How a Color-Blind Artist Became the World’s
First Cyborg

Neil Harbisson interviewed
by Michelle Z. Donahue

What is it like to be a cyborg?

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“There is no difference between the software and my brain, or my antenna and any other body part. We can add new senses, new organs. (…) I didn’t feel there was a physical problem, and I never wanted to change my sight. I wanted to create a new organ for seeing. (…) What people think my antenna is changes with time. In 2004, people thought it was a reading light; they’d ask me if I could turn it on. In 2007, it was a hands-free phone, then in 2008 and 2009, it was a GoPro camera. In 2015, many children thought it was some kind of extendable selfie stick. Last year, people started yelling ”Pokemon” at me. In a small village in Italy, an old man asked me if I could do cappuccinos with it. If people start instead asking, What can you sense with it? I know it will mean it’s become normal, and that people understand it’s a sensory organ.”

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About the shift in his experience of the world and in his self-perception

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“My understanding of the world has become more profound. The more you extend your senses, the more that you realize exists. If you’re in the same house for years, there’s a repetition of what you perceive there. If you add a new sense, though, the house becomes new again. I feel connected with nature in a stronger way. I consider myself trans-species: Having an antenna is common for other species, or sensing in infrared and ultraviolet, but it’s not traditional for humans.”

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About the possibility of influencing human evolution

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“If, by the end of the century, we start printing our own sense organs, implanted with DNA instead of using chips, the possibility of having children born with these senses is real. If their parents have modified their genes or made new organs, then yes, it’s just the beginning of a renaissance for our species.”