Body hacking is the application of the

hacker ethic The hacker ethic is a philosophy and set of moral values within hacker culture. Practitioners believe that sharing information and data with others is an ethical imperative. The hacker ethic is related to the concept of freedom of information, ...

(often in combination with a high

risk tolerance In economics and finance, risk aversion is the tendency of people to prefer outcomes with low uncertainty to those outcomes with high uncertainty, even if the average outcome of the latter is equal to or higher in monetary value than the more ...

) in pursuit of enhancement or change to the body's functions through technological means, such as

do-it-yourself "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and semi ...

cybernetic Cybernetics is a wide-ranging field concerned with circular causality, such as feedback, in regulatory and purposive systems. Cybernetics is named after an example of circular causal feedback, that of steering a ship, where the helmsperson ma ...

devices or by introducing biochemicals. Grinders are a self-identified community of body hackers. Many grinders identify with the

biopunk Biopunk (a portmanteau of "biotechnology" or "biology" and "punk") is a subgenre of science fiction that focuses on biotechnology. It is derived from cyberpunk, but focuses on the implications of biotechnology rather than mechanical cyberware and ...

movement, open-source

transhumanism Transhumanism is a philosophical and intellectual movement which advocates the enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available sophisticated technologies that can greatly enhance longevity and cognition. Transhuma ...

, and

techno-progressivism Techno-progressivism or tech-progressivism is a stance of active support for the convergence of technological change and social change. Techno-progressives argue that technological developments can be profoundly empowering and emancipatory wh ...

. The Grinder movement is strongly associated with the

body modification Body modification (or body alteration) is the deliberate altering of the human anatomy or human physical appearance. In its broadest definition it includes skin tattooing, socially acceptable decoration (''e.g.'', common ear piercing in many s ...

movement and practices actual implantation of cybernetic devices in organic bodies as a method of working towards transhumanism. This includes designing and installing do-it-yourself body enhancements, such as magnetic implants. Biohacking emerged in a growing trend of non-institutional science and technology development. "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 Nootropics ( , or ) (colloquial: smart drugs and cognitive enhancers, similar to adaptogens) are a wide range of natural or synthetic supplements or drugs and other substances that are claimed to improve cognitive function or to promote rela ...

, nontoxic substances, and/or

devices for recording

biometric Biometrics are body measurements and calculations related to human characteristics. Biometric authentication (or realistic authentication) is used in computer science as a form of identification and access control. It is also used to identify in ...

data (as in the

quantified self The quantified self refers both to the cultural phenomenon of self-tracking with technology and to a community of users and makers of self-tracking tools who share an interest in "self-knowledge through numbers". Quantified self practices overlap ...

movement).

Ideology

Grinders largely identify with

transhumanist Transhumanism is a philosophical and intellectual movement which advocates the enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available sophisticated technologies that can greatly enhance longevity and cognition. Transhuma ...

and

ideologies.

Transhumanism Transhumanism is a philosophical and intellectual movement which advocates the enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available sophisticated technologies that can greatly enhance longevity and cognition. Transhuma ...

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. Kara Platoni categorizes such technological modifications as "hard" biohacking, noting the desire to expand the boundaries of human perception and even create "new senses". Biopunk is a techno-progressive cultural and intellectual movement that advocates

open access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...

genetic information A nucleic acid sequence is a succession of bases signified by a series of a set of five different letters that indicate the order of nucleotides forming alleles within a DNA (using GACT) or RNA (GACU) molecule. By convention, sequences are usua ...

and espouses the liberating potential of truly democratic technological development. Like other

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

movements, biopunk encourages the

DIY ethic "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and semi ...

. "Grinders" adhere to an anarchist strain of biopunk that emphasizes non-hierarchical science and DIY.

Cyborg A cyborg ()—a portmanteau of ''cybernetic'' and ''organism''—is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.

s and

cyborg theory "A Cyborg Manifesto" is an essay written by Donna Haraway and published in 1985 in the '' Socialist Review (US)''. In it, the concept of the cyborg represents a rejection of rigid boundaries, notably those separating "human" from "animal" and "hu ...

strongly influence techno-progressivism and transhumanism and are thus influential to both the DIY-bio movement and grinder movement in general. Some biohackers, such as grinders and the British professor of cybernetics

Kevin Warwick Kevin Warwick (born 9 February 1954) is an English engineer and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Coventry University. He is known for his studies on direct interfaces between computer systems and the human nervous system, and has also done ...

, actively design and implement technologies that are integrated directly into the organic body. Examples of this include DIY magnetic fingertip implants or Warwick's "Project Cyborg". Cyborg theory was kickstarted in 1985 with the publication of

Donna Haraway Donna J. Haraway is an American Professor Emerita in the History of Consciousness Department and Feminist Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a prominent scholar in the field of science and technology studies. Sh ...

's influential "Cyborg Manifesto" but can be traced back all the way to

Manfred Clynes Manfred Edward Clynes (August 14, 1925 – January 19, 2020) was an Austrian-born scientist, inventor, and musician. He is best known for his innovations and discoveries in the interpretation of music, and for his contributions to the study of ...

and Nathan Klines' article "Cyborgs and Space". This body of theory criticizes the rigidity of

ontological In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exis ...

boundaries and attempts to denaturalize artificial

dichotomies A dichotomy is a partition of a whole (or a set) into two parts (subsets). In other words, this couple of parts must be * jointly exhaustive: everything must belong to one part or the other, and * mutually exclusive: nothing can belong simulta ...

Notable people

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. * Amal Graafstra is known for implanting an

RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromag ...

chip in 2005 and developing human-friendly chips, including the first-ever implantable

NFC NFC may refer to: Psychology * Need for cognition, in psychology * Need for closure, social psychological term Sports * NFC Championship Game, the National Football Conference Championship Game * NCAA Football Championship (Philippines) * Nati ...

chip. In 2013, he founded the biotech startup company Dangerous Things. He is also the author of ''RFID Toys'' and speaker on biohacking topics, including a TEDx talk. He has also built a

smartgun A smart gun, also called a smart-gun, or smartgun, is a firearm that can detect its authorized user(s) or something that is normally only possessed by its authorized user(s). The term is also used in science fiction to refer to various types of ...

that is activated by his implants. He has created an implantable cryptographic processor called VivoKey for personal identity and cryptography applications. * Lepht Anonym is a biohacker and transhumanist known for self-surgeries and material implementation of transhumanist ideologies. * Winslow Strong is a mathematician and physicist. * Tim Cannon is a software developer, entrepreneur, and co-founder of biotech startup company Grindhouse Wetware. * Jeffrey Tibbetts is the organiser of the Grindfest events at his lab in California. He is a biohacking researcher whose work has been featured in a number of sources, such as ''

Gizmodo ''Gizmodo'' ( ) is a design, technology, science and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton, and runs on the Kinja platform. ''Gizmodo'' also includes the subsite ''io9'', whic ...

''. * Alex Smith is a biohacker known for his work developing new implants, such as the Firefly implants. He has spoken at various conferences, including DEFCON, and been featured in a number of news articles. * Rich Lee is known for implanting headphones in his

tragi The tragus is a small pointed eminence of the external ear, situated in front of the concha, and projecting backward over the meatus. It also is the name of hair growing at the entrance of the ear. Its name comes the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'g ...

in 2013, as well as for his work on a vibrating pelvic implant called the Lovetron9000. His biohacking activities were used as a justification to remove his parental custody rights in 2016. *

Brian Hanley Brian Hanley (born 1974) is an Irish people, Irish hurling coach and former who played as a midfielder for the Athenry GAA, Athenry senior hurling team. Hanley enjoyed a successful playing career at club level with Athenry GAA, Athenry at the ...

is an American

microbiologist A microbiologist (from Ancient Greek, Greek ) is a scientist who studies microscopic life forms and processes. This includes study of the growth, interactions and characteristics of Microorganism, microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, f ...

who became known for being one of the first biohackers to engineer their own DNA using

gene therapy Gene therapy is a medical field which focuses on the genetic modification of cells to produce a therapeutic effect or the treatment of disease by repairing or reconstructing defective genetic material. The first attempt at modifying human DN ...

for

human enhancement Human enhancement (HE) can be described as the natural, artificial, or technological alteration of the human body in order to enhance physical or mental capabilities. Technologies Existing technologies Three forms of human enhancement curre ...

and

life extension Life extension is the concept of extending the human life expectancy, lifespan, either modestly through improvements in medicine or dramatically by increasing the maximum lifespan beyond its generally-settled oldest people, limit of 125 years. S ...

. * Meow-Ludo Disco Gamma Meow-Meow implanted a

microchip An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...

used for the

Opal card Opal is a contactless fare collection system for public transport services in the greater Sydney area and most other urban areas of New South Wales, Australia. Operation of the Opal system is managed by the New South Wales Government's transpor ...

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

, though he was subsequently fined $220 for failing to comply with existing transit laws. He also ran against

Barnaby Joyce Barnaby Thomas Gerard Joyce (born 17 April 1967) is an Australian politician who served as the 17th deputy prime minister of Australia under Malcolm Turnbull from 2016 to 2018 and under Scott Morrison from 2021 to 2022. He was the leader of the ...

in the

Division of New England The Division of New England is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. History The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the original 65 divisions to be contested at the first federal election. It is nam ...

. *

Josiah Zayner Jo Zayner (formerly Josiah Zayner; born February 8, 1981) is a biohacker, artist, and scientist best known for their self-experimentation and work making hands-on genetic engineering accessible to a lay audience, including CRISPR. Education ...

attempted a full fecal microbiota transplant on himself in February 2016. *

Dave Asprey Dave Asprey (born October 30,1972) is an American entrepreneur, author and advocate of a pseudoscientific low-carbohydrate high-fat diet known as the Bulletproof diet. He founded Bulletproof 360, Inc. in 2013, and in 2017, founded Bulletproof Nu ...

is an American entrepreneur and author who founded Bulletproof 360 in 2013. Asprey has written five books on biohacking. As of 2019, Asprey had spent at least $1 million "hacking his own biology", including having parts of his bone marrow removed and later re-injecting his own

stem cell In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type o ...

s, taking 100 supplements daily, following a strict diet, bathing in

infrared light Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

, using a

hyperbaric Hyperbaric medicine is medical treatment in which an ambient pressure greater than sea level atmospheric pressure is a necessary component. The treatment comprises hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), the medical use of oxygen at an ambient pressure ...

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...

chamber, and wearing Irlen lenses to correct

Irlen syndrome Irlen syndrome, occasionally referred to as scotopic sensitivity syndrome (SSS) or Meares–Irlen syndrome, is a postulated disorder of vision or image-processing in the brain. Irlen syndrome is also sometimes referred to as asfedia or visual ...

. * Biohacker Hannes Sjöblad has been experimenting with NFC chip implants since 2015. In his talk at Echappée Voléé 2016 in Paris, Sjöblad said that he has also implanted himself with a chip between his forefinger and thumb and uses it to unlock doors, make payments, unlock his phone, and essentially replace anything that is in his pockets. He has also hosted several "implant parties", where interested parties can get chips implanted. * Tim Vasilev is a pioneer of biohacking and the most famous popularizer of the practice in the CIS. In 2018, he opened his own biohacking laboratory, spending more than $2 million, together with partners. Vasilev has a decade of experience optimizing health and performance for executives and professional athletes, including Olympic medalists.

Groups and organizations

* Grindhouse Wetware, biotechnology startup company based in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. * KSEC Solutions, worldwide distributor and consultancy based in the United Kingdom.

References

{{reflist

External links

Grinder Resource Library

Biopunk directory

Videos