Ignore The Misleading Title

August 9, 2012 3:02 PM

Cyborg America (And Also The UK).

For those of you who want less lyricism and more schematics:

Am I a Cyborg Now?

posted by StrikeTheViol (14 comments total)

I'm about to read the post in its entirety but I did a quick peak and I just want to say, thank god this article is giving Lepht Anonym credit for some aspect of the DIY body-hack culture. Having looked at her blog every once in a while since an article about her first popped up here it is pretty clear the woman believes deeply (and painfully) in biohacking.
posted by sendai sleep master at 3:27 PM on August 9, 2012

In one sense, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, part man, part machine, animated by electricity and with superhuman abilities, might be the first dark, early vision of what humans bodies would become when modern science was brought to bear.

I think this might be confusing The Monster from Mary Shelley's The Modern Prometheus which Adam, from Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Four...
posted by running order squabble fest at 3:28 PM on August 9, 2012 [1 favorite]

(which = with)
posted by running order squabble fest at 3:28 PM on August 9, 2012

Are they just implanting magnets in their fingers?
posted by Malice at 4:02 PM on August 9, 2012 [2 favorites]

Malice: mostly, yes. That's the main narrative, anyway. There are some side bits about other projects from other people.
posted by curious nu at 4:23 PM on August 9, 2012

+++ CYBER WARWICK +++ EXTERMINATE +++
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:23 PM on August 9, 2012 [1 favorite]

Magnets and RFID chips.
posted by StrikeTheViol at 4:26 PM on August 9, 2012

so much monochromatic noise in the images, heck all over the web page. yeesh!

Side note; human augmentation in the style of Deus Ex seems a lot more practical not to mention probable.
posted by PipRuss at 8:52 PM on August 9, 2012

One on One: Steve Mann, Wearable Computing Pioneer

Previously.
posted by homunculus at 12:31 AM on August 10, 2012

Mom's Going to Flip
posted by homunculus at 12:33 AM on August 10, 2012

"Your brain works through electricity, so why not help to boost that?" A sharp pinch ran across my forehead as the first volts flowed into my skull.

Just because it involves electricity doesn't mean it's not quackery.

Magnets are cool, and I don't doubt that being able to "feel" electromagnetic fields is interesting, but these guys are hardly pioneers. Real work is going into all sorts of really interesting projects - exoskeletons, joint replacements, embedded sensors. A little magnet under the skin of your hand isn't even in the same league.
posted by leo_r at 3:39 AM on August 10, 2012

I'm sorry - this is ridiculous. Enjoy your moustache and your grabby fingers. I'm sure there's some hot-shit MBA marketer right now thinking of ways to use your new abilities in a Staples television ad.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 5:42 AM on August 10, 2012

I'm actually glad I didn't do a larger post with this as a centerpiece, because it might have gone badly for that reason! I'll wait a little bit, and then post an FPP on the other stuff also called biohacking: essentially, amateur biology research.
posted by StrikeTheViol at 3:19 PM on August 10, 2012

Harvard creates cyborg flesh that’s half man, half machine
posted by homunculus at 10:30 AM on August 29, 2012