4 | MANE PRODUCT & TECHNOLOGY | APRIL 2018
As technology advances in at an exponential rate, it is argued that legal frameworks can’t keep up and that there is an increasing demand for legislation surrounding ‘human enhancement technology’ to be revised and implemented.
A new area of debate surrounds the concept known as ‘body hacking’ where technology is used to enhance the human body. Many people featured in the BBC video took matters into their own hands after feeling left behind by traditional medicine. According to the BBC, transhumanism is the theory that the human race can evolve beyond its physical and mental limitations with the help of technology - is a crucial part of the advancement of society.
However, one individual used body hacking to enhance his daily life by implanting his travel card chip into his hand. Australian authorities demanded that he removed the chip and are taking him to court to get jurisdiction to force the removal of the chip. The body hacker known as ‘MEOW’ stated that it was easier for the Australian government to take him to court then it is for them to update the law surrounding body hacking.
Other body hackers have used technology to help control illnesses such as type one diabetes. However, the FDA stated that the technology one body hacker has used to create an artificial pancreas is not a treatment and will not be approved for mass production.
Stories such as these have sparked debates and left people wondering at what point the government has the right to interfere with technology and its use in body enhancement.
The BBC's Dave Lee visited Austin, Texas to meet the biohackers determined to push the human body - and the law - into new territory.