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Biohacking

Biohacking
Biohacking is the practice of engaging biology with the hacker ethic.[1] Biohacking encompasses a wide spectrum of practices and movements ranging from Grinders who design and install DIY body-enhancements such as magnetic implants to DIY biologists who conduct at-home gene sequencing.[2][3][4][5] Biohacking emerged in a growing trend of non-institutional science and technology development.[1][6][7] Many biohacking activists, or biohackers, identify with the biopunk movement as well as transhumanism and techno-progressivism.[2][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 and/or cybernetic devices for recording biometric data.[5][10] Ideology[edit] Contemporary biohacking movements[edit] One of the larger biohacking movements is the DIY biology movement. Notable persons[edit] Meredith L. Groups and organizations[edit] Current projects[edit] See also[edit] Related:  BioHacker

Bio-hacker Un article de Wikipédia, l'encyclopédie libre. L'américain Rob Rhinehard inventeur d'une alimentation en poudre, qui se veut complète, a été qualifié de biohacker[2]. Certains bio-artistes connus, comme Eduardo Kac ou le laboratoire Symbiotica, peuvent être directement assimilés aux méthodes de travail des bio-hackers. Notes et références[modifier | modifier le code] Voir aussi[modifier | modifier le code] Lien internet[modifier | modifier le code] Portail de la biologie

The Rise of Biohackers Innovation is the Holy Grail for enterprises. Yet the big innovative leaps tend to crouch in tiny garages and on kitchen tables at the hands of do-it-yourself (DIY) tinkerers rather than in business’ big-monied labs. That pattern in technological evolutionary pulses is still occurring today. These brave new hackers are carving our future on a shoestring and a prayer, just as innovative icons have done – from Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard (who began HP in a garage), to Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak (who hand-built the first Apple personal computer kit) to Bill Gates (who scored a demo meeting with a microcomputer manufacturer for software he hadn’t yet written for a computer he didn’t own). This new breed of at-home, do-it-yourself innovators and entrepreneurs are called the biohackers, although some prefer to be called “biopunks” since the term “hackers” has gained a negative connotation. Birthing of the Biopunks So, what is biohacking, you ask? The Invisible Visible Biopunks

Biopunk Biopunk (a combination of "biotechnology" and "punk") is a technoprogressive movement advocating open access to genetic information.[1][2] Biopunk hobbyists or biohackers experiment with DNA and other aspects of genetics.[3][4] The related biopunk science fiction genre focuses on biotechnology and subversives.[5] Biohacking[edit] Pat Mooney, executive director of ETC Group, is a critic of biohacking who argues that—using a laptop computer, published gene sequence information, and mail-order synthetic DNA—just about anyone has the potential to construct genes or entire genomes from scratch (including those of the lethal pathogens) in the near-future. Movement[edit] The biopunk movement is a small intellectual and cultural movement, which encompasses a growing number of scientists, artists, and cultural critics who are organizing to create public awareness of how genomic information, produced by bioinformatics, gets used and misused. Science fiction[edit] Why Ribo? Books[edit] Notes[edit]

the-mammoth-cometh Photo The first time Ben Novak saw a passenger pigeon, he fell to his knees and remained in that position, speechless, for 20 minutes. He was 16. At 13, Novak vowed to devote his life to resurrecting extinct animals. Continue reading the main story Single-Cell Genomics Allows Identification of New Cell Types How many types of cells are there in the human body? Textbooks say a couple of hundred. But the true number is undoubtedly far larger. Piece by piece, a new, more detailed catalogue of cell types is emerging from labs like that of Aviv Regev at the Broad Institute, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which are applying recent advances in single-cell genomics to study individual cells at a speed and scale previously unthinkable. The technology applied at the Broad uses fluidic systems to separate cells on microscopic conveyor belts and then submits them to detailed genetic analysis, at the rate of thousands per day. Scientists expect such technologies to find use in medical applications where small differences between cells have big consequences, including cell-based drug screens, stem-cell research, cancer treatment, and basic studies of how tissues develop. Other labs are racing to produce their own surveys and improve the underlying technology.

Why upgrading your brain could make you less human | Aeon Ideas Within the lifetimes of most children today, bioenhancement is likely to become a basic feature of human society. Personalised pharmaceuticals will enable us to modify our bodies and minds in powerful and precise ways, with far fewer side-effects than today’s drugs. New brain-machine interfaces will improve our memory and cognition, extend our senses, and confer direct control over an array of semi-intelligent gadgets. Genetic and epigenetic modification will allow us to change our physical appearance and capabilities, as well as to tweak some of the more intangible aspects of our being such as emotion, creativity or sociability. Do you find these ideas disquieting? One of the more insidious effects of such self-editing is that it will blur the boundary between persons and things. But if we’re not careful, we ignore the fact that these ‘products’ are altering key aspects of a human being’s selfhood. Get Aeon straight to your inbox So, what can you do?

Artificial Stupidity Artificial Stupidity by Ali Minai "My colleagues, they study artificial intelligence; me, I study natural stupidity." —Amos Tversky, (quoted in “The Undoing Project” by Michael Lewis). Not only is this quote by Tversky amusing, it also offers profound insight into the nature of intelligence – real and artificial. The work of Tversky and Kahneman focused on showing systematically that much of intelligence is not rational. The field of AI began with the conceit that, ultimately, everything is computation, and that reproducing intelligence – even life itself – was only a matter of finding the “correct” algorithms. When an animal produces a fruitful or futile behavior, it is because of how the electrical and chemical activity of its cells (including the neurons of the nervous system) is shaped by this interaction. One of the biggest gaps between AI and natural intelligence is speed. Two things may provide some insight here.

Brain is 10 times more active than previously measured -- ScienceDaily A new UCLA study could change scientists' understanding of how the brain works -- and could lead to new approaches for treating neurological disorders and for developing computers that "think" more like humans. The research focused on the structure and function of dendrites, which are components of neurons, the nerve cells in the brain. Neurons are large, tree-like structures made up of a body, the soma, with numerous branches called dendrites extending outward. Somas generate brief electrical pulses called "spikes" in order to connect and communicate with each other. Scientists had generally believed that the somatic spikes activate the dendrites, which passively send currents to other neurons' somas, but this had never been directly tested before. This process is the basis for how memories are formed and stored. Scientists have believed that this was dendrites' primary role. But the UCLA team discovered that dendrites are not just passive conduits.

Holonomic brain theory - Wikipedia The holonomic brain theory, developed by neuroscientist Karl Pribram initially in collaboration with physicist David Bohm, is a model of human cognition that describes the brain as a holographic storage network.[1][2] Pribram suggests these processes involve electric oscillations in the brain's fine-fibered dendritic webs, which are different from the more commonly known action potentials involving axons and synapses.[3][4][5] These oscillations are waves and create wave interference patterns in which memory is encoded naturally, and the waves may be analyzed by a Fourier transform.[3][4][5][6][7] Gabor, Pribram and others noted the similarities between these brain processes and the storage of information in a hologram, which can also be analyzed with a Fourier transform.[1][8] In a hologram, any part of the hologram with sufficient size contains the whole of the stored information. Origins and development[edit] Theory overview[edit] The hologram and holonomy[edit] Recent studies[edit]

Most Theories of Consciousness Are Worse Than Wrong - The Atlantic According to medieval medicine, laziness is caused by a build-up of phlegm in the body. The reason? Phlegm is a viscous substance. Its oozing motion is analogous to a sluggish disposition. The phlegm theory has more problems than just a few factual errors. In the modern age we can chuckle over medieval naiveté, but we often suffer from similar conceptual confusions. One corner of science where phlegm theories proliferate is the cognitive neuroscience of consciousness. The oscillation theory of consciousness became popular in neuroscience in the 1990s and still has its adherents. Neuronal oscillations probably do play an important role in the flow of information in the brain, although the exact role is debated. Most people have a set of intuitions about consciousness. But the theory provides no mechanism that connects neuronal oscillations in the brain to a person being able to say, “Hey, I have a conscious experience!” Again, it flatters intuition.

6 People Who Gained Amazing Skills from Brain Injuries McHugh's mania only got more pronounced. He'd finish a painting and then have to start another, then follow that up with a poem, then maybe sculpt himself a little something, then write, then paint, then do it all the hell over again. The man who previously couldn't string two words together on a piece of paper began to fill notebooks with poems and make sculptures like they were going out of style. Via Wirralart.com"Honey, could you take the out the trash and -- You have GOT to stop this!" McHugh sent letters out to doctors -- written in verse, of course -- so they could come look at him. Via Tommymchugh.comThough, hey, if life gives you visions of freaky skinless couples with extra faces on their backs, why not share them with the world? McHugh has had his art exhibited in many galleries in the U.K., and obviously continues to sculpt, write and draw.

6 Creepy Brainwashing Techniques You Can Use Today You're standing in line at a Starbucks. A busy-looking suit taps on your shoulder and asks, "Do you mind if I cut in front of you?" A week later, an identical-looking dude does the same thing, only this one says, "Do you mind if I cut in front of you, because I need to get my coffee?" Mario Tama/Getty Images News/Getty Images"Well, I have two middle fingers, so ..." Of course, your answer is "Both, and if he tries anything, so help me, I will initiate a slap-fight." Why It Works: The key is that it really only works on requests that don't require a lot of time or effort on the other person's end -- once they have a moment to think about what was said, they usually build up some resistance. Monkey Business Images/Monkey "Hm? When the brain is in the automatic state, our reasoning becomes simplified, to the point where almost any reason to do something is good enough for us. Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty ImagesFlimsy rationalizations: the true opiate of the masses.

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