Tbf, there is a small gorup of DIY bio-hackers somewhere out there. I saw a doc about it a few years ago. Nothing like super major but like installing an NFC chip in a hand and stuff.
Not an electrician but I have one of these. While I have used it to troubleshoot electrical problems on occasion (eg- this thing doesn't have a power LED but I can tell it's getting power), it's far more useful for locating and holding small screws. The field sensing bit is somewhat hit and miss. Mine works on microwave ovens, most transformers, some models of anti-theft gate, an electric tram once or twice, and on one occasion, a laptop WiFi card.
What compelled you do get this and what’s the procedure for getting it put in? Has it ever caused any problems? Was it difficult to get used to? What does it feel like when you feel the magnetic fields?
What compelled you do get this and what’s the procedure for getting it put in?
CW: Surgery
I got it done back in 2010 or so. At the time I was working in I.T., and spent a lot of time in underground electronic music circles. Goth / cybergoth / cyberpunk and underground rave culture, and I grew up on the internet in the '90s with a lot of transhumanist influence before it got co-opted by tech bros. I'd heard of the procedure a few years before and somehow the opportunity to get it done crossed one of my social feeds. It felt like something that would be useful and also fun to have. Me and a couple of friends were really interested in it so we all went and did it together. I'm not sure I'd have done it just on my own. The procedure itself is actually pretty brutal so the CW applies from here. There are a couple different ways to do it depending on the shape of magnet. For a flat one (like a coin cell battery) they cut a flap of skin, stick the magnet in and stitch it back up. For the long ones they basically stab a deep slit in your fingertip alongside the bone with a long scalpel blade, jam the magnet in there and stitch it closed. I have a long one, it's a little bit shorter and fatter than a grain of rice. I got it done under local anaesthetic, which isn't strictly legal here, but I'm sure glad they did it.
Has it ever caused any problems?
Yes. I got it in my left ring finger because I'm right handed, but it's decreased the grip strength in that hand a bit. Too much pressure on that fingertip just hurts. I couldn't really do rock climbing if I wanted to, and I can't play a steel string guitar any more for the same reason. Nylon strings I can just about get away with but it takes a lot of practice to get the finger positions right that I just haven't put in. 99% of the time in daily life I just work around it though. Other things that people mentioned to me like setting off metal detectors or killing hard drives haven't happened to me. Never had to get an MRI, but I suspect that would be an issue too. It also sometimes aches in the cold.
Was it difficult to get used to?
Sort of? The first six months were definitely a learning experience. I found myself sticking to metal stair rails, accidentally picking up spoons with it, generally getting it caught on things. I suppose that's not -that- different from a new piercing in a prominent location though. I also found myself getting surprised by magnetic fields, but now I'm just kind of used to it. I suspect the sensation has dulled a bit over time, too.
What does it feel like when you feel the magnetic fields?
A lot of people have said things along the lines of "oh, like a sixth sense?" But it's not. It's more like being able to see in infrared; it's not an extra sense, just an extension of an existing one. Probably the best way to explain it is; if you ever caught a fly or buzzing insect as a kid, and felt it buzzing against your hand. It's kinda like that but from under the skin. Definitely a bit icky to feel something moving under your skin until you get used to it. The sensitivity is -really- variable because the implant procedure is pretty far from an exact science, or it was back then, anyway. The people I got it with had very different results; one was a lot more sensitive and could feel fields from much further away, one was much less sensitive. It's probably to do with how deep the implant is, the sensitive one couldn't pick up much more than a paperclip, whereas the less sensitive one could pick up an entire dessert spoon. I feel like a person might be able to train themselves to recognise different types and strengths of fields depending on their sensitivity, but I never bothered trying.
It was done at a reputable local piercing studio, by a well-known body mod expert who happened to be on tour at the time. No medical degree that I'm aware of, but a ton of experience and more than a little self-experimentation.
That’s so accurate, but landlords have jacked up rent so cities are little luxury zones for the rich only so only they can enjoy the few cool things about cyberpunk while I’m stuck living like a medieval peasant in bumfuck nowhere Ohio.
First I don't wish Ohio on anyone, even my worst enemies.
That still tracks. Us poors can't even afford the disassociation treats that the movies and books suggested that the cyber-poors would be enjoying. I just wanna be the homeless guy with the beanis-pump gooning himself with VR in the first episode of Edgerunners. Is that too much to ask?
The pumps have little screens on the that play adds and yell at you. They used to just use speakers to play the adds to the whole complex, but now they're right in your face. There's lots of surveillance, too, since they want to be able to prosecute you if you somehow manage to get gas without paying. It makes sabotaging the screens complicated.
I got it billboards that have an RFID and zap ads to your cars display and crank the volume. Also a future version that ques to play on your retina when you're done driving for people with a neural ink chip installed. That or que ads in your dreams
Also from what I've seen online some of the gas pumps have switched from conventional speakers to DML panel speakers so you can't destroy the speaker cones.
We need a commercial point of sale sabotage manual. Like we need to comb through the repair manuals for all these things, all these advertising machines, and determine how they can be disabled quickly, quietly, and with minimal evidence by the "end user".
That's one of the reasons some advertising and ATMs have switched to panel speakers, there's no requirement for vent holes for the sound to escape, so it's pretty much impossible to vandalise. A physical part of the gas pump or ATM becomes the speaker, by being energised by an audio exciter stcuk to the back side of it. If you see something producing sound with no obvious speaker holes, it's probably using a DML exciter. It's actually a very interesting technology, a shame it's being used in advertising.
That could make it louder. I've built my own set of DML panel speakers, and coating the outside of the panels in a coat of PVA glue enhanced the high frequency sound. If there's good connection between the epoxy and the surface, and the exciter is powerful enough to energize it with the extra mass of the epoxy, it will still work. Some people even coat their panels in expoy to try enhance the sound in a similar manner to coating in PVA glue. You would have to get the epoxy jammed in on the side with the exciter, which is usually not accessible.
yeah, I genuinely thought about trying to figure out where the essential components of those were so I could pop a little hole in them with a drill but I decided to stop driving for like a year instead
If you put your ear next to the panel you can probably find the location of the exciter on the panel, as the noise will get louder closer to the exciter, and then drill though the panel and exciter.
the only unfortunate thing is that essentially all gas stations have cameras
but honestly they aren't monitored well at night so maybe you can get away with it if you're casual enough. or black out your plates. Hardly seems worth the risk but those things make me homicidal so
You Americans have this? Good Lord
We are basically a cyberpunk dystopia without all the pizzazz at this point.
Wheres my damn cyberware? Oh neuralink? Fuck no
Considering the shit our current corpos would do to your brain most of the "dystopian" visions from old cyberpunk sounds pretty optimistic.
Anticipating prothean beacons beaming nightmarish visions of impending doom and treats to my brain
Tbf, there is a small gorup of DIY bio-hackers somewhere out there. I saw a doc about it a few years ago. Nothing like super major but like installing an NFC chip in a hand and stuff.
My favorite was a little magnet in your ring fingertip that let you "feel" magnetic fields.
I wouldn't do it, but it sounded kinda nifty.
That would be hell if you were a secretary or whatever and used paperclips a lot.
Probably useful for an electrician tho
Not an electrician but I have one of these. While I have used it to troubleshoot electrical problems on occasion (eg- this thing doesn't have a power LED but I can tell it's getting power), it's far more useful for locating and holding small screws. The field sensing bit is somewhat hit and miss. Mine works on microwave ovens, most transformers, some models of anti-theft gate, an electric tram once or twice, and on one occasion, a laptop WiFi card.
Cool, can we turn this into an ama? Like I’m genuinely curious about some stuff!
Yeah, for sure. I don't mind answering questions about it.
What compelled you do get this and what’s the procedure for getting it put in? Has it ever caused any problems? Was it difficult to get used to? What does it feel like when you feel the magnetic fields?
CW: Surgery
I got it done back in 2010 or so. At the time I was working in I.T., and spent a lot of time in underground electronic music circles. Goth / cybergoth / cyberpunk and underground rave culture, and I grew up on the internet in the '90s with a lot of transhumanist influence before it got co-opted by tech bros. I'd heard of the procedure a few years before and somehow the opportunity to get it done crossed one of my social feeds. It felt like something that would be useful and also fun to have. Me and a couple of friends were really interested in it so we all went and did it together. I'm not sure I'd have done it just on my own. The procedure itself is actually pretty brutal so the CW applies from here. There are a couple different ways to do it depending on the shape of magnet. For a flat one (like a coin cell battery) they cut a flap of skin, stick the magnet in and stitch it back up. For the long ones they basically stab a deep slit in your fingertip alongside the bone with a long scalpel blade, jam the magnet in there and stitch it closed. I have a long one, it's a little bit shorter and fatter than a grain of rice. I got it done under local anaesthetic, which isn't strictly legal here, but I'm sure glad they did it.
Yes. I got it in my left ring finger because I'm right handed, but it's decreased the grip strength in that hand a bit. Too much pressure on that fingertip just hurts. I couldn't really do rock climbing if I wanted to, and I can't play a steel string guitar any more for the same reason. Nylon strings I can just about get away with but it takes a lot of practice to get the finger positions right that I just haven't put in. 99% of the time in daily life I just work around it though. Other things that people mentioned to me like setting off metal detectors or killing hard drives haven't happened to me. Never had to get an MRI, but I suspect that would be an issue too. It also sometimes aches in the cold.
Sort of? The first six months were definitely a learning experience. I found myself sticking to metal stair rails, accidentally picking up spoons with it, generally getting it caught on things. I suppose that's not -that- different from a new piercing in a prominent location though. I also found myself getting surprised by magnetic fields, but now I'm just kind of used to it. I suspect the sensation has dulled a bit over time, too.
A lot of people have said things along the lines of "oh, like a sixth sense?" But it's not. It's more like being able to see in infrared; it's not an extra sense, just an extension of an existing one. Probably the best way to explain it is; if you ever caught a fly or buzzing insect as a kid, and felt it buzzing against your hand. It's kinda like that but from under the skin. Definitely a bit icky to feel something moving under your skin until you get used to it. The sensitivity is -really- variable because the implant procedure is pretty far from an exact science, or it was back then, anyway. The people I got it with had very different results; one was a lot more sensitive and could feel fields from much further away, one was much less sensitive. It's probably to do with how deep the implant is, the sensitive one couldn't pick up much more than a paperclip, whereas the less sensitive one could pick up an entire dessert spoon. I feel like a person might be able to train themselves to recognise different types and strengths of fields depending on their sensitivity, but I never bothered trying.
EDIT: formatting, detail
Thanks for answering all my questions! I didn’t even know this was a thing!
So was this done by someone with a medical degree? Was it in a dedicated location or just someone’s house or what?
It was done at a reputable local piercing studio, by a well-known body mod expert who happened to be on tour at the time. No medical degree that I'm aware of, but a ton of experience and more than a little self-experimentation.
Thanks for the responses, it was cool hearing about this. 😁
Thank you for asking these awesome questions! This was a fascinating read.
That’s so accurate, but landlords have jacked up rent so cities are little luxury zones for the rich only so only they can enjoy the few cool things about cyberpunk while I’m stuck living like a medieval peasant in bumfuck nowhere Ohio.
First I don't wish Ohio on anyone, even my worst enemies.
That still tracks. Us poors can't even afford the disassociation treats that the movies and books suggested that the cyber-poors would be enjoying. I just wanna be the homeless guy with the beanis-pump gooning himself with VR in the first episode of Edgerunners. Is that too much to ask?
deleted by creator
lol so good.
The pumps have little screens on the that play adds and yell at you. They used to just use speakers to play the adds to the whole complex, but now they're right in your face. There's lots of surveillance, too, since they want to be able to prosecute you if you somehow manage to get gas without paying. It makes sabotaging the screens complicated.
That truly sounds annoying. So what next? Ads on the screen of your cars while stuck in traffic?
If you count the billboards on the side of the road, then yes.
Thats not bazinga brained or invasive enough
I got it billboards that have an RFID and zap ads to your cars display and crank the volume. Also a future version that ques to play on your retina when you're done driving for people with a neural ink chip installed. That or que ads in your dreams
If I start getting sleep ads I will not sleep until I find the CEO fuckface who invented this and give em the Trotsky treatment
I'm sure someone has a patent for it. Drink verification can to put car in gear.
There’s cars driving around with small LED billboards bolted to the top
We already have stupid little startup animations on car dashboards in lieu of useful information appearing at first like the odometer
It's called FM radio
Also from what I've seen online some of the gas pumps have switched from conventional speakers to DML panel speakers so you can't destroy the speaker cones.
We need a commercial point of sale sabotage manual. Like we need to comb through the repair manuals for all these things, all these advertising machines, and determine how they can be disabled quickly, quietly, and with minimal evidence by the "end user".
That's one of the reasons some advertising and ATMs have switched to panel speakers, there's no requirement for vent holes for the sound to escape, so it's pretty much impossible to vandalise. A physical part of the gas pump or ATM becomes the speaker, by being energised by an audio exciter stcuk to the back side of it. If you see something producing sound with no obvious speaker holes, it's probably using a DML exciter. It's actually a very interesting technology, a shame it's being used in advertising.
Surely slathering the surface with two-part epoxy would stop it from making noise?
That could make it louder. I've built my own set of DML panel speakers, and coating the outside of the panels in a coat of PVA glue enhanced the high frequency sound. If there's good connection between the epoxy and the surface, and the exciter is powerful enough to energize it with the extra mass of the epoxy, it will still work. Some people even coat their panels in expoy to try enhance the sound in a similar manner to coating in PVA glue. You would have to get the epoxy jammed in on the side with the exciter, which is usually not accessible.
Fascinating. Truly unfortunate that this tech is being used for evil.
it would probably fuck up the resonance and bring the level down at least
Exactly where my head went, but with expanding spray foam to get in and out quickly. Don't know if that would even defeat these panels though.
yeah, I genuinely thought about trying to figure out where the essential components of those were so I could pop a little hole in them with a drill but I decided to stop driving for like a year instead
If you put your ear next to the panel you can probably find the location of the exciter on the panel, as the noise will get louder closer to the exciter, and then drill though the panel and exciter.
the only unfortunate thing is that essentially all gas stations have cameras
but honestly they aren't monitored well at night so maybe you can get away with it if you're casual enough. or black out your plates. Hardly seems worth the risk but those things make me homicidal so
Putting a strong magnet next to the location of the exciter will screw it up without any physical damage from the outside.
I was wondering about that. Like would a fishing magnet be strong enough? Those are pretty strong and easily concealed.
And some places around me put mute stickers on the things, but they were forced to take it off by corporate!
There is nowhere you can go in this country without somebody trying to sell you something
Some of the big name servos here in Australia have them too, namely Caltex servos.