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]

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.[14][15] Like other punk movements, Biopunk encourages the DIY ethic.[9][16] "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.[17] 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][18][19] 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".[20] This body of theory criticizes the rigidity of ontological boundaries and attempts to denaturalize artificial dichotomies.[17][21]

Notable persons

Groups and organizations

Examples in popular culture

See also

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Popper, Ben. "Cyborg America: inside the strange new world of basement body hackers". Verge Magazine. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  2. 1 2 "Who We Are". collaborate.biohack.me. 2012-08-28. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  3. ↑ "DIYBio Codes". DIYBio. 2011. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  4. 1 2 "Body Modifications and Bio-Hacking". collaborate.biohack.me. 2012-05-21. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  5. 1 2 Greg Boustead (2008-12-11). "The Biohacking Hobbyist". Seed Magazine. Retrieved 2010-07-11.
  6. ↑ Phil McKenna (2009-01-07). "Rise of the garage genome hackers". New Scientist. Retrieved 2010-07-11.
  7. ↑ Patti Schiendelman (2009-01-01). "DIYBio for biohackers". Make: Online. Retrieved 2010-07-11.
  8. ↑ Glen Martin (2012-06-28). "'Biohackers' mining their own bodies' data". SF Gate. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  9. 1 2 Meredith L. Patterson (2010-01-30). "A Biopunk Manifesto". "Outlaw Biology? Public Participation in the Age of Big Bio.". Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  10. 1 2 "Frequently Asked Questions". collaborate.biohack.me. 2012-11-13. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  11. ↑ Bostrom, Nick (2005). "A History of Transhumanist Thought" (PDF). Journal of Evolution and Technology. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  12. ↑ Hayles, Katherine (1999). How we became posthuman : virtual bodies in cybernetics, literature, and informatics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-32139-4.
  13. ↑ Katherine Hayles (2011-09-11). "H-: Wrestling with Transhumanism". MetaNexus. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  14. ↑ Newitz, Annalee (2001). "Biopunk". Archived from the original on 2002-12-20. Retrieved 2007-01-26.
  15. ↑ Newitz, Annalee (2002). "Genome Liberation". Retrieved 2007-01-26.
  16. ↑ "Oxford Journal of Design History Webpage". Retrieved 2007-09-24. Yet, it remains within the subculture of punk music where the homemade, A4, stapled and photocopied fanzines of the late 1970s fostered the "do-it-yourself" (DIY) production techniques of cut-n-paste letterforms, photocopied and collaged images, hand-scrawled and typewritten texts, to create a recognizable graphic design aesthetic.
  17. 1 2 Gray, Chris Hables (1995). The Cyborg Handbook. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0415908498.
  18. ↑ Warwick, Kevin. "Implants and Technology: The Future of Healthcare?". TEDxWarwick. TED. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  19. ↑ "Projects". Grindhouse Wetware. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  20. ↑ Clynes, Manfred; Klines (September 1960). "Nathan". Astronautics.
  21. ↑ Wikipedia contributors. "Cyborg theory". Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  22. ↑ TEDx Talks (2013-10-17), Biohacking - the forefront of a new kind of human evolution: Amal Graafstra at TEDxSFU, retrieved 2016-05-05
  23. ↑ Borland, John. "Transcending the Human, DIY Style". Wired Magazine. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  24. ↑ Strong, Winslow. "Winslow's Bio". Biohack Yourself: Transcend Your Limits. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
  25. ↑ http://www.vice.com/video/diy-cyborg
  26. ↑ http://miscmagazine.com/hacking-the-body-to-hack-the-system-what-can-healthcare-learn-from-a-biohacker/

External links

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