SKIN II: A SECOND SKIN
June 9, 2020
INJECTING PIXELS INTO OUR PHYSICAL WORLD
June 14, 2020
What is it
Humans and their phones have become almost inseparable. You always carry your phone with you, it is your friend, your family, your leisure, and it connects you to the entire world. Aristarkh Chernyshev envisioned a future where the human-phone relationship becomes so strong, that the phone becomes a leech. Chernyshev conceptualised a smartphone that does not need a charger but lives on your body and feeds off your blood; the PiO. The PiO, or ‘personal informational organism’, is a fusion of a genetically modified leech and a cell phone (Chernyshev, 2020).
As it wraps around the owner’s wrist, it feeds on the owner’s blood to keep functioning, and at the same time monitors the owner’s blood, blood pressure and heart rate. If necessary, the PiO can carry out blood tests, but also synthesize substances like insulin, and inject this back into the blood. In this way, the PiO and the human live in perfect symbiosis (Chernyshev, 2020).
Why it’s Cool
PiO functions as your personal trainer. By scanning your blood, the leech-smartphone hybrid can see your blood quality and its shortages. At the same time, all the collected data is integrated into a cloud-based data system about your health. This data is then analyzed by the newest artificial intelligence software, which sends an update to the PiO which will then produce the necessary substances in its own ‘body’ and inject this into the user’s bloodstream. Because of this, the PiO becomes a man’s guardian angel, inseparable friend and advisor (Chernyshev, 2020).
“With PiO, your body is under constant unobtrusive observation and gentle care, and your mind is always in touch with the information universe!”
– Aristarkh Chernyshev, 2020
Symbiosis — the interaction between two different organisms, typically to the advantage of both — is a very natural thing that appears often, with pollinators and flowers for example. The pollinators profit from the flowers by getting to collect the nectar, while the flowers benefit from the bees as they pollinate other flowers (biology dictionary, 2019). However, the time has come that humans can create their own designed symbiosis. Instead of using real organisms for this, artificial intelligence can help us to create genetically modified organisms, that operate in our advantage (Chernyshev, 2020).
Why it has Future Growth Potential
The most superficial improvement from the modern phone to the PiO, is that the PiO does not need electricity to charge. Instead of using electricity, it ‘feeds’ on the blood of its user, meaning that the power source of the PiO is blood. This introduces a whole new chapter to a possible future where human blood could power various technologies, and not just a phone. Perhaps this means that human blood could be saviour of our environment, who knows?
The PiO also opens a door into a new world of genetically modified symbiosis, which could be designed to benefit us humans immensely. Imagine a world in which every organism you see is somehow designed to benefit your health, as long as you ‘feed’ it in return. Sounds creepy, but also very intriguing.
This is all very futuristically speaking of course, but there is always the possibility of it coming true. What is certain, is that such a device as the PiO could have great impact on the medical industry, as people could wear it all the time and therefore be analysed all the time. This would result in people being fully aware of their health status and therefore would need less time for doctors to examine a person, imagine the lives it could safe!
