He dresses in C major. Eats Lady Gaga salad. He also knows that Prince Charles' eyes are similar to that of Nicole Kidman's. This is how Neil Harbisson, a musician and artist, sees the colors of the world - through sounds. He can do it because of his "eyeborg."
Harbisson's eyes are not like other people's eyes. His eyes cannot see colors and he just sees everything in black and white. This is due a condition he was born with called achromatopsia.
The Belfast-born artist collaborated with Adam Montandon, a computer scientist, and other experts from Slovenia and Barcelona to produce an electronic eye that he called "eyeborg".
A report on Mashable said that Harbisson can hear colors since 2004 and that the "eyeborg" does not give the the 30-yeard-old artist the capability of seeing the full color spectrum but around 360 hues which is a lot better than none.
"It is a color sensor that detects the color frequency in front of me and send this frequency to a chip installed at the back of my head, and I hear the color in front of me through the bone, through bone conduction," explained Harbisson when he presented at TED Talks last in July 2012.
"So, life has changed dramatically since I hear color, because color is almost everywhere, so the biggest change for example is going to an art gallery, I can listen to a Picasso, for example," Harbisson continued.
Harbisson said he dreams in color, meaning with different sounds, and learned that his brain learned from the device attached to him and from then on he considered the "eyeborg" as part of his body. Since then he considered himself a cyborg.
He related that how he sees beauty changed when he became a "cyborg." His perception about normal things also changed, like how the ring of the telephone sounds "green" to him among other associations he makes with sounds.
In an in-depth interview with Nautilus, Harbisson shared his dreams. He wants to see one day how brains and software are linked and have tools as extension of the human senses.
So far the eyeborg has done Harbisson good but his experiences with other people are not so pleasant.
One time when he was applying for a UK passport, he was not allowed to have his picture taken since he was wearing an electronic equipment but he insisted that the "eyeborg" is part of his body. The authorities eventually gave in. He has also been thrown out of department stores, cinemas and even churches.
"I feel that becoming a cyborg is actually getting us closer to nature," Harbisson exclaimed.
