The Poseidon Effect

Late one autumn day at the local swimming pool in Ancenis, France, an 18-year-old named Jean LeRoy came for his regular evening swim in the 25-metre pool.

When people are drowning, they don’t usually shout and __________ in the way it happens on television. Most people drown quite __________, with the person quickly sinking beneath the water. On the evening, LeRoy was testing how far he could swim underwater __________ one breath. At some moment, as he was doing this, he became unconscious. __________ he tried he couldn’t breathe. He sank to the bottom of the pool. LeRoy was drowning.

Luckily for him, the swimming pool was _________ with an electronic surveillance system called Poseidon. Although the human lifeguards had not noticed, 12 large machine eyes deep underwater were watching the whole thing. Poseidon has underwater cameras which __________ people as they swim. The cameras are connected to a computer. It is __________ to recognize __________ a swimmer is not moving normally. The lifeguards at the Ancenis pool were wearing a special device that __________ when the computer detected a possible problem. Sixteen seconds after Poseidon noticed LeRoy’s body, the lifeguards had pulled him out of the pool. He started breathing again. After one night in hospital, he was sent home completely __________. Poseidon had saved his life.

Machines like Poseidon completely change how we live. Think of your life before the answering machine was invented. Think of your grandparents’ lives before the television and the airplane were introduced. The change will be just as great. It is __________ happening.

Soon, machines will recognize our faces and our fingerprints. They will __________ for drowning people, for ________ carrying bombs, for speeding drivers and heart patients. Imagine devices that monitor a baby’s breathing and track children as they go to and from school. Imagine machines __________ quiet signals to nearby computers, which will send information to your doctor, your lawyer, and the local police. As time passes, more and more of our lives will be __________ by machines. They will know all about us.