TightWind is written by Kyle Baxter. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

From Ben Hopper’s Ben Hopper’s excellent piece on “grinders,” or people interested in extending their body’s senses and capabilities through technology:

The boys from Grindhouse Wetwares both sucked down Parliament menthols the whole time we talked. There was no irony for them in dreaming of the possibilities for one’s body and willfully destroying it. “For me, the end game is my brain and spinal column in a jar, and a robot body out in the world doing my bidding,” said Sarver “I would really prefer not to have to rely on a inefficient four valve pump that sends liquid through these fragile hoses. Fuck cheetahs. I want to punch through walls.”

Flesh and blood are easily shed in grinder circles, at least theoretically speaking. “People recoil from the idea of tampering inside the body,” said Tim. “I am lost when it comes to people’s unhealthy connections to your body. This is just a decaying lump of flesh that gets old, it’s leaking fluid all the time, it’s obscene to think this is me. I am my ideas and the sum of my experiences.” As far as the biohackers are concerned, we are the best argument against intelligent design.

Fascinating piece, but the sentiment above is precisely why I’ve never felt comfortable with transhumanism. “We” aren’t simply our minds. Who we are is defined just as much by our physical bodies and what we are capable of, and there is nothing wrong with that at all. Trying to change what our bodies are capable of, or leaving them behind altogether, also fundamentally changes what and who we are. You don’t get to control a robotic avatar that can punch through walls without changing.