Grinder (biohacking)

Grinders are people who apply the hacker ethic to improve their own bodies with do-it-yourself cybernetic devices. Many grinders identify with the biopunk movement, open-source transhumanism, and techno-progressivism.^[1][2][3] The Grinder movement is strongly associated with the body modification movement and practices actual implantation of cybernetic devices in organic bodies as a method of working towards transhumanism,^[1][4] such as designing and installing do-it-yourself body-enhancements such as magnetic implants.^[1][4] Biohacking emerged in a growing trend of non-institutional science and technology development.^[5][6][7]

According to Biohack.me, "Grinders are passionate individuals who believe the tools and knowledge of science belong to everyone. Grinders practice functional extreme body modification in an effort to improve the human condition. [Grinders] hack [them]selves with electronic hardware to extend and improve human capacities. Grinders believe in action, [thei]r bodies the experiment."^[2]

"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, non-toxic substances, and/or cybernetic devices for recording biometric data (as in the Quantified Self movement).^[8]

Ideology

Grinders largely identify with transhumanist and biopunk ideologies.^[5][9][10] Transhumanism 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.^[11][12][13] Kara Platoni categorizes such technological modifications as "hard" biohacking, noting the desire to expand the boundaries of human perception and even create "new senses".^[14][15]

Biopunk is a techno-progressive cultural and intellectual movement which advocates open access to genetic information and espouses the liberating potential of truly democratic technological development.^[16][17] Like other punk movements, Biopunk encourages the DIY ethic.^[9][18] "Grinders" adhere to an anarchist strain of biopunk that emphasizes non-hierarchical science and DIY.^[10]

Cyborgs and cyborg theory strongly influence techno-progressivism and transhumanism and are thus influential to both the DIY-bio movement and grinder movement in general.^[19] Some biohackers such as Grinders and the British professor of cybernetics Kevin Warwick actively design and implement technologies which are integrated directly into the organic body.^[1] Examples of this include DIY magnetic fingertip implants or Warwick’s "Project Cyborg".^[1][20][21] Cyborg theory was kickstarted in 1985 with the publication of Donna Haraway’s influential "Cyborg Manifesto" but can be traced back all the way to Manfred Clynes and Nathan Klines’ article, "Cyborgs and Space".^[22] This body of theory criticizes the rigidity of ontological boundaries and attempts to denaturalize artificial dichotomies.^[19]

Notable persons

• Kevin Warwick is a British scientist and professor of cybernetics who has been instrumental in advancing and popularizing cyborg technology and biohacking through his self-experiments.^[23][24]
• 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 chip in 2005 and developing human-friendly chips including the first ever implantable NFC chip^[25]. In 2013, he founded the biotech startup company Dangerous Things^[26]. He is also the author of RFID Toys^[27] and speaker on biohacking topics including a TEDx^[28] talk. He has also built a smartgun which is activated by his implants^[29]. He has also created an implantable cryptographic processor called VivoKey^[30] for personal identity and cryptography applications.
• Lepht Anonym is a biohacker and transhumanist known for self-surgeries and material implementation of transhumanist ideologies.^[31]
• Winslow Strong is a mathematician and physicist.^[32]
• Tim Cannon is a software developer, entrepreneur, and co-founder of biotech startup company Grindhouse Wetware.^[33]
• Ryan O'Shea is a television host, futurist speaker, and spokesman of biotech startup company Grindhouse Wetware.^[34]
• Jeffrey Tibbetts is the organiser of the Grindfest events at his lab in California. He is a biohacking researcher who's work has been featured in a number of articles, such as Gizmodo.^[35]
• Alex Smith is a well known biohacker for his work developing new implants, such as the Firefly implants.^[36] He has spoken at various conferences including DEFCON^[37] and been featured in news articles, such as NBC Chicago.^[38]
• Rich Lee is known for implanting headphones in his tragi 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.^{[39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55]}
• Brian Hanley is an American microbiologist who became known for being one of the first biohackers to engineer their own DNA using gene therapy for human enhancement and life extension.^[56]

Groups and organizations

• biohack.me, forum dedicated to biohacking communications and cooperation. It is also host to a wiki of biohacking knowledge at wiki.biohack.me.
• Grindhouse Wetware, biotechnology startup company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• Dangerous Things, a biotechnology startup company based in Seattle, Washington which focuses on implantable RFID/NFC transponders and magnets.
• Cyberise.Me, a biotechnology R&D/startup company based in Melbourne, Australia working on expanding the range of implantable devices.

Examples in popular culture

• Ghost in the Shell Series
• The Island of Doctor Moreau
• BioShock (series)
• Doktor Sleepless
• Uglies series
• Elysium (film)
• Iron Man
• Poison Ivy (comics)
• Terminator (franchise)
• Deus Ex (series)
• Orphan Black
• James Bond in Casino Royale^[57]
• Watch Dogs 2

See also

• Neurohacking
• Do-it-yourself biology

Notes and references

External links

• Grinder Resource Library
• Biopunk directory

Videos

• Richard Thieme, "Hacking, biohacking and the future of humanity"
• "Biohackers: a journey into cyborg America"
• Kevin Warwick, "The last remaining hurdles to cyborg technology"
• Kevin Warwick, "Implants and technology — the future of healthcare?"
• Kevin Warwick, "Cyborg interfaces"