Why Are There Computer Chips In Tim Shanks Hands?

The procedure is simple but look and youll cringe.

Pinched skin, plunged needle, pressed gauze and a 12-millimeter bioinert glass capsule is installed in the fleshy back of Tim Shanks hand.

Shank is a biohacker, a transhumanist, a grinder, a cyborg. The terms are jargon, hell admit, reductive and a bit cheesy, but hes earnest in his plans to hijack evolution and give his physical body a digital and mechanical upgrade.

Late last year, Shank decided it was time to take the first steps in transcending his corporeal form and turned to a St. Paul piercing artist.

Implantable, non-medical computer chips and magnets are enjoying a small vogue in the Twin Cities, and Verno Musselman, owner of The Holy Mackerel, has become Ramsey Countys premier practitioner. In the last five years, Musselman said hes completed insertions of about 10 computer chips and nearly 50 magnets.

Customers are warned about the risks of severe pain, vascular damage, nerve damage, scarring, fistulas, pulverized glass and disintegrated magnets. But Musselman, whose own wrist holds a magnet, said the operation is relatively simple and he limits the amount of trauma.

After Shanks procedure, Musselman enthusiastically posted a video on the Holy Mackerels Facebook page of the new superpower in action.

For now, as the video shows, the two subdermal chips in Shanks hands have all the functionality of a parlor magic trick. The near field communication tag, embedded between Shanks right thumb and forefinger, can be programmed to trigger a single operation on his phone, like muting a call or retrieving a contact. The RFID tag in his left hand can be set to unlock a door.

These types of body modification will not turn anyone into an omnipotent android overnight, but Shanks motivations go deeper than just the geeky cool factor.

We stopped being limited by our own biological capabilities when we first took a stone and created a tool, Shank said. I dont have any desire to be immortal or anything like that, though Id like to be healthy and vibrant for 300 years.

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Why Are There Computer Chips In Tim Shanks Hands?