There will certainly be those who will challenge the idea that these two geniuses and current giants of science are considered ancient biohackers. However, when one studies the techniques, methods, concepts, logic and methodologies of doing modern biohacking, it is not very different from the original operation of these giants of science. Therefore, we can at least say that these are concrete models of the biohacking movement. Do-it-yourself and hand-crafted techniques are common in many segments, including biology, where many researchers and amateurs have made accidental discoveries through logical research methods.
Biohacking is the practice that merges conceptual biology with the hacking movement. Although considered an amateur movement, the same, as in computer technology, is on the way to professionalization and even commercial use and standardization of methods, such as the creation of Hello World for the biosciences and the biohacking movement, as a method for beginners. When someone thinks that the biohacking movement is amateurish, it should be remembered that the great computer hackers for the most part did not even have a university degree, and many of them came close to bringing down large corporations with all their professionalism. The world is changing and the concepts of what professionalism really is need to be rethought. During World War II, the elite force called the SS was considered an amateur group by the Allies, including historians specializing in tactics and military operations. When we observe the reason, we realize that they were right to think of them as amateurs who do not have the rigorous training, logistics of heavy weapons, strategic tactics of mass destruction that the army possesses. With this comparison we can understand that it is not equivalent to call the biohacking movement amateur, although in some cases it really is, compared to computer hackers, although they are classified as amateurs, the damage and at the same time the technological progress that brought is a gigantic We can, in this case, consider that the biohacking movement is in this environment.
“We are at a point where we need to know more about the fearless.” Marie Curie.
The reality is that the biohacking movement is expanding its scope and capabilities. From Mendel with the pea, the discovery of genes, genetic sequencing, to this day there has been great progress, but still inconsistent with the needs, such complexity in the biological sciences. And the biohacking movement is emerging as a third way, far beyond the global brainstorming.
However, it is important to understand that in the beginning it is important to think about the alternative and cheap biohacking tools and at the same time understand that this is not the focus of the biohacking movement. Consider this detail carefully. Conform was discovered by Edsger Dijkstra: “computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes”.
The movement of scientific progress, new tools and new means and methods to generate science and technology at lower costs is underway. Who would even imagine someone doing genetic sequencing at their home desk and even analytical software to study the results? This non-institutional movement, like the third time, also happened in the progress brought by hackers in computers! The biohacking movement is integral to the concept of transhumanism. The purpose of this article is not to list the possibilities of biohacking. We are talking about new techniques, tools and access to high-level information in an open mode, for more access. In short, more people and more brains are working and thinking in pursuit of the same and innovative goals and discoveries.
Popularizing and new alternative methods for complex science is the strength of the biohacking movement. This will be done by spreading techniques, reducing the costs of alternative equipment, materials and raw materials, with methods of easy and moderate application. Including methods like CRISPR, making artificial bioreactors, promoting PCR, using tools like centrifuges to separate components from blood or DNA material, using PDMS and working with tissues, cells, stem cells, serum and chemicals. Also, other diverse methods and techniques with which the biohacking movement will evolve.
Parallel to the biohacking movement, there are several advances and new concepts paralleling the biohacking movement. We can think that the expensive high-resolution electron and atomic microscopy now has an optical version that led to a Nobel Prize. It will not be surprising that this equipment will soon have its price and promotion throughout the country. What would Robert Koch be without the microscope?
A microscope, or rather a nanoscope, capable of making the micro/nano world accessible to everyone. By combining this power with computing, we will have widespread access across the earth to something that until then was limited to only large laboratories. The biohacking movement is not amateurish! Rest assured, things get messed up and old concepts will soon be revisited.
In addition to nanotechnology and various other terms, transhumanism refers to the forced evolution of the human body using science and technology, with biohacking techniques, nanotechnology for better handling, material control, and matter organization. By forced evolution you mean making people see in the dark, sense the earth’s magnetism, sharpen their noses to incredible levels, etc. Some consider transhumanism to be posthumanism, human bodies after biology, an artificial being with high technological advances. As you can see, the progress is exponential, this is where we are now. As an example, there is a growing movement to generate the first global version of the biohacking method. It is not so current, so biohacking techniques and methods are already successful. There are two giants of science who started their work as true biohackers, namely: Gregor Johann Mendel and Robert Koch.
Gregor Johann Mendel: His works and curiosity in the garden led him inevitably to use biohacking techniques to understand botanical biological functioning. Many experts say their work was critical to the advancement of today’s genetics.
Robert Koch – Today he is known as the greatest bacteriologist who ever traveled the world. The forerunner of in vitro studies by Mr. Petrie. He was a farmer and doctor with the constraints of time, but his peak was made possible by his performances as a biohacker, running experiments on his property. About to become the first expert on anthrax spores. However, his name today belongs to the greats of science because of his persistence and professionalism in the field.
The purest science is based on observation, deduction and analysis. The Austrian monk Gregor Johann Mendel always observed plants during his free time in the monastery, in the Order of St. Augustine, about 1844. His position was overseeing the monastery gardens in Bohemia. As a professor of natural sciences specializing in the study of the interbreeding of plant and animal species, his great achievement came from his analytical observations with peas. Analyze the results mathematically. He is now considered the father of genetics, through his precise observations of color changes, variation, the mechanism of flowers, and soon the mechanism of heredity we know today as genes. His masterpiece deals with; experiments with hybrid plants and artificial fertilization. It was practically the forerunner of the treatise on the laws of heredity, now known as Mendel’s laws, which govern the transmission of hereditary characteristics, hence genes.
What the greats of science have done in the past, in short reality, is possible to achieve in a much more profound way, at reduced cost, in the subject area. This is exactly the path the biohacking movement and other disciplines of advanced science and technology are taking.