I feel like talking about biohacking improving “quality of life” is always either an “in the future” thing or an “early development very expensive” thing.
Talking about biohacking always follows the format of:
1.Here is a cool and slightly useful thing.
2.We hope one day we can solve bigger problems / Dr Whosit is using this tech on a larger scale to help a select few patients for a disability no one has ever heard of for an astronomical price.
3.Right now just focus on the cool slightly useful thing.
I feel like People on the forum, will understand more than outsiders that it’s more than just cool bits and things. But the outside always needs an explanation on why we do what we do.
I always get it when I mention wanting magnets, no one seems to understand why I could possibly want magnets in my hands. But for me, it would improve my quality of life. Not down the track 30 years from now, not if I meet the right doctor in a random country where they are trialling something. right now, I could improve my quality of life with biohacking magnets.
See I have no sense of smell, never have. Some will say that’s great or say it sucks but at least I never had it so I can’t miss it. And no I don’t miss it, but I miss the world because I don’t have it. I have a disconnection to the world around me because of my lack of the 5th sense, it changes how I remember memories, how I taste and how I interact with the world in general.
I didn’t realise at first why I was so attracted (no pun intended) toward being able to feel magnetic fields until it hit me one day when a friend said something about the smell of nostalgia and I realised it was because of my lack of one sense that I wanted to gain another.
I’m not sure when I will get magnets, but I know I will always have my eyes on them.
I guess this post was just an example of how biohacking doesn’t need to be any more advanced or expensive than it already is to be meaningful and impactful to someone’s life.
I want to know your thoughts, and any other biohacks people already have access to that improves their quality of life.
If I was you and I had no sense of smell, since you seem very much into the transhumanist thing, I’d jump at the opportunity and I’d try to build me a device to enable me to experience smells. Kind of like Neil Harbisson with colors.
You’ve never had it so you may not realize, but the sense of smell is vital. It is one of the strongest recall mechanisms for deep memories. Those who lose that sense are at elevated risk of suicide.
And yes, implants improve my quality of life in very practical ways. For one thing, I can go take a dip butt-naked into the snow outside the house after a sauna and not lock myself out. It’s more than a little convenient, particularly vis-a-vis the neighbors
Yea in my support groups every poor soul losing their smell at 35 or so always first ask if anyone has gotten it back, or knows if a “cure” being made. A lot of them are lucky and do sometimes regain sense of smell / Partial smell. But seeing as I’ve had the MRI and what not, we have seen I dont even have olfactory nerves.
I remember reading “perfume” in Highschool Lit and it’s really weird and unsettling to read.
Yep. A very good book - and a very good movie too.
I have a lowered sense of smell because I knocked out all my olfactory bits with years of smoking, like the fucking idiot I am. But every now and then I smell something I’ve smelled before that I can’t quite identify, and strong memories flood back in. Most amazing feeling each time it happens. I would definitely kill myself if I lost that.
Kind of OT, but you know what’s strange? I have these “implant gestures” I do every day - like throw my foot on the reader to open up my Windows session at work, or present my hands to various readers in various ways, always the same ways, day after day.
Yesterday I went to the swimming pool. When I came out, I tried to open the locker with my left hand, the way I always open my NFC locker at work. It took me a couple of seconds and a strange look from the guy next to me in the changing room to remember the key was attached to my ankle.
Them implants are implanting gestures in me that don’t happen in “real life” - not outside of the environment I created for myself anyway, oddly enough.
That’s very unfortunate about your inability to smell. I have to say, I highly doubt it has made you “less” though. The brain is an amazing organ. My mom has been functionally blind since birth, but she isn’t diminished as a human. All that processing she would have put into sight has been repurposed. Her other senses are extremely acute. I believe she’s also been pressured for her survival to be more empathetic and kind than she would otherwise be solely due to predisposition. Nothing was “lost”, only changed.
My partner is great in lots of areas, but she has crap spatial perception and direction finding. I made a little gizmo that she wears inside her waistband on her hip, which vibrates whenever she faces north. Our hope is that if she uses it regularly, her brain’s neuroplasticity will adapt to remember North in her day-to-day. It’s a bit too inconvenient to wear constantly as is, but I’m making a second revision with 24hrengineer called Cardinal, which should be small enough to wear as a necklace.
It’s been said before but for me, implants create a sense of freedom from the burden of management. Managing all the shit you have to carry around with you all day is bad enough, but managing tokens that literally act as proxy form your identity… or basically they act as you… but in a format whatever systems you’re interacting with can recognize as “you”… having to manage your multiple representatives… it’s infuriating to me.
Of all the things you manage, keys are the worst. They are bulky and irritating and usually carry the biggest impact if lost or stolen. For 15+ years I’ve rarely had to worry about managing keys. Being able to free myself from this burden of management has been metaphorical weight off my shoulders, and a literal pain removed from my ass… sitting on ones keys is no joke.
Some people think it’s silly to get an implant just to be able to get rid of keys… but it’s not silly to shed burdens in this life. One example I like to reference is the idea of Lasik treatment for your eyes. Why get Lasik if you can just wear glasses or contacts? Management. That’s why. Consider someone who has to wear glasses to actually see, not just sharpen what they’re looking at. Consider the impact of lost glasses on that person’s quality of life at that moment. Being able to treat your eyes with Lasik to remove not only the burden of managing your glasses or contacts, but also remove any of the consequences associated with loss of those glasses or contacts… the question in my mind becomes why wouldn’t you?
The glasses don’t bother me at all. I’ve worn them since I was so little that I don’t remember ever not wearing them. In fact, I never take them off, even when I sleep. So it’s not like I miss being able to live without them.
I could do with an autofocus augmentation though: I can’t stand reading glasses, having to carry them around, having to put them on and off. What a damn nuisance. But I’ll admit they’re convenient when I don’t feel like doing something involving itty bitty parts at work: I can say I’ve misplaced them.
Wish I would of lasiked years ago. I’m afraid I’ve aged out of elegiblity now.
Re: Keys.
I’ve found the easiest way to not manage them is to either leave shit unlocked or leave the keys in the locks.
Sometimes my shed is locked, but mostly not. House never is. Car and Truck both have keys in them 24/7. The only time I ever pull those keys, is when I’m carrying firearms. It’s one thing to have them stolen, but it deeply freaks me out that someone might take them and harm a kid. For that I could not forgive myself not locking them up tight.
Before y’all freak out, I live in a little town. This is fairly normal here. No way I’d try this in a major metropolitan area.
Also, my neighbors see everything. And… I pay a guy to mow my lawn. He’s a sherriff’s deputy, so there’s that too.
What about your workplace? Surely they have locks.
I leave my car and my shed unlocked (there’s nobody out here in the sticks really) but most of the locked doors I have to go through are at work: there’s a lot of expensive equipment there and it’s really quite secure. Hence the implants: I’d go spare if I had to carry the set of keys they gave me when I got hired.
Yeah, my boss is a lock freak. We keep personal tools inside a large conex box that gets locked. Inside a gated fence. The main office gets locked and his personal office inside that is locked if he leaves the room for more than a few minutes. So much effort.
Fun story:
About a year or two ago, said boss left early and was out of contact. The main boss showed up looking for some papers that were seriously needed right then. Turns out we could see them on his desk in the locked office.
This situation almost immediately morphed into a spare key scavenger hunt. Nobody could find them.
After about 10 minutes of watching this cluster grope go down, I calmly walked over to the door, put my back against one frame, my foot against the other, and expanded it just enough to let the latch pop free. Door open.
When the boss’s boss turned around and saw the open door, he demanded to know where the key was. (He was kinda upset about missing key at this point.) When I told him I opened it without it, he just paused, then said, "It wasn’t locked?) in a totally bewildered way. I said, “No, it was locked, I just opened it without the key.”
Dude kinda lost his shit. Made me promise not to tell anybody that I could do that, specifically not to tell the office owner. On his way out of the room, he pauses and asks, “Could you do that to any door here?” My reply; “Pretty much, yeah.” You could just see the light fade from his eyes as he thought the implications through.
I’ve done that with a car jack once. But if you can spread a frame just with your body, the building really must be made of chewing gum - or the locks really poorly fitted.
That seems impressive, but the article is 5 years old. Suppose it went anywhere?
Besides, with a name like Bionic Lens I was expecting it to be on the fly adjustable. The one cool thing about being near sighted is that I can see some tiny tiny stuff. Helps with electronics. Would be cool to have zoom eyeballs.
edit,
Website says 2-3 years in Canada / Europe, with US 2-3 years after that.
I wonder if that’s the medical version of the “2 weeks” from the movie Money Pit.
Regardless, I’d do it. Assuming it gets approved and all.
