technology
Are five senses enough? This man has extended his reality by becoming a cyborg
You may feel that five senses are enough. But have you thought about becoming a cyborg and extending your reality?
Neil Harbisson has an antenna implanted in his skull. Given a chance, many of us would like to change parts of our body. But does this extend to grafting pieces of technology into ourselves? Harbisson, who visited SA to attend an artificial intelligence event this month, is the world’s first legally recognised cyborg, complete with a long, curved sensor jutting out of his head. The base of the antenna is completely integrated into his skull structure — no, it doesn’t give him a shock in the shower — and he needs to charge it every day. Harbisson, 33, was born with an extreme form of colour blindness that allows him to see only in grayscale. "If I was speaking to someone and they asked me if I had seen the man with ginger hair, blue eyes and dressed in pink I would have absolutely no idea. The only information I would have is that the man has hair, that he has eyes and he is not naked," he says. While at university, Harbisson set about creating a sensor that would allow him to "hear"...
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