Sister blog of Physicists of the Caribbean in which I babble about non-astronomy stuff, because everyone needs a hobby

Wednesday, 5 December 2018

Creating new senses by not wearing trousers

From the slightly worrying...

Liviu Babitz wants to create new human senses. Touch his chest and you feel his first effort, a vibration every time he faces north. He can feel north because of an electronic implant on his chest called the "North Sense". It includes a compass chip, Bluetooth connection and is attached to the skin with two titanium bars like a piercing. He sees this as the first step in an entirely in-built navigation system and hopes to end what he calls "generation screen".

(so screentime bad, cybernetic implants good ? righty-ho then)

... to the dangerously obsessed....

Rich is a grinder - a biohacker that does extreme body modification. In his fingers, he has magnets and two near-field communication (NFC) chips that can be programmed to link to websites or open car doors, among other tasks. He has a biotherm chip in his forearm, which can constantly monitor body temperature (but are usually used in pets), and headphone implants right in his ears.

He has also attempted "Crispr" - probably the most extreme and controversial kind of biohacking, a technique used by scientists to target and edit your genes. "I want to see a biologically fluid society where people can just augment these things." This home biohacking can of course go very badly wrong - Rich pulls up his trouser legs to reveal a selection of scars from implanted shin guards that got so swollen they had to be removed, which he did with pliers and no painkillers.

... to, inevitably, the absurd :

Corina can also be found walking the freezing cold streets of Berlin with bare legs. She calls this her cheap biohack version of cryotherapy - or cold therapy - and admits the "cops on her street" think it is hilarious.

Not wearing trousers is biohacking. That is a thing now.

What a time to be alive.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46442519

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