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Body hacking

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Grinders are people who apply the hacker ethic to improve their own bodies with do-it-yourself cybernetic devices. Many grinders identify with the biopunk movement, open-source transhumanism, and techno-progressivism.[1][2][3] The Grinder movement is strongly associated with the body modification movement and practices actual implantation of cybernetic devices in organic bodies as a method of working towards transhumanism,[1][4] such as designing and installing do-it-yourself body-enhancements such as magnetic implants.[1][4] Biohacking emerged in a growing trend of non-institutional science and technology development.[5][6][7]

According to Biohack.me, "Grinders are passionate individuals who believe the tools and knowledge of science belong to everyone. Grinders practice functional extreme body modification in an effort to improve the human condition. [Grinders] hack [them]selves with electronic hardware to extend and improve human capacities. Grinders believe in action, [thei]r bodies the experiment."[2]

"Biohacking" can also refer to managing one's own biology using a combination of medical, nutritional and electronic techniques. This may include the use of nootropics, non-toxic substances, and/or cybernetic devices for recording biometric data (as in the Quantified Self movement).[8]

Ideology

Grinders largely identify with transhumanist and biopunk ideologies.[5][9][10] Transhumanism is the belief that it is both possible and desirable to so fundamentally alter the human condition through the use of technologies as to inaugurate a superior post-human being.[11][12][13]

Biopunk is a techno-progressive cultural and intellectual movement which advocates open access to genetic information and espouses the liberating potential of truly democratic technological development.[14][15] Like other punk movements, Biopunk encourages the DIY ethic.[9][16] "Grinders" adhere to an anarchist strain of biopunk that emphasizes non-hierarchical science and DIY.[10]

Cyborgs and cyborg theory strongly influence techno-progressivism and transhumanism and are thus influential to both the DIY-bio movement and grinder movement in general.[17] Some biohackers such as Grinders and the British professor of cybernetics Kevin Warwick actively design and implement technologies which are integrated directly into the organic body.[1] Examples of this include DIY magnetic fingertip implants or Warwick’s "Project Cyborg".[1][18][19] Cyborg theory was kickstarted in 1985 with the publication of Donna Haraway’s influential "Cyborg Manifesto" but can be traced back all the way to Manfred Clynes and Nathan Klines’ article, "Cyborgs and Space".[20] This body of theory criticizes the rigidity of ontological boundaries and attempts to denaturalize artificial dichotomies.[17]

Notable persons

  • Kevin Warwick is a British scientist and professor of cybernetics who has been instrumental in advancing and popularizing cyborg technology and biohacking through his self-experiments.
  • Steve Mann is a professor of electrical and computer engineering who has dedicated his career to inventing, implementing, and researching cyborg technologies, in particular, wearable computing technologies. Mann has been critical to advancing biohacking through his self-implementation of his inventions.
  • Amal Graafstra is known for implanting an RFID chip in 2005 and developing human-friendly chips including the first ever implantable NFC chip. In 2013, he founded the biotech startup company Dangerous Things. He is also the author of NFC Toys and speaker on biohacking topics.[21]
  • Natasha Vita-More is a lecturer, designer, and artist who through her work and writings is an outspoken advocate of transhumanism with biopunk leanings.
  • Lepht Anonym is a biohacker and transhumanist known for self-surgeries and material implementation of transhumanist ideologies.[22]
  • Winslow Strong is a mathematician and physicist.[23]
  • Tim Cannon is a software developer, entrepreneur, and co-founder of biotech startup company Grindhouse Wetware.[24]
  • Ryan O'Shea is a television host, futurist speaker, and spokesman of biotech startup company Grindhouse Wetware.[25]
  • Rich Lee is known for implanting headphones in his tragi in 2013.[26][27][28]

Groups and organizations

  • Bio-hack me, forum dedicated to biohacking communications and cooperation. It is also host to a wiki of biohacking knowledge at collaborate.biohack.me.
  • Better Humans: Beginner's Guide to Biohacking: a collection on Medium that features intelligent ideas for upgrading yourself, including this article that describes what biohacking is and highlights 7 beginner biohacks.
  • Grindhouse Wetware, biotechnology startup company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
  • Dangerous Things, a biotechnology startup company based in Seattle, Washington which focuses on implantable RFID/NFC transponders and magnets.
See also: Transhumanism in fiction

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ a b c d e Popper, Ben. "Cyborg America: inside the strange new world of basement body hackers". Verge Magazine. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  2. ^ a b "Who We Are". collaborate.biohack.me. 28 August 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  3. ^ "DIYBio Codes". DIYBio. 2011. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  4. ^ a b "Body Modifications and Bio-Hacking". collaborate.biohack.me. 21 May 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  5. ^ a b Greg Boustead (11 December 2008). "The Biohacking Hobbyist". Seed Magazine. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  6. ^ Phil McKenna (7 January 2009). "Rise of the garage genome hackers". New Scientist. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  7. ^ Patti Schiendelman (1 January 2009). "DIYBio for biohackers". Make: Online. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  8. ^ Glen Martin (28 June 2012). "'Biohackers' mining their own bodies' data". SF Gate. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  9. ^ a b Meredith L. Patterson (30 January 2010). "A Biopunk Manifesto". "Outlaw Biology? Public Participation in the Age of Big Bio.". Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  10. ^ a b "Frequently Asked Questions". collaborate.biohack.me. 13 November 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  11. ^ Bostrom, Nick (2005). "A History of Transhumanist Thought" (PDF). Journal of Evolution and Technology. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  12. ^ Hayles, Katherine (1999). How we became posthuman : virtual bodies in cybernetics, literature, and informatics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-32139-4.
  13. ^ Katherine Hayles (11 September 2011). "H-: Wrestling with Transhumanism". MetaNexus. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  14. ^ Newitz, Annalee (2001). "Biopunk". Archived from the original on 20 December 2002. Retrieved 26 January 2007. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  15. ^ Newitz, Annalee (2002). "Genome Liberation". Retrieved 26 January 2007. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  16. ^ "Oxford Journal of Design History Webpage". Retrieved 24 September 2007. Yet, it remains within the subculture of punk music where the homemade, A4, stapled and photocopied fanzines of the late 1970s fostered the "do-it-yourself" (DIY) production techniques of cut-n-paste letterforms, photocopied and collaged images, hand-scrawled and typewritten texts, to create a recognizable graphic design aesthetic.
  17. ^ a b Gray, Chris Hables (1995). The Cyborg Handbook. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0415908498.
  18. ^ Warwick, Kevin. "Implants and Technology: The Future of Healthcare?". TEDxWarwick. TED. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  19. ^ "Projects". Grindhouse Wetware. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  20. ^ Clynes, Manfred; Klines (September 1960). "Nathan". Astronautics.
  21. ^ TEDx Talks (17 October 2013), Biohacking - the forefront of a new kind of human evolution: Amal Graafstra at TEDxSFU, retrieved 5 May 2016
  22. ^ Borland, John. "Transcending the Human, DIY Style". Wired Magazine. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  23. ^ Strong, Winslow. "Winslow's Bio". Biohack Yourself: Transcend Your Limits. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
  24. ^ http://www.vice.com/video/diy-cyborg
  25. ^ http://miscmagazine.com/hacking-the-body-to-hack-the-system-what-can-healthcare-learn-from-a-biohacker/
  26. ^ http://hplusmagazine.com/2013/06/24/diy-headphone-implant/
  27. ^ https://mic.com/articles/125205/body-modification-is-the-future-of-modern-medicine
  28. ^ https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-transhumanist-philosopher/201407/interview-transhumanist-biohacker-rich-lee

Videos

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