The "Grinder" Movement ft. Tim Cannon || HVMN Enhancement Podcast: Ep. 43

Biohacking is an umbrella term for the passion and mission to enhance and improve upon the human body, often with a hacker-like ethos. One arm of this comes in the form of "grinders", a growing collective of biohackers whose expertise lies in functional body modification (usually with electronic hardware) that extends their human capabilities. 

Episode 43 features Tim Cannon, a human host of multiple implants including RFID's (radio-frequency identification devices) and magnets. His interest in being open to the idea of human enhancement stems from adolescence, when playing role-playing video games (where you are free to build up your character to your own liking and continually level up to become more powerful) made him wonder "Why can't we do this to ourselves?" 

Some years later, and Tim is in the midst of a movement that pushes citizen science forward and in the process of creating an implant (named Northstar 2) that has a variety of functions such as a built-in glucose monitor and gesture recognition. All arms of biohacking share one commonality: Bringing the power of personal health into your hands through open education and science-based experimentation.

Geoffrey Woo and Tim discuss his experiences with implants and the challenges and risks attached to being a grinder, the differences between the medical field and biohacking, and a host of community questions! Listeners asked Tim what he believes the most popular consumer augmentations will be in the near future, why he chose to invest in implants than wearables, and what measures are taken to ensure safety when implanting a device with a battery into a fellow grinder.