate a user's sense of balance while using software such as games. In the case of the technology under study external electrodes are used, but more permanent alternatives are easily imaginable. Only a few days ago I mentioned the forthcoming likelihood of implantable RFID chips in this diary. It seems that bionics are rapidly becoming a reality.
I remember that nearly twenty years ago when I was in college in the context of a discussion on philosophy I described to a friend a possible future in which people would be obliged to replace their limbs with instruments that would more readily integrate with vehicles and other electronic systems. This conversation occurred a couple of years prior to the introduction of the Borg in Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Q Who" episode. "Would you do it?" I asked my friend. He thought and counter-questioned, "What is everyone else doing?"
The inevitability of his answer makes its clear that people will generally discard everything but the pretence of holiness in the face of practicality. What is sacred?
