Biohackers in Russia are embracing technology to help improve their life and increase their life expectancy as part of a growing movement.
The trend of putting implants into the body is growing steadily around the world, and Russians are using microchips and monitoring technology to improve their life.
Biohacking is a global movement whose followers seek to ‘upgrade’ their bodies with experimental technology and DIY health fixes that began in Silicon Valley.
For some wealthy Russians the technology is being adapted to allow them to live longer.
They use biohacking techniques to keep tabs on key ‘biochemical markers’ that speak to their biological age.
They then employ an exhaustive regime of exercise, diet and exercise to prolong their life.
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Programmer Vladislav Zaitsev, 28, shows his chipped hand while posing for pictures in Moscow. He is one of a growing number of Russians embracing biohacking
Vladislav Zaitsev makes an incision in the fold of skin between his client’s thumb and index finger and pushes in a small glass cylinder.
Alexei Rautkin, a 24-year-old programmer, went to Vladislav Zaitsev to get a microchip implanted under the skin of his hand.
It is a small cylinder and placed in the fold of skin between his client’s thumb and index finger and pushes in a small glass cylinder.
‘It’s something I decided a long time ago,’ Mr Rautkin says.
‘Mainly because it’s convenient but there’s also a kind of exclusivity, because practically no one else has this.’
Rautkin and Zaitsev are among a growing number of Russians interested in biohacking.
For some, the lifestyle trend involves implanting technology under their skin.
For others – mainly wealthy Russians – the quest is to live longer, which they hope to do through intensive monitoring of their bodies, taking vast quantities of supplements or extreme exercise.
Although it’s unclear how many biohackers there are in Russia, the movement is spreading, with social media forums, conferences and businesses springing up to cater to their needs.
Zaitsev, a programmer with a ducktail haircut, taught himself to insert chips, helped by the fact he’s a medical school dropout.
The 28-year-old caught national attention in 2015 by taking the chip out of a Moscow metro pass, dissolving it in acetone and encasing it in silicone before inserting it into the back of his hand.
The disc, about the size of a British one penny coin, is still visible but currently defunct – Zaitsev reprogrammed it with bank card details, only for the bank to close.
WHAT IS BIOHACKING?
Biohackers, or grinders, are people who hack their own bodies with do-it-yourself devices.
They practice body modification in an effort to extend and improve human capabilities.
They usually turn to body modification experts like piercing artists to perform the implant procedures – but many do it themselves too.
One of the first biohackers was Kevin Warwick, an engineer and the Vice-Chancellor at Coventry University who had an RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) chip implanted into his arm which allowed him to control devices such as lights by simply snapping his fingers.
Professor Kevin Warwick undertook a ground-breaking experiment with an implanted computer chip in his arm. Professor Warwick became the first human cyborg by implanting a computer chip in his arm to control machines with signals from his brain
A Utah based biohacker named Rich Lee has six implants; one in each ear that serve as headphones, two magnets in two different fingertips for feeling magnetic fields, an NFC (Near Field Communication) chip in his hand for controlling devices and a bio-therm chip in his forearm for monitoring temperature.
The first implant was a finger magnet, which he got because ‘the thought of being able to feel an invisible force and gain a new sense was too intriguing to pass up.’
He explains that he used to have implants in his shins to see how well they would protect his bones from impact.
While a few of the implants were done himself, most were carried out by body modification experts such as piercing artists.
Rich Lee receiving an implant in his hand. He usually asks body modification artists to do the procedures for him, but he’s done a few on himself when he thinks the risk is extremely limited
A view of chips at programmer Vladislav Zaitsev’s studio flat in Moscow. Some add chips to their hands to open doors or start cars, others hope to live longer through intensive monitoring of their bodies. They are biohackers, people who seek to ‘upgrade’ their bodies
He also has magnets on his fingertips, mainly for party tricks.
He says the biohacking movement is about using technology to facilitate concrete tasks.
‘In biohacking, I like things that give a real, confirmed effect, for example putting in chips,’ he says.
Based on the contact between the close-knit community on social media, he estimates that about 1,000 Russians are chipped.
Most install work passes, he says, while some insert magnets or a compass implant that vibrates when they turn north.
‘I like the idea of expanding the capabilities of the human body.’
Around the world, implanted microchips are being used to start cars, turn on smartphones, computers and printers, monitor body temperature and store medical information or as business cards.
Professional magicians even use them to enhance their tricks.
Some chips have been approved for human use, but Zaitsev said he uses veterinary ones made in Taiwan and ordered by mail for about 500 rubles ($8) each.
Entrepreneur Stanislav Skakun says that biohacking is about extending life, potentially for thousands of years, an idea known as transhumanism.
‘I haven’t yet found a chip that would be useful for prolonging life… I can’t see any point in doing this yet,’ the 36-year-old said.
Instead, he regularly attends a private clinic where nurses fill some 20 test tubes with his blood for analysis.
It’s just part of his exhaustive routine over the last five years, measuring hundreds of biochemical markers and taking handfuls of vitamins and supplements daily.
Although he declines to talk in detail about what he takes, he says the supplements include iodine, Vitamin D, magnesium and prebiotics.
As well as genetic tests to identify personal risk factors and compensate for them, he undergoes tests for inflammation, cholesterol, glucose, bone density, the stress hormone cortisol and the efficiency of his immune system.
He claims that ‘in the last five years, my biological age hasn’t changed at all’ and ays that he hopes to live long enough to see scientific advances extend life massively.
‘If we conquer cancer, Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular disease, we’ll prevent practically all the reasons we die,’ he said.
Maxim Skulachev, a Russian biologist at Moscow State University who studies longevity, said that biohackers were right to say that ageing may be programmed into our genes and theoretically could be blocked.
‘We think ageing was somehow introduced in our genome as a programme,’ he said.
‘For us the only way to fight ageing is to somehow break this programme – hack it.’
In doing so, this could end age-related conditions and cancer, he said, adding that living to the age of 100 would become the new norm.
For all his enthusiasm for biohacking, Vasilyev doubts that people will live for hundreds of years any time soon.
‘I’m more into the idea that you can live 100, 115 years or 120 years but live them in a good-quality way.’
Zaitsev, the chipping enthusiast, is scathing about the quest for longevity, which he calls ‘a kind of religion’ seeking a ‘magic pill’.
A month after the implantation, Rautkin is using his chipped hand to open doors at his e-commerce company.
Unfortunately it doesn’t work on the main door, but he is philosophical about this.
‘I am using it quite successfully,’ he says.
‘It’s not a problem at all to remove it, or leave it for some other use, possibly to identify myself in some other place, maybe to unblock a phone or notebook.’