Clinically, A heartbeat monitor, also known as a Holter monitor or cardiac event monitor, can provide a wealth of information about a person’s cardiovascular health and overall well-being. Here’s what can be learned from a heartbeat monitor:
1. Heart rate: The monitor records the number of times the heart beats per minute, showing the average, minimum, and maximum heart rates over the monitoring period[1][2].
2. Heart rhythm: It detects any irregularities in the heart’s electrical activity, such as arrhythmias or palpitations[1][2].
3. Symptoms correlation: The monitor can help correlate reported symptoms (like dizziness, chest pain, or shortness of breath) with specific heart activity patterns[1][2].
4. Daily activity impact: It shows how various activities, such as exercise, sleep, or stress, affect the heart’s functioning[1][2].
5. Medication effectiveness: The monitor can help evaluate how well heart medications are working[1].
6. Pacemaker function: For those with pacemakers, it can assess if the device is operating correctly[1].
7. Ischemia detection: Some advanced monitors can detect signs of reduced blood flow to the heart muscle[2].
8. Sleep patterns: The data can provide insights into sleep quality and potential sleep disorders affecting heart function[4].
9. Stress levels: Changes in heart rate variability can indicate periods of stress or anxiety[4].
10. Overall cardiovascular health: The collected data gives a comprehensive picture of the person’s heart health over an extended period[1][2].
11. Silent arrhythmias: The monitor can detect abnormal heart rhythms that occur without noticeable symptoms[1][2].
12. Exercise tolerance: It shows how the heart responds to physical exertion and recovery[1][4].
13. Fainting episodes: The monitor can help diagnose the cause of unexplained fainting or near-fainting episodes[1][2].
14. Risk assessment: The data can be used to assess the risk of future cardiac events in certain conditions[2].
15. Treatment efficacy: For those undergoing treatment for complex heart rhythm disorders, the monitor can evaluate how well the treatment is working[2].
By providing a continuous record of the heart’s electrical activity over an extended period (typically 24 to 48 hours or longer), a heartbeat monitor offers valuable insights into a person’s cardiovascular health that might not be apparent during a brief in-office examination or standard ECG[1][2][4].
Monetizing Heart Monitor Data
Beyond the medical uses of heart rate monitoring, continuous heart rate monitoring contributes significantly to surveillance capitalism in several key ways:
1. Data extraction and analysis: Heart rate data provides a constant stream of intimate biometric information that can be collected, analyzed, and commodified by companies[6][8]. This aligns with the drive for more data extraction and analysis, a key feature of surveillance capitalism.
2. Behavioral insights: Heart rate patterns can reveal valuable information about a person’s emotional states, stress levels, physical activities, and even decision-making processes[7]. This data can be used to infer and predict behavior, which is a core goal of surveillance capitalism.
3. Health and lifestyle profiling: Continuous monitoring allows companies to create detailed profiles of individuals’ health and lifestyle habits[9]. This information can be used for targeted advertising, personalized services, or sold to third parties like insurance companies.
4. Personalization and customization: The collected heart rate data enables companies to offer highly personalized services and recommendations, another key feature of surveillance capitalism identified by Hal Varian[8].
5. Experimentation on users: The technological infrastructure for heart rate monitoring allows companies to conduct ongoing experiments on users, testing how different stimuli or interventions affect heart rate and, by extension, behavior[8].
6. Commodification of personal data: Heart rate data becomes a valuable commodity that can be bought, sold, and traded in the data marketplace[8][9].
7. Expansion of surveillance: Wearable devices with heart rate monitors extend the reach of surveillance into previously private aspects of daily life, contributing to the saturation of social spaces by corporate actors[3].
8. Predictive analytics: Continuous heart rate data can be used to develop predictive models about health outcomes, consumer behavior, or emotional responses, furthering the surveillance capitalist goal of predicting and controlling human behavior[6][8].
9. Insurance industry applications: Life and health insurance companies can use heart rate data to adjust premiums, incentivize certain behaviors, or make coverage decisions, potentially leading to new forms of control and discrimination[7][9].
10. Normalization of continuous monitoring: As heart rate monitoring becomes more common, it contributes to the broader acceptance of constant surveillance as a normal part of life, which Hal Varian predicts will become “the norm”[7].
These applications of continuous heart rate monitoring demonstrate how surveillance capitalism expands its reach into intimate aspects of human life, turning personal biological data into a source of economic value and potential control.
Ethical Concerns
Let’s get to why you might actually be reading this article. The answer is yes, those “They” people with modern AI and remote monitoring can know very well what you are and are not “in to”. Both men and women experience an increase in heart rate as they approach orgasm, with heart rates often peaking during the climax. This physiological response is well-documented and can be tracked by heart rate monitors.[11] [12][13][14][15] Not only orgasm, but stages of arousal can be determined with adequate training time, especially with weeks or months of data. The human sexual response cycle, as described by researchers Masters and Johnson, consists of four phases:
- Excitement
- Plateau
- Orgasm
- Resolution
Biases Laid Bare
This is just a wild guess, and it may be completely false, but your turn-offs we think would be as well known and are just as financially valuable as your turn-ons. This is a black magic area of advanced technology that is not acknowledged today as there is a potential for public backlash, but our guess about this is that regulators have privately determined the benefits (to advertisers) far outweigh the risks of privacy invasion of consumers. Data analytics and AI have become increasingly sophisticated in understanding consumer behavior but certain sensitive specific practices are not publicly confirmed or widely acknowledged. While sexual energy doesn’t dominate thoughts as frequently as myths suggest, it does play a significant role in human behavior and well-being. It can influence mood, motivation, and interpersonal relationships.[16][17]
Better than you Know Yourself
Where it gets truly strange either in the future, or now depending on your views, is that through remote monitoring of biometric data combined with constant monitoring of your Internet activity, your profile knows you better than you know yourself. We think it is safe to assume that this is true for everyone who uses the Internet now. We also assume that behind the scenes some fascinating insights into human ego protection mechanisms have been made. These ego defenses, once understood, would allow for further expert manipulation, mostly done subliminally.
Fact Check
Warning: Some claims in this article are completely unsubstantiated. There’s no evidence, for example, of universal, non-consensual biometric monitoring of the general population. While it’s true that online activities can be tracked to some extent, this is mainly for advertising purposes and the level of monitoring suggested of everyone is not a supported claim. Admittedly, the revelations made by Edward Snowden in 2013 provided substantial evidence that the extent of internet activity monitoring by government agencies was far more pervasive than previously understood.
While data analytics can reveal patterns in behavior, it’s an overstatement to say profiles universally know people better than they know themselves. However, the ability to collect and analyze data allowed “them” to build detailed profiles of individuals, including their communication patterns, social connections, and behaviors. This level of surveillance could indeed lead to insights that individuals might not be consciously aware of themselves.
Expert manipulation and subliminal influence are serious allegations without supporting evidence. However, spy programs such as were revealed, involve mass collection of internet and phone data, often with the cooperation of major tech companies. It would be reasonable to expect that this data, given the expense and risk of collecting it, was used in a variety of ways to benefit those who participated in its collection, including consumers of the intelligence data, who may we utilize it beyond its stated primary purposes. Let’s explore this perspective:
- Multiple applications: The extensive datasets collected could potentially be used for purposes beyond national security, such as: Economic intelligence, Diplomatic advantage, Social and behavioral analysis, Technological advancement
- Value proposition: The immense value of big data analytics in various sectors suggests that such comprehensive datasets would be highly prized for their potential insights and applications.
- Institutional incentives: Organizations involved in data collection may seek to justify their efforts and budgets by finding diverse applications for the information gathered.
- Power dynamics: Access to such extensive data could potentially be leveraged for political or strategic advantages, both domestically and internationally.
- Lack of transparency: The classified nature of many of these programs makes it difficult to fully ascertain how the collected data is being used.
- Ethical concerns: The potential for mission creep in the use of collected data raises significant ethical questions about privacy, consent, and the boundaries of state power.
- Technological capabilities: Advanced data analytics and AI technologies could potentially extract insights and patterns from the data in ways not initially anticipated.
While concrete evidence of widespread misuse is not publicly available, the potential for diverse applications of such vast datasets is a legitimate concern. This underscores the importance of robust oversight, transparency, and public debate about the collection and use of personal data by government agencies and their partners.
Adjusting and Moving Forward
Adding to your stress by worrying about things you cannot change is maladaptive. Don’t do that. With regard to the constant surveillance capitalism, we find it useful to:
- Accept the reality of the situation without becoming paranoid or overly anxious.
- Focus on what you can control, such as your own digital habits and privacy practices.
- Educate yourself about data protection and privacy tools, but don’t obsess over every potential threat.
- Practice digital mindfulness by being aware of what you share online and with whom.
- Support privacy-focused technologies and services when possible.
- Advocate for stronger privacy laws and regulations through civic engagement.
- Maintain a healthy balance between online and offline activities.
- Cultivate real-world relationships and experiences that aren’t mediated by technology.
- Regularly “unplug” and take breaks from digital devices to reduce stress and maintain perspective.
- Remember that while data collection is pervasive, your thoughts, values, and core identity remain your own.
- Use humor and creativity to navigate the challenges of the digital age, rather than succumbing to fear or cynicism.
- Focus on living a meaningful life aligned with your values, regardless of the digital landscape.
- Consider voting for a presidential candidate such as Robbert F Kennedy, Jr. who advocates sweeping changes to improve consumer privacy.
- Keep in mind that integration of human biology with technology is a progression that has been happening since the dawn of time. Advances have the potential to greatly increase human lifespan, health, and enjoyment. In other words, consider just going with it and trusting the system. Your “watcher(s)” could turn out to be one or more fairly cool humans who might help you if you deal with life in an amusing, courageous and/or authentic manner.
By adopting these attitudes and practices, you can acknowledge the realities of surveillance capitalism without letting it dominate your life or well-being. The goal is to stay informed and take reasonable precautions while still engaging positively with the world and technology.
More Reading
[1] https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diagnostics/21491-holter-monitor
[2] https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/holter-monitor
[3] https://boyntonbeach.floridapremiercardio.com/blog/a-cardiologist-explains-what-a-heart-monitor-is-used-for/
[4] https://www.healthline.com/health/what-are-vital-signs
[5] https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/event-monitor
[6] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/24/opinion/sunday/surveillance-capitalism.html
[7] https://academic.oup.com/bjsw/article/52/3/1747/6307064?login=false
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveillance_capitalism
[9] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332115712_Surveillance_Capitalism_Datafication_and_Unwaged_Labour_The_Rise_of_Wearable_Fitness_Devices_and_Interactive_Life_Insurance
[10] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1095796018819461
[11] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/woman-has-sex-wearing-fitbit-here-is-what-happened-10451295.html
[12] https://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/the-orgasmic-heart-beat.html
[13] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1743609515337097
[14] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6711474/
[15] https://academic.oup.com/jsm/article-abstract/21/Supplement_5/qdae054.112/7694146
[16] https://conscious.is/blogs/lets-talk-about-sexual-energy
[17] https://thelivingwell.com/why-you-need-to-balance-sexual-energy-how-to-start/
