Hi-Tech Body Implants and the Biohacker Movement (hackaday.com) 74
szczys writes: Body modification has been growing in popularity. It's pretty common to see people with multiple piercings or stretched earlobes (called gauging). With this wider acceptance has risen a specific subset of Biohacking that seeks to add technology to your body through implants and other augmentation. The commonly available tech right now includes the addition of a magnet in your fingertip, or an RFID chip in your hand to unlock doors and start your car. Cameron Coward looked into this movement — called Grinding — to ask what it's like to live with tech implants, and where the future will take us.
Not so high tech (Score:5, Insightful)
TFA goes on about putting magnets and RFID tags inside people as the state of the art. I'm sorry, something we do to our pets doesn't really get a 'hacking' imprimatur, much less 'high tech'.
Wake me up when somebody open sources the way to access human memory with a digital chip ('Microsofts in William Gibson's parlance'). Or making some drug or device that actually enhances the human condition. And no, splitting a tongue in half so you can move both muscles at the same time is not an 'enhancement'.
Re:Not so high tech (Score:5, Insightful)
Or making some drug or device that actually enhances the human condition.
My father-in-law has an implant that improves his hearing. My wife has a eye lens enhancer that greatly improves her vision. I also had a vision enhancement device, but then I had LASIK, so I no longer need it.
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Re:Not so high tech (Score:5, Funny)
My wife disagrees.
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It's a millennial thing. They think that everything they do is groundbreaking and state-of-the-art.
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Indeed. Comes mostly from ignorance and arrogance. A lot of hot air, basically no substance.
They also massively underestimate how long it takes to really understand a technology and bring it to maturity.
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It's not a millenial thing, it's a funding thing. If you want funding in academia or as a start-up business, you really have to sell yourself and your ideas. The art of bullshitting has become ingrained, and taken up by journalists looking to write for-profit stories that make it sound like something interesting is happening.
Slashdot is just as guilty of hyping stuff up, and just as guilty as lapping it up when offered. That recent story about Nissan doing a sketch of a car where every surface is a screen i
Re:Not so high tech (Score:4, Interesting)
I have an artificial device implanted in my abdomen that performs the function of my failed kidneys. It's powered by my own metabolic processes and has the potential to work maintenance free for decades. It's also totally open source.
Re: Not so high tech (Score:1)
Link to source then!
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So you are a time traveler?
"The artificial kidney project, which is targeted for clinical trials in 2017" -- http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2013/... [ucsf.edu]
Probably just a kidney transplant...it would be "artificial" since it's from someone else; it'd also be "powered by [their] own metabolic process".
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Exactly. Full marks to TemporalBeing.
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Body Modification and Biotech (Score:2)
These things are the same in precisely the same way that Goths and the Catholic Church are.
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No, just tell them that no matter what their medical needs may be in the future, they can never have an MRI.
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Implants like fingertip magnets and RFID chips are as easy to remove as they are to put in. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes and can be done without anesthesia (though it may hurt...).
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Implants like fingertip magnets and RFID chips are as easy to remove as they are to put in. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes and can be done without anesthesia (though it may hurt...).
Well, an MRI will do it in just a couple seconds, and may happen incidentally - for instance, you're in a car wreck, unconscious, and they put you in an MRI to try figure out why (e.g check brain swelling, etc). It'll be painless when it happens; and surprise the medical technicians when you're all of a sudden losing more blood on the table.
Body modification (Score:1)
Is there a quicker way to lower your job prospects? How many CEOs have tattoos and metal shit attached to their heads?
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Well, Yes they still are if they are visible. And it's no t passe at this point, it's just stupid.
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Eh, tattoos are no longer taboo, and haven't been for almost a decade at this point. Body modification is also pretty passe at this point as well.
It really depends what sort of tattoo, where it is, and what sort of job you're applying for.
If you have a facial tattoo, or one celebrating your love of weed you're not going to get into the British Army, for instance.
This would raise an interesting problem if they brought back National Service.
rhetorical 'why': (Score:4, Funny)
Because a keyfob won't fit into hipster skinny jeans.
Re:rhetorical 'why': (Score:5, Funny)
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Very much so. Attaching stuff to other stuff does not make the two work together in any sensible or useful way. They seem to completely miss that little problem.
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Quite possibly. People that think they are "coders" when they cannot actually read and understand or construct code of any meaningful complexity would come up with just this kind of stupid idea. I saw this utter cluelessness some times when analyzing malware. People that obviously struggled to write a few bytes of assembler code wrapping malcode they got somewhere in really obviously stupid ways....
The self-image of stupid people is a fascinating thing (unless you get directly exposed to it).
Ask any deaf person with a cochlear implant (Score:5, Interesting)
Yawn. Bio-electrical implants have been stable for decades, and there's really been no improvement over a few analog filters and a jack that sticks out of your head to connect the electronics to htat was used in the earliest designs. The "digital" modern versions with the embedded transceivers have a fraction of the battery life, they mistake digitization for actual signal quality, they *wildly* undersample audio to transmit power levels instead of preserving the mixed frequency original signals with all those time critical zero crossings for "plosive" sounds, they cost ridiculously more, and they're far more vulnerable to failures that force re-implantation, usually in the other ear.
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Sounds like the digital version has not been given the 30-50 years a technology needs to mature.
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This is why I don't want any implants. I'm fine with external like headband bone conduction hearing aids. I finally switched to digital and geez it sucks compared to analog. I don't like this filtering and stuff in digital that causes (whistling/feedback)s, autochanging the volume, etc. Companies are trying to get rid of analog. :(
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This is why I don't want any implants. I'm fine with external like headband bone conduction hearing aids. I finally switched to digital and geez it sucks compared to analog. I don't like this filtering and stuff in digital that causes (whistling/feedback)s, autochanging the volume, etc. Companies are trying to get rid of analog. :(
I have an implanted bond conduction device. If you are going to stick with the bond conduction hearing aids, you really should get the titanium abutment implant. I tried the headband for a little while but it was largely useless. The implanted abutment makes a huge difference in clarity and reduced feedback. I only have feedback when put it on/take it off or try to wear a hat that sits too low. The volume modification actually works well for me, if you don't like it, your audiologist can tweak it or tu
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But I don't want anything in my heads though. My audiologist did tell me that external bone conduction hearing aids are limited. It seems digital is worse than analog IMO.
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Digital hearing aids are much better than analog ones. I tried the analog type and it was awful, like listening to an 8-track soaked in molasses in a hot car for the summer.
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Funny. I am reversed. Analog sounds better than digital to me.
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It's another option for people scared of a screw sticking out of their skull.
Which I would have thought was everybody.
Biohacker Movement? (Score:2)
Biohackers...hmm. Sounds like a low-budget horror film.
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"false teeth/fillings, hearing aids, eye implants, pacemaker, titanium plates etc already used but not utilised"
The one good thing about being a chrono-American is that we can pretend to be sense-impaired when we're actually just ignoring you.
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You know, that's actually a good question. Though I still have all my teeth, I do wear one of those night retainers, so having an embedded flashlight in it that comes on, say, when I bite down in some unusual way, would be a real help whenever I make one of my prostate-driven nocturnal trips to the bathroom.
There are parts of the world (Score:2)
where I wouldn't dare venture with such things as implanted RFID chips.
Want to use your implanted RFID chip to access your bank via ATM? What's to stop criminals from cutting off your finger and racing to the nearest ATM before your finger and the chip become non-operational? Probably the PIN you also use to authenticate, but still.......
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where I wouldn't dare venture with such things as implanted RFID chips.
Want to use your implanted RFID chip to access your bank via ATM? What's to stop criminals from cutting off your finger and racing to the nearest ATM before your finger and the chip become non-operational? Probably the PIN you also use to authenticate, but still.......
Ummmmm, the same thing that keeps them from stealing your card and doing the same thing? Yeah, stealing an ATM access device is already a problem, though not a huge one. What makes you think it will become a larger problem when the device in question is implanted? Seems like it would be a more difficult robbery with greater legal repercussions than a simple mugging.
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where I wouldn't dare venture with such things as implanted RFID chips.
Want to use your implanted RFID chip to access your bank via ATM? What's to stop criminals from cutting off your finger and racing to the nearest ATM before your finger and the chip become non-operational? Probably the PIN you also use to authenticate, but still.......
Ummmmm, the same thing that keeps them from stealing your card and doing the same thing? Yeah, stealing an ATM access device is already a problem, though not a huge one. What makes you think it will become a larger problem when the device in question is implanted? Seems like it would be a more difficult robbery with greater legal repercussions than a simple mugging.
What will stop them - or at least make it harder - would be additional bio-metrics requirements - things like needing a pulse, matching fingerprint, etc.
This is, of course, an issue for all biometrics authentication - an organ/appendage is forcefully removed, leaving the original owner for dead, and then used to access the systems it was for.
The greater legal repercussions will simply be "murder in the first degree" (e.g with intent) instead of a simple felony or misdemeanor for stealing their wallet.
Just No. (Score:3)
I'm sure the tattoo / piercing shops are all over this, we have seen people that have had "horns" implanted in their scalp.
But I'm sorry, when I need a joint implant or some other othapeadic thing in my body to function, I'm not interested in some home-brew design executed on some 3D printer "god knows where".
RFID implants aside, just about all the other ideas scare the hell out of me. There *will* be a down side, and when your implant goes south, do you plan on taking some random tattoo joint to court to pay for the loss of whatever it is you lose?
These people do not carry malpractice insurence, and it's unlikly they could get it.
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I'm sure the tattoo / piercing shops are all over this, we have seen people that have had "horns" implanted in their scalp.
But I'm sorry, when I need a joint implant or some other othapeadic thing in my body to function, I'm not interested in some home-brew design executed on some 3D printer "god knows where".
RFID implants aside, just about all the other ideas scare the hell out of me. There *will* be a down side, and when your implant goes south, do you plan on taking some random tattoo joint to court to pay for the loss of whatever it is you lose?
These people do not carry malpractice insurence, and it's unlikly they could get it.
Actually, it depends a lot on which tattoo/piercing shop you're talking about--and certainly, if you're just going into a random tattoo joint for anything, you are going to be lucky of you get a responsible professional. (You will know you have because they will go "...No." It's rude to not check into the place before you decide to go get work done--and yeah, a good shop will be happy to tell you about the sanitation protocols they follow.)
Really, the thing you should be worried about is the shady doctor
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I dont know about implants but there are hackers producing prosthetics via 3D printing at a much lower cost than any medical device company charges.
Plenty of people who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford prosthetics are able to get the help they need.
This is how the Borg get their start (Score:2)
Now it's "bio-hacks". How much longer before you get your iPhone embedded in your head? Before you get the Google mind extension app?
This is how the Borg get their start.
Re:This is how the Borg get their start (Score:5, Informative)
Funny that you mention that. Last night at the theater, there was a guy who kept getting texts on his iPhone during the movie. I was thinking of how much longer before I embedded his iPhone in his head. His girlfriend finally took his phone away and turned it off. I thanked her on the way out.
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Funny that you mention that. Last night at the theater, there was a guy who kept getting texts on his iPhone during the movie. I was thinking of how much longer before I embedded his iPhone in his head. His girlfriend finally took his phone away and turned it off. I thanked her on the way out.
Surely as it's an IPhone there is a default location to embed it
iFinger! (Score:2)
The NFC-based payment system I can activate by just resting my hand on the point-of-sale terminal.
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While the levels of stupidity displayed is staggering, I do not think it grows. It is just more visible in the Internet-age as publishing things has become extremely cheap and is accessible to everyone.
No mention of side effects (Score:2)
body mods (Score:1)
When I see a pierced nose, I wonder if it squirts when you have a cold. When I see some guy with stretched earlobes, I just envision using the lobes as places to hang clothing. Or maybe hams.
I think the only body enhancement that I do see that evokes anything but wondering why someone would be so stupid is breast implants. For them I feel sorry for them that they didn't think they were good enough without them.
I wonder why people feel the need to cut themselves off from excellent careers by doing that crap
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Teens and the few adults who found a good job or career where it didn't matter will tell you how wrong you are.
Most of those teens will not join the ranks of those few adults.
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Thing 1: I find your handle ironic.
Thing 2: Did you ever have braces?
Think I'll wait (Score:2)
RFID tags and subdermal magnets are mere parlor tricks, not worth the risk and pain of opening up my skin. Now, once those perfect-vision-forever implantable lenses get approved, I'll be all about that.
PSA (Score:2)
It's pretty common to see people with multiple piercings or stretched earlobes (called gauging).
Just as an FYI, these are never attractive. I'm down with whatever people want to do with their bodies, but I've never understood the appeal of gauges.
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