Please Try This at Home

Please Try This at Home is a co-created conference space to explore and nerd out about the intersections of radical bodily autonomy and biotechnology. We'll be talking about the ethics and politics of biohacking, self-modification, DIY medicine, autonomous health care, decolonizing biotechnology, and more. The event is 100% free and open to the public with discussions, presentations, and interaction from all participants. Our audience includes mutants, cyborgs, biohackers, artists, grinders, afrofuturists, xenofeminists, reproductive justice advocates, solarpunks, herbalists, bodyworkers, anarchotranshumanists, and YOU -- all coming together to connect and collaborate in an environment with strong anti-oppressive and liberation-focused values. You don’t have to be an “expert” to join in; this space is for anybody who has a body and cares about its relationship to technology.

Please Try This at Home is free to attend but not free to put on. We've tried to DIY as much as possible but we're also dedicated to reducing access barriers and compensating folks who otherwise wouldn't be able to participate due to historical and systemic barriers. We believe that emerging technologies contain immense liberatory potential, but only if everyone affected by them has a place in the conversation. 

We're asking for contributions from anyone who wants to see the world of biohacking infused with a wide range of experiences and perspectives. All funding for the event comes directly from the community, so we're counting on you to help us make it possible. The money you donate will go to cover the following expenses:

* Hosting Please Try This at Home in an ADA-accessible, queer community-centered venue
* A small honorarium and travel expenses for each of our featured presenters
* Consultation around issues of racial and disability justice in our efforts to make PTTAH inclusive and welcoming
* Sign language interpretation by Deaf/hearing tandem teams
* Black Dream Escape: A curated rest space exclusively for Black and Indigenous folks attending the event
* Anti-racist yoga instruction provided by YogaRoots on Location
* Food options encompassing a range of dietary needs
* Childcare
* Outreach costs including domain name registration, printing, flyering, and GoFundMe's transaction fees

Please Try This at Home happens in Pittsburgh, PA this September 14 - 15. Find out more on our website: www.pleasetrythisathome.net  or connect with us on Twitter: @pleasetryathome or Facebook: Please Try This At Home 2019. You can also email us directly with any questions: [email redacted] 

Finally, if you'd like support by donating something other than money (i.e. food, printing, volunteer time or services, materials, art) please reach out! We're excited to create with you.

Thanks so much,

- The Please Try This at Home team


Here are some words from friends who attended last year's event:

"I attended Please Try This At Home because I wanted to find people who are interested in the dialogues surrounding advances in human biotechnology. We are developing the tools to shape ourselves faster than we are talking about how to use them. I met many people from different parts of life who had something to offer in that conversation, many of whom became my close friends. I really appreciated that, despite having different points of view, everyone who attended wanted to increase their understanding of contemporary technology and was open to hearing other people's opinions." -- Kate, lab technician

"Please Try This At Home was one of the first places where I had ever seen more than one or two people in the same room talking about concepts like biotechnology and transhumanism in a way that didn't involve some venture capitalist. That experience was and still is super valuable to me because it made me feel less like some crazy person from the internet and more like someone who was interacting with ideas that have a real effect in the real world. The conference also exposed me to ideas I had never encountered before. Specifically, I remember loving one of the talks about how people are using technology to mediate their spirituality." -- Brett, anarchist transhumanist

"I appreciated that it didn't matter what kind of expertise you had in a subject, as long as you are passionate about a subject and willing to facilitate a conversation you are welcome to do so at Please Try This at Home. Our autonomy lies in our own hands and PTTAH creates a space to talk about topics that might be considered taboo, outlier or perhaps on the fringe. Without the gatekeeping that is often done in institutions, our learning turns towards limitlessness." -- Inula, herbalist and community organizer

"Please Try This at Home is the place where I'm reminded of the reasons I continue to hold hope for humanity. Nowhere else have I seen the magic of self-organization and camaraderie create something so beautiful out of nothing. People come together, share ideas, feed each other, and learn together that indeed a better world is possible, if only we are brave enough to build it. At last year's event, I learned a tremendous amount, made lifelong friends, and found the genesis of a number of projects which have come to fruition in the interim. I'm looking forward to this year's event more than any other I'm going to attend." -- Mixael, Four Thieves Vinegar Collective  spokesperson

"The 2018 Please Try This At Home conference was an interesting and empowering experience. It afforded a unique opportunity to learn about the ways in which others in my community use bodyhacking and biotechnology in a safe, energized, and casual setting. It also gave me the chance to present my own research to and receive feedback from individuals and groups who are situated beyond my department. Most pervasively, as a queer person living in Pittsburgh, I felt like PTTAH was ideologically aligned with my socio-political interests and beliefs." - Avey, grad student and game designer 

And, finally, our favorite testimonial ever [cw: violence]:

"These reactionaries should be lined up against a wall. Men currently lack reproductive rights and these space cadets are organizing some sort of pie in the sky fantasy about intersectional bioethics and hacking? These chauvinists should be called out for what they are: feminist supremacist pigs! I sincerely hope they are the first persons to have computers put in their brains so we can redirect their URLs to men's rights blogs. But of course that would be a calamity for these professional SJW feminist supremacist one-sided gender hustlers!" - Emanuel, irate YouTube commenter