I hear colour, says Neil Harbisson , the world’s first cyborg who has an antenna in his head.
Harbisson was born with a rare condition called achromatopsia, making him colour blind and only able to see the world in grayscale. To experience colour, he developed an antenna, got a doctor to implant it into his head – connect it to his brain and enables him to hear the sound frequency colour.
He is now able to distinguish colour through sound.
I didn’t want to change my sight, but I wanted to have a sense of colour, says Harbisson.
The 33-year-old Irish born Harbisson recently delivered the keynote speech at the SAS Africa Road to Artificial Intelligence Road Show in Johannesburg.
Some consider his use of technology as advancement in artificial intelligence (AI) or what he refers to as Artificial Senses (AS).
[Watch] Neil Harbisson explain how he got an antenna implanted into his head
“When I was able to sense all the visual colours, I didn’t see why I should stop there. There are many colours that exists that the human eye cannot sense, but the technology can sense like infrared and ultraviolet.
He then decided to include infrared and ultraviolet perception in the system in his head.
Since he senses infrared, Harbisson can tell if there are movement detectors in a room. He can tell if the alarms are on or off in a shop or a bank for example.
“I didn’t want to wear technology, I wanted to be technology,” says Harbisson.
Harbisson : “We are all different shades of orange”
Harbisson says he was shocked to discover that black people and white people are actually all orange.
“People who say they are black are actually really dark orange and people who say they are white are actually very light orange,” says Harbisson.
He says the fact that people are referred to as ‘black’ and ‘white’ is completely false.
“We are all different shades of orange’, says Harbisson.
[Watch] Neil Harbisson on race : we are all different shades of orange
He is physically connected to the internet.
Harbisson is physically connected to the internet. His friends are able to send ‘colour’ in audio form directly to his head using an internet connection.
[Watch] Neil Harbisson ‘s friends are able to send ‘colour’ in audio form directly to his head
I am no longer human : Harbisson on being a transpecies
Harbisson forms part of a growing number of human beings around who are using technology to enhance their abilities.
He is the co-founder of the Cyborg Foundation and the Transpecies Society in Barcelona which aims to help people become cyborgs and defend their rights.
“We call it the transpecies society because we are adding senses and organs that are not traditionally human.”
The Cyborg Foundation and the Transpecies Society already has over 400 people who mostly identify as transpecies.
“In my case, the definition of ‘human’ no longer defines me a 100%. I don’t feel human 100% because there’s an organ, an antenna which is not typically human and I have infrared and infrared perception which is not typically human. The definition of “Human’ no longer defines me that’s why I feel more comfortable defining myself as a transpecies because I have these senses that are not traditionally human.
The ethical question?
Neil Harbisson struggled to find a hospital or a doctor that would perform the surgery to implant an antenna into his head. Many doctors deemed the act unethical.
He however believes that it is better to change oneself to adapt to the world one lives in as opposed to changing the world to fit the needs of the humans.
“I think we shouldn’t be against this. I think in the future we’ll see this as ethical. Designing ourselves is ethical. If you look at our history, we’ve been a species that has been changing the planet and designing the planet in order to survive. I think this is wrong. We should be designing ourselves and modifying ourselves in order to survive.
If we all had night vision for example, we shouldn’t be changing the light of the planet, we wouldn’t be using artificial light. Cities at night would be completely dark, the earth at night would be dark because we would be able to see and that means we would be spending so much energy creating artificial light and this would be better for the environment,” he says.
Harbisson says if human beings could control their our own temperature, there would be no need to change the temperature of the planet. Instead of using heaters and air conditioners, humans would be able to regulate our own temperatures”
“So I think it is ethical to design ourselves, because the more we design ourselves the less we’ll have to change the planet and this would be much better for the environment, for other spices and for us as well as a species,” says Harbisson.
SAS’ Vice President, Desan Naidoo says the adoption Artificial intelligence is growing in South Africa.
Naidoo notes how people are increasingly using AI to make decisions in both business and their personal lives as opposed to only relying on gut-based decisions.
“The digital economy is infiltrating each aspect of our lives on a daily basis from banking to shopping to learning and even dating,” says Naidoo.
[Watch] SAS Vice President, Desan Naidoo talking about AI and the digital economy