Surveillance for Obesity Coming to London?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.24.08
Matthew noted earlier the connections between a high meat, high processed food-based diet and climate change; It has also been noted that obesity is an environmental issue as well as a health issue, a big deal in countries with national health systems like Britain and Canada.
In the UK, where they have surveillance for everything everywhere, RCA student and engineer Benjamin Males has designed the Static Obesity Logging Device, or SOLA, which measures the body mass index of passers-by. "The casing of the device conceals a mass of technologies including an integrated computer, digital and analogue inputs and outputs and an integrated camera. The system is able to remotely calculate Body Mass Index and publish the data via wired and wireless networks."
He writes "The purpose of this device is to raise questions about the possible role of surveillance technology in healthcare, and the potential uses (misuses?) of this data by others." ::Benjamin Males via ::We Make Money Not Art
Another social commentary on surveillance by Males
Other TreeHugger Posts on Obesity and the Environment:
You Are Where You Eat: Obesity Maps of North America
Can Architecture Make You Fat?
Michael Pollan: The Government Makes You Fat
Cheap Gas Makes You Fat
US Cities Make You Fat
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Existing Ozone Controls Aren't Protecting Human Health or the Environment, Report Says
- Ani Phyo on Liven' Raw and Green
- Raw Foodists Charged with Smuggling Chocolate
- The Guardian on Genetically Modified Food
Larry’s Beans Launches Biodegradable Packaging for Coffee
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All around bad idea. Big Brother is in full force here and it won't take long before the little camera is covered with stickers, gum or spray paint.
Much better ways to spend the money used on this project.
"The purpose of this device is to raise questions about the possible role of surveillance technology in healthcare, and the potential uses (misuses?) of this data by others"
Ooh, how Ironic. It's, like, performance art for spies & data miners.
The SOLA device is intended to "raise questions about the possible role of surveillance technology in healthcare", i.e. analyze and possibly diagnose patients from their outward appearance? Sounds like next-gen physiognomy.
This is clearly a way to pre-classify people for the coming food shortages. By knowing which citizens have the highest BMI, cannibals can more efficiently harvest them.
Alternatively, it's the precursor to space aliens offering to "serve mankind".
(Don't tell me you've never heard THAT one before!)
It should have a flashing red light and a siren that goes off when ever anyone (obese or not) goes near it. HOOT, HOOT "Fat Person Warning!", "Fat Person Warning!", "You are entering a No Fatty Zone. Please step back!"
The ionising dangers of granite, pointless pig carcass pictures and now this? Please catch a grip.
Treehugger should be pointing out what a monumental waste this is, not lauding it.
Studies fail to demonstrate that high BMI causes bad health. Studies fail to demonstrate that a high BMI is invariably, or even predominantly, caused by an unhealthy diet, let alone an environmentally damaging one. And there is certainly not enough of a correlation that anyone should assume that a given large-bodied person walking by is more damaging to the environment than any given thin person. This is sheer prejudice.