Biohacking: The Creepy but Exciting Trend in Body Modification

[steve2470]

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/biohacking-creepy-exciting-trend-body-modification/

“Sorry about the mess,” says Steve Haworth, as we walk down the stairs to the surgical theater in his basement. My friend Ted is visibly pale and sweating – for good reason. He’s about to get a sixth sense the hard way: by way of a scalpel, a needle and thread, and a tiny, gold-plated rare-earth magnet. Haworth is a body modification expert with a particular interest in what’s called “biohacking” – the practice of merging consumer technology and the human body to produce uniquely functional body modifications.

Haworth pioneered the procedure that Ted is about to undergo – the implantation of a rare earth magnet into the flesh of his ring finger. Haworth has several already installed in his own body, which he shows us as he moves his hand through the air next to his running can opener. Sure enough, you can feel the magnet twitch and jump in response to the electromagnetic field generated by the motor. It’s startling, and shows off exactly what you’re getting for your three hundred and fifty dollars: the ability to feel the shape and strength of electromagnetic fields in the world around you. Our host describes someone who had the procedure done, and was startled, when walking through New York City, to discover the powerful electromagnetic field produced by an electrical junction under the sidewalk.

It’s not just magnets, either. You can get a compass implant (called “SouthPaw“) that moves to alert you when you’re facing north. You can implant magnets in your ears and use a magnetic necklace to listen to music through your built-in speakers. Less ambitiously, you can get an RFID implant that unlocks your door, your phone, and your computer. Amal Graafstra, an implant enthusiast, uses his to open his safe, among other things:

We’re the first to put near field communication (NFC) compliant implants on the market like this. [...] There are 880 bytes of space, relative to 97 in the previous generation, so before you could keep a name and phone number, but now it has far greater capacity.

much more at link, interesting yet creepy.

[ZombieHorde]

1. That sounds pretty cool. nt

[immoderate]

2. One of my friends has the magnetic implant.

It's good for picking up paper clips.

--imm

[LiberalLoner]

3. Wonder how that works when you have to have an MRI done?

[Paulie]

4. Tear itself right out

probably need to cut it out before getting the MRI.