[Cyborg] Feeling magnetism

[Quinn Norton]

On Jul 29, 2009, at 4:17 AM, Jorgen Cederlof wrote:

> I'd assume that the times you would need an MRI you were more likely
> than at other times to be unconscious, but yeah, that might be a too
> small risk to have to consider.

Maybe not too small, but smaller than you might think, and not  
unusual. They think about implanted metal when they have someone  
unconscious and want to do an MRI. it would take a special kind of  
stupid not to, given most ferrous implants are actually quite a bit  
bigger and more dangerous than this one.

> A larger risk, for me, is that is will probably affect my rock
> climbing negatively? Rocks are hard. Fingertip bone is hard. What's in
> between is usually soft, but magnets are not.

You have struck upon the one thing I couldn't do. It was indeed very  
very painful to rock climb, though I don't know if that's everyone's  
experience. Not a single other thing I tried to do was ever an issue,  
but that one- yeah.

> Have you tried or heard of anyone trying any less invasive method,
> like glue or gloves?

Have heard of, and what's better, talked to a famous hand surgeon  
about. The key is thin skin and shallow nerves, but it could work. It  
wouldn't be very strong or probably work for most people, though.

>> The surgery to get it removed so that I could eventually get an MRI
>> was fairly trivial, a CT works for almost all purposes nearly as
>> well, and it's not like a steel plate in your head. Even the worst
>> case is unlikely to kill you or destroy the machine.
>
> OK, good.

It's a tiny magnet. My favorite theory was it catching on fire in your  
finger. Again, not life threatening, but certainly not my idea of a  
good time.