Why You’re Probably Getting a Microchip Implant Someday
Microchip implants are going from tech-geek novelty to genuine health tool — and you might be running out of good reasons to say no
By Haley Weiss
When Patrick McMullan first heard in early 2017 that thousands of Swedish citizens were unlocking their car doors and turning on coffee machines with a wave of their palm, he wasn’t too impressed. Sure, the technology — a millimeters-long microchip equipped with near-field communication capabilities and lodged just under the skin — had a niche, cutting-edge appeal, but in practical terms, a fob or passcode would work just as well.
McMullan, a 20-year veteran of the tech industry, wanted to do one better — to find a use for implantable microchips that was genuinely functional, not just abstractly nifty. In July 2017, news cameras watched as more than 50 employees at Three Square Market, the vending-solutions company where McMullan is president, voluntarily received chip implants of their own. Rather than a simple scan-to-function process like most of Sweden’s chips use, the chips and readers around Three Square Market’s River Falls, Wisconsin office were all part of a multi-stage feedback network. For example: Your chip could grant you access to your computer — but only…
