This is the near-distant future of grinding, at least according to Warren Ellis’ graphic novel where the term originated, Doktor Sleepless (2007). Their modus operandi is to apply existing technology to rearranging their bodies and become someone else. It is perhaps for this reason that others call them tricknologists. These enhanced senses are not shared by everyone – the grinders have access to realms of sensibility to which others are completely unaware and have no way of verifying. They have eyeball implants that keep track of their friends, electronic pills that monitor their health, and implanted computer chips that facilitate invisible communication. While everyone else waits for the future they think they’re owed, grinders work together to modify their bodies, assimilating with technology to make themselves better. Couldn’t restart it.” The Shank Valentine is a grinder bar. A man wearing overalls with surgeon’s tools peeking out of the pockets takes a drink and says, “The kid’s grind went bad. It’s never come, and I never want it to.” Inside the nearby Shank Valentine bar, a recently deceased bloody corpse is spread across a grimy table.
Street graffiti preaches, “Not my future,” “You owe me a flying car,” and “Where’s my fucking jet pack.” A passerby remarks, “The future is bullshit. The neighbourhood is a contract police zone, overrun by pillheads. The supervisory committee consisted of Jorgen Hansen (Principal Supervisor), Bart Simon, and David Howes. * This work is a revised version of the thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Social and CulturalAnalysis) in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University, Montreal in July 2018.
Chapter Two: Pre-emptive Body EnhancementĬhapter Four: The Mediation Machine: Scavengers, Scrapheaps, and SubterfugeĬhapter Five: Killing Love: Modifying the Depth of SensesĬhapter Six: Tricknology: On the Question of Magnetic SensesĬhapter Seven: RFID Cyb/organs:Distributed Memory, Identification, and theĬhapter Eight: Platform Bodies: The Echo and the Daemon