How many are "One of Us"?

I have heard that term a fair few times, I don’t really like it personally as it is such an over used word. If I told somone I am a grinder they would struggle to find out what I mean. The top definitions I found where someone who

  • A person or thing that grinds.
  • A grinder is a slang term for a person who works in the investment industry and makes only small amounts of money at a time on small investments, over and over again.
  • A gamer doing boring repetitive tasks

:man_shrugging: I actually failed to find a definition of it without mentioning body modification or similar terms

Ah well, there is a fourth definition that you seem to be unaware of :slight_smile:

Anyway, the meaning of words shift over time, and that’s natural in a living language. “Hacker” for instance is one of them: it used to mean something very specific, and now it’s completely overused and carries a nefarious intention that it didn’t use to be associated with.

So I’m okay with “grinder” or “cyborg” meaning anything anybody wants. It’s just that if you think “cyborg” covers people with itty bitty subdermal transponders in their hands, the rest of the world doesn’t understand it that way and thinks you’re bragging, is my point.

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Fair point. I don’t disagree that a RFID tag fails to meet the current definitions I found.

I am aware of that connotation :rofl:, interestingly that also failed to come up when searching for “grinder person” and other similar terms.

Shhhh! My cover might be blown! Now pardon me while I get back to changing the fusion beam on my ship. That is all! :gun: :alien:

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Amal calls it a cyborg kit also.

Much easier for normal people to understand Cyborg, than Grinder. I’d really have to explain Grinder if I claimed it. In excrutiating detail. Lay people have a greater inherent understanding of Cyborg.

I AM bragging.
IE: “Hey baby, you ever done it with a Cyborg? You want to? :wink:

I had a real interesting talk with a guy once who had a powered hearing aid, with some kind of surgical install. Basically we set down and broke augmentation into levels.

Type 1A External devices, Removable, Unpowered. Ex. Glasses.
Type 1B External devices, Removable, Powered. Ex, Hearing aids.

Type 2A Internal devices, Medically necessary / corrective. Unpowered. Ex. Artificial eye lenses.
Type 2B Internal devices, Medically necessary / corrective. Powered. Ex. Pacemaker.

Type 3A Internal devices, Augmentation, Unpowered. Ex Rfid Chips.
Type 3B Internal devices, Augmentation, Powered. Ex. XGlo

Type 4A Internal devices, Interactive, Unpowered. Ex. Sensing Magnets.
Type 4B Internal devices, Interactive, Powered. Ex. North Star Project. (maybe, not familiar with it)

Type 5A Internal devices, Neural linked, Unpowered. Ex. Think brain flash drive maybe.
Type 5B Internal devices, Neural linked, Powered. Ex. Anything that just barely misses the Singularity.

The idea being you’d classify any device by it’s number, and a Cyborg by his/her/it’s Highest number.

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Kinda like this scale. So my glasses, having bluetooth and boneconduction speakers, would be 1B, but I’m finally in 3A now that I have a couple of chips too. I can get behind this haha.

Fun to think about, but only useful in conversation with me, you, readers of this thread, and one Ex-Marine Security Guard with dark humor in Wichita, Ks.

Just for fun.
Glasses, 1A
Surgical Clamp / Spring 2A
NeXT 3A

ODaily is a Type 3A Cyborg.

Too me, “Cyborg” starts being applicable at Type 3A and above.

So What’s your Cyborg Level???

  • 1 Type 1A (max)
  • 2 Type 1B (max)
  • 3 Type 2B (max)
  • 4 Type 2A (max)
  • 5 Type 2B (max)
  • 6 Type 3A(max)
  • 7 Type 3B (max)
  • 8 Type 4A (max)
  • 9 Type 4B (max)
  • 10 Type 5A (C’mon get real)
  • 11 Type 5B (Seriously?)

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I’d argue that while it doesn’t fit the current dictionary definition of Cyborg, thats more a reflection on dictionary writers not thinking there’d be people like us.

To me it fits the spirit of the definition for me to be a human with electronic components embedded within my body to give additional abilities or enhance existing ones. Pacemakers, artificial limbs, and yes, even a little bit of glass inside my body that can electronically identify me and unlock a door are all fair game in my book.

And to add to that, the term has wide adoption in this community referring to RFID implants - I’d refer you to this article on changing the dictionary definition of ‘literally’ by Merriam-Webster, they seem to know a thing or two about words.

There is, however, a strong impulse among lexicographers to catalog the language as it is used, and there is a considerable body of evidence indicating that literally has been used in this fashion for a very long time.

I think one of the leading companies in the space using it to describe a kit, it’s wide adoption, and even use in journalism probably would pass that same test.

In my book, I consider myself a cyborg. If you disagree, that’s also fine. There are a lot in the world that don’t understand what we do, thats also fine. At the end of the day, if consenting adults aren’t infringing on the rights of anyone else, do whatever the hell you like with your body and call yourself the President of France, I couldn’t care less :grin:

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Marketing and sales material is notoriously bullshit :slight_smile: Just like Red Bull didn’t give me wings, implanting a DT product definitely didn’t turn me into the dude on the photograph.

No, it’s worse: if you tell someone you’re a grinder, you have to explain what it is - or disassociate your use of the term with Grindr, if the person knows it, which is even more annoying. If say you’re a cyborg, the person looks at you funny or thinks you’re deluded, because you don’t look anything like the Terminator - and everybody has seen the Terminator.

Me, I avoid both pitfalls by not using either. I just use “implantee” (or I say “I have an implant in my hand”). I find it much more restrained, less loaded, and plainly descriptive all at the same time.

Let me guess: she answered “Go away you creep!”? :wink:

Interesting classification - and useful.

Everyone here seems to be arguing about technicalities, but I always figured the cyborg thing was just an inside joke. Like obviously I’m not RoboCop, but it’s funny to say an RFID chip makes me basically RoboCop.

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an RFID chip that activated a hidden gun holster in/on your leg could get ya damn close! Just sayin’

All the layman sees is you taking an RFID card and transforming it into your existing hand. Now you have robot parts. Everyday people are constantly amazed, bedazzled and otherwise stupified by things that are mundane for us. If that’s not “extending our abilities” I don’t know what is (but I’m keen to find out :wink:)

Many of us have more than just RFID transponders. There are people with augments to feel colors, detect earthquakes around the globe, smuggle sensitive information in their bodies, inherently detect North. I can feel and hear magnetic fields. We’re working on extending our capabilities even further. While the term “cyborg” may seem ill-fitting at the moment, it’s not in jest, it’s a rallying call. We should create the conditions where we fit that descriptor.

If you want to stop here, by all means, but some of us are going there.

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Super jealous. The xG3 would fit in my finger, I feel I would prefer a real sensing magnet though. Still looking for that diamond coated one.

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I don’t think you’re giving devices like pacemakers enough credit on that scale. As an implantee, I’m probably one of maybe a few on here that has a $50K device implanted which contains a battery, an antenna, electrodes, and a speaker. It definitely interacts by influencing my body. It uses sensors to read my body and uses RF to send statistics over the cell network. During appointments with testing, it uses RF to take commands from a computer in real time that will then control functions of my body. It notifies me audibly from within the body when it enters different modes. I don’t think any Type 3B or 4B could do all of that. I think we minimize it because it’s socially acceptable. If we asked if a person was a cyborg with functions like that before they were common I think the answer would be a resounding yes.

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You can hear the device’s speaker from inside you? I didn’t know that was even possible. That’s interesting.

Is it audible by other people?

And yes, you’re definitely a cyborg :slight_smile:

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Yes. Others can hear it. It goes off during programming mode and when the battery is low it will siren daily until I change it. I don’t mean this to be an offensive rant but I think we underestimate the power of commonplace medical devices.

Here’s a video (not mine) of the speaker going off https://youtu.be/816gwIy67DA

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Nothing offensive. Yes, medical devices are very advanced these days. Even “simple” passive knee prostheses like the one I have would be nothing short of magic for people a century ago. It’s just too bad that that level of technology is denied to people who want to augment themselves, as opposed to fix or cure a medical problem. The tech available to ordinary hobby grinders is ultra-primitive compared to modern medical devices.

The beeping is cool, but make sure you’re all charged up if you want to sneak on someone :slight_smile:

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No offense, but that is one implant I do not want.

Obviously if I needed one I would get one. I am not against pacemakers, just wanna be… unnamed

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