Yes, whatever the cause may be, gas prices are getting higher and higher.
Along with this fact many people are now hating on and bashing electric vehicles and renewable energy.
Wait – what?
Yes. In the last two weeks, I have seen many posts and comments by many people about renewable energy sources and electric vehicles that try to paint them in a negative light.
It is all the same old cherry-picking FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) and nay-sayer arguments and then some.
Why?
IMHO I think it is because the bullies and bashers do not want to acknowledge that it is time to change from an outdated, toxic, war-supporting, finite, politically polarized, planetary-sourced, energy/fuel system to an up to date, much cleaner, renewable, energy secure, distributed, energy/fuel system powered by locally-sourced energy from solar panels on your own rooftop or wind turbines silently turning on a windy hillside or west Texas ranch. With our current technology, it no longer makes good science-supported common sense to power our society primarily on hydrocarbon-based energy products sourced on the other side of the planet – be it from the Persian Gulf or Russia – when we have the technology, engineering, and knowledge to get things done with clean, secure, home-grown energy sourced close to home – where it is needed and used.
Some will say the environmental impacts of renewable energy and electric vehicles are actually greater than that of fossil fuel sourced energy systems. This is a total falsehood manufactured by fossil fuel mongers using the same playbook used by the people who tried to tell us that smoking was not bad for your health or that lead in gasoline was safe and, more recently, that Volkswagen had developed a “clean diesel” engine – we now see where all those arguments lie – deep in a steaming pile of festering worm-ridden filth in the bottom of a long-forgotten moldering outhouse.
Yes, it is true that everything, even EVs and renewable energy systems has an impact – and the greater our population – the greater our need for resources so the greater our impacts. Our survival as a species is no longer about growing – it is becoming more about balance, it is about reducing our impact on our planetary life-support system so we can reach equilibrium and continue without harming the very life support system that gives us all life. So why do we keep accepting and using the worst possible energy/transportation sources with the biggest most harmful impacts when far better options with far less of an impact are readily available?
Many will often simply say it is too expensive – but my answer to this is have you actually done the math to support your opinion?
Driving electric and going renewable does in fact cost more upfront – but over the life of the product – the solar panels or the EV – you make up for that initial higher cost and the lifetime savings far offset the initial costs. As an example: I power my daily driver EV primarily with solar-produced electricity. Therefore, my fuel costs to drive the vehicle are less than 1 cent/mile. I drive around 200 miles/week – so therefore I spend less than $2/week to drive the car everywhere I need to drive it.
I do still have a legacy vehicle (Honda Pilot 4×4 SUV) for towing/hauling and short trips to town and getting to work in bad weather. It costs an average of 15 cents per mile (at today’s gas prices) to drive. So, to drive the Honda the same distance as I drive my EV I will pay ~$30 (200 miles x .15 = $30)!! Yikes!
How far do you drive and what are your costs per mile? (and don’t forget to figure in the costs of maintenance on your vehicle – all those tune-ups/filters/exhaust pipes/catalytic converters/oil/fluid/filter changes etc)
Now, imagine if you have a few solar panels on your roof and an EV in your driveway – how much money would you save now that you are not paying for electricity for your home and fuel for your car?
Some will say it takes forever to charge an EV. Earlier EVs – yes. They charged far slower than today’s EVs but today’s EVs charge far faster – some add hundreds of miles of range in mere minutes and the speed is getting faster every day.
Fact: Most EV owners charge overnight while they are sleeping or while at work and the car is ready to go when they are. If you can use a smartphone, you can drive an EV.
Some will say “charging an EV at home will raise your power bill unimaginably high.” Nope. In my experience charging at home* only raises my power bill by about $10/week – how much do you spend on gas per week? *back when I most often charged at home – now I rarely do since I most often charge at work so I can take advantage of solar-produced electricity.
Obviously, if you have an EV with a larger battery it will cost more to fill it up – but even a Tesla Model S Plaid with its massive 95 kWh battery would cost less to fill up than almost any fossil-powered vehicle in today’s gas market.
Some will also say “the energy for your electric car comes from dirty coal – so it is a coal-powered electric car.”
Nope.
Fact: even if an EV is charged with the dirtiest coal-fired energy – it is still far cleaner to operate than any petroleum-powered vehicle. Why you may ask?
Answer: because the entire fossil fuel mining/transport/refining and supply chain (and let us not forget the human costs from war/terrorism and the environmental costs from emissions and pollution from the final use of the product) is now out of the picture for the EV…AND the US power grid is getting cleaner every day as more and more legacy energy power plants retire and more and more renewable energy power plants come online – so every day your EV gets cleaner and cleaner to drive – that is an impossibility with any vehicle powered by fossil fuels.
Let’s face the facts: using fossil fuel-powered anything is simply a subscription to dependency. We are hopelessly addicted to fossil fuels…well, some of us anyway.
Some will say “at the end of their life solar panels and EV batteries cannot be recycled and are just tossed into landfills.” Really. You are really going there? Sad. Ok. Here are the facts.
In reality – solar panels are made mostly of glass and aluminum and these things can be recycled – into more solar panels.
EV batteries, when they are not able to push a car down the road, are repurposed into stationary energy storage such as storage batteries for homes and businesses (think backup generator – but with batteries.) Then, after another decade or so of life as a stationary storage battery – they are recycled – into more batteries. In other words, we can mine the battery for its resources and do not need to dig more holes for more raw materials to make more batteries – we already have them. It’s a win-win for everyone.
In fact, it is just stupid (and illegal in some places) to throw away a used battery due to the high value of the raw materials contained inside. This is why when you need a new 12-volt car starter battery the auto parts store will pay you money (the core charge) for your old one and it is then recycled into a new battery. It is no different with used Lithium-ion batteries.
There are countless erroneous and outright ignorant “memes” circulating on the internet that have been created to spread FUD around electric vehicles and renewable energy sources. One of the most recent I have seen involves the following:
From Diego Loredan on Facebook: “This is a used car dump near Paris, France with hundreds of electric cars. Please note, these are only used cars of the city of Paris and not personal vehicles. Everyone has the same problem …. the battery storage cells are dead and need to be replaced. Why not replace them, you ask yourself? Well, there are two reasons. One, battery storage cells cost almost twice what a new vehicle costs, and two, no landfill or landfill will allow you to dump batteries there. So these green fairy electric cars are dumping toxins from the battery right into the ground. Still think we need to think green ???” Very interesting!!??
I did a quick and simple Google fact check and discovered the following about these cars:
“The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
News reports from France say the cars are part of a fleet from a failed car-sharing service, and the vehicles shown in the field are being resold or sold for parts.
A French television news report in April, with photos like those appearing with the Facebook post, said more than 1,000 vehicles used in the Autolib program are being stored on a lot in Romorantin-Lanthenay, an area about 130 miles southwest of Paris.
The Bolloré company had a contract with local authorities in and around Paris to provide the vehicles, which people could borrow for a fee. That ended in 2018 when the service was in debt and failing.
Some 4,000 of the vehicles were sold, mainly to two companies that have been reselling them, according to the report. That includes the ones shown in the Facebook post.
The TV stories and a French newspaper article noted the claims on social media. “Unlike what buzzes on social media, this is not a cemetery,” the newspaper report said.
We rate the post False.” – From Politifact
Another thing to note is the following from Reuters:
“French media reports here , here and here which show pictures of the cars lined up in a field like those in the social media posts, explain that the termination of the contract meant that Bollore had to remove its 4,000 vehicles from the Paris region to Romorantin-Lanthenay, 200 kms (124 miles) south of Paris. Bollore sold the cars, most of them going to two companies, Autopuzz, which resells the cars throughout France, and Atis Production.
On claims about soil pollution risk posed by the cars, Paul Aouizerate, head of Atis Production, told France Info here “Our vehicles are properly stored. The firefighters are aware, the construction site is well organized. All the batteries have been removed and the connectors are isolated.”
He added that the cars were not going to a junkyard. Autopuzz told France TV Info it is reselling the cars to buyers across France at a rate of 50 per month (here).
VERDICT
Along with all that nonsense: many renewable energy haters/doubters/FUD spreaders will often say “wind turbines kill countless numbers of birds and bats” – another falsehood. While it is true that some of the earliest wind turbines were smaller, lower (closer to wildlife habitats), spun faster, and did impact wildlife – today’s turbines are designed from the get-go to lesson wildlife impacts and it is rare for birds and bats to die via modern wind turbines. In fact, do you know what kills the most birds, bats, and small animals in this country: pet/feral house cats and impacts with glass windows. The numbers of wildlife deaths from these two top killers are in the billions per year. Wind turbines do have an impact but it is minuscule when compared to bird/bat deaths from cats/windows and ahem: fossil fuel-related pollution from mining, shipping, spills, refining, use, and incorrect disposal of used oil, etc.
Partly false. These are genuine photos of electric cars in France, but they were taken off the road due to financial difficulties, not problems with the battery storage cells. More than 2,500 of the cars have been resold.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.”
If you remain unconvinced – do your own simple research.
This erroneous meme and many like it have been manufactured/miscaptioned in the attempt to illicit FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) about electric vehicles. More than likely the FUD generators that made this meme have money tied up in fossil fuels/fossil fuel infrastructure and are terrified at the prospect of losing their nest eggs.
Some people are even saying that when someone drives an electric vehicle they do not pay gas taxes so the roads will suffer. This is simply a falsehood. I have been driving an EV since 2013 and I pay a yearly EV tax which makes up for the gas taxes I would have paid if I drove a legacy vehicle. This tax then goes to support highway maintenance and infrastructure. I have absolutely zero issues paying this tax because I enjoy driving on nice roads as much as the next bipedal naked ape.
I believe that many of these erroneous myths have and are being spread by the fossil fuel producers themselves and the “think tanks” they have hired to sow doubt in technologies that are their competition, as well as those with loads of money invested in fossil fuels – at home and abroad…possibly even in part by Russian government hackers since we all know that Russia’s main export products are soaked in hydrocarbons and they will do anything to keep the oil flowing out and the money flowing in.
Just stop it, people – stop it.
Stop falling for and spreading the clickbait and lies being spread by those who do not want to change – it is not helping anyone or anything except the old fossils running the petroleum companies, their politician puppets, and the tiny dictators who do not want to accept that the future of our species is renewable energy powered and electrically driven.
Change is the way of nature.
The time for change is now.
Change is often scary and it is often hard but remember this: very often the life that exists on the other side of change is far superior in every way to the one you are living in right now.
Someone once said everything worth doing in life exists on the other side of fear. It is time to push through the fear and adapt – because if we do not adapt, we die.
Some of us will get through this thing with science and common sense leading the way and sadly, some will not.
As I learned in the Boy Scouts: be prepared.
1. Listen to the experts – they know more than you – that is why they are the experts.
2. Keep your distance – especially from strangers.
3. Wash up well.
4. Keep wearing that mask.
5. Get that shot and then get the booster.
6. Ignore/report/block/delete the ignorant anti-science and anti-common sense conspiracy “theories” and “natural cures” being fabricated/spread/sold by the covidiots, crazy meme trolls, greedy charlatans, and religiopolitical fanatics crapping their steaming fresh clickbait turds all over the internet.
There are only two options in this thing we call life on planet earth: adapt or die. Science, technology, and good old common sense are the ways we humans improvise, adapt, overcome, evolve, survive, and thrive.
I – and many if not most of you reading this – would simply not exist without the findings of science, technology, and engineering. Unsure of what I mean? I have written about this topic before but here we go again because this cannot be overstated.
Starting off with the obvious: somewhere during your timeline of life a medical procedure/surgery, external or implanted medical or dental device, topical, or internal medicine, antibiotic, vaccine, or vitamin, – (that was invented, tested, guided, administered, and/or prescribed by the expert skill, advice, and training of medical experts we call medical scientists, virologists, immunologists, bacteriologists, prosthetists, orthodontists, dentists, plastic surgeons, doctors, surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists, and all the other “ologists,”) – has repaired, prolonged, enhanced, or saved your life – or the life of one of your progenitors.
Speaking of your progenitors; without one or more of the modern medical techniques and procedures I mentioned earlier – they may not have lived or lived long enough to bring those individuals who produced the being you call you into existence…in fact, they – and therefore you – may not have even been born at all.
Another fascinating fact: it is very likely that some of your progenitors would have never even met each other without a horse and wagon, car, truck, bus, boat, ship, aircraft, or possibly even a rocket bringing them to the instant in time where they first met – changing the course of history to eventually create you.
How many countless times in your life did a sanitation system such a water purification system, portable water filter, purified water from your local municipal water department, a simple wooden outhouse or gilded penthouse toilet – remove or greatly reduce the chance that you or your ancestors would contract a nasty parasite or deadly disease?
Where would you be and what shape would you be in without your soap, toilet paper, tooth brushes, contact lenses, eye glasses, dental implants, hearing aids, CPAP, Oxygen concentrator, hip, knee, and heart valve replacements, pacemakers, insulin, etc?
Then there was the discovery and implementation of better agriculture/animal husbandry techniques such as selective breeding, fertilizer, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, genetic modification, preventative medicines – just to name a few – working together to produce a higher quality and quantity of foods allowing you to grow up strong and healthy.
Think about your home appliances for a moment. Where would you be without your refrigerator, range, microwave oven, dish washer, laundry machines, blender, coffee maker, ceiling fans, HVAC, and all that electricity that powers them…how different would your life be without these technological wonders?
What about all that energy that powers and supports your lifestyle? Where would you be and what would you be doing without petroleum products such as oil, gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene? Then there is all that earlier mentioned electricity you use that is produced by all those coal, hydroelectric, geothermal, wind, solar, battery, and nuclear-power stations – and all the inventors, scientists, technicians, electricians, miners, roughnecks, refiners, shippers, managers, and other people who worked together to bring all that energy to you and to keep it flowing when you want and need it?
What about your modern clothes, tents, buildings, your home’s walls, doors, door locks, glass windows, the screens on the windows keeping out the blood-sucking and disease-carrying insects, all allowing you to live a comfortable and safe existence?
Do you perform work that requires the common sense use of PPE’s (Personal Protective Equipment) to protect you from the elements such as sunglasses, safety glasses, air filter mask/respirator, chain saw chaps, snake gaiters, clothes, boots, gloves, sunscreen, climbing helmets, life jackets, body armor, or a simple bandana to keep you safe and healthy?
Have you used a personal tool or weapon that has protected you from a predatory animal or human attacker?
Where would you be without all these things?
Would you even exist?
What about your smoke/carbon monoxide alarms…your seat belts and airbags, automatic emergency braking and self-driving systems in your cars…your skateboard, bicycle, or motorcycle…?
That advanced tool of some kind – that hammer, handsaw, cordless drill/driver, Bic lighter or matchstick, pocket knife, multi-tool, Swiss army knife, fishing pole, rifle, animal trap or snare, backpack, length of nylon rope, dry bag, plastic bucket, or tin can, or again the ubiquitous bandanna, – that allowed you to fix a machine, build a shelter, procure, preserve and protect, cook, and prepare food or water so you could beat the odds and survive on and on?
What about all those electronic devices – like the one you are using to read these words – that you love so much; your smartphone/watch, computer, iPad, television, stereo, 2-way radio, that Tesla or Toyota in the driveway – do you have the first inkling on how they actually function? Do you have any idea how much engineering, science, thought, research and development, and testing went into them to bring them to reality on this very day so you can use them and trust them to work as you wish and need them to?
How about the systems in place that allow you to know what the weather will be tomorrow, when the tides will flow, the fish will bite, your exact location on the planet, and then give you turn by turn directions to the bodega where you buy your baked beans and Beluga Caviar – do you even have a clue what it takes to make all these things happen and get those beans and caviar to your dinner table?
And what about your dinner table…?
And what about all the intricate supply chains that have brought all these things to you? Have you ever given any of these technologies and systems the first thought with even just one of your 100 billion neurons?
All these things and systems are products of our science, engineering, technology, ingenuity, vision, and invention.
All of these things are also the products of our own evolutionary development.
One of the defining characteristics of our unique species is tool-making and use. All of the technologies we create are nothing more than tools made of modified natural resources (complex combinations of liquids, rocks, fibers, and sticks spiced up with a little bit of fire, electricity, and lots and lots of science and engineering) that allow us to better adapt and survive in this thing we call life. Since the first time early hominids turned simple rocks and sticks into stone tools and then more recently (maybe 1.5 – 1 million years ago) harnessed the power of fire and added it to his fast-growing tool box – we human-animals have invented, adapted, and “MacGyvered” our way through deep time to bring us to this day in our lives.
The simple fact is this: without our tools (ancient and modern) and without all the inventors, engineers, scientists – without all the experts (ancient and modern) that made them – in all probability we would only exist as just another ape among apes at the mercy of predators, the elements, and the relentless nature of nature.
Ouch!
The simple fact is that many if not most of us living today would not even exist without the findings of science and the miracles of modern technology and engineering – yet, a vast number of people alive, existing, and living today have absolutely no idea how any of these technologies – and the science and engineering that developed and supports them – function – even at a basic level.
It seems we may have created for ourselves a broken system in which some individuals in the human population today – while they gladly accept and use many of these tools on a daily basis – have willingly chosen to nurture and perpetuate an irrational fear and distrust of many of these most important life-supporting, life-sustaining, and life-bettering technologies and sciences. The very same technologies and sciences and that have allowed many of them to exist, to continue to be healthy, to have the things they need, use, and enjoy. Yet, for whatever reason – they still choose to take many of these things for granted, to fear some of these things while accepting others, and to ignore the findings of the experts even if it brings hardship and harm to themselves, their loved ones, and those around them.
Strangely, a small but growing fraction of the population of planet earth has chosen to not only fear some of these technological tools – but also to use some of them as tools and/or weapons to spread irrational fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) about still others of these most important tools they have chosen to misunderstand and distrust. A great example is this: people with little more than a high school education – if that – sitting on a couch at home or in traffic – or in their production studios – safe in their comfortable bubble of air conditioned from climate change (which they also do not understand or believe) existence – using their high technology personal electronic communications devices connected to the internet via fiber optics, ground and space-based data relay stations, and wireless data transmission towers and access points – only to spread loads of made-up FUD and misinformation about the expert advice of an entire planet’s worth of medical professionals on the need to wear PPE’s (masks) and the need to use the medicines and vaccines derived by science to fight off a microscopic viral attacker in the middle of a global pandemic…and then they take livestock dewormer…and sell loads of marketing, paraphernalia, self-published books, “cures” and “potions” and just get richer and richer off the ignorance of their followers.
This last fact is the most dangerous of them all. These “lunatic fringe” dwelling, anti-science, anti-knowledge, illogical charlatans – are nothing more than knowledge terrorists working to bring down the progress of civilization by sewing irrational fears into the minds of those without the capability, the education, or the desire, to see through their toxic charade.
It seems as if a cold-war spy movie mated with Austin Powers and gave birth to today’s reality.
The only way I know to fight this growing anti-science, anti-knowledge, fear-focused trend is to teach, to work very hard to open young minds – and the minds of those that are young at heart and still open to accepting evidence-supported, peer-reviewed knowledge. The jobs of those of us who call themselves teachers is to plant the seeds of knowledge, inspiration, curiosity in how the natural world and the cosmos in which we float works. Then, we must continue to nurture those seeds with even more empirical evidence, adventure, experimentation, and lots of quality time outdoors in nature. Hopefully, the seeds of evidence and curiosity we plant will grow into great and wonderful trees of knowledge that will empower its gardeners to cast off their fear, hate, doubt, xenophobia, and anxiety and nurture it with curiosity, knowledge, evidence, wonder, love, trust, passion, and coexistence and a deep reverence for all life.
Plant that seed.
My personal science story:
The fact boldly stands that I would not exist without the findings of medical science, technology, expertise, and technique.
Why?
1. I was born premature – medical science, technology, and engineering supported my life until I could support myself.
2. Vaccinations protected me against all the things all the other kids carried – all the things that wanted a piece of me when I was just starting out.
3. I acquired Mycoplasma “walking” pneumonia twice – I may have died without treatment and medications and the experts who administered them.
4. I developed Appendicitis: I would have most certainly died without treatment and appendectomy.
5. I was bitten by a Timber rattlesnake: I may not have died but I would have probably lost the use of a finger and had lasting ill effects.
6. Both my biological and adoptive parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents – would have never met each other without ships, automobiles, and airplanes.
7. I have been in countless situations – many severe electrical storms and one hurricane come to mind – where a structure, vehicle, or technology provided shelter for me, and without it I would have died.
…and so on.
So yes, without the findings and application of medical, materials, chemical, food, engineering, botanical, and physical science and engineering – I would simply not exist.
It is as simple and as complex as that.
I do not fear the science, medical advancements, technology, and engineering discoveries, that have given me life – I accept and embrace them just as I accept and embrace nature – because science is our way of understanding and interacting with, and when the need arises – controlling the nature of nature. These things have given me life and are a part of me, and for that I am eternally grateful. I am also eternally grateful to all the teachers, scientists, engineers, botanists, doctors, dentists, nurses, immunologists, virologists, biologists, and others who have helped me along the way to become the living, healthy person I am today – and to understand the value science and engineering brings to all of us.
Several years ago, while visiting Savannah Georgia, USA, I found myself down on the historic waterfront exploring the myriad of boats moored at the docks. As I browsed the many makes, models, shapes and sizes of watercraft I noticed something unique at the far end of the pier. It was the largest boat there – an older, wooden, two-masted, schooner-rigged sailing vessel that looked as if it had been outfitted to travel the seas forever. I quickly forgot about all the other lesser little boats and soon found myself taking in the sea-seasoned beauty of the rustic old wooden ship.
As I took in all the intricacies of the weathered old craft – that to me looked as if it had been around the world and back again many times over – a man carrying an oddly shaped bundle in a canvas sack walked up and climbed aboard the craft. He was lean and muscular, possibly in his mid-60’s, had a skin tone of deep-brown sun-weathered leather, a medium length grizzled white beard, and a full head of white-blonde hair – he briefly looked in my direction and I noticed he had piercing jade-green eyes. He was wearing a faded, threadbare t-shirt with what looked like the Japanese kanji for “Mt. Fuji” printed on it – but it was so faded that it was hard to make it out – faded old khaki shorts, and pink flip flops. He eyed me again briefly then turned and knocked (what to me sounded like a secret knock) on the door to below decks – it opened to reveal an exotically beautiful younger woman wrapped in a tropical print sarong with bronze skin and a waist-length braid of thick, jet-black hair. She came topside briefly, picked up the bundle he had been carrying, and disappeared back below. The old sailor picked up an even older toolbox, stepped back down onto the dock, and began to make a minor repair on one of the boat’s portholes – and I took the liberty to strike up a conversation.
After chatting for a while I discovered that he and his partner, whom he never named – nor did he say his name and I did not ask – lived aboard the boat with their scruffy old mixed-breed dog he called “Bandar” (Bandar = monkey in Hindi).
He did not say where they were from and I did not ask but from his accent I would say he had been either Australian, Kiwi, or British. He said they did not have a land-based home and for over two decades they had traveled the planet’s oceans – their boat their only home.
The elements provided their energy – as evidenced by the wind turbine spinning almost silently on the mast and several solar modules (panels) of different ages and designs covering the roof above the wheelhouse and part of the deck area. He said they relied on the rains and island freshwater springs to provide most of their drinking water and they had built a simple but effective collection system of shade awnings constructed from what looked like old canvas and plastic tarps strung up over parts of the deck amidships. These tarps funneled water into a series of bamboo and plastic gutters, tubes, and pipes that lead to water storage tanks below deck. When water started to get low and they were far from land they also had a homebuilt solar distillation system that would provide them with just enough fresh water to survive until they were able to locate more.
When I asked if the boat had a secondary power source the old sailor said “I rely on the wind mostly but when the wind dies I just drop anchor until the winds return, or if in the deep – I just drift with the current and work on projects that need my attention until the wind returns. If close to port or if conditions are so bad that I need to drop sails to save them – or if the need be great enough to move faster than nature wants me to move – I will use the motor. It’s not petrol – the boat’s electric. The ancient old petrol engine threw a rod about a decade ago when I was about a week out of Darwin. I made it safe in to port and then, after finding out how much it was going to cost to replace the old petrol monster – I just tore it all out and sank it in the shallows where it is now a home for the fishes.” He went on to say that he replaced the old engine with a salvaged electric motor from a fork truck. He mated the motor with the transmission of an old lorry (truck), bolted it to the boat’s propeller shaft, dropped in several fork truck batteries in place of the old fuel tank and some ballast, and connected it all to the solar panels and wind turbine. He said “it works perfectly, is far less of a hassle than the old petrol engine ever was, doesn’t stink or leak, is silent, simple, easy to maintain, and also provides electricity for all of the boats navigation/radio/lighting/galley systems – and the best thing is that unlike petrol – it does not promote or support war and environmental pollution and destruction and therefore it is free from the subscription to dependency that is attached to all things powered by godawful petrol.” (I did not get around to asking him how often he had to replace his batteries or how he afforded to do it since batteries are very expensive but I’ll bet he had that one figured out as well.)
He said that Dolphins, whales, turtles, and the occasional other sailor were their neighbors. Fish, clams, crabs, shrimp, oysters, conchs, birds and bird eggs, coconuts, taro, yucca, agave, mango, oranges, limes and other citrus fruits, papaya, bananas, breadfruit, and other island fruits provided most of their food.
He said he occasionally made use of ports all around the planet to acquire certain things that he could not easily find at sea such as some “land fruits,” veggies, and parts for his boat. He stated that he did not usually need or like to stop in port – while stopping did sometimes make life easier and more convenient, it was also dangerous…he did not say why and I did not ask.
While in port he would service other people’s boats in return for the cash needed to buy the supplies/parts he needed to stock up for a while – then he would set sail and move on.
Then he said “Money is one of the most evil and destructive things ever invented and it pains me deeply that I am occasionally forced to make use of it to get what I need – I would rather fish, forage, scrounge, or barter to survive – but sometimes that is just not what works out.”
I asked him what the other evil things were and he thought a moment and said “greed, selfishness, the childish need for power and control of others, division, slavery, war, people breeding without thought for the future or for the new life they are bringing into existence, the infantile, fearful, self-centered idea of white supremacy, twisted religions that denounce the earth and claim to be the way to salvation for those that follow them – at the cost of everyone and everything else that does not. And above all else the disrespect and disregard for other living beings and for the living earth that freely gives us all our very lives.”
I sat in silence while he worked, thinking about his words. While I first found his views on society somewhat shocking, I also found them very refreshingly obvious but often not observed by those who are so caught up in them on a daily basis. His insight had the wisdom of the truly awake and thinking outsider looking in from beyond the wall of society at the bizarre and troublesome puzzle we have created for ourselves, the full puzzle we cannot usually see because we are stuck on the inside of this matrix of society – forever bound up as slaves to this dangerous and divisive illusion of freedom that we are fed from birth.
He worked for a while in silence then put away his tools, reached aboard his boat and grabbed the same canvas sack his partner had taken below earlier – only now its contents had been reduced by about ½ – and started walking down the dock, I followed at a respectful distance, interested in where he was headed. He went to the dock master’s office and proceeded to pay him for his time moored at the dock. From my perspective it looked like he paid him in tropical fruit, a silk garment of some kind, and what appeared to be a small flask of a clear fermented beverage – all this made me smile – they obviously knew each other and had a friendly barter agreement. I would bet that somewhere below decks of his boat the man had a very detailed log/map listing all of the ports and individuals who would accept nontraditional payment for docking fees as well as all the tiny uninhabited tropical islands with safe anchorages, fruit, good fishing, and fresh water.
He shook hands with the dock master, said a few parting words, turned, and started walking the dock back toward his boat. I asked him how he had made it all work for so long and he said “Because I was done. Done with the garbage. Done with the hatred. Done with the killing. Done with the greed. Done with the lies. Done with the illusion. I had no other choice.”
I did not ask him what he meant by that last part.
He then continued “The sea and small islands provide me with almost all I need to survive and what the sea does not provide I will often find washed up on beaches and in the horrible floating garbage patches of your modern civilization – I make use of the cast-off flotsam and jetsam from your society to help me continue. People like Frank (the dock master I think) also help me when the need arises – but that is not often.” He said he was saddened deeply that so many people chose to pollute the planet without a care at all for nature or for future generations but he was also grateful that some of the cast off refuse was still so very useful – and free. He made use of many of these items turning them into everything – from the earlier mentioned rainwater collection system, to fishing tools, kitchen utensils, and even the solar still for making fresh water and seasoning salt from salt water.
As we walked back to his boat this most intriguing man then said one of the most interesting things that has stuck with me ever since. When I asked him where he was from he said; “I do not have a state or nation that I call home. I have cast off all connections to my previous citizenship – from when I was a slave to the system.” He never did say the country he was originally from – and I could see that it was a sore spot so I did not go there. “My boat and the oceans are my home. I am not connected or beholden to any nation, governing, or supportive system other than the governing systems of nature and the vast ocean of the cosmos.” He then said “My heart hurts for the people caught up in the petty bickering between friends, between families, between nations, over childish soul and society destroying politics, evil money, cultish culture-dividing and soul-destroying religions, I weep for those lost in the horribly wasteful wars, insane terrorist acts, and loss of life all in the name of blind patriotism and body and soul-killing toxically divisive religions, the endless quest for oil, gold, and other material things, the tribal division, the skin deep hate, the denial of observable facts, the carelessness and callousness and frightening blind devotion to flag, nationality, and so many archaic faith-based systems.” He then quoted Albert Einstein saying “Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind!”
Interestingly, in all his commentary about the state of things – his words were never bitter, mean or hateful – only a peaceful commentary on the sad status of the world that by choice he had distanced himself from as much as possible…and in some ways that he seemed to be running away from. I got the feeling that if he had the means he would leave this planet entirely and wander the cosmos – a nomadic drifter, searching for nothing and learning everything. I silently wondered what it was that had driven him to leave his home country and culture. The answer I am sure could be found somewhere in his commentary but out of respect for his journey, his privacy, and his freedom to truly be himself – I did not ask.
He then became really quiet and walked to his boat, when he reached the gangplank he stopped, turned to me and said “The only way to be truly free is to completely and forever let go of the illusions of freedom that your parents, your government, your society, your education, your religion – whatever illusions have been programmed into your mind by your culture and society that holds you like a slave in its grasp – and become your own person. That is what I did after…”
He abruptly stopped speaking, looked out to sea for a long moment and said – “Cast off the imaginary anchors and chains of the illusion of freedom and only then will you be really and truly free and only then will your eyes be opened to the true nature of things.”
With that he turned away from me, walked up to the ramp onto his ancient schooner and made ready to depart. Silently I watched as he was joined by the scruffy Bandar and his beautiful partner and together they pulled in the gangplank and moorings, used a long pole to push the boat outward from the end of the dock into the current of the outgoing tide, deployed a single sail – the soft mid-morning breeze slowly filling it out pushing old boat, its human and canine passengers and their entire free-floating world silently through the waters of the inter-coastal waterway and out into the Atlantic Ocean where they deployed the rest of their sails – and then within a few moments – they were gone.
No illusions, no limitations, no flag, faith, or nation – only mysterious residents of planet earth who were truly one with nature and well and truly free.
As a naturalist and trail ranger at many private, state, and national parks in the 1990s and early 2000s, I lost count of how many times I had to stop people – adult, seemingly intelligent, aware, thinking people – from climbing over fences (and doing other daft things) – usually just to get photos – but not always. More often than not these fences were at the top of sheer cliffs and waterfalls that were hundreds of feet in height.
These scenarios would almost always go something like this:
I would be quietly making my rounds on the park’s trails/beaches/backroads/highways, and byways when I would come upon a person on the other side of the fence holding a camera up to their face taking a photograph of the view. I knew the gravitational danger so I would quietly stand by and wait until they had finished their photo taking session and were starting to cross back over the fence and, therefore – as my reasoning went – they would be less likely to be startled. The absolute worse thing I could have done in these situations would have been to call out from behind them during their photography session, potentially startling them causing them to lose their footing/balance and topple over the cliff falling to their death on the rocks below. So, I would wait patiently and quietly until they were in a more stable position and then I would move forward making some slight noise with my feet on the rocks of the trail below to attract their attention, then, when I knew they had seen me, I would calmly ask them to come back over to the safe side of the fence. They would usually do so – while apologizing for climbing the fence. It was obvious they knew they were in the wrong and were not supposed to cross the fence. Maybe they just thought they would be able to get away with it… maybe because they did not see any obvious enforcement of the “Please do not cross the fence” warnings posted all over the place. For me, gravity – and the abrupt body-breaking, life-ending, sudden stop, on the rocks at the bottom of the cliff was all the enforcement I needed to tell me to not cross the fence…well, unless I had the appropriate authorization/climbing gear/PPE.
I would then ask them why they had ignored all the warning signs they would almost always reply – “The photos are better on the other side.” I would then reply “Really, how exactly does that work? You must have far better vision than I do because I am unable to see any difference in the view on this side or that side of this fence. The eye does not notice a difference and neither does the camera. The only difference is that you were on the unsafe side of the fence standing on a mat of moss/lichen that is very loosely attached to the rock and, had it or your shoes lost its grip on the rock, you would have fallen to your death hundreds of feet below – and I would have to clean up the mess.”
With this new knowledge the blood would often drain from their face and they would become silent as they realized the true gravity of the situation and the massive error in their recent decision making process. At this time they would then shakily apologize, and quickly move on – hopefully, never to make that same mistake again.
One of my most fond memories of this type of incident happened when I was working at Chimney Rock Park (now Chimney Rock State Park) in western North Carolina, USA. One warm spring day I found myself walking the trail near the top of 404′ tall Hickory Nut Falls – that’s it in the below photo.
After stopping at the cascade above the top of the falls to cool off in the natural creek shower, I then made my way along the Cliff Trail – a very narrow trail that hugged the edge of the cliffs following the mountainside all the way back to the area near Chimney Rock – the namesake of the park. After leaving the waterfall area I walked a short distance into the forest – approximately half-way between the waterfall and the outcropping left of center in the above photograph. I passed through a tunnel of Rhododendrons and was just about to pop out of the woods onto a more exposed section of the trail when suddenly, I noticed what appeared to be a female human crouching in the woods about 10 feet downhill on the cliff-side of the trail. Her back was to me and she was bracing herself against a small tree while holding something out of my view out in front of her. There were several small trees and shrubs between her and the edge of a cliff a few feet away so she must not have recognized the danger. She did not notice me as I silently made my way along the trail to investigate what she was doing. Then it came into view – she was holding a naked toddler! I stared in disbelief and then said – “Excuse me ma’am, may I ask what you are up to?” She looked up from the dangling child and snapped angrily back – “Can’t you see she is going to the bathroom!” I said, “No ma’am, I just arrived and was just curious because I have never seen someone dangle a child so close to the edge of a 400 foot cliff before.” She stopped, pulled the child against her body, and quickly clambered back up onto the trail, put the child down on the trail, hurriedly put on its diaper, picked it up, and started to head off down the trail without another word. I said to her back – “Excuse me ma’am, would you please return and pack out your used diaper? Not only is it smelly, unsightly, and an unsanitary danger to wildlife, but it could potentially spread diseases – and along with all that it is littering.” She had dropped the child’s soiled diaper on the side of the trail near where she had been dangling her kid near the edge of the cliff. She stopped dead in her tracks, shot me an eat shit and die stare, and went back to get the diaper without ever saying a word. She picked it up, shoved it in her bag, and stomped off down the trail. I followed her all the way back to the parking area because I feared she would just toss the diaper – or maybe even the kid – into the woods or over the cliff if I let her out of my sight. I wonder how long the trail of dirty diapers littering the woods and roadsides is for her and many more like her? Once in the parking area she jumped in her car and sped off down the mountain. While she seemed to clearly realize her serious safety error and was embarrassed by her mistake, at least she chose to keep most of her feelings to herself.
Sometimes, however, the individuals I would encounter and reprimand for their, often intentional infractions – would puff up, and strut and crow like a mojo-filled rooster, clucking loudly of this being a free country and/or an infringement on their personal freedoms, how much they paid to get into the park, and sometimes even cuss/insult my authority as a park ranger – or even insult me personally. When this happened I could only smile and calmly wish them luck because luck is all they had going for them – they clearly had zero intelligence/common sense and/or a great big chip on their shoulder – or all of the above.
On one of these crazy occasions, I was again working as Trail Walker ranger at Chimney Rock Park. I was again strolling quietly along the rugged, and wild, Cliff Trail on a beautiful summer day and I noticed what appeared to be several 20 something-year-old young men standing on a rocky outcrop I affectionately called “Turtle Head Rock.” Turtle Head Rock was about the size of a VW Beetle and it stuck precariously out of the side of the mountain and under it – open air all the way down for several hundred feet to the bottom of the cliff. On the top of the turtle’s head stood this troop of young men, one of them – the largest of the troop – let us call him Biff – stood upon a mat of the same type of moss I spoke of earlier (for those of you botany nerds out there it was Twisted-hair spikemoss (Selaginella tortipila). Biff then started to move forward on the moss mat…and then he started to lean out to get a look over the edge. One false move and Biff would have died a horrible death as his body impacted on the rocks hundreds of feet below. Outrageous! In this rapidly evolving situation, I had no other choice but to call out to stop him from continuing forward and making a huge mistake that ended only in a dead-end – so I forcefully said – STOP!
Biff and his comrades stopped, looked up, perplexed at the voice that came from seemingly out of nowhere. I stood in the middle of the trail, about 50 feet or so away, with the open-air gap between the cliffs and “turtle head rock” in between us. Biff stared with a glare of hatred that I felt might ignite me. I then said. “You are all in a very unsafe location. Please, everyone move back off the rock the way you came and cross back over the fence and onto the trail.” Biff stood up straight, put his hands on his hips, and said something insulting and guttural under his breath that I could not fully understand and then he said loudly – “WHY SHOULD I!?!?” I calmly said – “Gravity.” Biff looked at me in silent, beady-eyed, mouth-breathing, stupidity. Then, he and his troop of brainless bipedal primates turned and reluctantly started to make their way back over the fence to the trail. While they were clambering over the fence I quickly made my way to their location and waited for them to all cross onto the trail. Finally, the ape-like Biff crossed over the fence at which point he turned, and squared up with me – he was a head taller, a foot wider, and mighty muscled – his fists were clenched, his face was bright red, and he started spitting venomous words and insults directly in my face. I could smell the alcohol on his breath and this revelation helped me understand more about his recalcitrance. I let him finish his toxic diatribe and in answer to his final question of “Who gives you the right to tell me what to do!!??” Again, I calmly said – “Gravity.” He stared blankly at me and his face turned another shade of red. He then said, “What the fuck man, – are you some kind of know-it-all egghead!!??” I replied – “Yes, I suppose I am and thank you for the compliment.” He grunted, fumed like an enraged bull, with the veins in his neck popping out as he started moving even closer to me and at that moment I thought he was going to pile drive me into the trail with one of his meaty, sledgehammer-like, clenched fists. I backed against the cliff wall and had nowhere to go and simply said – “The moss you were standing on is not well attached to the rock. Had I not stopped you when I did, your dead, broken body would be bleeding on the rocks at the bottom of that cliff right now and your own stupidity – and gravity – would have been to blame.” He stopped, backed away from me, became very quiet, and stared at me for what seemed like a very long moment, a moment in which I could almost hear the tiny wheels turning in his minuscule, alcohol-soaked, monkey brain, pulsating somewhere in the dark void behind his squinting little eyes and his tomato-red, sweat-beaded face – he then backed off, turned, and said to his troop of muscle-bound monkey boys – “Come on team, this asshole is not worth our time.” They all then laughed at Biff’s lame comment and as a group then turned and started lurching like troglodytic cavemen along the trail. As I followed at a safe distance I could not help but notice that they looked like a troop of testosterone-fueled teen-aged baboons hell-bent on getting themselves into any and all mischief and mayhem they could find. Soon, we came to a fork in the trail where I found the group gathered around Biff looking at a park map. I asked if I could be of any assistance and Biff turned and yelled at me “Hell No! – you wimpy little MF!!”
That was it. These individuals – mainly Biff – were clearly unstable and a possible danger to themselves and to other park visitors so I calmly said “That’s it. It is time to go. Everyone head down that trail to the left and then to your cars. It is time to go home.” Biff turned and again squared up to me, his face even redder than before – and bellowed “you and what army!” I put my hand on my radio and said – “Just try it. In moments you will have a swarm of rangers, maintenance men, and police all over you and your “team” – and, by the way – there is only one way in – and out – of this park.” At this new knowledge, Biff chose wisely and backed down, turned, and they all headed down the trail to the parking area. I followed close behind – but at enough of a distance so I could discretely call ahead to the staff managing parking and let them know what happened. I gave them a description of the toxically masculine alcohol and testosterone fueled gorilla Biff and his troop of yes men and I asked them to escort them safely out of the park. When we arrived at the parking area Biff and his “team” got into their vehicles and sped off down the mountain – with the parking chief following not far behind. She later radioed me to report that Biff and his boys had stopped and tried to take off on another trail but she stopped them and made them get back in their cars and move along. By the time they reached the park entrance a few miles below, a local police officer was waiting to escort them out of town – just to put the fear of the long arm of the law into them and make them think twice about ever again acting like knuckle-dragging, slack-jawed, sub-human, primates* when visiting private property. *I know, this is an insult to respectable primates everywhere – but it is the best descriptivism I can come up with without getting really nasty.
Yet another example…
Once, again while I was working at Chimney Rock Park, I encountered a man and woman hiking down the trail in front of me – very slowly. This would not normally be an issue – people are free to hike at whatever speeds they want to. The issue on this particular day was the massive gray-green cumulonimbus cloud towering thousands of feet overhead and now starting to sink down under the mass of all the water it was carrying and about to unleash as fury on the countryside and all the tiny creatures therein. As I approached the slow moving individuals I could not help but notice that the male of the couple was a towering mass of tan, rippling human muscle with a neck thicker than my body, tattoos on his bulging, sweaty biceps, a tight mesh tank top, shorts that were several sizes too small, a buzz cut, and wrap-around mirror style sunglasses. The female was drop-dead gorgeous – maybe a model – with greatly enhanced centerfold/Barbie-doll proportions, a very revealing in all the right places red sundress, she had long flowing shiny-black hair reaching down to her waist, her hands ended in shiny black long fingernails, and her silky legs ended in red stiletto heels. Ah, that was it – the heels – that is what was slowing them up (why on earth would anyone try to hike this rugged, unimproved, mountain trail in stiletto heels – it is a wonder she had not already broken an ankle!) I ran up to them and said something like: “You folks need to get moving, the park is closing soon and you are the last ones on the trail and we are closing things up for the night.” The woman shot me a glare and the man turned his gorilla-like bulk toward me and said “What gives you the right to speak to us in that way!?” I just pointed up at the sky and said – “That massive storm and the fact that I am a park ranger and what I say, goes.” Then I said “Ma’am, if you don’t take off those heels right away and get moving a bit faster – we may all end up casualties when this storm unleashes its energy on us!” They both looked up and at that moment there was a huge clap of thunder and an icy wind screamed across the exposed cliff face where we were standing. Both of them looked instantly terrified and the woman struggled to keep her tiny dress from revealing too much – but the wind had other ideas. As she fought to keep her dress on she braced against her mountainous male partner, quickly removed her shoes – and they both took off running down the trail with me in hot pursuit. All the while I was hoping neither of them tripped and fell and broke a bone and I would then have to call for a carry-out in this kind of wild weather. Soon, we came to a great dark crack in the rocks known as the “Needles Eye” – if you have never ventured through the Needles Eye I will attempt to describe it for you – imagine a giant rock, several stories in height, with a narrow crack running through the middle of the rock. In that crack is constructed a precarious set of stairs with a spiral staircase at the midway point – it is probably one of the steepest spiral staircases in the world.
The Needle’s Eye from above
The Needle’s Eye from below
No two steps in the spiral are the same size – it was an amazing feat of engineering but sadly, it is no longer in existence due to safety code requirements. But on that day in the late 1990’s it was – and when we reached the top of the staircase we started down just as the clouds opened up and started dumping giant cold drops of rain – with embedded tiny ice crystals – all around and upon us. It was a beautiful show of nature’s power – but I also knew then that we were in for a monster of a storm. As we made our way carefully down the staircase we could hear howling winds and sheets of rain moving over the mountain and huge claps of thunder echoing throughout the gorge and the rocky crevice we were making our way through. None of us spoke, we just moved as fast as possible down the stairs and through the crack in the mountain – terrified at what was coming and hoping that we were not about to get washed out of the crack like the spider in the drainpipe. As we soon exited the relative safety of the Needle’s Eye the rain was now coming down in a torrent and our clothes were instantly saturated – I could not help but notice that “Barbie’s” tiny red dress was now clinging to her in a way that – even with the life-threatening storm screaming all around us – burned a mark forever in my brain (I blame my testosterone for that last comment). We all ran faster and made it to the trailhead at the parking lot just as larger hailstones began to fall. The couple thanked me, jumped in their Hummer, and sped off into the growing storm.
I made my way up the elevator to the Sky Lounge where I joined the other park staff to watch the storm unfold from the safety of the lounge. After the power blinked a few times and the storm did not let up, I and the other employees were dismissed to head home. As I drove down the mountain and through the gorge in my 1965 Series IIa Land Rover, I realized that this was not your average late summer storm – it was a real monster. Not only was the rain falling so fast and hard that my windshield wipers were useless, but the sheer volume of water falling from the sky and running across the road was unimaginable and truly frightening to witness. About a mile west of the park’s main gate I saw headlights shining up from the left at an odd angle – I slowed and peered through the torrent of rain to see a car half submerged in the Rocky Broad River! Its driver’s door was open and I could see that no one was inside as raging waves of water were crashing over the submerged trunk of the car. There was also no one around so I could only hope they had made it safely to shore. Then I heard one of the most frightening yet amazing sounds – a sound that I have only heard one other time in my life – the sound of huge car-sized boulders being pushed around in the river by the rapidly building flash-flood. Both frightening and amazing because the power of nature is both of these things. This was when I decided it was time to get the hell out of the gorge as fast as possible – or I may not be able to get out because I still had travel several miles of twisting narrow mountain road and cross one more bridge over the rapidly swelling river. After slowly making my way up the remainder of the road – and crossing several torrents of water gravity was pulling down the steep mountainsides from above – I finally came to the place where the bridge was supposed to be – and luckily, it was still there. I slowly drove over the bridge and started up HWY 64 towards home. The higher I climbed the lighter the rain became. When I topped out in the small community of Edneyville the rain had stopped and it was a beautiful afternoon. I pulled off the road and looked back toward the gorge only to see a massive towering anvil of a cumulonimbus cloud – one of the largest ones I had ever seen in the mountains. It looked more like a cloud one would see associated with a tornado on the Great Plains or a Hurricane out in the Gulf of Mexico – not sitting stationary over the Hickory Nut Gorge. It was truly a freak storm. As the hours passed that storm ended up being one of the most terrifying and terrible flash flooding events the Hickory Nut Gorge had ever seen. It dumped over a foot of rain in just a few hours and, due to the steepness of the terrain, it laid waste to almost the entire gorge area, destroyed several bridges, homes, and businesses, and shut everything down for several weeks until the damage could be cleaned up and repaired.
On that wild wet day I listened to the warnings of nature, helped two absolutely oblivious individuals move along (possibly saving their lives in the process), and, as fast as possible, took measures to get myself out of what was becoming a very bad situation.
Similarly, in many other situations, I have had to separate countless people from potentially dangerous self-imposed situations with snakes, bears, alligators, deer, thorny and toxic plants, moving water, wind, sand, and even sunlight, heat/cold, ice, snow, and rain. It boggles the brain how so many people can be so incredibly stupid so often – and it is almost always just to get a unique photo or “not have their vacation ruined by the weather.”
After seeing this kind of crazy exhibited by so many humans at so many separate locales and situations I, and many of the wonderful rangers, naturalists, and officers I have worked with in these locations and circumstances – have come to the conclusion that, at least with a portion of the weekend-warrior type segment of the human population of this country, it seems that some of these individuals may, in fact, develop a syndrome we ranger and naturalist-types call the “amusement park mentality.” This is the idea that if one has to pay for access into a private, state, or national park – then that this area must be safe – like an amusement park is presumed to be. Somehow to these people, it seems nature must somehow be “tamed” in these areas, or fabricated, fake, a show, and nothing can hurt you – apparently not even gravity. The animals are friendly and tame, the snakes are all non venomous, the bees can’t sting, and – yes, even the bears are friendly and are put up in their cages for the night along with the waterfalls which are turned off when the park closes its gates. This – nature cannot hurt me amusement park mentality – has been the cause of many an injury and death of countless individuals in countless wild places all over this country and possibly the world. Oddly, from my observations of people from almost three decades of personal experience, it seems that – for whatever the reasons – it is primarily Americans who exhibit this bizarre, common sense lacking trait. I wonder why that is?
And today I find myself wondering if some of the people that I – and all of us park ranger types – have asked to step back from the edge, cross back over those fences, distance themselves from the wildlife, get out of the weather, etc. – are these now some of the same folks who choose to ignore the experts and not wear masks, not stay out of crowded places, not get vaccinated, open up their businesses, cities, and states too early, and/or believe all the conspiracy “theory” nonsense such as but not limited to the erroneous belief that the virus was manufactured in a lab as a bio-weapon or as a way to control the population, tracking devices in vaccines, 5G will give you COVID and/or allow the government to track you via your vaccine – instead of listening to the actual experts, the peer-reviewed evidence, and good old common sense during a global pandemic?
Sadly, and to put it bluntly – many of today’s big brained bipedal primates do not seem to be in any way fit for survival on this gravity-created, water-soaked, rock we call home. The only things keeping them alive are dumb luck, laws, and those who enforce the laws therefore keeping those who lack intelligence and common sense from making the stupid decisions that would have quickly weeded them out of the gene pool.
From a purely Darwinian perspective – could it be that by asking a certain some of them to cross back over to the safe side of the fence – we may have unintentionally spawned many of the problems we are facing today…
Nature is a harsh mistress.
She does not care about us, so if we want to survive, we must care about ourselves and care about each other. We must learn as much as possible about how things work and become naturally and scientifically literate – we must listen to those who know and trust their knowledge until better knowledge comes along.
Nature only gives us two choices in life: adapt or die.
This weekend, in Sweetwater, Texas – thousands of Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes and other rattlesnake species will be ripped from their home habitats – often using gasoline pumped into their hiding places which causes the snake to vacate the safety of the hide allowing it to be captured. The dozens of other animals that share the hole with the snake are then overwhelmed by the fumes and die. The toxic nature of the gasoline then goes on to poison the environment – and possibly even the local groundwater supply – the captured snakes are then put on display/parade then publicly slaughtered and eaten without hesitation.
This is the largest wildlife massacre happening on any single day.
The weekend starts with a “Sweetwater” beauty pageant where the winner gets to kill the first snake of the season. Then it’s followed up with two days of non-stop torture and death as snakes have their mouths sewn shut for grotesque “selfies,” and are then decapitated by people and yes, even children – who are told the snakes are “overpopulated,” “evil,” “bad,” “demonic,” “the devil” etc. – then the snakes are skinned, chopped up, deep fried, and eaten for public dollars.
Something also tells me that this being Texas, and this being 2021 – I would also predict that many of those who visit the roundup will be mask-less, in close proximity, drinking, cheering, preaching, and unvaccinated – making this another COVID-19 super spreader event…
Please do not support these disturbingly sick, destructive, events in any way, they are the last vestiges of a brutal practice that needs to end immediately.
Evidence follows – some of it is very hard to watch if you are sensitive to blood and/or animals being slaughtered. Some of the videos are age restricted and viewable only on YouTube via the embedded links.
This last link has a map showing all the locations where rattlesnake roundups are held. Some of these events – such as the Whigham, GA Rattlesnake Roundup and the San Antonio, Florida Rattlesnake Festival – have stopped the collection and killing of wild snakes and instead, use their public platform to educate attendees on the unique biology, beauty, and environmental value of rattlesnakes. If those in Sweetwater and the others would just convert to this format…
I do not have any issues with hunting as long as it managed scientifically to support the health of the wildlife and the ecosystem, and it is carried out legally and ethically. The Sweetwater Texas rattlesnake roundup is none of these things. It is time we end this type of Rattlesnake Roundup as fast as possible. Just imagine if this were a roundup, slaughter, and feast of dogs, cats, dolphins, manatees, Bald eagles, horses, rabbits, goats, turtles, – whatever – the public outcry would be unbelievable and the perpetrators of those acts would be arrested and heavily fined under animal abuse/cruelty charges and obviously wildlife protection laws. However, because it is rattlesnakes and because it brings so much precious money into the community of Sweetwater – so many people just look away, sit on their hands, and stay quiet ignoring the heinous animal cruelty and abuse that happens in this horrible mass murder of wildlife. On top of all this madness the perpetrators of this insanity, the Sweetwater Jaycees and all others who support them with their support of this mass murder event or through their inaction to stop it, are using this horrible program to teach children that this is an accepted way to treat wildlife.
I was bitten by a wild rattlesnake and yes, I still support their conservation.
If you do not see a problem with this sickness then my friend, you have a serious problem.
This needs to stop now.
Do all in your power to fight this madness.
DO NOT support rattlesnake roundups, coordinated animal cruelty/poaching/ wildlife/ecosystem destruction, and trafficking in threatened and endangered wildlife.
Recently I read this article in The Guardian that really hit home with me how urgent the need is to stop burning things for energy.
Sadly, until our species stops burning long-dead life-forms – fossil fuels – as our primary sources of energy for our homes, businesses, and transportation systems, this trend will only continue. More people will sicken and die due to atmospheric, land, and water pollution directly and indirectly due to burning fossil fuels for energy. Then there are the anthropogenic climate change implications – but that is another can of worms for another day.
If you do not understand the issues and the connections between burning fossil fuels, pollution, climate change and the health and continuation for humans and wildlife then it is possible that:
– you may not understand the problem.
– you may understand the problem but feel that it is hopeless and that nothing you do will change anything.
– you may have the desire to make a change, but do not believe you have the ability or the means to start the change.
or
– you may not want to understand the problem.
– you may for some bizarre reason actually believe the rhetoric of the corrupt politicians who are in bed with fossil fuel corporations.
– you may be listening to and trusting those with agendas.
– while choosing to ignore those with the peer-reviewed evidence.
– you may have money invested in fossil fuels that you do not want to loose.
– you might be comfortable in the way things are – or were – and you do not want to change – even if that change would make you more comfortable, happy, wealthy, and provide your children and grandchildren with a better world.
– you may actually believe the ancient scribblings in a dusty old story book that tells you the earth and its resources are somehow “imperfect” “corrupt” or “evil” and are here for us to dominate and squander without any consideration for future people, wildlife, or the balance of nature.
– you may even somehow believe all of the above.
This is all really very sad.
These limiting, restrictive, erroneous, and destructive beliefs will only serve to make problems such as this far more malignant and deadly.
The cold, hard, inconvenient truth is this: our species must stop burning things for energy and transition as fast as possible to local, energy secure, clean, renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, gravity, tidal and wave energy, and eventually – fusion. We must keep the majority of fossil fuels in the ground and use them only as fuel for systems and projects that do not play well with renewables such as rocketry – as well as keeping them in reserve as backups for when emergencies happen and as feedstocks for reusable, recyclable products that are made from them – such as plastics.
If we want our species to continue much longer into the future – we must listen to those with the evidence.
Many of our most popular science fiction books, comics, graphic novels, TV shows, and movies, often portray cyborgs as humans and other fictional species, and sometimes even animals, that have been modified with various forms of mechanical and electrical components, engineering, bionic, and other body and ability-enhancing/augmenting technologies that are often, but not always, visible on the surface.
…then there is Peter Parker aka Spiderman who, while not technologically a cyborg, after the bite of a radioactive spider he genetically and physically mutated to possess spider-like powers. He later implemented several hacks to his clothing including his “web slingers” that came together with his mutations to give him his suite of “Spidey” superpowers.
Some may argue that Dr. Bruce Banner (aka The Hulk), while not technically a cybernetically enhanced being, was in fact accidentally “bio-hacked” due to his exposure to Gamma Rays while saving an innocent man.
Scarlett Johansson as The Major from the live action 2017 Ghost in the Shell
The Star Wars saga portrays multiple cyberneticly enhanced species with unique implants and powers such as Darth Vader , General Grievous , Luke Skywalker and many more.
My personal favorite marvelously and malevolently malignant cyborg creation would have to be the Borg from Star Trek The Next Generation.
A Borg drone assimilates an unlucky crewman (why isn’t the crewman wearing a red shirt?)
While many fictional cyborg creations are helpful and fight injustice, it seems that more often than not cyborgs are depicted as frightening, destructive, emotionless, malevolent beings made up of a combination of futuristic technology fused with their existing, often previously damaged or modified biology.
Many of these cybernetic beings are often depicted as wanting to assimilate and enslave the human species into their own species or to destroy us entirely to either take our technology or our flesh for selfish and/or nefarious purposes. From my point of view, I believe all this negativity toward cybernetically enhanced beings is just unfair. In reality, most people with currently available cybernetic enhancements are often indistinguishable from other members of society. Some want their enhancements noticed often going to great lengths to do so, and many may be may bordering on transhuman – modified to the point where they are noticeably different from other “natural” humans such as Neil Harbisson… even to the point of being considered a posthuman…but, there is no reason to believe or suggest they would be malevolent.
It is far more likely they would be someone just like you.
Neil Harbisson Cyborg
What cyborgs from popular culture and from reality all have in common is this: their biological in origin bodies are in some way interfacing with non-biological technology, engineering, and chemistry – their flesh and blood body has non-biological components such as hardware, machine, and electronic parts either replacing lost or damaged original parts, or they have intentionally added ability-enhancing appearance-augmenting parts and chemicals they were not born with or naturally produce.
In other words – they have been bio-hacked.
But what does this really mean?
First some definitions
BIO:
From Biology: the science of life or living matter in all its forms and phenomena, especially with reference to origin, growth, reproduction, structure, and behavior. Source: Dictionary.com – a more indepth dive into Biology can be found on Wikipedia.
HACK:
1: a usually creatively improvised solution to a computer hardware or programming problem or limitation
2: an act or instance of gaining or attempting to gain illegal access to a computer or computer system
3: a clever tip or technique for doing or improving something
For our purposes, definitions one and three are the best fits for the “hack” in Biohacking.
“Biohacking” is defined by Merriam-Webster as: biological experimentation (as by gene editing or the use of drugs or implants) done to improve the qualities or capabilities of living organisms especially by individuals and groups working outside a traditional medical or scientific research environment.
or, as Techopedia puts it: “Biohacking can include body modifications, in which groups of people known as “grinders” experiment with implants and other methods of applying technologies to their bodies, such as wearable computing. Other types of biohacking may involve self-medical hacks, such as home DNA or genetic testing.”
As one Biohacker put it: “We biohackers, we think the human body is a good start but there is certainly room for improvement.”
The human body is an amazing creation designed and constantly refined by trial and error over millions of years of evolution by natural selection. However, due to that long term slowly adaptive process, driven by the nuances of the engine that is natural selection, it carries with it many flaws and fails that evolution could have crafted a wee bit better – if given more time. Here are a few of them…
If given more time and technology, maybe we naked, multi-colored, bipedal, thinking apes, will evolve these evolutionary fails out of our genome to become the best that we can be. But for now, those of us that are alive and kicking and reading these words – even with all our evolutionary flaws and imperfections – we are good enough. We are the ones who were fit enough to have survived the evolutionary weeding out process of deep time, and therefore, we are all privileged to live at this moment in time. We are all we have to work with, for now.
However, if we play our cards right and survive the next 10,000, one million years, or one billion years – who knows what kind of awesome we might be capable of – but until that time we have biohacking.
Improvise, Adapt, Overcome, Evolve.
Coming back down to the reality of today, I am gratefully thankful for modern medical science, engineering, and chemistry that, although still early in its evolution and nowhere near perfect, is at a place where it offers us the amazing ability to use the methods and tools of science to repair, augment, enhance, and upgrade – to “biohack” – our bodies with technological and chemical repairs, enhancements, and adaptations when even the most dramatic moments in life befall us…or if we just want to voluntarily change or modify something about ourselves to better suit our needs, interests, and desires. Some more common examples of biohacking include but are not limited to:
…insulin pumps and one day the artificial pancreas will be a reality…or maybe CRISPR or a similar technology will edit diabetes (and many other diseases, syndromes, and conditions) out of the human genome once and for all…
…to the many forms of plastic surgery which involve body augmentation/modification using skin manipulation and implants/injections for lips breast, buttocks, chin, and nose, and more…
“Mammogram X-ray of a silicone breast implant, used for cosmetic surgery to alter the size and shape of the female breast. The implant is the rounded white structure at centre; it has been implanted beneath the glandular tissue of the breast (sub-glandular implant). Curved bones of the rib cage can be seen at left. Synthetic silicone is widely used as implants in cosmetic surgery because they are resistant to body fluids, permeable to oxygen, and are not rejected by the body. Apart from their use to increase breast size (augmentation mammo-plasty), a silicone implant can restore breast shape after breast tissue removal for cancer.” Source: https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/279681/view
…vasectomies and penile implants (to correct damage and/or ED or to augment and enhance), and full/partial joint replacements…
…IUD’s, implantable contraceptives, and other implantable medications…
“IUD contraceptive. X-ray of the pelvis of a woman, showing a fitted intrauterine contraceptive device (IUD, lower centre), or coil. It comprises a T-shaped piece of plastic or metal that is inserted through the cervix into the womb to prevent pregnancy. It is thought to work by inhibiting the implantation of a fertilised egg. Some IUDs contain a progesterone drug that suppresses ovulation. IUDs are not as effective as the pill but do not have the mental and physical side-effects associated with taking hormone drugs. The pale regions at bottom left and right are the bones of the pelvis.” Source: https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/295731/view
Some have combined many of the more common, with what some might call rather extreme biohacks in order to completely alter and augment their appearance to fit their fantasies such as Valaria “Valeryevna” Lukyanova – the human Barbie doll.
From my point of view, I would define all of these body modification technologies, techniques, and practices as forms of “biohacking” the human-animal. But just when and when and where did this human fascination with altering the nature of things begin?
Our ancient ancestors who picked up the first rocks, sticks, stones, and bones and used them, like our primate cousins do today, as tools to smash nuts to get at the nutmeat, and later crunch bones to get the marrow, kill animals for food, defense from animals trying to eat them, and later – with some slight and major modifications – to fell trees, till the land, and alter the landscape to meet their growing energy needs – the great biohack of tool use started us on a path to becoming what we are today – modern humans. It took us several million years of research and development but we have succeeded in turning those sharp rocks and sticks into bulldozers and chainsaws, catapults and computers, razorblades and railroads, helicopters and Hyundai’s, Rubik’s cubes and rocket ships, laser beams and ice cream – all with the goal to make our lives better, faster, stronger, more productive with less work from our own natural biology – thereby giving our species a massive evolutionary survival advantage over all other creatures. Tool use was our species’ first major biohack.
The Hot Biohack That Made Us Human
Fire. That’s right – fire. I consider fire the ultimate biohack. Obviously, fire is not attached to the surface of, inserted or implanted into the human body…well, unless you are a “fire eater” or possibly a “fire walker“…but the discovery, control, and mastery of fire is possibly the most important tool discovery early members of our species ever made. Biological anthropologist Dr. Richard Wrangham, in his book Catching Fire, outlines how the taming of fire served to help make our food easier to acquire, more sanitary, easier process (chew) and easier to digest. Therefore, this pre-processed cooked food freed up more nutrition from the food items for our bodies and brain which then allowed our brain, and therefore our intelligence, to grow to a level surpassing that of our extinct earlier hominid ancestors and our living primate cousins the Chimpanzee, Bonobo, Gorilla, and Orangutan. The latter, and many monkey species, still use rocks and sticks as tools to this day – but none have “discovered” “tamed” and made use of fire as our species has done. Cooking also served, over time, to make our bodies more efficient by downsizing our internal organs, muscles, bones, mandible, and teeth while increasing the size of our most important internal organ – the brain – all of these things served to transform us, via the miraculous sculptor of evolutionby natural selection, from another interesting animal into the complex tool using modern humans of today.
So yes, it seems we exist in our present form due in part to tool development and use, and the ultimate tool discovery, development, and mastery of fire in all its forms – from the timeless campfire crackling within a circle of rocks, to the mighty rocket ship standing on a pillar of flame as it ascends into the timeless void of space.
To me, fire was the capstone tool that allowed us to become much more than just another interesting animal among all the other animals – fire was the ultimate biohack.
But some may say that biohacks are only technologies devices and engineering implanted into the body?
From my point of view, biohacks are any and all devices, attachments, treatment procedures, chemicals, techniques, and technologies the receiver was not born with. They are added/learned/acquired after birth with the receiver’s natural biology being “hacked” with the acquired/add-on/add-in upgraded technology and/or process or procedure. Just like you might upgrade your new car with whatever aftermarket paint, add-ons, and customizations you choose to fit your needs and desires – biohacking is “aftermarket” adaptations, upgrades, personalizations, add-ons, add-ins, and customizations to your personal vehicle – your body.
Biohacks help you make your life better.
The Biohacking Spectrum
Biohacking is just like any other spectrum and to that end, I offer up to you my Biohacking Spectrum.
(I am probably leaving out something important so please correct me where needed so we can work together to make this information more robust.)
The “lower-end” of the Biohacking Spectrum.
On the lower end, we find the non-invasive, outside the body, or surface mounted adaptations and modifications such as:
Tool use and control of fire.
“I made fire! I, I made fire!” Tom Hanks from the movie Cast Away.
Clothes of all kinds are also a masterful biohack.
Michael Richards as Kramer from the TV show Seinfeld.
Would you go without your shoes/boots?
Temporary augmentative/adaptive attachments such as corrective and protective lenses (glasses, sunglasses, contacts, monocles, and other Personal Protective Equipment)…
Climbing on up the spectrum a little bit we find externally attachable to temporarily internally insertable, but of longer duration and, depending on the application, a closer to the body attachment with a deeper connection to or penetration into the body via the skin and/or existing natural openings. These devices would include but are not limited to; contact lenses, hair implants, dental dentures and bridges, TENS devices, sexual aids, human vital monitoring and life-support devices and equipment such as oxygen concentrators, ventilators, defibrillators, and extended use yet still removable prosthetic limbs.
Next is a great example of how far removable prosthetic limbs have come since the pirate and his “peg leg.”
Moving up another step we find more semi-permanent to permanent body modifications which are external but moving to internal such as Lasic surgery, insulin pumps, piercings, plugs, and tattoos.
Random internet photo.
In the middle of the scale, we find far more permanent more internally applied body modifications and alterations that change the permanent appearance and/or function of the user’s body such as but not limited to; dental braces, adjustments, and extractions, facelifts, liposuction, rhinoplasty, moving to implantable devices such as breast, buttock, lip, face, and other mostly cosmetic or augmentative body implants and injections. Within this section, we also find more active technologies such as RFID “microchips,” IUD’s, and other contraceptives, etc.
All of the biohacks within this part of the spectrum involve modifications to the skin, are located under the skin, inside the body cavity, in or near an internal organ but not necessarily attached to an organ or structural members such as connective tissue or bone.
RFID “microchips”
At the far opposite end of the biohacking scale, we find the most extreme modifications such as devices and/or technologies that are sewn, screwed, bolted, clamped, or “wired” directly into or onto the users’ organs, bones, muscles, nerves, and one day even our CPU – the brain. Examples include dental implants, ports, plates/screws, replacement joints, heart valves, pacemakers, vasectomies, penile implants, and prosthetic limbs fused directly to living bone, etc.
At the most extreme top end of the scale, we find biohacks that repair, augment, and/or alter the operation of the body’s own biology to fit the needs or desires of the body’s “owner” such as those that adapt, change, or augment physical performance, repair of congenital deformities or emergency malfunctions/loss, fight infection or disease, repair/replace faulty limbs, organs and tissues in the form of bioprinting, and sexual/gender reassignment surgery.
This extreme top-end of the spectrum also includes biochemistry-based technologies that have their own spectrum. Some examples include but are not limited to: over the counter vitamins, supplements, and drugs, prescription medications and antibiotics, allergy immunotherapy, cancer treatments, vaccines, and finally gene-editing technologies such as CRISPR.
Source: Internet
Again, I am sure I am leaving something out of this spectrum or may have misplaced something within the biohacking spectrum due to my own lack of knowledge and the rapidly changing field of biohacking. If you see something missing or out of place, or that needs adapting (hacking) please, feel free to drop me a note – but, if you do, please include the sources for your information.
The goal of any biohacking technology or technique is to repair, extend, enhance, augment, adapt, modify, and enhance this thing we call life.
Time smoothes out the rough edges
The majority of the biohacks accepted by society today are seen by many as everyday repairs, augmentations, and upgrades to the continued healthy functioning, best performance, and best or preferred appearance of our bodies. Many, if not most of these biohacks were – early on in their developmental process – experimental technologies on the bleeding edge of reality bordering on science fiction and fantasy. Many people at the time must have thought these new biohacks were pushing the interface between the human world and the technological world just a wee bit too close for comfort. Those not on the receiving end of the biohacks may have cried out things like “invasion of privacy,” “unethical,” “infringing upon my freedoms,” and possibly even “against all that is sacred,” or “unholy.”
It is interesting to note that even something as important and as widely accepted today as the biohack we now call handwashing – was once mistrusted and ridiculed by medical experts of the time.
Ignaz Semmelweis, the scientist and doctor who suggested handwashing may prevent disease, was ridiculed and bullied by his peers for even suggesting the “crazy idea” of handwashing. He was later committed to an asylum where he was beaten and died. His “crazy idea” was later proven correct and hand washing became widely accepted and practiced “after Louis Pasteur – who confirmed germ theory, and Joseph Lister, acting on the French microbiologist’s research, practiced and operated using hygienic methods, with great success.”
Just like the now well-known – and proven by science – handwashing and other healthy hygiene hacks that serve to remove potentially dangerous germs from our hands/bodies/teeth/surgical tools/dishes/clothes etc – the acceptance of almost any new idea, technology, procedure – any new lifehack, or biohack – takes some time. Remember how long it took seat belts to become a “thing”…or for people to accept the peer-reviewed fact that smoking causes cancer and other nasty illnesses…that brushing your teeth regularly is a good idea…that umbrellas are a good way to keep the rain off…that condoms stop the spread of STD’s and unplanned pregnancies…or that wearing cloth filter masks when you have a cold – or during a global pandemic – keeps your germs away from me and my germs away from you and in doing so they reduce sickness and even save lives. For early adopters, these things were easily acceptable life hacks, for others these things will take time.
Wear your mask – yes, it is a biohack. Photo source: internet
While still shocking to some – the technological biohacks we see today have become commonplace and almost universally accepted by modern medical science and by society, and in most “free” “western” populations they are widely accepted and are here to stay.
From my point of view, unless you have never taken any medicine, never had an operation, never been to the doctor, or you live under a rock – we modern humans have all been biohacked to some degree.
Over time, the devices, tools, and techniques of biohacking will surely evolve to become far more sophisticated to the point where they will be entirely undetectable to the user or to the observer – unless of course, they are designed to be seen by others. The future of biohacking will serve to even more blur the line between human and machine.
One day we will all be cyborgs.
To me, all that is perfectly fine – whatever technology we humans create to improve upon evolution in our quest to update our biology and make us better, faster, stronger, healthier, better looking – it is nothing unnatural, it is all just part of our own human evolution.
Backyard Biohacking
As for the DIY “biohackers” who attempt to achieve their “MacGyver” style body-hacking upgrade projects at home – I really do not see this as a good idea for the reasons of personal safety, hygiene, and limiting the spread of communicable diseases. At the moment I am writing this, I would support that any major biohack – other than simple external or specific low impact temporary internal biohacking techniques or devices – should be installed/conducted only by qualified and trained professionals.
Examples
Just like you would have only a qualified tattoo artist apply your tattoo…
It is my opinion that any bodily invasive biohack that has the potential to harm the receiver’s biology and/or introduce dangerous pathogens into the receiver’s body – should only be performed by educated, qualified, specially trained, and licensed experienced professionals in the field.
However, that may change in the future with better DIY biohacking and improved sanitation technologies and techniques (in other words: new biohacks) – only time will tell.
That being said I am not in any way against biohacking for personal body repair, personalization, alteration, augmentation, or modification. Whatever you do to your body is your personal choice – it is your body and I do not have any say in your decisions nor do I want to impose any of my decisions upon you. Therefore, I will not lose any sleep over your choices. Similarly, I would not expect you to lose any sleep over my choices. However, I feel that a line should be drawn when it comes to the safety of innocent people and the survival of the species as a whole. This is why I believe there needs to be very specific health-science supported safety/hygiene biohacking standards to protect everyone from each other while still allowing everyone the personal freedom to choose to biohack.
To reiterate and clarify: If someone wants to paint, pierce, insert, inject, implant, screw, bolt, or glue on, attach, ingest, or install, – if they want to modify their own personal body in any way – if it repairs environmental/physical damage or replaces failing “parts,” and/or if it makes them better, happier, stronger, faster, and/or gives them increased pleasure or higher self-esteem – then so be it. It is their choice and their choice alone (as long as they are an adult). I have no say over what someone else does to their body just like I have no say over what another person reads, watches on TV, their choice in music, the foods they eat, the liquids they drink, the car they drive, or the people they choose to love – those things are all their choice and their choice alone as long as their biohacking choices do not have the potential to;
Harm their own body such as with a dangerous addiction to drugs/chemicals.
Harm friends or loved ones in their biohacking process.
Harm the rest of the human and/or wildlife population with their biohacking process.
Harm our shared natural life support system – nature – with their biohacking process.
Then it is their choice to biohack so I say let them hack away to their heart’s content so: bring on the biohackers.
While many biohacks are now seen as “everyday” useful cosmetic and functionality upgrades to the human anatomy and the human condition, others, in my opinion, are just a wee bit over the top….
The “Lizard man” and the “Cat man”
Or this unique pincushion of a human…ouch!
I am all for some life-hacking useful, functional, and augmentative upgrades but those are just a wee bit too high maintenance and far outside of my comfort zone…but to each his own.
My Biohacks
Yes, I have/use and benefit from a few biohacks that I could not live without and I would bet you probably have a few as well.
Dental care. The science of dentistry/dental hygiene gives me the knowledge and tools to keep my teeth clean and, when needed, apply fillings/repairs to my teeth that fix the damage that comes with age – and our species’ overly rich foods. These dental biohacks allow me to chew and process my food without pain.
Cooking. I really prefer to eat much of my food cooked. While cooking is an external action not connected directly to the body, it does pre-condition and pre-processes our foods in key ways that change the nature of those foods with these changes having a direct and positive impact upon our biology- in other words: cooking is a biohack. The ancient biohack of cooking gave my ancestors the energy they needed to live and pass their genes onward throughout time which eventually lead up to me typing these words on this tool of knowledge (and sometimes total inferno of a dumpster fire) we call the internet. Cooking has also served to protect my ancestors and me from nasty germs and parasites and it has made many of my foods easier to chew, digest, and even better tasting. Cooking has also given me far more time to do the cool stuff I like to do since I do not need to spend as much time chewing (pre-processing) raw food like all of my raw food eating living primate cousins and extinct early (pre-fire) ancestors needed to do just to survive.
Clothes. I really like my clothes – they keep my mostly hairless, pasty white, modern primate body comfortable and protected no matter the season. My hat keeps the sun off my balding head and my boots allow me to move over all manner of terrain.
Corrective lenses. (aka glasses, spectacles) allow me to clearly see the world around me, see the distant mountains and read distant words, not fall into holes or off cliffs, or be eaten by a predator as I journey about. They also allow me to see and appreciate the many wonderful augmentations, upgrades, adaptations, and advantages to the art of biohacking.
Internal upgrades: The staples in my intestines where my appendix used to reside keep the contents of my guts from spilling out into my body cavity (at least until the incision healed up – but the staples remain).
Infection. I have had several bacterial infections including Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Clostridium difficile, multiple episodes of sinusitis, and luckily only one episode of appendicitis, just to name a few. In every case, antibiotics and pain killers came to the rescue and pulled me back from the brink of existence, made me a bit more comfortable while I recovered – and here I am today writing these words.
Vaccines. I have and will continue to receive all the expert-recommended vaccines. Vaccines and immunotherapy are ways science has found to biohack and upgrade the human immune system in order to give us super-human resistance to biological microscopic invaders wanting to use our warm, wet, incubator-like bodies as factories for more of their kind.
About to get my yearly influenza vaccine.
Vaccines introduce a weakened or killed infectious biological agent into the body allowing the body’s immune “army” to recognize and remember it’s “mugshot,” and then develop a defensive strategy to deal with that invader if it ever detects it trying to invade the body’s environment in the future.
Speaking of infectious invaders I was once possibly exposed to the rabies virus while helping an animal that had been attacked by an unknown predator. Rabies is almost always deadly so I preventatively received the rabies vaccine. Was I actually exposed? I will never know. But what I do know is I that am still alive and healthy. What I also know is if I had chosen to not receive the vaccine as a preventative measure against the viral agents that I may or may not have been exposed to – I may have developed rabies and died. I was not willing to even consider taking that chance – so I opted for the logical choice: I received the vaccination and whatever the case may be – I live.
I was once cut by a jagged piece of rusty, dirty metal. Because Tetanus is a nasty disease that can easily be prevented by a Tetanus vaccine – I immediately received a Tetanus booster vaccine and guess what – no Tetanus. Maybe the filthy piece of metal did not have any Tetanus organisms on it, maybe it did – I was not willing to take the chance – so I opted to err on the side of caution and get the vaccine.
So yes – from my point of view, and the point of view of all the world’s experts – vaccines are a wonderful and very helpful form of biohacking that many of us alive today would not be alive without.
Getting my influenza vaccine
I was once accidentally envenomated by a wild Timber rattlesnake. I was rushed to the emergency room, received anti-venin, (anti-venom), spent 3.5 days recovering in the hospital, and I fully recovered. The snake 🐍 is still alive and well in his forest – it was not his fault, it was entirely mine.
Photo by Steve Atkins
Personal Protective Equipment. I wear my Personal Protective Equipment when needed. My PPE keeps me safe from environmental conditions, situations, contaminants, and pathogens which may harm my human biology. Most recently I have needed to use my PPE far more often than not due to the virus known as SARS CoV-2 which causes the illness known as COVID-19 aka Coronavirus.
Wearing a filter mask while a pulse oximeter reports my blood 02 level.
The future: As I age, I may need to make use of even more biohacks and I will be more than happy to receive them as long as they support, improve, and/or augment my health, quality of life, and/or my safety and performance as all the others have done. From my point of view – biohacking our bodies with science, technology, engineering, and chemistry is a great way to heal, repair, augment, and extend our lives and to provide a protective shield of science and technology around and within our fragile primate bodies.
In the very near future, biohacking technology will give the human-animal even more amazing and unbelievable cyborg superpowers.
Two existing biohacks undergoing continuous research and development that have recently piqued my interest are the already in use in some applications Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) “microchips” and, the as yet to be fully developed and implemented human-machine interface technology Nuralink and others are working on as I write these words.
Let’s examine these two technologies in more detail.
RFID
My research and the resulting findings suggest that having a RFID enabled “microchip” implant might be a wonderful way to streamline your life and increase your efficiency and productivity. Below I have outlined a few ways RFID and other implantable cybernetic technologies could, and eventually will, greatly benefit those of us who choose to accept the fact that these technologies are just another fascinating and useful part of our species’ own evolution.
Daily life chores.
Imagine never needing to carry all those outdated plastic cards and archaic heavy metal keys and bulbous key fobs in your pockets/purse/wallets.
Source: Internet search.
Access security and safety.
Imagine opening doors to gain access to restricted/members-only areas such as offices, classrooms, labs, health clubs, manufacturing facilities, military, and government buildings. You could auto-unlock and/or auto-open home or car’s door when your hands are full and you are within range of the car/home’s sensors. Power on or precondition your home or vehicle from a distance using a specific hand gesture, skin tap, or eye blink code, or spoken codeword(s), or time of day parameters set in the user’s connected smart device. You could unlock your smartphone, or computer with just the swipe of a hand or touch of a finger. When holding a smartphone or other “smart” devices it would auto-sense the user’s ID and auto-unlock. Put down the device and it would instantly auto-lock – no secret codes or passwords to remember.
Random internet photo
Theft Issues. Unlike cash, credit card, smartphone or PC, any data stored on a RFID device would be safely and securely hidden within the user at all times so it would be very hard to steal.
Shopping. It would be so much easier, faster and hassle-free and it might go something like this – imagine walking into the grocery/department store and simply picking up the items you want to buy and walking out of the store. If you needed more than a few items you could simply pick them up and load them into your bag, box, or cart, and just walk out of the store and get back to business. A possible way this could work: As you shop, your implanted RFID device, coupled with the RFID technology in each item you have selected, would keep track of all the items in your possession. Your purchase would be confirmed as you exit the store where you would pass through an exit scanning “automatic cashier/gatekeeper” unit that would log all the purchases in your possession and automatically charge your bank account for all the items – at the speed of light. No long lines, no germ-infested paper/coin-based money, and no germy hackable card reader machines needed, and, if you are like me and often only need one or two items, no potentially germ-covered shopping cart is needed – just a far faster, smoother, hassle-free experience. Unfortunately, this new technology would also mean far fewer cashiers will be needed – but then I suppose that is just progress in our modern world of technology.
Source: Internet search.
Elderly security. Imagine having the option, especially when you are older, of having your health monitored constantly via your RFID implant unit. If a life-threatening condition developed or a vital sign goes out of line you would receive a text alert from the “Tricorder” app on your smart device. If you had a “smart” device you would be prompted to acknowledge the incident as real or a false alarm. If you responded “real” or did not respond at all and/or if you did not have a smart device and if the condition was acute enough, far enough out of line, or for a long enough duration – such as a during a fall, diabetic emergency, heart attack, aneurysm, or stroke – then the system would alert you as normal but it would also immediately dispatch paramedics to your location as pinpointed via the GPS in your connected smart device. In the future, the external smart device will not be needed as RFID devices will have built-in GPS which will allow instant tracking of the victim’s location so in the event of an emergency where the user is unable to respond – help will be dispatched even faster to the user’s exact location. Implantable RFID devices with GPS technology do not exist today but they most certainly will in the not so distant future.
This technology would be very beneficial to the elderly, diabetics, physically and mentally challenged individuals, and people with a history of other acute conditions and seizure disorders, as well as people working in high-risk environments, etc.
Imagine the day when you are elderly and or/the worst-case scenario happens and you have a heart attack, seizure, blood sugar emergency, or you fall and hit your head and are unable to grab your phone or life-aleart button to hit 911 – yet within minutes, the ambulance arrives like magic and you receive the help you need and therefore – you survive.
RFID implants would also negate the use of “Life Alert” style necklace pendants and similar devices that are worn on the wrist and either activated by the user at the push of a button when in distress and/or self-activate when they sense a fall.
Implanted RFID units would be a wonderful upgrade to those amazing technologies as they would be under the skin and non-removable. This would be beneficial because as we all know, one of the major problems of Life Alert style devices is simply getting the elderly to wear them and then to remember to push the button when they have an emergency.
Tracking. implantable RFID devices with GPS tracking technology-enabled. (Currently, at the writing of this post, this is not possible due to limitations of the technology…even though some people seem to think so). Active RFID/GPS tracking could be used to keep track of the children, the elderly, and potentially dangerous criminals who have been released back into society. They could be programmable to alert the authorities when the person with the RFID unit exits a predetermined zone of restriction. In the event, the user left the zone of restriction they could easily be tracked down by the authorities.
This would be especially useful with elderly folks who often have memory issues or are just simply stubborn and forgetful and often leave their life alert device resting on a nearby table or in their home when they go out – and as we know that is about as helpful as not using your seatbelt in a speeding car.
Prison Reform
RFID tracking technology also has the potential to change the prison system as we see it today. For those individuals incarcerated for non-violent crimes that do not require being locked away in a physical high-security prison – they could be confined at home to serve out their time. During this time they could participate as functioning members of society in that they could work beneficial jobs either from home or from places of employment. As long as they did not deviate from predetermined zone of restriction locations as set forth in their court-appointed sentence, they would have much more freedom to be active members of society, feel useful, and not be contributing to the drain on society that is our current prison system.
Disease mitigation. The future of RFID and other implantable “microchip” technologies will undoubtedly include bio-sensing and remote programmability which would also be very useful in stopping epidemics and pandemics before they start. As outlined earlier – RFID devices could be designed to sense vital signs of the user and detect the presence of dangerous pathogens/antibodies/chemicals within the body. If the user’s vital signs fit the parameters of a certain infection, the user would receive a text/email from the RFID devices companion application on their “smart” device/mobile device/personal computer along with directions on what they may be infected with, how to handle the situation, how soon they should see a physician, what procedures and medications might help the situation, and if they should self-isolate. The RFID device would also more easily enable contact tracing options, it would more easily allow contact tracing applications and organizations to alert the RFID user to who their last contacts were and who may have been exposed – or may have exposed them – to the infectious agent etc. Having a system like this in place would also allow constant contact tracing/monitoring of sick individuals thereby protecting the entire population from future infectious disease outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics.
All these things and more would be possible with implantable RFID microchip technologies. This kind of biohacking has massive potential to streamline our lives, give millions of people the comfort, convenience, and safety they need, and save the lives of countless people.
Proven by science.
RFID implants are a proven technology that has been used successfully for decades in animals for identification and to open automatic doors – so there is no good reason why it should not be used in humans.
A radiograph (X-Ray) of a cat with a RFID “microchip” identification implant.
Firearm safety.
Coupled with a special trigger lock on older firearms and a built-in “smart gun” lock on new ones – this technology would let me and only me be the only person who could operate my personal firearms. *This would also reduce gun accidents and theft since each gun would be custom RFID key-coded to its user. If a firearm with this technology was found by a child or stolen it would be useless to them.
Fitness and health.
A RFID implant could instantly relay everyday fitness and health status to a companion app. It could alert the user of serious health conditions and situations such as when the user was entering into a potentially life-endangering activity. The RFID unit, coupled to an external smart device equipped with environmental sensors, could detect life-threatening parameters such as sudden acceleration/deceleration/heart rate, temperature, pressure, toxic gasses, etc. it would instantly alert the user via their connected smart device and, if there was no if-this-then-that directive response from the user, the system would automatically call a 911 dispatcher/medical professionals via the built-in “life alert” style device I mentioned earlier. If the user was rendered unconscious by an action, environmental parameter, or a serious health condition that was out of the nominal range, the RFID device would allow the en-route ENT’s instant access to the user’s medical history, current medications, conditions, and, bio-sign history from the last few days. This knowledge would allow them to know not only the user’s location but also what possible health or environment-related circumstances may have lead up to the user’s current predicament and therefore they would be better prepared to treat the user’s condition upon arrival on the scene.
Payment. Being able to pay for goods/services without needing to pull out a card/cash or go through a check out/teller line and punch filthy germ covered buttons on the card reader at check out/fuel stations etc.
GPS navigation capabilities. After setting my desired location on my smart device app, my RFID device would direct me to that location using a gentle vibration and/or under-skin light. If I deviated from my course by more than a preset parameter – it would let me know. It would keep me on track and upon arrival at the destination coordinates, it would vibrate or flash my preset arrival sequence letting me know I had a arrived. It could also be set to detect the direction of north, home, or any other preset location that I set on the companion application. The smart device would need to be within range for GPS connectivity or to change the RFID device’s settings – at least until the technology is developed to entirely replace handheld smart devices.
Privacy. Yes, there are obviously some important security and privacy issues, just like there are important security and privacy issues with mobile devices, credit cards, internet access, email, online banking, etc… I feel certain these issues can and will be worked out because the benefits far outweigh the dangers.
I know all this sounds like science fiction – but so did the smartphone a few decades ago.
Having an implantable RFID enabled device would streamline, speed up, and help so many things and so many people and personally, I would be more than happy to receive an implanted RFID microchip biohack if it would give me some of these superhuman abilities.
But haven’t you heard about all the RFID conspiracy theories?
No, just no. I’m not at all worried about all the conspiracy theories stating (without credible evidence) that Google, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, or “the government” is working to track us with RFID chips injected into us via vaccines. Believe that if you like and I respect your choice however before we continue on, maybe you should read my previous blog post on that very subject. Back to reality. The simple fact is that companies have been tracking us for decades through our SSN, online purchases, “rewards” cards, on our personal computers, smart devices, and even via our cars for many years. If I were a criminal I would be very worried, but as I am a law-abiding citizen – I really just do not care if “they” know where I am or what kind of things I am buying. I have better things to do than worry about marketing. I have self-control. I only buy something when I need it or want it, not because some company has tailored its marketing ploy in my general direction – well, except maybe for chocolate and good stout.
Then I hear people say “But I heard that “biohacking” and RFID microchips were predicted by some pulpit pounding preacher, soothsayer, internet “influencer,” or ancient prophet – or maybe by Nostradamus himself – to be indicators of the “End times,” or the “number or mark of the beast.”
Here’s the thing: from the perspective of the evidence, most of those predictions and prophets (maybe I should call them profits) including Nostradamus – start to look like fear-mongering manufactured drama stooges using fear as a way to sell an idea, a book they wrote, their merchandise, or they may just simply be asking for your money outright to, in return, somehow miraculously “save,” protect, or shield you from “demons”, “devils,” from “burning in hell,” and/or from some imaginary malevolent “beast.” More and more, all of these individuals are looking like the mouth-breathing, self-righteous, religious book thumping, tabloid writers of their times pushing out fear, drama, and narrow-minded ways of thinking all in the name of attention and profit. Their ways of thinking have no verifiable evidence to support any of their way out lunatic fringe claims. These so-called beasts and “end times” have been predicted several times since the beginning of…um…time…and…um…well – where are they?
The real beast here is manufactured fear and the god many are choosing to worship is the almighty dollar.
Yes, this is an end time. This very moment in time is the end time of the very last moment in time. From a cosmic perspective, time itself is endless. We human animals – our species – yes, we will have an ending at some point when our species ceases to exist due to either to a natural disaster rendering the planet unlivable such as an asteroid/cometary impact, a massive volcanic eruption, or by his own hand with man overpopulating and overheating the planet and forcing anthropogenic climate change by his overuse of fossil fuels or, the release of a natural or man-made highly infectious pathogen that wipes out our species (no, not COVID-19, it is child’s play compared to what I am talking about). Or we will overpopulate the planet and be forced to move out into space leaving our trashed planet behind thereby ending our time upon it.
Our species own “End Times” will be positive or negative or somewhere in between and it will be brought about by our own actions or by the action of nature – not by invisible gods/demons or some tiny bit of harmless high technology inserted under our skins.
Please, before you choose to believe and share questionable, fear-focused stories, please use your big monkey brains and ignore all the fear-driven conspiracy theories focused on hogwash and hocus pocus – and just focus on just the facts and the evidence.
The facts and the evidence support that “biohacking” body repairs, upgrades, augmentations, and modification technologies are just part of our human evolution.
?Human = Machine or Machine = Human?
The future will hold an even greater evolution of “biohacking” to include custom electronics and mechanical devices with all of the above-listed features and far more we cannot even imagine today as well as machine-brain interfaces such as what Elon Musk’s Nuralink is working on which will allow mind-to-machine and mind-to-mind direct communication, therefore, giving people who have lost the use of their hands/feet and even their voice – the ability to interface with machines and then communicate with others again.
It will also give us the ability to not only create and benefit from almost exact replicas of lost appendages (think Luke Skywalker’s arm and the Luke Arm) and internal organs – ask any diabetic and I am sure they would gladly accept a biohacked pancreas – other organ modifications and adaptations such as personalized sexual performance systems and a smorgasbord of cosmetic modifications and augmentations, and more thorough and effective Sexual Reassignment Surgery. These more advanced biohacks will allow the paralyzed to walk, the deaf to hear, the blind to see, and the sighted to see even more of the electromagnetic spectrum (such as with Geordi LaForge’s “VISOR” in Star Trek The Next Generation),
…and they may one day even allow us to breathe underwater.
The evolution of biohacking is as inevitable as our biological evolution and, because our technology is a product of our evolution, the two are as intricately and intimately connected as we are intricately and intimately connected to and reliant upon nature.
It is in our nature to evolve, therefore, it is in our nature to biohack.
A few years ago I decided to do an experiment. I was tired of all the conspiracy theories and manufactured drama on TV, and online – so I decided to join in on the fun and make one myself. My purpose was a simple attempt to determine just how gullible people really are – and to have some good and harmless fun. So, I made a YouTube mini-series about “bigfoot” tracking.
Photo by Steve Atkins
My video series perfectly illustrates how so many people so eagerly and easily choose to absorb and believe the manufactured drama, pseudo-scientific, and even blatantly unscientific emotion and often fear-driven, non-peer reviewed videos, comments, out of context video clips, and even produced “documentaries” they find all over YouTube – as factual evidence only because it supports whatever utter nonsensical conspiracy “theory” they desperately want to believe as reality. These mostly well meaning people have a bad case of confirmation bias dictating their beliefs in so many unbelievable and often dangerous conspiracy theories, myths, and even total hogwash.
As an example of this madness, I offer up Episode Seven of my Sasquatch Tracks YouTube series that temporarily went “viral” on YouTube – even though it literally has written in the credits: For educational and entertainment purposes only…yet there were those who actually believed it as reality.
Some individuals actually believed my amatuer film making to the point of even thinking my disclaimer was a cover-up, a conspiracy to hide the truth. Others contacted me and asked me to do interviews on their programs/podcasts about my “discovery” and still others even asked me to take them into the woods to search for the “sasquatch.” It was truly and disturbingly unbelievable how fast my totally made-up and admittedly fake story about tracking a “sasquatch” went viral – with hits, countless comments, and even emails and phone calls from all over the planet – yet my hundreds of REAL videos following my REAL research tracking REAL reptiles – box turtles, Rat snakes, and rattlesnakes – and my REAL video documentation about my work with these REAL animals and me doing REAL science – have hardly ever even been noticed.
I guess this just goes to show how so many people are so disturbingly and dangerously gullible and do not care one bit about the evidence and the facts as described and supported by science. They would rather wallow in myth, legend, conspiracy, fear, drama, and gossip – than to have anything to do with the actual facts…or maybe it is just evolution having its way with us.
If a simple naturalist and teacher, with a couple of GoPros, trail cameras, a low cost “sasquatch” suit, and a bit of editing knowledge, and creativity, can so easily convince so many people he has discovered a massive mythical monkey man lurking in the nearby forest, – then just imagine what a professional TV producer with all the right tools, money, and talent can do for a person wanting to sell their manufactured drama, books, ideals, beliefs, myths and conspiracy theories to you the viewer.
It is up to you to use your common sense and critical thinking skills to identify and not be swindled by the charlatans who want nothing more than for you to believe their fakery (and convert you over to their way of thinking so they can later take your money) about whatever the manufactured myth or conspiracy may be – be it sasquatch/bigfoot/the Chupacabra, aliens, COVID-19, the government, Bill Gates, vaccines, Elon Musk, the shape of the earth, the climate, the origins of life the universe and everything, whomever and whatever.
Please, find it within yourself to ignore the conspiracy theories and manufactured drama and those spreading it by not sharing it and thereby feeding their temporary dose of crazy and hopefully, maybe one day they will come back to reality.
Trust the science and the peer-reviewed evidence and toss in a big helping of common sense and critical thinking to balance it all out and let it guide your decision-making process.
Do your research.
Fact check everything.
Knowledge conquers fear.
If you would like to view the Sasquatch Tracks YouTube series in its entirety please visit the playlist and join in the fun.
Stevo's Personal Blog 
