Biohacking is a term that is beginning to gain a certain popularity along with the emergence of certain trends in the high-tech field.
Think of it as a kind of civic biology; Most of the tricks in this area are carried out by people in small independent laboratories during their free time, where they experiment with things like modifying plant DNA or isolating certain genetic material that can improve it. The main idea of this movement is to improve biological objects, like you improve your computer.
Biohacker shops appear all over the world, providing people with all the necessary tools to start the study of the biological world, sometimes quite creepy. Critics point out that the word "hack", that is, hacking, has always been a dangerous and illegal thing. While this is mostly an expression of curiosity, strange things sometimes come out of the biohacker tide. This is especially relevant in the light of the development of biohacking methods not only for plants, but also for people.
Start in the style of "Big Brother"
Professor Kevin Warwick of the University of Reading showed the true scope of biohacking potential. Warwick and his colleagues at the Department of Cybernetics wanted to know how possible it was to build a computer that could interact with human biological systems.
They succeeded.
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As part of Project Cyborg, Warwick implanted the first chip in his arm in 1998. Chip sent a signal that allowed the computer to track Warwick, opening doors for him and turning on computers when he entered the department. This experiment was followed by another in which Warwick implanted a chip in his wife and another in himself. The matching chips allowed him to sense what she was doing, and Warwick called it a kind of electronic telepathy.
Unsurprisingly, Warwick's actions drew highly controversial reviews from the scientific community. Later experiments brought him closer to combining electronics and technology with biology. In 2011, he began using robots to transmit information through sensors to brain cells grown in culture so that these cells process information and interact with external stimuli.
It's a tough job, Warwick says, as the cells don't always do what he wants and generally show moody behavior. Warwick is currently using rat cells, but hopes in a few years to move to human brain cells and recreate a brain in a test tube that can interact with laboratory equipment. Warwick is undoubtedly breaking a major wall between biology and technology.
Genetic modification of bacteria into building material
Biohacking can involve modifying cells at the genetic level, and those cells are capable of crazy things. JuicyPrint is a promising project that is cracking bacteria to react to light. These bacteria make cellulose, and with some changes in their genetic code, this cellulose production can be tuned based on the presence - or absence - of light. Turn on the light and pulp production begins. Turn off the lights and production stops.
JuicyPrint uses natural substance as raw material for its 3D printer. Lay these bacteria in layers and the cellulose will be produced in any form you want. The potential uses of this technology are virtually limitless. Many interesting medical applications can be discovered by creating biocompatible, durable substances that can be reproduced and printed literally in light.
This project can be used to repair organs, create new arteries and blood vessels. Since new organs and implants must be based on biological materials, not artificial ones, this technique is expected to flow smoothly into the human body.
The goal of the final project is to feed the fruit juice to the printer, so that it can produce any desired shape. This genetically modified bacterial strain is often found in vinegar, juice, and waste residues from the brewing process. All this leaves a huge supply of raw materials, which, with proper skill, can be successfully used to make the same skin grafts.
Magnetic touch
Biohacking does not always mean changing DNA or genetic material. He can also combine technology with biological, like Warwick's vision. The people who do this are called grinders. One of the earliest examples of this movement was the insertion of magnets into human hands.
Unsurprisingly, this movement is highly underground and usually involves body modification shops and piercing parlors. Movement is becoming fashionable. In Pittsburgh, there is an underground Grindhouse Wetwares run by an electrician and software developer.
The implantation of magnets in someone's hands is needed not only to make it easier to lift things. According to those who did this, the human body gradually adapts to the placed magnet and begins to read the signals it sends as from another biological part of the body. It's like putting on your glasses and letting your body adjust to them, and your senses will intensify.
However, although some say that magnets in bodies act as additional senses, others respond that this feeling disappears in a couple of weeks, and you are left with a dubious opportunity to use the Force at short distances.
Echolocation
The implantation of machines into the human body in order to gain access to another feeling or to amplify some has long gone beyond jokes - some view biohacking as a way to improve the quality of their life.
Rich Lee is 34 years old and knows he is going blind. He has lost most of his ability to see with his right eye, and it is only a matter of time before he is completely blind. Although this hasn't happened yet, Lee is practicing using echolocation.
He does this using sound-transmitting magnets that Lee has implanted in his ears. And while they are typically used to listen to music that no one else can hear at all (and does not even suspect that this is happening), Lee also trains to interpret the sounds he hears. The magnets were implanted by a body modification artist in Las Vegas and act as sound receivers. Listening to music, for example, means that Lee takes a battery and an amplifier, which sends sound through a coil. The coil transmits sound to the magnets, and the magnets vibrate, allowing Lee to listen to music.
Echolocation, however, is a little more complicated. Lee plans to add an ultrasonic rangefinder to be able to "see" with his implants.
Humanity + and transhumanism
Humanity + is an international non-profit organization dedicated to promoting to the masses what biohackers are trying to do - to improve humanity through technology. The organization's work is based on the mission of using technology for ethical purposes, as well as expanding human capabilities to create a new stage of evolution. This includes increasing lifespan and breaking patterns when it comes to smart prostheses, cryonics, and regenerative medicine.
They also accept the philosophical school of transhumanism. At its core, transhumanism is the idea that the human race as we know it is a kind of early prototype. With the help of technology, implants and genetic engineering, we will be able to evolve into something beyond what transhumanists call “posthuman”. Along with the actual physical process associated with these changes, it is also interesting to analyze the ethical issues and moral obligations that arise with such progress.
Humanity + argues that this idea is absolutely not new, despite the fact that it has received serious development in the past few decades. The organization claims that the history of this movement goes back to the ancient Greek idea of using ambrosia on the skin to prevent aging and decay, as well as alchemical attempts to create an elixir of eternal life.
Target: posthuman
In the case of biohacking, the posthuman is the ultimate goal that can only be obtained in an ever-changing environment. Transhumanism - and the idea of creating a posthuman - is only an intermediate step. The ultimate goal is posthuman.
Posthuman is defined as a creature that can no longer be called human by today's standards. It will be a kind of humanity, which is as far from us as we are from the primates. We acknowledge their thoughts, feelings, and family structure, but we maintain a sense of superiority and the understanding that we have nothing to share.
Supporters of this movement assume that we will be able to fully control our emotions and mental state, making room for love and joy, as well as a long and healthy life. There may be states of consciousness that we are not aware of today. But to get to them, humanity must go through a complete restructuring, including genetic engineering, the development of nanotechnology, neural interfaces, implantable computers. This is ultimately inevitable.
It is not clear only what it will look like. Humanity + believes that it can be a kind of artificial intelligence that complements us, or we leave our bodies and live as information within the Web. "Transhuman" means only "transitional man", one of the steps.
Political Party
If it seems to you that the transhumanist movement is something cinematic, when people try to become characters from the X-Men, biohacking and the movement in general demonstrate their seriousness in the following way: they formed a political party and decided to run for their presidential candidate USA.
The party works for a government that prioritizes science, technology and health. Their goals are incredibly overstated given the rudimentary state of biohacking. Nevertheless, party supporters plan to take grinders out of basements and clandestine stores and bring technological and scientific developments to the point where aging and death can be called outdated concepts - all in 15-20 years.
They are also developing ethical guidelines for the use of new technologies and are trying to make a radical transition from a culture of death and a society that spends billions on medicine in order to survive just a little. Zoltan Istvan, founder of the Transhumanist Party, says they don't just promote science, they use it.
Obviously, the party has few chances to occupy at least some significant place in the government, but Istvan is happy with such a start (he is also a presidential candidate). And if it seems to you that the president of the country dreaming of telepathic devices and ubiquitous technologies is a myth, then in Italy there is already such a candidate in the government.
Italy's first transhumanist party pushed its candidate into parliament in 2012. Transhumanist Giuseppe Vatinno is passionate about the ideas of Humanity + and has a so-called "action-oriented" view of the world's problems. First on his list are nanotechnology, followed by biotechnology and artificial intelligence.
Regulatory nootropics
Organ biohacking does not always mean taking out a scalpel and starting cutting. The movement of "nootropics" is growing very rapidly - such substances, the intake of which increases attention, speed of thinking and work efficiency, and these are not drugs. It's no surprise that one of the centers of nootropic experiments is in Silicon Valley, and thanks to Reddit, the nootropic field has turned into a pretty fun crowdsourcing experiment.
In the rest of the world, this phenomenon is also acquiring a sickly scope, taking into account the fact that there is still no real and confident definition of what is happening. There is the so-called "stacking", a combination of pills and substances to achieve a certain effect. Some people take it to the extreme by taking up to 40 different pills a day.
And you will be surprised, but the recommendation is to start with caffeine and L-theanine, which are found in coffee and tea. On the other end are also the well-known Ritalin, Adderall and Modafinil. Advocates of nootropics acknowledge that, technically, these drugs are not nootropics, but they serve the same function: altering brain chemistry to make it work more efficiently.
What are the long-term effects of these drugs and cocktails? Nobody knows for sure, although this idea is many years old. Nootropics appeared in 1964 with a chemical cocktail called piracetam. Created by the Romanian chemist and psychologist Corneliu Giurgea, the drug and its instructions for use set the bar for modern nootropics. The drugs were supposed to improve learning, information processing, and activity between the two hemispheres of the brain without causing addiction or toxicity, Giurgea said.
So far, there is no real way to determine the long-term effects of such drugs on the brain. And legal issues have not been settled with them either. We have already mentioned Modafilin, which has been used to treat narcolepsy and has been tested and adopted by Air Force pilots to keep them awake during long missions. It is not sold without a prescription in the UK, but the sale of nootropics that have not been tested is conducted and not punishable by the word of the law.
Steve Kurtz and the Biological Countermeasures Block
If you believe that there is a high probability that something will go wrong when people start to play with DNA, many will agree with you.
In 2006, the FBI opened the WMD Directorate, and the Biological Countermeasures Unit became part of it. His job was to prevent acts of bioterrorism, which are quite difficult to foresee with biohacking. And it's not only and not so much about biohackers, but about easy access to laboratory equipment and biological agents.
All over the world people are engaged in "home biology". We need certain security and legal officials to ensure that these people do safe things.
In 2013, a group of biohackers was invited to a meeting with the FBI in California, where representatives of the law asked them questions about their activities.
Such events, as a rule, are aimed at drawing the line between the safe activities of citizens and the possibility of accidentally creating another deadly flu. Unfortunately, one of the most famous incidents of bioterrorism has become an incredibly sad and tragic story.
Steve Kurtz was a professor of arts at SUNY Buffalo. In 2004, he and his wife Hope were preparing for an exhibition at the Massachusetts Museum of Modern Art. Hope Kurtz suddenly had a heart attack, and when her husband called an ambulance, the first eyewitnesses noticed the Petri dishes that were being prepared for the exhibition.
Although harmless, Kurz was arrested and thrown behind bars, and his wife's body was removed for further analysis. Biological terrorism groups ransacked his home and office, and even confiscated the cat (but later returned, however). It all ended only when all the tests were carried out and nothing dangerous was found.
Potential Hazards?
While many biohackers argue that organizations like the FBI are overreacting to potential dangers, others are trying to show how subcutaneous implants can be used for evil rather than good. Senior Officer Seth Vale of the US Navy took a cattle monitoring chip and implanted it in his arm, making it detectable - at least to humans.
Valais demonstrated that the chip can be equipped with an NFC antenna that sends a signal to any nearby Android phone. It allows the user to open a file and take control of the phone with a single click from a remote computer. All this is still in its infancy, but it is quite possible. So far, the remote computer turns off when the phone is turned off, but it will be easy to download a program that will activate when the phone is turned on.
Perhaps the worst part is that the chip is quite difficult to detect. Vale was in the military when the chip was implanted, and no one ever found out about it. The officer says he went through military scanners every day, through the airport terminal and checkpoints. No one ever discovered that it contained a device that gave him control over almost any Android phone.
So what is biohacking: a threat to all of us or hope for a brighter future? What can an attacker do with such opportunities? How will these technologies develop? We do not know.