Teach me more about bodymods, but less about hatchets and aesthetics.
April 28, 2015 3:37 PM Subscribe
Ever since I was a kid and saw Luke Skywalker get a robot hand, the idea of modifying my body has been of interest. Over the years I've seen things like Tigerman, Warren Ellis' "What is Best in Life?" series, and plenty of BMEzine. Most of this tends to focus on visual modification which I could care less about, or extreme cases. Still, I want to learn more, but more function, less form.
What I'm looking to learn more about is enhancements of our meat through both visually unobtrusive and minimally physically intrusive means. Essentially, discrete mods. Anecdata and stories are handy. MeFi has the best of both of those and you guys all seemingly provide exactly what I'm after and more in short order, so I figured I should begin my search here.
To be more precise: This is about those modifications that change the body without being immediately noticible (Such as magnets in fingertips), those that are mostly based around using your own body's capabilities and functions to modify itself (Doing a particular physical activity changing ones physique/working out/climbers and dancers having crazy calluses) and the intersections between those, such as using isopropyl alcohol or antihydral gel to achieve said climber calluses. I'd say the results of using a corset long term would count for what I'm looking to research on, but is a bit of a stretch.
I'm looking for those things done with a purpose of physical function, less form.
Mostly I'm interested in the hows but the whys, results and the rest are good. Scientific and cultural information are crazy relevant too.
I know a little, but I don't yet know a lot. Help me get there.
I'll probably ask about adaptive technology some time next week, so unless it's discrete let's leave out the cyborgs for now.
Also mental stimulants and mental hacking need not apply as this is purely aimed for physical modification.
What I'm looking to learn more about is enhancements of our meat through both visually unobtrusive and minimally physically intrusive means. Essentially, discrete mods. Anecdata and stories are handy. MeFi has the best of both of those and you guys all seemingly provide exactly what I'm after and more in short order, so I figured I should begin my search here.
To be more precise: This is about those modifications that change the body without being immediately noticible (Such as magnets in fingertips), those that are mostly based around using your own body's capabilities and functions to modify itself (Doing a particular physical activity changing ones physique/working out/climbers and dancers having crazy calluses) and the intersections between those, such as using isopropyl alcohol or antihydral gel to achieve said climber calluses. I'd say the results of using a corset long term would count for what I'm looking to research on, but is a bit of a stretch.
I'm looking for those things done with a purpose of physical function, less form.
Mostly I'm interested in the hows but the whys, results and the rest are good. Scientific and cultural information are crazy relevant too.
I know a little, but I don't yet know a lot. Help me get there.
I'll probably ask about adaptive technology some time next week, so unless it's discrete let's leave out the cyborgs for now.
Also mental stimulants and mental hacking need not apply as this is purely aimed for physical modification.
Please be super careful about experimenting with Vitamin A if you choose to do that.
posted by griphus at 5:24 PM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by griphus at 5:24 PM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
Apologies if you are already aware of this, but it sounds to me like you might find more things in line with your interests by searching for transhumanism rather than body modification. One hesitates to make blanket statements, but in my experience, the former is mostly concerned with enhancing abilities, while the latter is mostly about aesthetics.
posted by jordemort at 6:11 PM on April 28, 2015
posted by jordemort at 6:11 PM on April 28, 2015
You might this story about a dude who put magnets in his finger tips interesting.
posted by Sleddog_Afterburn at 6:20 PM on April 28, 2015
posted by Sleddog_Afterburn at 6:20 PM on April 28, 2015
Seconding the transhumanism angle. There are a subset of body modification enthusiasts who are interested in transhumanism, and I think that's where you'll find the things that match your interests.
posted by bedhead at 9:27 PM on April 28, 2015
posted by bedhead at 9:27 PM on April 28, 2015
This biohacking story might be of interest.
posted by Gin and Broadband at 11:38 PM on April 28, 2015
posted by Gin and Broadband at 11:38 PM on April 28, 2015
Even if your vision is fine, LASIK can be done to improve your vision beyond normal.
I got LASIK years ago because my vision was bad, but my vision is now 20/10, which is twice as good as "normal" 20/20.
From the transhumanist angle, you want to search for info about a man named Stelarc. He's an artist and this is what he deals with. He has or used to have a functioning ear on his forearm.
posted by cmoj at 1:24 PM on April 29, 2015
I got LASIK years ago because my vision was bad, but my vision is now 20/10, which is twice as good as "normal" 20/20.
From the transhumanist angle, you want to search for info about a man named Stelarc. He's an artist and this is what he deals with. He has or used to have a functioning ear on his forearm.
posted by cmoj at 1:24 PM on April 29, 2015
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https://experiment.com/projects/can-we-biologically-extend-the-range-of-human-vision-into-the-near-infrared/updates
I'm not sure how it turned out, looks like they are still analyzing things.
posted by hermanubis at 4:41 PM on April 28, 2015