Neil Harbisson is an evolutionary event.
But the event has unfolded in such a low-key, under-the-radar way that not many know about it, or even realise its importance. For quite a few it's even a joke.
For Neil Harbisson is the world's first officially recognized cyborg.
A cyborg, according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is "a person whose body contains mechanical or electrical devices and whose abilities are greater than the abilities of normal humans."
Harbisson is a cyborg because there is an antenna implanted in his head, and this antenna gives him special powers, powers greater than those of everyday, normal humans.
And what will those powers be?
Harbisson, a colorblind person, can "hear" color. The antenna helps him do that. It acts as a "color sensor" of sorts that converts colors into sound vibrations and transmits these sound vibrations to Harbisson's brain so that he can "hear" them.
The antenna has been fused to Harbisson's head since 2004, and by now he sees it as an extension of his own body, not as an alien appendage. The thing has become so much a part of him that he has started dreaming "colored" dreams instead of the previously default black-and-white ones.
So from being a colorblind person whose world was completely black and white till 12 years ago, Harbisson has now become a person who sees color in a totally unprecedented way.
And this unique way of perceiving colors has led to some very interesting, never-seen-before artistic experiments.
In a video released online by Salon recently, Neil is seen collaborating with music producer Josh Craig to come up with a song based on the "sound of colors" found in a supermarket.
http://media.salon.com/2016/04/4.28.16_CYBORG_KatieLevingston_PeterCooper_lowres.mp4
Earlier, Harbisson had conducted a concert where a choir actually sang in colors; he has even had a color concert based on different-colored socks (he named it "Socks Sonata No. 1").
Here are four of the most amazing things connected with Harbisson's tryst with the color-hearing sense.
The Color Of Humanity Revealed - Not Black, Not White
This may be the most important thing Harbisson has discovered as a color-hearing cyborg: Human beings are not black, brown or white, they are just the various shades of orange. Yes, we humans are orange-colored, as "heard" by Neil Harbisson the sonic cyborg. Blacks are darker shades of orange, whites are lighter shades of orange, but both are still orange.
