"I listen to color"

Posted by zilian77 on August 12, 2012 03:21 pm 1

via images.ted.com

Have you ever wanted to listen to things that were unheard? Speak of things not perceived by humans and all alike? Neil Harbisson does just that. Neil was born without the ability to see colors. For him, seeing colors is as hard as identifying colors for those that can see the color spectrum. That is one innate ability that Neil was not born with. It wasn't until he met cyberneticist Adam Montandon that Neil would even dream about understanding the colored world.

Neil was able to get a device that is attached to him, which in turn provides a way of understanding the many colors around him. This "eyeborg" as Neil calls himself, has now the ability of listening colors for the first time. Including ultraviolet and infrared which are not perceivable to the human eye. Ben Popper's coverage on cyborgs, "Cyborg America: inside the strange new world of basement body hackers" includes Neil's escapades in further detail. From his body enhancement to the ethical statement he conducts by having such device attached to him.

"Life will be much more exciting when we stop creating applications for mobile phones and we start creating applications for our own body" - Neil Harbisson

In a recent Ted talk, Neil explores his new found senses and tells us about his discoveries in being a cyborg. A human aided by hardware and software to understand something so simple yet so complex, colors.