“World’s Most Useless Cyborg” Doesn’t Regret a Faded Magnetic Finger
Five years ago, Verge reporter Adi Robertson implanted a magnet in her finger. Now the magnet has faded, as has the fervor around this type of elective biohacking. While technology for the disabled continues to make impressive strides, with cochlear implants and complex prosthetics, it is still far from sophisticated enough to, say, voluntarily replace a real hand with a fake one.
“Cyborgs are rich metaphors, but they are not very practical,” says Robertson. Wearable devices are usually the best option; it is much easier to update and much easier to remove. But even though the magnet for her finger has now turned into a piece of metal, and the built-in NFC chip with her Twitter information is only good for party tricks, she is delighted with these small improvements. “It’s a matter of metaphorical meaning. The magnet was a piece of the future. “