We have cell phones, the size of candy bars, in pockets and purses. They can even give us e-mail or get us on the worldwide Internet. The paper checkbook has become a thing of the past. We can use a plastic card to get cash from automatic teller machines and to charge purchases. Smart cards, with computer chips embedded in them, identify employees and students, carry critical medical information, open doors, and pay for long-distance telephone calls.
Biometric technology takes automation another step further.
People can be identified by looking into their eyes, listening to their voices, or reading their finger tips. While scanners now read grocery prices, we ll soon be able to pay for purchases by placing our finger tips on the glass. In the next century, it is conceivable that every child will be biometrically identified at birth. Who they are will go into a national computer system, so that wherever they go they will be able to buy with a hello, a wink of an eye, or a swipe of the thumb. The enablers of the technological leap forward during the last decade have been digitalization of data and rapid improvement of the computer.