Body hacking is the application of the hacker ethic (often in combination with a high risk tolerance) in pursuit of enhancement or change to the body's functions through technological means, such as do-it-yourself cybernetic devices [1] or by introducing biochemicals. [2]
Grinders are a self-identified community of body hackers. Many grinders identify with the biopunk movement, open-source transhumanism, and techno-progressivism. [3] [4] [5] The Grinder movement is strongly associated with the body modification movement and practices actual implantation of cybernetic devices in organic bodies as a method of working towards transhumanism. [3] [6] This includes designing and installing do-it-yourself body enhancements, such as magnetic implants. [3] [6] Biohacking emerged in a growing trend of non-institutional science and technology development. [7] [8] [9]
"Biohacking" can also refer to managing one's own biology using a combination of medical, nutritional, and electronic techniques. This may include the use of nootropics, nontoxic substances, and/or cybernetic devices for recording biometric data (as in the quantified self movement). [10]
Grinders largely identify with transhumanist and biopunk ideologies. [7] [11] Transhumanism is the belief that it is both possible and desirable to so fundamentally alter the human condition through the use of technologies as to inaugurate a superior post-human being. [12] [13] [14] Kara Platoni categorizes such technological modifications as "hard" biohacking, noting the desire to expand the boundaries of human perception and even create "new senses". [15] [16]
Biopunk is a techno-progressive cultural and intellectual movement that advocates open access to genetic information and espouses the liberating potential of truly democratic technological development. [17] [18] Like other punk movements, biopunk encourages the DIY ethic. [11] [19] "Grinders" adhere to an anarchist strain of biopunk that emphasizes non-hierarchical science and DIY.[ citation needed ]
Cyborgs and cyborg theory strongly influence techno-progressivism and transhumanism and are thus influential to both the DIY-bio movement and grinder movement in general. [20] Some biohackers, such as grinders and the British professor of cybernetics Kevin Warwick, actively design and implement technologies that are integrated directly into the organic body. [3] Examples of this include DIY magnetic fingertip implants or Warwick's "Project Cyborg". [3] [21] [22] Cyborg theory was kickstarted in 1985 with the publication of Donna Haraway's influential "Cyborg Manifesto" but can be traced back all the way to Manfred Clynes and Nathan Klines' article "Cyborgs and Space". [23] This body of theory criticizes the rigidity of ontological boundaries and attempts to denaturalize artificial dichotomies. [20]
Yet, it remains within the subculture of punk music where the homemade, A4, stapled and photocopied fanzines of the late 1970s fostered the "do-it-yourself" (DIY) production techniques of cut-n-paste letterforms, photocopied and collaged images, hand-scrawled and typewritten texts, to create a recognizable graphic design aesthetic.
