“Don’t be the vitamin B guy” by HedonicEscalator
Podcast: LessWrong (30+ Karma)Published On: Wed Sep 02 2026
Description: Towards scientific rigor for decentralized science. When I was eleven years old, I watched my favorite YouTuber surgically implant a magnet into his finger. In the since-deleted video, beloved mad scientist Cody Reeder covered a neodymium magnet with gold using a homemade electroplating rig. Then he cut open his finger, inserted the magnet, and sutured the wound closed with horsehair he had taken from his own horse. Cody polishes the magnet in preparation for surgery. The beaker contains a gold cyanide solution used to electroplate a thin bioinert coating onto the magnet. Cody'sLab went viral in 2016 for drinking a small dose of cyanide on camera. The footage is an uncomfortable watch for medical professionals and squeamish laymen alike. The scalpel was chipped, there was no anesthetic, and at one point, Cody dips a mechanical pencil in alcohol and uses its tip to push the magnet deeper into the incision. Being eleven, I thought it was badass. And yet, after the juvenile enthusiasm faded, I was left unsettled, not by the blood or the questionable sterile technique, but by a newfound resentment at the lack of a sense I never had. A sense that wasn’t even human. Like a [...] ---Outline:(03:18) The tale of the vitamin B guy(06:05) Lessons for biohackers The original text contained 13 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: September 1st, 2026 Source: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ZHJvdkQENxyfzhpCj/don-t-be-the-vitamin-b-guy --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.
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