How we became cool with invasively modifying our bodies

+ folks who believe they don't have to obey laws US Edition - Today's top story: Modern surgery began with saws and iron hands – how amputation transformed the body in the Renaissance [View in browser]( US Edition | 23 June 2024 [The Conversation] [The Conversation]( Happy Sunday − and welcome to the best of The Conversation U.S. Here are a few of our recently published stories: - [Rocks on Rapa Nui tell the story of a small, resilient population − countering the notion of a doomed overpopulated island]( - [Surgeon general’s call for warning labels on social media underscores concerns for teen mental health]( It won’t be long, billionaire Elon Musk claims, before smartphones are obsolete because we’ll all be walking around with little chips in our brains. That may sound far-fetched, but the investments his company Neuralink and others are putting into brain implants suggest there is a sizable number of people who will be seeking out these devices in the future, whether to treat paralysis or for a little enhancement. Though it may seem straight out of science fiction, this willingness to [drastically alter the body to enhance it]( began as far back as the 16th century, during the Renaissance. That was when Europeans “went from hesitating to perform amputations and few options for limb prostheses in 1500 to multiple amputation methods and complex iron hands for the affluent by 1700,” writes Heidi Hausse, a historian at Auburn University. “Amputation was seen as a last resort because of the high risk of death,” she explains. “But some Europeans started to believe they could use it along with artificial limbs to shape the body. This break from a millennia-long tradition of noninvasive healing still influences modern biomedicine by giving physicians the idea that crossing the physical boundaries of the patient’s body to drastically change it and embed technology into it could be a good thing.” Hausse goes on to describe how this transformation took place and the repercussions still being felt today. Back then, replacing a limb seemed pretty wild. Now it’s commonplace. Perhaps we’ll feel the same about putting computers in our heads. For now, at least, I prefer to keep my digital devices outside my body so I can stuff them in a drawer when I don’t need them. 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