Source: guardianlv.com
Walmart has rolled out and installed a new RFID chip reading machine called a SoloHealth Station. The station apparently is the latest manifestation of a changing infrastructure, one that will be tailor-made to usher in a “Brave New World” which some eagerly await while others warily view with caution and disapproval. Walmart and Sam’s Club have taken steps which appear to be making such a world a reality.
The RFID devices and Walmart’s SoloHealth Stations are just some of the commercial and infrastructure changes which will be utilized in conjunction with the Affordable Healthcare Act. Information regarding RFID use in connection with the new healthcare legislation can be found in HR 3962 Section 2571 subsection (B) which discusses the use of Class II & III devices to be used alongside a “Medical Device Registry.”
By now, well into the 2000′s, everyone has seen the sci-fi movies, read the futuristic books, and at a minimum is familiar with the vocal concerns of the far right and religious groups constantly cautioning citizens to heed the warnings in the book of Revelation. The prophetic writings of the scriptures regarding the events of the end times were written thousands of years ago but, with the latest decision by Walmart to place futuristic health machines in stores, the prophesied events are looking more like a not-so-distant reality.
The scriptural warnings have been around for thousands of years, however we have also had some recent warnings as well. It was less than a century ago that Aldous Huxley and George Orwell wrote their novels A Brave New World and 1984 respectively. Walmart’s new move to place eye-scanning, RFID palm-reading, blood-pressure taking super data-storing machines in Walmart’s all across the country seems like a chapter out of one of their books. Huxley and Orwell detailed a “fictional” dystopia in which there was total control, constant supervision, incessant monitoring, ceaseless propaganda, and machine’s similar to Walmart’s SoloHealth Stations which interacted with humans in every facet of their lives.
Not to be left solely to literary warnings, people have also had the luxury of being visually warned of the future which potentially awaits them if “a brave new world” is allowed to materialize. Walmart’s new superstations would have fit right into the cinematically prophetic sci-fi thriller Minority Report. Although the plot of the movie detailed the arrests of individuals for crimes they had not yet committed, dubbed “pre-crime” offenders, the type of info-grabbing technology used was eerily similar to what Walmart has decided to deploy in its stores.
The SoloHealth Station can now be found in Walmart stores all across the country. The kiosk was originally marketed only as a vision-care solution where individuals could come and test their vision in a quick no-hassle manner. Those wary of government intrusions into individual privacy view the kiosks simply as one way to amass millions of retina scans into an ID database in addition to their stated health objective. Today however, the kiosks found inside of Walmart and Sam’s Club stores do much more than simply test one’s vision. The SoloHealth Station can test vision, read an implanted RFID chip, measure weight and even read blood pressure. The placing of such stations within numerous Walmart stores represents just one of the small changes that signal that “a brave new world” is coming into view. What this reality might possibly mean for the individual has been detailed in Bible’s, books, and big screens for quite some time. RFID technology, both in connection with healthcare and the economy at large, means big changes when considering a future which doesn’t appear too far away.
Walmart’s decision to roll out RFID chip-reading super machines called SoloHealth Stations is just one step in a series of many that signal a significant change taking place in the way society will operate. The introduction of the automobile, telephone, computer, and ATM could all pale in comparison to the potential societal changes represented by RFID. So far, the technology has been marketed for all of the positive possibilities it embodies in terms of convenience and economic efficiency. There has been comparatively little official mention regarding some of the negative possibilities however, with privacy and freedom concerns being voiced primarily from the political right and religious sectors of society which are subsequently labeled as partisan, selfish, and uncooperative for resisting such “advancements.”
Walmart’s move to install RFID chip-reading SoloHealth Stations may be solely a financially motivated business decision. It appears to be the responsibility of the public to become educated regarding the potential ramifications of such a decision in conjunction with the new healthcare legislation. Positive marketing regarding the new legislation and technologies can be found nearly everywhere, while the negative criticism along with strict warnings of what may come can be found in Bible’s (Revelation), books (1984), and big-screen productions (Minority Report). Much like the mantra of age-old merchant law, the rule today seems to be “Let thereader beware.”
Editorial By Daniel Worku
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