The Biocompatibility of our Future

Earlier this week, I wrote about the mental health patterns we’re seeing everywhere—rising rates of anxiety, depression, and neurodivergent diagnoses that seem to correlate with our increasingly screen-based, cognitively-overloaded culture. How our concept of survival has expanded to planetary scale while our bodies remain trapped in chairs, processing global threats we can’t actually respond to. How natural variations in nervous system functioning start looking pathological when culture becomes hostile to integrated intelligence.

But there’s another lens I want to explore on this same pattern. Because when we talk about knowing—real knowing, the kind that happens in your body before your mind can form words about it—we’re talking about something fundamentally bioelectric.

Think about how you actually know things. Not the information you can recite, but the knowing that moves through you when you walk into a room and immediately sense the mood. When you hear someone’s voice and know something’s wrong before they tell you. When you feel that gut recognition that someone is trustworthy or that a situation isn’t safe. This knowing happens through your nervous system, which is an electrical system processing information at speeds up to 120 meters per second.

Every thought, every feeling, every moment of recognition moves through your body as bioelectric signals. Your neurons communicate through electrical impulses. Your heart generates an electromagnetic field detectable several feet from your body. Your brain produces measurable electromagnetic activity that changes based on what you’re thinking, feeling, experiencing. The same bioelectric processes that allow you to sense danger, recognize patterns, or feel moved by music are literally electromagnetic phenomena.

Which brings us to something we’ve all accepted as part of modern life without really thinking about the implications: every electronic device around you is also an electromagnetic system. The device you’re reading this on right now—whether that’s a phone, tablet, or laptop—is generating electromagnetic frequencies. Your WiFi router, Bluetooth connections, smart home devices, cellular towers, the LED lights overhead. All of these are electromagnetic systems operating in the same environment as your bioelectric nervous system.

We’ve accepted electromagnetic radiation as just part of technology, like heat from a lightbulb or noise from a machine. Something that exists but doesn’t really affect us. But we haven’t seriously wondered about the consequences on the body, particularly on the bioelectric systems that process the kind of embodied knowing I was describing.

Electricity itself is a relatively recent invention. The first practical electric light bulb was developed in 1879. Radio waves were first transmitted in 1886. The first commercial power station opened in 1882. We’re talking about technologies that are barely 150 years old—a blink of an eye in evolutionary terms.

Before this phase of technology, humans weren’t dealing with artificial electromagnetic fields at this scale. Maybe some exposure to natural electromagnetic phenomena—lightning storms, the Earth’s magnetic field, solar radiation. But not the constant, multi-frequency electromagnetic soup we’re now swimming in 24/7. Not WiFi signals penetrating our bedrooms, Bluetooth devices attached to our bodies, smart home networks layering multiple transmission protocols throughout our living spaces.

We’re evolving our technological capabilities exponentially faster than our biology can adapt. A nervous system that took millions of years to develop sophisticated sensitivity to environmental information is now trying to function in electromagnetic conditions that didn’t exist until your great-great-grandmother was already an adult.

This isn’t necessarily a problem—it just means we need to think about these capabilities differently. We need to design technology that works with human biology instead of assuming biology will automatically adapt to whatever technological conditions we create.

And this becomes especially critical when you look at who relies most heavily on connected technology: people with disabilities who need assistive tech to navigate an inaccessible world. Smart home systems that respond to voice commands for people with mobility limitations. Wearable devices that monitor vital signs for people managing chronic conditions. Communication devices for people who are non-speaking. Brain-computer interfaces for people with spinal cord injuries.

These communities are often the earliest adopters and heaviest users of IoT technology (such as watches, pacemakers, insulin monitor)—which means they’re also getting the highest exposure to electromagnetic interference. And here’s what we’re starting to learn from the research: people with neurological differences—conditions like ADHD, autism, anxiety disorders—often report electromagnetic sensitivity, experiencing symptoms like headaches, difficulty concentrating, or increased agitation in high-EMF environments.

So we have a situation where the communities most dependent on smart technology for basic functioning may also be most vulnerable to the biological effects of the electromagnetic fields those devices generate. This isn’t just an individual health concern—it’s a disability justice issue.

The research on electromagnetic field exposure and nervous system functioning is still emerging, but what we do know is concerning. Studies show that EMF exposure can affect sleep patterns, stress hormones, and neurological function. If your nervous system is already working harder to process sensory information, regulate attention, or manage anxiety, additional electromagnetic interference isn’t helping.

The materials science exists to address this. EMF shielding technologies exist. Alternative communication protocols that don’t rely on electromagnetic transmission exist. We could absolutely build IoT ecosystems that operate at the minimum electromagnetic output necessary for function, use fiber optic or powerline communication where possible, and incorporate shielding materials that contain emissions to only the necessary operational zones.

Nobody’s taking this seriously enough to make it a market priority. No ad campaigns, no competitive positioning around biocompatibility - when there absolutely should be. We’re selling faster, smarter, more connected—while completely ignoring whether any of this actually makes humans healthier, calmer, more capable of the kind of integrated thinking and feeling that allows nervous systems to function optimally.

This is where we need to start talking about biocompatible tech.

But what does biocompatible technology mean? It means designing devices that consider their impact on the biological systems they interface with. Technology that recognizes that human nervous systems are electromagnetic systems too, and that artificial electromagnetic fields can interfere with natural bioelectric processes. Smart devices that are actually smart enough to operate without disrupting the very nervous systems they’re supposed to assist.

Biocompatible tech would mean IoT devices designed to minimize electromagnetic emissions while maintaining functionality. It would mean using conductive materials in device housings to contain rather than broadcast electromagnetic fields. It would mean coordinated networks that time-slice transmissions so devices aren’t all broadcasting simultaneously. It would mean preferentially using non-EMF communication methods—powerline communication through existing electrical wiring, fiber optic connections for high-bandwidth needs, infrared or acoustic signaling for local coordination.

We’re so focused on AI advancement, processing speed, seamless connectivity—but we’re not talking about one of the most fundamental design requirements: does this technology support or degrade the biological systems it’s meant to serve?

A couple years back, I met a founder developing a smart ring for visually impaired people that could point around a room and identify objects through voice feedback. Incredible technology—imagine that level of communication with your environment. The ring could work off multiple devices, connect to smart home systems, help you navigate complex spaces, identify people, read text, describe scenes. Essentially assist you in countless scenarios where visual information isn’t accessible.

But here’s the question the founder hadn’t answered, and one I didn’t even know to ask at the time: if you rely on your felt sense more than your visual sense—which we all do, but especially if you’re visually impaired—what happens when the device that’s supposed to enhance your environmental awareness is also generating electromagnetic interference with the very nervous system you depend on for spatial orientation, threat detection, and environmental sensing?

If you’ve developed heightened somatic intelligence to navigate the world, if your nervous system has become more sensitive to environmental cues precisely because other sensory channels aren’t available, then electromagnetic interference isn’t just a minor inconvenience. It’s potentially disrupting the primary biological systems you rely on for safety and spatial awareness.

This isn’t about going backward or rejecting technological progress. This is about technological evolution becoming sophisticated enough to consider biological compatibility as a core design principle. It’s about recognizing that the most advanced technology should be the technology that works most harmoniously with human biology.

There will be a day when companies start running ads about biocompatible technology. When “designed for nervous system harmony” becomes as important a feature as “designed for privacy” or “designed for accessibility.” When premium positioning isn’t just about elegant design or seamless user experience, but about technology that actually supports human flourishing at the biological level.

Because here’s what’s coming: once we cross the threshold where processing speed and connectivity reach sufficient levels for most applications, the next frontier of optimization will be biocompatibility. The companies that figure this out first—that can credibly claim their technology doesn’t just work well but actually makes users healthier—will own the premium market for the next generation of computing.

This isn’t some distant future consideration. This is the missing piece in our current moment, when communities most dependent on technology for basic functioning shouldn’t also have to bear the biological costs of poorly designed electromagnetic environments. When the same nervous systems we’re asking to process increasingly complex information shouldn’t also be constantly fighting artificial interference.

Companies like Apple are already positioning themselves around privacy and user wellbeing. “Technology that works with your body, not against it” feels like the logical next evolution of premium user experience. Imagine marketing campaigns that don’t just promise faster processing or better connectivity, but actually demonstrate how their devices create healthier electromagnetic environments.

The research from Cultural Physics shows that nervous systems are our cultural transmission infrastructure—the biological basis for how we coordinate collectively, process shared information, and maintain social coherence. If we’re systematically degrading that infrastructure through poorly designed electromagnetic environments, we’re not just creating individual health problems. We’re undermining our collective capacity for the kind of integrated intelligence that complex challenges require.

Biocompatible tech: technology designed to work with human biology instead of against it. Technology that recognizes nervous systems as electromagnetic systems deserving of the same consideration we give to any other precision equipment operating in electromagnetic environments.

We have the science. We have the materials. We have communities that need and deserve this level of thoughtful design. What we need now are companies willing to compete on biocompatibility instead of just speed and connectivity. And the companies that understand this first will define the next era of how humans and technology evolve together.