![one wild moment subscene one wild moment subscene](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81VV9fxT8wL._RI_.jpg)
My topic concerned how a relatively simple change to surveillance laws (that is, how the state ‘sees’ its population) gave rise to a complicated neoliberal governmental apparatus. I was working on my Master’s thesis at the University of Ottawa. My own interest in grinding began in 2011. How does such a diverse group of people and ideologies end up loosely tied into the word grinder? Some are technodeterminists to be sure, but some are activists, some claim to be apolitical, some are laypeople, some are casual hobbyists, and some have backgrounds in nuclear fusion, biology, engineering, health services, electronics, or some combination thereof.
![one wild moment subscene one wild moment subscene](http://www.koreandrama.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/My-Love-Eun-Dong-Poster1.jpg)
Some want to enhance their bodies some want to replace their bodies entirely.
![one wild moment subscene one wild moment subscene](https://i.jeded.com/i/one-shot-2021.225366.jpg)
Some readily identified as transhumanists and biohackers, and others demonstrated disdain and hostility towards those who claimed to be transhumanists and biohackers. Some of the grinders I’ve met would agree with these assertions, and others would vehemently argue against them. The popular media I’ve collected over the past six years readily associates grinders with cyborgs, biohacking, DIY bio, and transhumanism, describing them as “renegade body-hackers” (Papenfuss 2016), “biohobbyests” (Ossola 2014), “hardcore hackers” (Mallonee 2017), “body architects” (VICE 2017), “superhumans” (White 2016), a “body hacking movement” (Peralta 2016), an “extreme clique” (Wortham 2015), an “underground medical movement” (Booton 2016), “medical punk” (Hines 2018), and “bringing dystopian fantasies to life” (Jackson 2017).
![one wild moment subscene one wild moment subscene](https://media.springernature.com/full/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1038%2Fnn.4450/MediaObjects/41593_2017_Article_BFnn4450_Fig1_HTML.jpg)
Seven years after the first issue of Doktor Sleepless was published, I was in a makeshift surgical room just outside a small town in central California.One person had implanted a small solar panel in their arm, another dropped experimental enhancement chemicals in their eyes, and several people implanted magnets into their hands.The procedures, done by a man wearing surgical scrubs, were relatively clean except for a few drops of blood that were quickly absorbed by sterile bandages.No one was hurt.In fact, unlike the comic book that gave them their name, these self-described grinders were welcoming, generous, and generally careful.What the two versions of grinders do share, however, is a distaste for speculative futures and an interest in human enhancement through implantable technology.Beyond that, it’s hard to define exactly what a grinder is. This is the near-distant future of grinding, at least according to Warren Ellis’ graphic novel where the term originated, Doktor Sleepless (2007). Their modus operandi is to apply existing technology to rearranging their bodies and become someone else. It is perhaps for this reason that others call them tricknologists. These enhanced senses are not shared by everyone – the grinders have access to realms of sensibility to which others are completely unaware and have no way of verifying. They have eyeball implants that keep track of their friends, electronic pills that monitor their health, and implanted computer chips that facilitate invisible communication. While everyone else waits for the future they think they’re owed, grinders work together to modify their bodies, assimilating with technology to make themselves better. Couldn’t restart it.” The Shank Valentine is a grinder bar. A man wearing overalls with surgeon’s tools peeking out of the pockets takes a drink and says, “The kid’s grind went bad. It’s never come, and I never want it to.” Inside the nearby Shank Valentine bar, a recently deceased bloody corpse is spread across a grimy table. Street graffiti preaches, “Not my future,” “You owe me a flying car,” and “Where’s my fucking jet pack.” A passerby remarks, “The future is bullshit. The neighbourhood is a contract police zone, overrun by pillheads. The supervisory committee consisted of Jorgen Hansen (Principal Supervisor), Bart Simon, and David Howes. * This work is a revised version of the thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Social and CulturalAnalysis) in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University, Montreal in July 2018. Chapter Two: Pre-emptive Body EnhancementĬhapter Four: The Mediation Machine: Scavengers, Scrapheaps, and SubterfugeĬhapter Five: Killing Love: Modifying the Depth of SensesĬhapter Six: Tricknology: On the Question of Magnetic SensesĬhapter Seven: RFID Cyb/organs:Distributed Memory, Identification, and theĬhapter Eight: Platform Bodies: The Echo and the Daemon