Worlds first "legal" cyborg. He hears color.

[Dalvyn]

Worlds first "legal" cyborg. He hears color.

And apparently he has a foundation for protecting cyborg rights.

It's pretty cool, and a merging of software and the brain. Or as he puts it, "One day I started hearing colors in my dreams. Then I understood what being a cyborg meant. It's not the union between the eyeborg and my head, what converts me into a cyborg, but the union between the software and my brain. My body and the technology have united. It's very, very human to modify one's body with human creations."

Neil Harbisson helped found The Cyborg Foundation in 2010 and stepped up in his role as a cyborg activist. The Cyborg Foundation aims to help people become cyborgs, defend cyborg rights, and promote the use of cybernetics in the arts. The Cyborg Foundation also provides support to sense development projects like those Harbisson and Montandon collaborated on. Other Cyborg Foundation works include the speedborg, which lets people detect movement through vibrations, and the earborg, which translates sound into color.

Edit: And to those wondering why he is considered by "some" to be the first legal cyborg, his eyebot is in his passport. *shrugs*

Don't want this to turn into a debate about that part.

And here is a Ted Talks with him.
[video]http://www.ted.com/talks/neil_harbisson_i_listen_to_color.html[/video]

 

[Sardukhar]

It's almost enough to make old age worthwhile, watching all this stuff happen and coming from an age where it was ALL science fiction. My kids, adult and otherwise, take it for granted now. FOOLS.

 

[Dalvyn]

It's almost enough to make old age worthwhile, watching all this stuff happen and coming from an age where it was ALL science fiction. My kids, adult and otherwise, take it for granted now. FOOLS.

I don't take it for granted at all! I'm 22 and my only regret is not being born later so the tech will be more advanced and commercially viable! And with this guy, who is not only helping people with disabilities become cyborgs, but also pushing for normal people without any problems to merge with tech to!

Here is some of his quotes.

“Life will be much more exciting when we stop creating applications for mobile phones and we start creating applications for our own body" (TEDGlobal, 2012)[88]
"Technology is made by humans so if we modify our body with human creations we become more human."[89]
"There are no white skins, and there are no black skins. Humans skins are of different shades of orange"[90]
"It's not the union between my head and the electronic eye what makes me feel 'cyborg', it's the union between the software and my brain."[91]
"When you're a little weird, you aspire to be normal; when you're very weird, you aspire to be recognised for it."[93]
"It's easier to get into the shower than into church" (after being asked if he could shower with his cybernetic eye)[94]
"The next step is to stop using technology as a tool and to start using it as part of our body"[9

 

[zheldor651]

Transhumanism.
IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING.
(I put on my trenchcoat and a tin foil hat.)

 

[blank_redge]

The Cyborg Foundation aims to help people become cyborgs, defend cyborg rights, and promote the use of cybernetics in the arts.

?...

Are enhanced people *anywhere* being denied rights equal to the rest of the unaugmented citizenry? Seems a bit silly to crusade for rights that no one is denying, imo.

 

[Dalvyn]

?...

Are enhanced people *anywhere* being denied rights equal to the rest of the unaugmented citizenry? Seems a bit silly to crusade for rights that no one is denying, imo.

Well the only problem I have heard of is that people with enhancements that look like cameras, they get kicked out of movie theaters and restaurants.

However it probably doesn't hurt to get a head start on protecting your rights. I mean the alternative would be to wait for your rights to be denied, and then its an up hill battle.

 

[underscore_]

This absolutely fascinates me. I'd get a similar implant without a second thought if it wasn't quite as physically imposing as that one.

 

[Žymantūnas]

"One day I started hearing colors in my dreams"