Cyborg artist Neil Harbisson says he uses the Internet to experience new senses

Neil Harbisson is a contemporary artist and cyborg activist best known for having an antenna implanted in his skull and for being officially recognized as a cyborg by a government. (Video: Washington Post Live)

Cyborg artist Neil Harbisson spoke at The Post’s 2016 Transformers live journalism event May 18 in Washington, D.C. Learn more here.

“It’s a neurosensory organ, so it’s a part of my skeleton. It allows me to extend my perception of color beyond the visual spectrum. It picks up light frequencies and then it gives me vibrations depending on the color.

“I’m using the Internet as a new sense, not as a tool, and I’m using technology not as a tool either but as a body part, as a sensory extension. I don’t feel I’m using or wearing technology, I feel that I am technology.

“My aim is to use the Internet exclusively to perceive colors from space. We can use the Internet to send our senses to space so instead of physically going to space, we can actually feel that we are there without having to go through the struggle of physically going there.

“I consider myself a transspecies because I’m adding senses and organs that other species have. You can add many, many more senses that other species have and organs that other species have.
“Now cyborg surgeries are being done a bit underground but in the end, bioethical companies will also accept that cyborg surgeries should be allowed for everyone that wants to extend their perception of reality at least to the level of other species.”

—Neil Harbisson
Cyborg artist
Cyborg Foundation

Cyborg artist Neil Harbisson, neuroscientist Sheila Nirenberg and Meta's John Werner discuss advances in neuroscience and augmented reality that allowing us to experience the world like never before. (Video: Washington Post Live, Photo: April Greer/Washington Post Live)