we need to fundamentally you know break
out of our our heritage and change what
it means to be human to the point where
we have more freedom more capabilities
and keep expanding human consciousness
and understanding of the universe
transhumanism which is all about
fundamentally changing the human
condition
a mole grafts drill is a pioneer of the
body hacking scene a niche group of bio
hackers that believe augmenting our
bodies with implants is the future of
human evolution one of the first
adopters of implantable RFID chips in
the mid-2000s amyl started dangerous
things in 2013 a bio hacking business he
runs out of his home garage to bring
this technology to the masses
after years of selling RFID implants
Emil's using this revenue from dangerous
things to develop new implantable
technologies that go beyond RFID one of
these is the Yuki a yet to be released
prototype that he hopes will change the
way society deals with information
security by allowing people to carry
cryptographic keys within their bodies
this is a full javacard cryptographic
platform it's all contactless we went to
visit a mole as he prepared to go to tor
camp a hacking camp of the coast of
Washington to talk to him about some of
his new projects
so hey hey well Eric
how was it that you first got into
biohacking a few years ago the maker
revolution really got started and got
underway and there was a lot of interest
in implants but by that time it was a
bit too out of control like people were
just like yeah people are implanting
chips and I can just pull one out of
like a car key and put that in my hand
and no you can't do that it's completely
like not safe to do that so dangerous
things was kind of a solution to that
dangerous thing sells RFID implant kids
scalpels and other tools for people to
perform their own installs at home amyl
first implanted himself with an RFID in
2005 because he wanted to get rid of his
keys you know he run out to the car to
get a piece of equipment or something
come back with a big heavy server and ah
damn door you know he couldn't get in so
I looked at the keys and I thought this
is ridiculous I just wanted the door to
recognize that was me that was it I was
happy I was using it to get in my office
but I sent some pictures to a friend and
then he like uploaded him to like a blog
I think it was boring boring or
something and I'm just exploded despite
a success the market is stayed pretty
small a community consisting mostly of
body modifiers hackers and enthusiasts
and with kids priced at under $100
apiece it can be hard for able to stay
afloat dangerous things is this
full-time job so how you have seven
orders you're fulfilling here so total
how much did all of these sell for oh um
I know there's a couple XE M's in there
there's a couple X n T's so that's
that's a few nerve ups you know we try
to make it cost-effective for people
there are a couple other places that are
selling implantables but they're selling
them at such a low cost that I'm
concerned about like are they actually
implementing all the checks are they
doing the right thing and and making
sure that they're manufacturing clean
room assembly and are they doing tests
on them I think at this point I probably
recovered the Rd costs so now we're into
funding other development so most of the
revenue goes right back into R&D and
development
developing future implants is dangerous
things focused right now but it's a
business a mole still needs to leave his
garage get out in the world and market
the current products he has for sale
what's happening Thursday so Thursday
we're going to tour camp which is an
American hacker camp and I only happens
every two years one of the things that's
happening is I'm gonna be giving away
xnt installs when it comes to like
really expanding the use case and
usability of this technology in general
go to a hacker camp give them the
technology for free to see what they do
with it that's really what it's all
about
a lot of stuff in here what's on
so we just boarded the ferry on our way
to tour camp this year is being held on
Orcas Island which is one of the San
Juan Islands between Canada and
Washington of all the places to hold a
hacker conference you can't really think
of a better place than an island I guess
terr camp so what do you guys think of
this new venue then we also have the
implantation station back is here so
this is a most Asian where we'll be
implanting chips into camp goers so just
we've been opened just come in as we
already have our first customer here
what made you decide to get this oh I
mean I work for a Science Museum so I
feel it's like it's kind of like reports
almost kind of required you try try
anything it's not think about too hard
yeah are you okay with needles or I mean
as okay is anyone candy all right deep
breath in and out yeah I'm too busy
what'd it feel like I like a needle
jabbing into what do you use your tag
for job hunting so I go to like security
conferences and and when they asked for
my resume I just scan their phone on my
hand what does your family think do they
know that yeah implant ah my wife wasn't
initially happy but she pretty much
forgot about it but you get some very
awkward looks and conversations from it
aside from traveling to secluded hacker
camps Emil's mission remains to push Rd
for new implantable technologies that
have far greater applications beyond
opening doors or storing resumes trigger
should be unlocked but and then when I
authenticate now unlike his bio hacking
competitors
Emil's hoping that implantable tech will
change the way we deal with issues of
privacy and security in the most
layman's way possible what is the U key
essentially it's a very small security
oriented computer the U key is a Java
card contactless NFC platform implanted
in the body this allows users to carry
cryptographic keys within their bodies
as opposed to on external Internet
connected devices
merging a person's digital and physical
identity unlike other implants ug allows
for developers to create applications
for the platform things like secure
payment and encryption the ability for
you to own your identity versus Facebook
owning it is is all comes down to that
cryptography being able to say this
transaction was actually implemented or
done by me with Yuki you can actually
sign your messages you can actually
cryptographically prove yes this was me
who did this thing the future versions
gonna look a lot different future
versions gonna look similar to this it's
gonna be probably a bit wider and a bit
longer but similar to this you know in
the same material same material these
are the applications that can be
installed on Yuki so we have PGP and OTP
those the applications currently
installed on my prototype but we also
have different Bitcoin wallets and tree
wallet ledger unplug like we especially
when talking about the Yuki prototype
keeps coming back to one thing which is
us
handing over all this information to
these huge companies so typically when
somebody's trying to hack your system to
get at private keys
they are gonna hack where you're storing
those private keys that's typically your
computer or your Android phone or
something like that and any bad actor
that gets your access information can
pretend to be you and send a message or
transfer money but if you set up this
cryptographic proof you've physically
secured them you can't lose it and it's
very difficult to steal but I think
probably the killer app for something
like you key is going to be payments in
transit and so when you think about you
know the ability to get rid of your keys
and get rid of your wallet now you're
talking about something that the average
person can get behind even with the
expanded capabilities of you key Emil's
remained realistic about one thing the
real hurdle for a wider adoption of
human augmentation via implants is
simply people's repulsion to implanting
a device beneath their skin it's just
the general fear of the unknown right
they don't know how the technology works
so fear is a natural response I'm hoping
that the the visceral reaction to to our
technology what we're doing is is
because it's an indication that is as a
game changer mainstream adoption at
least for the foreseeable future isn't
necessarily a Mosin goal despite this
she remains steadfast that at some point
society not to mention regulation will
catch up in the meantime he's gonna keep
pushing R&D from his Mount Vernon garage
the bottom line is for dangerous things
the kind of a mission statement is we
believe that bio hacking is the next
form or phase of human evolution and my
belief is that a really well designed
technology that's implanted it has no
management it just kind of disappears
you're standing there now and your
kidneys are working hard but you don't
even thinking about it your heart is
pumping you're not even conscious of it
these technologies are exactly like that
they're just there they do their jobs
they do them well and I don't really
think about it to the point that they've
just become part of me
I am
you