As a new Grinder I have a few questions for the community.

edited February 2015 in Community
Hey Everyone!
Thanks for letting me be apart of this community! Im really excited about the possibilities of Bio-Hacking and its potential future applications. 
Personally I absolutely love technology and the possibilities that it presents for use in various forms of art. I have a degree in Arts Technology, which is basically applicable to most forms of multi media and art. Being that art is mostly about form (along with the function of conveying some sort of message) I am mostly used to only expressing myself in this way. I use and am proficient in various coding languages, graphic design, music recording and engineering, video/photography etc. etc. During my studies I encountered many forms of tech that I in turn try to incorporate as mediums into my multi media art. Arduinos being one of the mediums which I use quite frequently. Ill come back to those though.

Now instead of just form over function, ("oh that sounds/looks cool, I wonder what it means"), I have been interested in how these technologies can be used and incorporated into peoples everyday lives, ex. function over form, but I want to balance the two. Being an artist I am used to exploring limits and boundaries and using creativity to think of new and unique ways to convey a message, but I want to start making things with a practical function as well, along with looking or sounding cool. Example, in school I was apart of a group that used an arduino and a 3d printer make and program a unit, that when plugged into an outlet or power strip, reads and displays on an LED screen how much power is being used by said outlet. This could be useful in the green movement or just in every day households, as you can see how much power is being consumed by certain household devices, and then use that information to decide how to minimize that power consumption, therefore reducing your individual carbon footprint and also your bills. I want to extend these types of ideas further.

Here is where I stumbled upon this site. Bio-Hacking!? Sounds absolutely amazing! Not only in terms of human development, but I am also ecstatic with ideas in which I could implement these concepts into my work. I would love to start with the magnets in my fingers. This site has helped me do all the research on the subject and given me a great deal of confidence in getting the procedure done. I fully understand and accept all the risks associated with it. Although I have a couple questions that I would really appreciate the communities input on. 

For my day job I am an IT technician at a very big company. I frequently handle computers and various electronics, even down to the hard drives. I know on other posts people have said that magnets will not affect hard drives, credit cards and the like. Are we absolutely sure THESE MAGNETS WILL NOT HARM A HARD DRIVE? Also I have been training, coaching and compete in MMA (mixed martial arts, Yes i fight in a cage) for years now, I am fairly confident that with the correct placement a magnet in a finger or two will not affect anything after the healing process. Has this proven to be correct? Other than these two questions I am very much ready to implant my first bio-hack. Speaking of which, here are my plans and how I am going to do it, I would love to hear comments or concerns on them. I will also be taking a video of the procedure to post on here.

I purchased a few disk shaped 3mm x 1mm bio-proof coated magnets from here, http://www.supermagnetman.net/product_info.php?cPath=31&products_id=2582. Any concerns about these little guys?

As far as the actual implementation goes, I have access to and will be using, professional grade and sterile tools (scalpel to make the incision, tweezers to insert magnet etc.etc.), pro sutures and stitches if needed (if not I will just be using a medical grade liquid glue). There will be two of us, so with the other individual doing most of the work, I don't think any of this will be a problem.

If successful, and I obtain full sensitivity, I am elated with the possibilities of implementing these implants. Not only into my day job (diagnosing computer problems without taking them apart, finding live wires, etc etc.), but especially with my art. I am very very interested in the bottleneck project in which I could turn other various forms of stimuli into a magnetic field that I could (hopefully) feel with my implants. Now my final question (if you have gotten this far thank you so much for sticking around and reading this, I very much look forward to your replies), has any one ever used or even thought about using arduinos to hypothetically pick up various fields (light, sound, radiation of some kind, idk) and then translate them into magnetic pulses that I could then feel with my implants? This may sound very similar to the bottleneck project, which I must admit I have not looked very much into so I don't actually know the specifics on how they plan to get this effect, but feel free to enlighten me. Or reverse that, and I am fairly confident that I could use an arduino to pick up magnetic fields, and then when I wave my fingers over it, I could make the arduino do some sort of desired effect (turn something on, output something like a projection, or sound, the possibilities are endless.) Anyone have any experience or perhaps ideas on how I could use an arduino along with some coding with my implants?


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Comments

  • Sorry for the long post, but I am just so excited about all this. Again, thank you so much for letting me apart of this community and for reading my rambles so far. I look forward to future collaborations and hopefully making some new friends. I hope to hear from someone soon!

    -SuperRope 
  • @SuperRope

    "Are we absolutely sure THESE MAGNETS WILL NOT HARM A HARD DRIVE?"

    Yes.  That magnets can erase hard drives is something with only a grain of truth in it, since the magnetic fields necessary are beyond what any household magnet would do.

    "I am fairly
    confident that with the correct placement a magnet in a finger or two
    will not affect anything after the healing process. Has this proven to
    be correct?"

    Sort of.  @Unqualified, for example, says that rock-climbing caused only mildly more pain at first, but even that pain eventually died off.  There are positions that the magnet can get into which are a bit uncomfortable, but you can usually massage it back into place.  I used to do martial arts, but haven't done much since my implant, so I can't really comment on that specific situation.

    "has any one
    ever used or even thought about using arduinos to hypothetically pick
    up various fields (light, sound, radiation of some kind, idk) and then
    translate them into magnetic pulses that I could then feel with my
    implants?"

    Yes  As you mention, that's exactly what the BottleNose device does.  Also, some of Kevin Warwick's students have done that as well.
  • edited August 2013
    Thank you for your input. 
    Is the code involved in the bottlenose or any of the students code open sourced? I would love to be able to get my hands into some of it and see what people have done so far.
  • IanIan
    edited August 2013
    Yes, you can find it here.
  • edited August 2013
    Awesome, thank you Ian. If anything comes of this and my implants go well, I will be sure to of course post any findings and projects on here, and at the same time giving the grinder community credit for these pioneering efforts.
  • I can offer some more input regarding magnetic implants and comfort.

    I have two magnets, one in my left index finger and one in the left ring finger. I type for a living and am a farily heavy-handed typist (I currently need to replace a laptop's keyboard due to having damaged a key, actually), and there is no pain from whacking my implants on keys. I can feel the implant, it's like a semi-hard object in my fingerpad, but there is no pain sensation and only mild discomfort depending on how much pressure is applied.

    Outside of work, I enjoy recreational shooting and the implants have not caused any problems or discomfort with operating a variety of firearms and they have the added bonus of allowing me to quickly identify range-friendly ammo (the range doesn't like steel-core, so if a round is magnetic I leave it home). I am also able to do fingertip pullups on a doorframe, though that was painful during the first few weeks of recovery it is easily possible now. Lastly, I play the piano without any trouble at all! There is a slight amount of care and attention in how you grab things, but it quickly becomes second nature and you don't even realize you're adjusting your grasp. Also, there was some loss of sensation early on, but even after just a few days and well before I removed the sutures, the nerves had healed completely and I had full sensation again. Now, several weeks later, my "augmented" fingertips seem MORE sensitive than before, I hypothesize this is due to the magnets stimulating nerve growth both due to the magnetic field and due to the new sensations causing my body to attempt to "interface" with them to make the most of it.

    I have to be honest, I am impressed by how unobtrusive the implants are, I was very hesitant at first because of how much I use my fingertips for work and hobbies.
  • zombiegristle says is true, compensating is fairly instinctive.

    Welcome to the forum!
  • edited August 2013
    @Zombiegristle,
    Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experiences. We actually have a couple things in common, I also type a ton for work and its good to know that it wont be an issue. Same with the piano! I was actually a bit worried about that one, I have been playing since I was 8 and that was a concern as I still play almost daily and with other musicians. I also enjoyed reading that you found a practical use for the implants while shooting. Pretty cool thought.
    "I have to be honest, I am impressed by how unobtrusive the implants are, I was very hesitant at first because of how much I use my fingertips for work and hobbies."
    This is all very good news. I have almost zero hesitations or reservations about getting this done now.

    Also thank you very much for responding. Its great to be here! 
    I assumed training would have to slow down until healed, Ill just throw on some boxing gloves and do some bag work/grapple with those on until I feel confident in my grip again. I do roll in a Gi frequently and I am anxious to see how/if anything will be affected once it heals. I think proper planning on the magnet placement will be crucial to this aspect. Im going to try someone else's idea (I cant recall who said it) to put a dot on my fingers where I plan to put the implant, and see how much it wears off until I find the perfect placement where it will be the least intrusive.

    I just checked the shipping status on my magnets, and they should actually be arriving today. So if all goes as planned, I may be able to get the procedure done this week. Like I said, I will be taking a video and posting results for others to learn from. Wish me luck!
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