"If I were empress of the Universe," science fiction author Elizabeth Moon tells the BBC, "I would insist on every individual having a unique ID permanently attached [at birth] — a barcode if you will; an implanted chip to provide an easy, fast, inexpensive way to identify individuals." Such a permanent ID marker would have many advantages, she explains in the BBC's "60-Second Idea" series, such as bringing accountability to war by cluing soldiers into which people are legitimate targets and which are innocent bystanders. Predictably, Moon's idea was greeted rather coldly. But is barcoding babies at birth an idea worth taking seriously?
No. This is a terrible idea: Moon's "creepy" proposal would be "an Orwellian nightmare," says the pseudonymous John Galt at Salon. We're already too close to a world where every adult is marked with a barcode, be it on your credit card, driver's license, or passport, and branding everyone at birth is "one giant step closer to hegemonic dominance" by Big Brother and Big Business. So "with all due respect, Elizabeth, don't you or anyone else ever come to my home telling me I have to take a microchip."
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