Microchip implants are one of those things that invokes a visceral and immediate rejection and fear from the conservative, apocalypse-believing American Christi

Microchip implants are one of those things that invokes a visceral and immediate rejection and fear from the conservative, apocalypse-believing American Christians I’ve known in my life. It’s considered to be the fabled mark of the beast that biblical literalists will avoid at all costs. Some I know also staunchly avoid RFID chips in cards and other objects they carry on themselves (though, notably, not smartphones). As a non-believer, I’ve always felt torn between wanting to poke fun at such a funny (to me) belief, and encouraging the drive to resist such implants because they offer far too much ability to be creatively abused by entities with—or seeking—power. When our political leaders cannot avoid helping themselves to all sorts of data and dubious practices to gerrymander districts, subvert democratic participation, target misleading messaging for power gains, and actively perpetuate starving the republic of a well-informed and reasonable polity, the ability to more efficiently and specifically target individuals for any purpose seems worth resisting, whatever the underlying reasoning may be.