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A man with metal horns protruding from his forehead and a split tongue poking out between his teeth advanced toward me with a scalpel. "I've never done this before," he joked, inching closer.
A full-sleeve tattoo snaked out from beneath his black T-shirt, extending from a demon on his bicep to a skull on his fist. My eyes darted between skull and scalpel, then instinctively shut as I cringed, bracing for contact. Zack Watson, the inked-up body modification artist I'd hired — and drove seven hours from New York City to see — was about to sew a magnet under my skin.
...
Biohacking enthusiasts have tinkered with electronic tattoos and subdermal — underneath-the-skin — implants for two decades, sharing their efforts in videos on YouTube and internet forums to spread and encourage innovation. Proponents believe smart implants represent the future of wearable technology, potentially making humans healthier and more efficient while providing new opportunity to consumer-technology companies such as Apple Inc. AAPL, -0.34% and Alphabet Inc. GOOGL, -0.71% GOOG, -0.57% that are investing heavily in technology that could revolutionize health care.All of these predictions [quoted in the article] come as global adoption of wearables is forecast to boom. Juniper Research, which tracks consumer technology trends, expects world-wide wearable shipments to reach 420 million by 2020, more than four times the 80 million shipped in 2015. A similar surge is predicted for medical devices, with shipments projected to triple to 70 million over the next four years.
Trans-humanism has been around for a while, but the article focuses on the investment capital that is now flowing into the area.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday November 17 2016, @01:59PM
How/where did you have it implanted? Did your doctor do it, or was it a tattoo parlor-like place, like it was in the article?
I've been intrigued by body modification and transhumanism since I first read about it 30 years ago, but the perceived expense and trouble of it kept me from exploring it further. For a while in the 90's it seemed like wearable computing would become a viable compromise, but that never really took off. So I'm curious how you came to get the implant.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 17 2016, @02:43PM
I'd be surprised if you could find a physician to do it and would expect a piercing shop with body mod experience to be much better suited. Probably much better informed of magnet section, too.
I was associated with research study not long ago that involved body piercing. The Institutional Review Board insisted that these procedures be performed by a plastic surgeon, so the investigators recruited one and had to send him down to the body art shop to learn how to do the piercings. I'd be willing to bet that the artist, with years of experience, would do a better and less painful job.
(Score: 1) by Magneto on Thursday November 17 2016, @03:22PM
I had to go to a tattoo parlour. In the UK at the time there were only a few places doing it but from what I've heard there are now a number of places that will do it. It's actually in a legal grey area where it's somewhere between tattooing and surgery. Theoretically you need to be a surgeon to do it but as far as I know no one has ever been prosecuted for implanting them, and even if it was enforced it's only the person doing the implanting that would be liable not the person getting it done. At the time it was about £200 to get done and I expect that hasn't changed much.
If you do want to get it done I'd definitely recommend doing some background research about the process and the place before going ahead with it. Some of the early implants had a high rejection rate so you need to make sure you're getting one of the newer versions and the person doing it knows what they're doing.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Friday November 18 2016, @12:47AM
I had my eye implant done at St. Johns Hospital here in Springfield by Dr. Yea of the Prairie Eye Center. It's a variable-focus replacement for the eye's natural lens. Took my eyesight in the eye she did surgery on from 20/400 to 20/16 back in 2006, the FDA just approved the device in 2003. I'm having the other eye done not too long from now. It cures nearsightedness, farsightedness (including age-related; I no longer need reading glasses and I'm 64), astigmatism, and cataracts.
THAT'S a cyborg, buddy, as are the folks with artificial joints, and pacemakers with built-in automatic defibrillators, and other folks who need to be cyborgs for medical reasons. Not this childish bullshit.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday November 18 2016, @03:35AM
I'm also a cyborg by that more stringent definition, but it would be nice to have augmentation rather than mere maintenance. Also, something you can DIY is attractive.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday November 19 2016, @11:47PM
Augmentation is exactly what I have. My "normal" vision was terrible without corrective lenses, and now I have vision far better than a normal person. It will be better still when I get the other eye done.
Think of a different power, the incredible Hulk. Skinny little guy gets super strength. My weak eye is now incredible hulk strong. I don't know how many times I've been reading my phone in a bar and someone says "you can READ that tiny type?!"
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org