For me, it was always about grinding. Dead simple solutions to space-cadet problems like constantly f*cking losing my keys or forgetting my wallet.
What about you all?
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I think the simplest most basic explanation is âChanging the body to make it betterâ.
Which could include things like a pacemaker, replacement hip, etc.
For me, itâs a âAdding cool sh*t to my body because I canâ
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For me, it was the next step in security. With everything moving to the cloud, I need/want an offline step in the login process to reduce the risk of getting hacked. Like a PIV or an offline place for the totp codes. And yes: a yubikey can do that. And I have one (and a backup) of those. But what would be the next step in security? A yubikey that canât get lost or stolen (my apex flex) 
And also: now I allways win a discussion with other geeks about security
the xmagic is just for fun (use it every other day at the gym).
the first question everbody asks when discussing the apex flex, is: can you pay with it? The answer to that was allways no. Until now, because the ring conversion is on the way.
So soon I can go to the gym naked and buy me a sandwich afterwards: all with my arms
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I guess that I could go into the idea of carrying less things, shrinking oneâs keychain, having a business card thatâs always ready, and the security aspects of having an ApexâŠ
But truth be told, I started looking into RFID implants and grinding because I wanted to customize my body. I wanted to add functionality. And well, as you guys know, Iâd like to go full machine at some point so taking tiny steps in that direction is awesome!
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For me, biohacking is physically doing something to your body to make it do something it normally wouldnt. Implants, surgeries, medical devices all are biohacking to me. I got lasik a few years back and consider that a form of biohacking.
It might be a hot take, but I dont consider taking vitamins or medications as biohacking. I really hate that 99% of online spaces talking about biohacking are about vitamins and medications, and when people try to talk about implants in those spaces usually people react badly (thinking about when @Deanbonian posted about implants on r/biohacking)
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I fully agree with you. And I particularly hate when they start messing with drugs with no regard for safety or potential side effects⊠But then again, Iâm the crazy guy whoâs always sober.
Oh, and butter is meant for toast, not coffee.
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For me itâs a combination of tinkering with nerdy tech stuff⊠using an extra layer of security (canât get stolen/ lost) ⊠convenience (enter home without phone or keys) âŠ. And also a form of control & positive interaction / improvement to my body, since I have chronic pain, Iâm generally used to my body hurting and breaking for no reason.
So itâs positive upgrade and healing path during mods is a nice change.
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For me itâs about adding function to the body through technology or customizing the body via technology. I see biohacking as having a focus on implants, but with non-negligible overlap with more conventional body modification, DIY bio, & DIY medicine. The benefits are partly practical, partly aesthetic/expressive, and partly an assertion of bodily autonomy.
However, the term âbiohackingâ has been pretty thoroughly co-opted by the supplement/life-extension people in recent years, at least as far as the media (and most of Reddit) are concerned. Using various substances for mental or sensory enhancement has been a topic within biohacking for quite a while. However, the increased focus on âbiohackingâ oneâs way to physical fitness, and using the term to mean taking large quantities of supplements, exercising, and marketing various gimmicky products, is relatively recent. I often find myself saying âbiohacking (implants, not supplements)â when describing my interests to other people, even though I do think biohacking can include things other than implants.
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Itâs about becoming transhuman, ie, about technologically modifying my body to have new functional capacities (as opposed to merely restorative, cosmetic, or transitions within normal human boundaries). Itâs about the human drive and spiritual duty to always live in the process of becoming something meaningfully greater.
For me it is first and foremost about grinding - the hardware side of biohacking. Genetic, chemical, and nutritional âbiohackingâ came along at some point and theyâre cool too, but theyâre not really my thing, and I donât like that grinding has somewhat been pushed out of âbiohackingâ in public view. Just as we have the term âgrindingâ for us, for them I use the sub-genre word of âshapingâ for lack of a better term.
At a personal level, for me, grinding is an act of introspection. It is a passion which I can physically absorb into my body, and thereby symbolically absorb into my being. In an overwhelming world of dreams and opportunities where I could be anything, but canât be everything, grinding is something solid where I can look into myself and say, of all that I could be, this is what I have actually become. It is a commitment to become one real thing instead of a thousand ghostly dreams. My flesh is a nebulous and unformed embryo, but I am germinated by the machine in order to take a stable form around it.
Biohacking is hacking. Itâs taking what weâve got so far and modifying it beyond its original purpose, little by little, one tweak at a time. Its figuring shit out as we go - looking at the things we donât know how to do and learning by doing them anyway. Itâs a fascination with interesting questions wherever they may lead, and itâs a kind of dreaming which isnât pulled towards a North star so much as itâs pushed from a fire within. When we do all that to our own bodies, itâs biohacking.
For me, biohacking is the embodiment of Transhumanism more broadly, of the celebration of human potential and drive to grow, the technology we create as a result, and the cyclical process by which that technology expands human potential in turn, even if it means eventually changing ourselves to something beyond human. (I donât want us to become posthuman, but I am human and so want to be transhuman, and so I will accept our death in the posthuman. Birth and death are parts of life just as humanity and posthumanity are parts of transhumanity.)
And by carving myself into a deliberate shape, I come better to know what place to carve out for myself in the world, to discover the role Iâm to play and to have a place in this community.
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Here you might have fun with this.
I lived across the street from Smith Rock State Park in central Oregon for a while. Butter in your coffee was quite popular 
I never bothered to check: was any justification given for why one bovine fat is better than the other?