I want to have magnets implanted in my finger tips.

(a 1/16th of an inch rare earth magnet wrapped in gold and coated with silicon. Image pulled from a German site that sell body mod supplies. Hope they don't mind)

Not all my finger tips, just the Pinkie, Ring, & Middle Fingers on each hand. I use my Fore Finger and Thumb too much for me to feel safe having implants there. I had read articles about magnetic vision before, but the idea was new and had a lot of failures. Those problems were mainly due to a weak coating of bio-compatible silicon. The new implants use a "harder" type of silicon along with a better coating practice.

(three 5/16" rare earth magnetic spheres in the palm of my hand. That's a black plastic coating you're seeing, not shiny space metal. If you look close you can see how the plastic has been worn away from the poles. I end up with black powder on my hands every time I play with these.)

So, I was stumbling along last night, and came across an article on BMEZine(no link because of the ick factor)that mentioned the new implants. I hadn't heard about these before, so I went searching for more info. There's not much. Most of it's on BME, and none of it newer than last year. Still, it peaked my interest, and I gobbled up every word I could find. I even went so far as to glance over some of the icky surgery photos(most of the pioneers are robust body modders, while I'm coming at this more from a squeamish transhuman viewpoint). One article estimated only about 100 implantees world wide. This was last year, but I doubt it's grown much.

I don't know why. This is the coolest thing ever invented. These people have given themselves an entirely new sensory apparatus. They are literally SuperHuman. I blame the Wired article for painting a bad picture to the average neophyte who might have been interested in this. All the guys with horns, scars, peircings, & tattoos probably didn't help much either. That and really, who's going to let some guy with horns, scars, peircings, & tattoos cut open their finger. Even if it is just for something just a little wider than a nickel is thick. Pull out a tape measure and look at just how small 1/16th of an inch really is. I'm sure most of us have nicked ourselves worse while making dinner. I sure have. Hell, my brother lost the entire tip of his finger when he was a kid(my fault that. Sorry Bro). There was no bone damage so it grew right back, you can't even tell anything ever happened.

(No, I am not going goth, or emo. I'm just wearing my favorite toy, in bracelet form, while giving myself a taste of what it's like to be super human.)

I also realized that most people aren't going to have surgery if they don't know what they're missing. The solution didn't come to me until earlier today while playing with my favorite toy. I've got hundreds of these little magnetic spheres, an impulse buy from a few months ago that was so worth it. So, there I was(ditching work to stay at home and play with myself), wishing I could feel the magnetic forces all around me(yes, this is how I normally think). When it came to me. If implanting tiny magnets works so well, then maybe taping some larger ones to my fingers might give at least a basic idea of what it's like. Damned if it didn't work like a charm.

(First Person Feeler: The Groping)

I was able to feel anything with a motor from inches away, and the microwave from almost a foot back. I'm sure the strength of the magnets (and the cheap ass shielding on my microwave) had something to do with how far I could sense, but this should work for anything stronger than a fridge magnet. Especially near a microwave.

(The scissors are just a demonstration. Each of these magnets is more than strong enough to pick up a hammer)

You have to try this at home. Trust me you'll be clamoring for the implants just like I am. Hell, I'm gonna try to get my doctor to do it. He'll probably want it done himself after I give him the demonstration. I'd like to have Steve Haworth do it but he's in Arizona and the only painkiller he has to offer is a glass of ice water.

Iron Man, Iron Man. He can do whatever an iron can. βeta, out.