Biohacking: Why People Are Turning Themselves Into Cyborgs

Is it ethical to invade the human body? Some people don’t bother with such questions and eagerly seize any opportunity to become the best version of themselves. Welcome to the world of biohackers—people who experiment with their own bodies in pursuit of self-improvement and pushing the boundaries of human capability.

Explorers of the Human Body

In the 21st century, we know almost everything about ourselves. But as the saying goes, “with much knowledge comes much sorrow.” Realizing how limited and vulnerable the human body is, people are constantly seeking ways to enhance it. The biohacking movement grew out of the desire to overcome our own biology.

Biohacking can mean many things—from experimenting with diets to implanting chips under the skin. But the goal is always the same: to find the limits of human ability and try to push past them—or at least move the boundaries a bit further.

For true biohackers, it’s not just about the benefits to the body, but also about embracing a certain philosophy: the human body is not sacred or untouchable. Instead, it’s a kind of biological construction set, meant to be tinkered with. By implanting devices or editing their own genes, biohackers feel much like programmers playing with code or chemists testing new compounds. And when things go wrong, their reaction is often, “Well, that was interesting!”

Is this reasonable? With no unexplored territories left on Earth and other planets still out of reach, our own bodies remain a vast frontier for discovery. Depending on how science develops, biohackers may be seen as visionaries ahead of their time—or as outcasts in a “brave new world.” Either way, they strive to stay at the cutting edge of science.

The Punks of Biology

No one knows exactly when biohacking began. In the 1990s, those who experimented with chip implants or gene editing were more often called “biopunks” (from the English “punk,” meaning outcast). Their activities didn’t attract much attention, and real breakthroughs were rare—biotechnology was expensive and resource-intensive, so only big corporations could afford major advances.

Biohacking has taken root wherever big money is involved. Take professional sports, for example, where doping is an open secret. Doping is essentially biohacking—using biochemical interventions to push the body’s limits, making athletes run faster, jump higher, and hit harder. But these drugs come with serious side effects, and athletes often pay for their achievements with their health. Their goal isn’t self-improvement, but beating the competition. Do-it-yourself biology, another name for biohacking, is about something else entirely.

Even so, if taking performance-enhancing drugs is expensive, what about changing your own DNA? Here, things have improved dramatically. Twenty years ago, sequencing a human genome cost tens of millions of dollars. Today, it can be done for about $1,000, and basic mutation tests are even cheaper. So, in the 21st century, being a biohacker is more accessible than ever.

Forgetting as a Path to Chip Implants

Changing your body’s properties is no longer trendy. The new trend is integrating electronic devices into your body—yes, the very “chipping” that conspiracy theorists warn about. While some people fear a coming digital dystopia, others have already been chipped for years and feel just fine.

One of the pioneers of chipping is Amal Graafstra, founder of Dangerous Things. Graafstra started “messing with dangerous things” in 2005 while working in IT consulting for medical institutions. His motivation? Forgetfulness—he kept leaving his electronic office key at home and couldn’t stay late at work.

What’s the solution to never forgetting your key? Always carry it with you—or better yet, in you. Graafstra ordered chip parts online, assembled the device at home, and implanted it under his skin using a veterinary needle. He chose NFC technology, now standard in most smartphones: “I immediately realized this was the future. Back then, no one was mass-producing NFC chips, let alone implanting them,” he said.

Graafstra’s experiments with opening doors in a new way caught the attention of his colleagues, and soon the story spread online. He was happy to share advice with DIY biohackers and gathered a community of “entry-level cyborgs.” In 2013, he founded his own company to monetize his experience.

Following the biopunk tradition, Graafstra started his company in a garage with just $12,000 in capital. But the next year, his revenue hit $100,000. For chip implantation, he recommends going to a piercer—after all, who knows more about subdermal procedures?

Interestingly, in biohacker circles, it’s frowned upon to get implants in specialized clinics. It’s supposed to be hardcore: you implant the chip yourself, or with the help of a friend or non-medical specialist. Going to a medical facility is considered bad form.

Cheap and Futuristic

Implantable chips aren’t that expensive. Dangerous Things sells products starting at $100, and the Cyborg Transformation Kit (a set of chips) can be had for as little as $49. You can also buy surgical tools and devices for programming the chips.

The devices are designed to last 30 years—so if you get chipped as an adult, it’s basically for life. The most popular locations are between the thumb and index finger or just above the wrist.

Why do it? According to Graafstra, the main goal is to hide encrypted data where criminals can’t easily access it. Technically, someone could attack a chipped person and cut out the device—but that’s much less likely than a simple pickpocketing.

Still, most Dangerous Things customers are driven by curiosity and perhaps some disappointment with the 21st century. The future promised by sci-fi classics like “Blade Runner,” “Minority Report,” and “The Matrix” hasn’t arrived. Implanting a chip is a way to make that future a reality, at least in part.

Who Are Grinders?

Biohacking is a diverse field, and there’s even a classification system for biohackers. Those who aren’t afraid to experiment on themselves are called grinders.

One of the most famous grinders is Gabriel Licina, known for creating a “pirate copy” of Glybera, one of the world’s most expensive legal drugs. Glybera treats a rare genetic disorder and costs $1 million per injection. Licina and his colleagues made an analog for just $7,000.

But Licina’s other exploits are even more interesting. For example, he tried to give himself night vision by putting a mix of chlorine E-6, insulin, DMSO, and saline into his eyes. Chlorine E-6 is similar to chlorophyll and is used to treat night blindness.

Two hours after the injection, Licina could read signs in the dark that others couldn’t see and could spot people among trees at night with 100% accuracy, while others managed it only a third of the time. His vision returned to normal by the next morning, and he reported no side effects after 20 days.

Another famous grinder is British scientist Kevin Warwick, the first officially recognized cyborg. In 1998, he implanted an RFID chip under his skin to control elements of a smart home. In 2002, he underwent a more complex procedure: a device was implanted in his left arm, connected to the median nerve, to transmit signals from his nervous system to a computer. He even created a robotic hand that moved in sync with his real hand. Warwick’s wife also received an implant, and they attempted to establish a cybernetic connection between their nervous systems, though it didn’t work out. Warwick believes that soon, artificial intelligence and robots will surpass humans, and only cyborgs will be able to compete.

Biohacking for Medical Reasons

Some people become cyborgs out of curiosity, while others do so out of necessity—like Canadian Rob Spence. As a child, Spence lost an eye in a gun accident. He wore an eye patch for years, but eventually decided to get an implant. Unsatisfied with a regular prosthetic, he opted for a “cybereye”—a camera implanted in his eye socket, turning him into the “Eyeborg.” Inspired by the 1970s TV show “The Six Million Dollar Man,” Spence’s project involved a team of specialists who designed a tiny camera, battery, transmitter, and processing board to fit in his eye socket. The system could transmit video to various devices, and even included a red LED reminiscent of the Terminator. Spence’s Eyeborg project gained international attention, and he used his camera-eye to shoot films and commercials.

The Elusive Dream of a Brain Prosthesis

Eye prosthetics are nothing new, but what about a brain prosthesis? Some experts doubt it’s possible to fully replace the brain, but partial prosthetics are being explored. In 2003, American neurologist Theodore Berger created a hippocampus prosthesis for rats using electrodes. Damaging the hippocampus caused the rats to forget learned information, but electrical stimulation restored their memories.

The first human brain implant was in 2004, when 25-year-old Matthew Nagle, paralyzed after a spinal cord injury, received a BrainGate chip. He could control a computer cursor, read email, play simple games, and move a robotic arm just by thinking. The system used a sensor with 100 tiny electrodes implanted in the motor cortex. However, the experiment ended after a few months due to signal degradation and infection risk. Nagle’s implants were removed in 2006, and he died a year later from infection.

Despite this, research continued. In 2012, BrainGate2 chips were tested on two stroke patients, Bob and Cathy, who were completely paralyzed and unable to speak. The implants allowed them to control robotic arms and use tablets with their thoughts. While the system is still bulky and requires a wired connection, it’s compatible with regular computers and tablets.

Are such experiments really biohacking? After all, these patients can’t “hack” their own bodies, and the procedures are done in clinics by professionals. Still, these scientific advances are crucial for biohacking, as they pave the way for new “garage miracles.”

The Man Who Hears Colors

No discussion of brain implants is complete without mentioning Neil Harbisson. Born with achromatopsia (total color blindness), Harbisson could only see shades of gray. Despite this, he became an artist. At 19, he met Adam Montandon, who was experimenting with translating light frequencies into sound. Together, they implanted four chips in Harbisson’s skull, connected to an antenna that detects color frequencies and converts them into sound. Each color corresponds to a musical note, allowing Harbisson to “hear” colors, including infrared and ultraviolet. Initially, the experience was overwhelming, but over time, he adapted. Now, every face is a musical composition, and a trip to a museum is a symphony. Harbisson’s story shows how technology can radically change perception.

Chipped and Against It

While “biohacking” is becoming mainstream in the West, it’s still exotic in Russia. However, some Russians have embraced it, like Evgeny Chereshnev, who implanted an NFC chip under his skin while working at Kaspersky Lab. Chereshnev wanted to understand both the benefits and vulnerabilities of the technology, even loading his chip with an encrypted copy of Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” and other sensitive data. His goal was to see how convenient it was to live with a chip. In 2015, he concluded that the technology was far from ideal.

By 2017, Chereshnev had become a vocal opponent of chipping, arguing that it would lead to digital slavery. The main problem, he said, is that all personal data and actions would be tied to a single device, making people vulnerable to both cybercriminals and the state. He doesn’t reject the idea of chipping entirely, but insists it must be safe and not controlled by tech giants like Google or Apple.

Digital Immortality

While chipping isn’t yet commonplace, many biohacking enthusiasts are already thinking about the next step: digital immortality. This involves gene editing, artificial organs, and ultimately uploading human consciousness to digital media. Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov, for example, promises digital immortality by 2045 through his company Immortal.me, planning to transfer human minds into robot avatars. His “Russia-2045” movement has attracted scientists and developed concepts for four types of avatars: a remotely controlled robot, an artificial body for brain transplantation, a nanorobot body, and a hologram body. The main question is whether corporations will handle personal data ethically. If not, we could see armies of digital clones or the use of deceased people’s likenesses in advertising. The human brain may prove too complex to copy, but history shows that seemingly impossible tasks are often eventually solved. The phrase “digital dictatorship” could take on a new, more sinister meaning.

The Noble Goal of Biohackers

So what is the ultimate goal of biohackers? They can be seen as a branch of transhumanism—a philosophy focused on improving human physical, mental, and moral qualities through technology. Transhumanists believe that technological advances will free humanity from disease and most problems, creating a society of superhumans.

Transhumanists aren’t just people who implant chips. Vaccine developers, for example, are also transhumanists in a sense—after all, an effective vaccine is a victory over biology. Some people try to modify their own genomes to extend healthy life. Who knows—maybe even immortality is within reach!

According to biologist Alexander Kaplan, transhumanism has two main branches: one aims to use technology to restore and maintain the body, even replacing worn-out organs; the other, emerging in the era of scientific progress, believes in changing human biology itself, up to transferring the mind to silicon and editing the genome for immortality. Kaplan himself sees “digital immortality” as science fiction, but biohackers are making sci-fi a reality, step by step. Even if today’s chip-implanters never become true cyborgs, progress is made by moving forward, not by worrying about dead ends.

Transforming into a cyborg can be surprisingly affordable. The future is already here—just not evenly distributed.