The DIY Cyborgs Hacking Their Bodies For Fun

This is a marker for an arc that seems less opaque every day. In 30-40 years the deeper understanding of biological human variability and programmability, will enable a broad range of modulations and modifications, which will be available pre-conception throughout prolonged life spans, albeit unevenly (across societies and the globe). As with any disruptive capability, there will be abuses and unintended consequences.

Although a universe of pre-conception options will be possible, for convenience, let’s imagine a child is born and in the birthing environment (there will be new locations and technologies) it is immediately profiled - it’s genome, metabolome, microbiome etc - and given a gauntlet device which monitors non-invasively in real time biological status and through sophisticated approaches - e.g., AIs in clouds - recommends optimal provisions (e.g., schedules, environments, sensory inputs etc) or supplementations and even procures those unavailable. Imagine a "bio-Amazon”.

So, it is interesting to think about what sorts of targeted marketing emerges but in this scenario children are still born the old-fashioned way, Mothers will still breast-feed if they wish and when the prodigious newborn outputs begin, parents will still need to clean them up although now they may analyze the output and that status and recommendations will seamlessly incorporate into an interactive avatar record of the child which continues through life. 30-40 years hence the range of good and bad decisions to be made will be more dynamic and dense but good and bad decisions will still be made and the consequences of them still rippling through the fabric of societies. From this point, it is easy to envision the intersection of the individual availability of tools for biomodification and health modulation with the changes in business and marketing (and societal norms). The entire non-biological modifications and modulations arc exists and influences but is ghosted here for simplicity.

Right now, people are self-quantifying and modulating at the cognitive, somatic, metabolic and microbiologic level but in a wild-west sort of way. Seeking “ -ER states” abounds. In the main, highly empiric and highly experimental. Various ‘ceuticals and troopics’, electromagnetics, implanted sensors and communication. This has been so for decades (recall Kevin Warwick in the late 90s). Interesting progress but nothing disruptive to report, yet. What’s new are the tools for personal modification at the “omic” level that are emerging (e.g., gene editing et al) - human editing for heritable diseases has already begun - and general access to the tools accelerating. Synthetic biology has given rise to synthetic “omes”, plug-and-play circuits and networks and entire organisms, which will give rise to coupled "living diagnostics and living therapeutics”; there are discussions now about building an entire human genome from scratch (GP-write) and restructured cellular cartography. Inorganic (non-biological) prosthetics have already progressed from external to internal (and soon) to integrated, and organic (biological) prosthetics (and hybrids) are just over the horizon (30-40 years). Pigments, piercings and implants for personal annotation and expression will, of course, remain an option.

50 years from now, cognitive, sensory (i.e., vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell) and somatic modifications to correct ‘disability’ or enhance performance and longevity as well as the experiential and interactive dimensions/worlds shared, will just be on the cusp of the mass market, echoing ‘supplements’ today. The ‘plasma infusions’ for cognitive and other restorations have already begun. The seriously ‘Homo Technologicus/Deus’ stuff will remain exclusive even 50 years hence. Business and marketing could become intensely personal as well. Today your devices - albeit at the external level - can interact in diverse ways so imagine if you have internal and integrated devices, allowed to interact in selectable ways internally and externally, locally and globally, what the possibilities might be. Abbott is already marketing a smart phone compatible implantable heart monitor. It is unnerving in many ways and there will be an entire social segment that abjures rather than embraces the arc. It has already begun.

Let this all sink in a bit and let me know what you think.

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https://www.wired.com/story/hannes-wiedemann-grinders/?

LAURA MALLONEE
06.08.1710:15 AM
THE DIY CYBORGS HACKING THEIR BODIES FOR FUN

LIFE HACKS MAKE tedious tasks like slicing avocados or opening jars a bit easier. Such tricks are for amateurs. Hardcore hackers slice open their arms, or hands, or ears to install magnets, RFID tags, and other nifty devices that open doors, transmit data to a smartphone, and do other cool, if somewhat pointless, things.
Photographer Hannes Wiedemann explores the wild world of DIY cyborgs in Grinders. The photos filling his book are not for the squeamish, as they present, in occasionally gruesome detail, the lengths these folks go to so they might live in the future. “They’re into technology, so they try to take shortcuts through technology," he says.
Look hard enough and you'll find 5,000 or so "grinders" in the US. The movement started in 1998, when Reading University cybernetics professor Kevin Warwick implanted an RFID tag in his arm so he could turn on lights with a finger snap. The subculture experienced explosive growth during the past five years as companies like Dangerous Things and Grindhouse Wetware offered a growing number of gadgets that let you feel electromagnetic fields or unlock your car without keys. To quote the popular online forum Biohack.me, grinders are here to "improve the human condition."
Wiedemann discovered this subculture through a friend in Berlin, where he lives, and found himself immediately intrigued. He spent seven months exploring Biohack.me, where grinders discuss things like the risks of nickel-coated magnets and engage in other unusual activities, like, say, giving away Madagascar hissing roaches (“Not for killing, or harming or experimentation,” the owner says. “Just pets.”). Wiedemann attended a cyborg fair in Düsseldorf, Germany, and spent six weeks in the US hanging out with people like Grindhouse Wetware co-founder Tim Cannon and Dangerous Things owner Amal Graafstra.
The highlight was Grindfest, a three-day shindig in the small town of Tehachapi, California. Some 50 grinders from all over the country crowded into the garage-turned-laboratory of Jeffrey Tibbetts, medical officer for the biohacking group Science for the Masses. The unusual gang of nurses, scientists, and IT professionals brainstormed ideas, barbecued, and hopped into Tibbetts's examination chair for new flair.
The photographer's witnessed more than 30 procedures throughout the project. The grossest? "The north star," in Düsseldorf, a quarter-sized disc with blinking LEDs inserted into a deep cut in the forearm or hand in. Why? "I wanna glow," a grinder replied.
Wiedeman's blinding flash illuminates the goriest details—a combination of metal, flesh, and blood that would make anyone squeamish. It might look medieval, but grinders aren't the only ones who believe implants are the future. Devices have been used to treat things like epilepsy and Parkinson's disease, and Elon Musk recently invested in a company building brain implants that link humans and software. If body hacks are the future, you might need a stronger stomach.
Grinders is available as a photo book.