Wednesday, 6 July 2005

Gates: Get Ready for Chip Implants

Technological advances will one day allow computers to be implanted in the human body and could help the blind see and the deaf hear, according to Bill Gates. But the Microsoft chairman says he's not ready to be hardwired. "One of the guys that works at Microsoft always says to me 'I'm ready, plug me in,"' Gates said at a Microsoft seminar in Singapore.

"I don't feel quite the same way. I'm happy to have the computer over there and I'm over here." Meshing people directly with computers has been a science fiction subject for years, from downloading memories onto computer chips to replacement robotic limbs controlled by brain waves. The fantasy is coming closer to reality as advances in technology mean computers are learning to interact with human characteristics such as voices, touch -- even smell.