Is Biohacking Playing God?

Over the last four weeks, I’ve been sharing with you my perspective on the pursuit of longevity, and biohacking in general, including my own intake on when the pursuit of health “goes too far.” But now, I’d like to move on and answer an important question that I’ve gotten a few times about this whole biohacking thing, namely, is biohacking “playing God”? Frankly, it’s a great question, and one that seems to make sense when you look at the landscape of people doing things like: - Harvesting “birth tissue“ in the form of umbilical cord extract to create stem cells… - Infusing plasma from other humans into their bloodstream… - Implanting electrical human-machine interfacing technologies in the brain and under the fingertips… - Or using gene therapy to turn back the clock on aging… Here are the three primary criteria that I use when it comes to biohacking in particular: - Is this forbidden in the Bible (which is the rulebook that I personally follow for moral decisions)? - Is this harming me? - Is this harming someone else? Also, the actual definition of “playing God” really matters here. After all, God is the Creator, and God created humans as the only entity in the world that can create in a manner very similar to Him. You don’t see any creatures besides humans designing spaceships, traveling to the moon, fabricating giant submarines for oceanic exploration, building robots, crafting pipe organs, or doing brain surgery, to name just a few examples (check out World of Engineering on Instagram to see plenty more examples). So you can say that, in a way, we were created in the image of our creator to “play God.” Sure, there should be boundaries and rules like those that I’ve described above, but it’s actually an incredible gift that you and I have to be able to create like nothing else that exists. Yes, we should wield that power responsibly, but we should also not be ashamed of it or avoid it in fear of upsetting God or somehow spitting in His face because being made in God’s image uniquely equips and commissions us to be “sub-creators”—to invent, design, name, order, cultivate, and build—as a direct reflection of the ultimate Creator. God smiles upon our creativity. If you want to read more of my thoughts on this matter, visit https://bengreenfieldlife.com/newsletter/ to go deeper into the science, strategy, and nuance behind what’s outlined here—and add your own take to the conversation. Last week's article: https://bengreenfieldlife.com/article/newsletter-4/ This week's article: https://bengreenfieldlife.com/article/newsletter-5/ LIFE Network: https://joinlifenetwork.com Ben Greenfield Life Website: https://bengreenfieldlife.com/ Ben Greenfield Life Podcast: https://bengreenfieldlife.com/podcast/ Ben Greenfield Books: https://shopbengreenfieldlife.com/collections/books Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bengreenfieldfitness/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/BGFitness X https://twitter.com/bengreenfield TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@bengreenfield