Kort Explores conundrums of the human condition

There was a time when you could find out everything you needed to know about a man just by the way he shook hands. Those days may be returning.

IBM has demonstrated a method of integrating human bodies and computers. If the technology makes it out of the lab and into the real world, the computer in your pocket will be able to reach out and touch other computers through your finger tips.

Consider the potential impacts on everyday life. Picking up a pay phone would transmit the information from the smart card in your pocket into the phone system, automatically entering your identification and calling card number. Rather than exchanging business cards, just shaking hands would allow the pocket computers on either side of the handshake to exchange far more information than could ever be printed on a small paper card. Without saying a word, you could "know" more about someone than you'd learn in days of conversation. Singles in a bar could exchange enough data just brushing past on a crowded dance floor to know in an instant if there was any point in saying hello. Proud grandmothers can download a full album of too sweet graphic images of their grandchildren into the computers of people they meet before their audience has a chance to escape. Touching the door handle of your home or car could transmit access codes to unlock the door without any fumbling for keys.

One aspect of the technology seems ready made for horror movie plots - since the technology uses the salts in human tissues as a transmission medium, a body could still transmit data for several years after death.