With antenna in skull, this cyborg can 'feel' colours

Neil Harbisson

People need to have freedom to design themselves to avoid modifying the planet to fit their needs, said the world's first cyborg.
Speaking to Khaleej Times on the sidelines of the World Government Summit that concluded on Tuesday, Neil Harbisson, the first person in the world to implant an antenna in his skull in 2004, said people need to embrace technology as a way that would extend their presence in reality.
"The union between my body and technology revealed reality. It isn't virtual or augmented reality, it is reality that already exists but my human body cannot reveal or sense," the Catalan-raised, British-born cyborg artist said.
Thanks to his antenna, 33-year-old Harbisson has a close connection to nature, cosmos and space.
He can not only feel the vibrations of colours in his head and see ultraviolet and infrareds that humans don't normally experience, but he can explore space without physically having to be in a spaceship.
His WiFi-enabled antenna allows him to receive colours from anywhere on the planet and connect to the space agency of Nasa. "Suddenly, my sense of colour is not on earth anymore, but in space. This allows me to explore colours of space without having to go there. I call this becoming an astronaut, instead of physically going and exploring space, we can explore space by sending our senses there," said Harbisson.
He added that technology can give people a sense of space connected to their bodies that can allow them to explore new horizons without actually being there.
"I see the Internet becoming a sense or a sensory expansion in us, not only a communication system." Through WiFi in his antenna, his friends can also colour his dreams. "People who have permission can send colours to my head any time of the day. If they sent me the colour yellow when I'm sleeping, my dream turns yellow, or a lion shows up."
Getting an antenna, though, was not to solve the colourblindness he was diagnosed with early on. Inspired by other species, Harbisson said he wanted to extend his perception of reality through an independent organ without having to change his pre-existing senses.
"There were many advantages in seeing grayscale, I had a better night vision and I could see in long distances. I didn't want to change my sight but I was interested in colours. So I thought I should create a new body part to sense colour independently from my other senses," explained Harbisson.
Through the antenna, he can feel the vibrations of colour inside his head, which is a sense that does not exist in the human body, and was inspired by nature.
"Dolphins, for example, have no ears but receive sounds through bone conductions. Similarly, my antenna allows me to perceive colours the same way dolphins perceive sounds. My decision was really inspired by nature not science fiction nor technology."
The artist now dedicates his time to making cyborg art and giving voice to people with non-human identities through the Cyborg Foundation that he co-founded to defend cyborg rights.
People, he said, should have the freedom to design themselves and instal new organs and senses.
"If we had night vision, we wouldn't have had to create artificial light at night, we would save a lot of energy. If we could regulate our temperature, we wouldn't have used heaters or air conditioners to change the temperature of our planet."
He added: "As species, we have been modifying the planet for thousands of years to adapt. Why don't we redesign ourselves instead? It will be better for our planet, other species and ourselves," said Harbisson.
Harbisson urged for a society that accepts people who do not identify themselves as 100 per cent human. Through his foundation, he gives new organs that would help match the identity that isn't human.
"Someone might want to have night vision like other animals, for example, and we work on adding that. Technology can give voice to this part that people feel is not human."
Harbisson's next step is to add a new organ that will make him feel the rotation of the earth around his head. "It's a new circular organ for the sense of time to be implanted between the skin and skull to give me point of heat that will take 24 hours to finish a complete circle," he said.
sherouk@khaleejtimes.com

Sherouk Zakaria

sherouk@khaleejtimes.com