Cicadia 1.0: One Mans Goal To Become Cyborg

Have you ever thought about death? What about Life? I know I have, but I have never thought about becoming a cyborg.

Motherboard recently reported about a man with a goal, a goal to become a cyborg. Tim Cannon, self proclaimed “Biohacker”. Cannon’s goal is to live for a thousand year, and with this goal he has designed a computer chip that he has had implanted under his skin. The chip transmits his biometric data so that he is able to track his health on an Android device. Will this chip help bring a better understanding of how our bodies work?

Cannon is unable to go to a doctor, a plastic surgeon to have the chip placed under his skin. Instead, he the sought help of body modification enthusiast Steve Haworth, who used his own tools to cut open an area on Cannon’s arm and separate the skin from the fatty tissue in order to place the device in his arm. Since Haworth is not a board-certified surgeon, he was unable to use anesthetics. Once the procedure was complete he reported that he was completely exhausted.

The implant is called Circadia 1.0 which has an open-source platform, allows users to have control over the data, how it is collected and used. This implantable device can read biomedical data and transmits via Bluetooth. Allowing users to gather weeks even months of medical data in which the user can store for personal viewing. This device is strictly designed as a body modification/art purposes and is not a medical device.

Cicadia is designed to give users a better quality of life. For example Cannon explains

“I think that our environment should listen more accurately and more intuitively to what’s happening in our body… So if, for example, I’ve had a stressful day, the Circadia will communicate that to my house and will prepare a nice relaxing atmosphere for when I get home: dim the lights, let in a hot bath.”

Though it seems that the chip is still in its developmental phase, it has been said that it should be accessible to enthusiasts of the body modification community. To have the chip implanted will cost someone around $200 while the chip will cost around $500.

Do you feel that this is a step in order to turn a man into a cyborg? Or is this just a better way to track the statistics of your health, let us know in the comments below.

Thank you Motherboard for providing us with this information.

Image courtesy of Motherboard.