biohacking

[bahy-oh-hak-ing]

noun

1. strategic biological experimentation, especially upon oneself, using technology, drugs, hormones, diet, etc., with the goal of enhancing or augmenting performance, health, mood, or the like.

   Genome editing could one day allow for biohacking your own emotional genetic makeup.

2. unethical, immoral, or illegal experimental use of genetic material.

Word History and Origins

Origin of biohacking¹

First recorded in 1990–95; bio- ( def. ) + hack ¹ ( def. ) + -ing ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

While Hemsworth has become increasingly interested in how to live better, he says there's a fine line between healthy aging and extreme biohacking.

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This mindset puts him at odds with more extreme elements of the biohacking movement, which has gained attention through figures like tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson.

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Transhumanist adherents advocate for a range of innovations, from genetic biohacking to uploading our consciousness to a computer to merge with A.I., freezing ourselves through cryonics, and robotically adapting our bodies through expansive bionics that reach the level of cyborgs.

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He says he'd would like to see Gaza making its own medications — effectively biohacking its way to independence — and developing systems to provide medical training to many without sending future doctors away to be educated under foreign systems, in many cases under the same governments that paid for the bombs dropped on Gaza.

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Biohacking covers a range of activities, from performing gene-editing in garages to synthesizing the ingredients of certain medicines or technologies and publishing DIY instructions on how to make them at home to reverse engineering vaccines.

Read more on Salon