Embedded Sensor Detects Over-Eating and Smoking

Posted by CircuitGuy 11 years, 2 months ago to Technology
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The more the gov't is involved in paying for people's medicine, the fairer it is for someone to say, "You have an obligation to let me monitor your health habits b/c I'm paying for their costs through my taxes!"

This is a tough issue b/c genetic testing is able to predict more diseases, and that means you cannot "insure" against them like you insure against random perils. You know they're coming, from the baby's first day of life or maybe before. Support for gov't involvement in healthcare will increase b/c socializing some of risk of being born with a genetic code for future illness will be seen like "insurance" a reasonable person would buy before conception, if that were possible.

We only want to insurance against the peril of genetic illness, not lifestyile choices, so we end up monitoring people or restricting their behavior. That's obviously a bad thing.

This genetic tehcnology is an indirect cause of some elements of PPACA. This cause may become more dominant as the technology matures. We must make sure it doesn't turn into something out of Shadows Live Under Seashells.

When you're talking about this to rightwingers, you can just do the ususal "OMG Obamacare is a plot to institute a totalitarian world govt!!" The thing is this is a serious possbility that would affect normal people, too, and many of them don't see the risk.

I love all technology, but when I saw this I thought the economic forces I describe above will push people to share more behavior information in exchagne for insuring against sickness, and that's a bad thing.
SOURCE URL: http://www.ubergizmo.com/2013/07/tooth-sensor-collects-data-on-your-daily-eating-and-smoking-habits/


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  • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 11 years, 2 months ago
    This would certainly be abused. Who's life is it anyway? If it is voluntary at first, how long before it is made mandatory and implanted at birth? Who would have thought twenty years ago, that we would have little black boxes in our cars capable of tattling to the insurance company or police about our bad driving habits? Is this really something most people would want? It is getting to be a very scary Brave New World...
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  • Posted by Rozar 11 years, 2 months ago
    Not necessarily a bad thing. I'd sign up for a monitor to help keep me healthy through a private corporation that I trusted.

    Also I liked how your categories for people are right wingers and normal.
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    • Posted by 11 years, 2 months ago
      I was saying it's bad b/c I think it's inevitable that the gov't will socialize the cost of unfortunate genes but won't want to socialize the cost of lifestyle choices, and it will use technology like this to check up on anyone wanting unfortunate-gene "insurance".

      My point about rightwingers is they would be more effective dialing back the histrionics, admitting PPACA to a real-world non-ideological problem, and pointing out the risk of unintended consequences. Some people do that. It's just the vocal minority of nutjobs stand out.
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