With a scalpel, Vladislav Zaitsev creates a discrepancy between the patient’s thumb and his forefinger, and a small cylindrical piece of glass is inserted into it that is a slide placed under the skin that will allow him to open the door of his office.
"I decided to do this a long time ago," said patient patient Aliski Raotkin, a 24-year IT programming expert. The two Russians, Vladislav Zaitsev and Alessky Raoktin, belong to a movement known as "Biohaking" (amateur biology) that was launched from Silicon Valley in California, American, and that "improves" the human body by adding accessories to it.
Some people enter technology to facilitate their lives, while others impose comprehensive control over the body in the hope of living longer, while others also try gene therapy.
There are still a few of them in Russia, but online forums, conferences and specialized companies are increasing.
Vladislav Vitsyev, a 28-year-old software expert, learned to transplant slides into the human body himself after he had to stop studying medicine.
He caught global attention in 2015 when he planted himself a subway card in Moscow. He resorted to dissolving the card with acetone to extract the slide that he covered with silicon before planting it in his hand, while photographing the entire process and publishing it via YouTube.
The small cylindrical slide is still visible, but it no longer works. Zaitsev has reprogrammed it back with his bank card details. For the fun of his friends, he planted magnetic pieces in his fingers.
"I like things that make a big difference, like chip laying," says the man, who puts at least a thousand people in Russia who have performed such transplants.
The majority of these are implanted under the skin with a card authorizing them to enter their offices, while some have planted a compass that shakes when they head north. "I like the idea of ​​expanding the capabilities of the human body," said Zaitsev.
In other countries, although some are concerned about the dangers of surveillance and piracy, chips are grown to power cars, telephones, computers, printers, set temperature, and even store medical data. Professional magicians even do this.
Some chips have received approval for human use, but those used by Zaitsev are primarily intended for veterinarians, are made in Taiwan and can be ordered online at 500 rubles ($ 8).
In his small apartment, the chip implant cost 2000 rubles ($ 32) and he confirms that he performed about fifty such operations. "They are usually obsessed with technology, and most of them are 35 or younger," he explains.
Some seek more than planting a accessory. In so doing, Stanislav Skakon aims to prolong his life forever in what is known as the "dimension of humanity", which states that a "superior person" will almost never die.
"I have not yet found the chip that extends life," says the 36-year-old businessman. But he goes regularly to a private clinic to extract a quantity of his blood and put it in about 20 test tubes, which will be subjected to several tests, the results of which will dictate the way of his life.
These visits are part of a very accurate routine he has undergone for five years. This man measures hundreds of biochemical tracers and takes daily vitamins and supplements.
He refuses to reveal the details of his diet, but he confirms that these supplements include iodine, vitamin D, magnesium and probiotics.
It performs many genetic analyzes to determine which genetic factor poses a risk and to measure the level of cholesterol, diabetes, bone density and stress hormone level (cortisol).
"During the last five years, my biological life has never changed," he affirms, and he hopes to live for a long time to attest to the scientific progress that would greatly prolong life.
"If we find a solution to cancer, Alzheimer´s and cardiovascular disease, we can practically surpass all causes of death.
This is a key idea in the concept of "post-humanism" modeled after the controversial British Geriatrician Aubrey de Gray who confirms that humans will not soon die of violent deaths. But the record for longest life is 122 years.
In their pursuit of eternal life, some have opted for gene therapy, one of the most promising areas of current medical research.
The American, Josia Zener, was a fan of the year 2017 when he broadcasted an attempt to directly modify his genome thanks to CRISPR technique called "molecular shears". This revolutionary tool developed in 2012 simplifies DNA modification techniques. It has been used successfully to treat blood genetic disease is sickle cell anemia.
However, medical authorities and the US Food and Drug Administration warn against using these "shears" available on the market for individual use.
Kiran Musonuru, a professor of genetics at the University of Pennsylvania, explains that she often cuts near the required gene: "It is very easy to use if we don´t care about the consequences."
Russian biologist Maxim Skulachev, a long-standing specialist at Moscow State University, says that the "biohacking" followers are right, perhaps by saying that aging can be slowed and even stopped.
"We consider that aging is in one way or another a program in our genome and the only way to combat aging is to destroy this program, that is, to pirate it somewhat."
The world explains that in this way the consequences of aging and cancer can be fought, indicating that living up to the age of 100 may become the norm. But he also expects the elderly to have very unknown health problems so far.
Maxim Skolacev, whose team is trying to find a drug that can affect the process of genetic aging, believes that the problem with this group is that it wants to "progress very quickly", adding that "so far there is no technology to destroy this program and from this aspect (...) the biohacking followers are delusional" .
It´s all about dreams and dollars. In his startup "Biodata" Stanislav Skakon proposes medical analyzes at a price of 150,000 rubles (2,140 euros) for a comprehensive examination, and the majority of his clients are senior cadres and businessmen.
Among the well-to-do, they pay up to 250,000 rubles a year to enter a sports club in Moscow calling itself the "Biohawking Laboratory". The gymnasium opened its doors last year and is located on the 58th floor of a skyscraper in the Moskva-City business district of the Russian capital. The club´s founder, Artium Vasilyev, says the club´s members are "owners of companies or senior cadres."
The 29-year-old fought a "sports science" after he was a professional athlete. Behind him, a member of the club performs exercises on the running carpet, wearing a helmet that analyzes the air he exhals.
And minutes later, the device shows that its training was effective, after which it enters a room cooled with liquid hydrogen, which helps it to relax its body after the exerted effort.
Despite his enthusiasm and enthusiasm, Artium Vasilev does not think that he will live for hundreds of years and says, "I believe it is possible to live 100, 115 or 120 years, but live well."
