Meet World’s First Cyborg NEIL HARBISSON

I am not using technology I am a technology

Neil Harbisson is a New York City-based artist and transspecies rights activist Globally recognised as the world’s first Cyborg and legally recognised by the government.

Born with achromatopsia (total colour blindness), Harbisson’s world was all black and white, but he saw his natural worldview as an asset, even though he wishes to comprehend dimensions of sight. To accomplish this, he began working on the antenna with Adam Montandon in college in 2003, and it has since been improved by Peter Kese and Matias Lizana.

The Cyborg Antenna is a sensory system that’s designed to enhance colour perception. It is implanted and Osseointegrated in Harbisson’s head, protruding from his occipital bone and allowing him to feel and hear colour schemes as audible vibrations inside his head, including infrared and ultraviolet, which are undetectable to the naked eye. The antenna also enables internet access and, as a result, colour reception from other sensors and satellites. The ability to hear the sound of colour may appear absurd to us, but Harbisson has been able to do so since 2004.

In the beginning, he would frequently take notes on sounds heard through bone conduction of colour frequency. Things changed once his brain began to adapt to the device, letting him see colours in his dreams. The device designed to aid him soon became a part of his body almost like an organ transforming him into a cyborg. The ability was not restricted to colours alone, He created a sound portrait describing the sound of one’s face. A beautiful face may not sound as melodious as it appears, and vice versa. Another unforeseen consequence was that he began to hear normal sounds, such as a telephone ringing, in the colour green.

According to Neil, visiting an art gallery is similar to attending a concert where he can hear Picasso perform. A supermarket is more like a nightclub filled with different melodies.

Since 2010 Neil’s non-profit organisation The Cyborg Foundation is fighting for cyborg rights, promoting cyborg art, and helping those who desire to be cyborgs.

What are your thoughts? is CYBORG something meant only for comics or does it suits the real world?