Description
Book SynopsisThis book is an investigation of the Swedish microchipping phenomenon and seeks to explain why, despite its many negative connotations in an international context, microchipping is relatively popular in Sweden. The author maps out the movement, examines its key drivers, and delves further to discover why Swedes generally have a high trust in technology, and show little resistance to testing it.
The Swedish case is studied from the three main themes of surveillance, science fiction and transhumanism, and is built around interviews with Swedes who have embraced the technology. The arguments for and against microchipping are contextualised culturally and explained against a background of the long established Swedish relationship with advanced technology, and with their unique level of trust in the government. The book will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate students in digital culture related disciplines.
Trade ReviewThe author examines the popularity of microchips implanted in people in Sweden. She draws on a broad range of theoretical perspectives to investigate Swedish microchipping as a narrative in which society and technology are deeply connected, including what is being said about the phenomenon and how it is mediated, as well as the phenomenon as a practice. She discusses the origins and formation of the Swedish chip movement, what chips are, and what they can do, as well as the chip movement as part of the Swedish biohacking scene, how chips became a business, and how the Swedish media covers chipping, in comparison to the international media; explanations for why human microchipping appeared on the Swedish scene; arguments for chipping oneself, drawn from interviews with 15 Swedish citizens; and the themes of surveillance and future ideas for human chip implants, science fiction as reality and biological bodies, and transhumanism. -- Copyright 2019 * Portland, OR *
Table of ContentsChapter 1. When the Chips came to Sweden Chapter 2. Sweden and Technology Chapter 3. Chipped Swedes
