Here we have a session from “Talks at Google”. We’re all cyborgs, just at varying degrees. Moon and Neil have taken it to the next level.

Neil Harbisson and Moon Ribas: “What’s it like to be a cyborg?”

“Meet the cyborgs. Neil Harbisson hears in colors through an antenna attached to his skull, and Moon Ribas choreographs earthquakes with a sensor in her elbow. “What’s it like to be a cyborg” explores how two of the first human cyborgs in the world listen to sounds and dance to the rhythm of earthquakes. Neil, visual artist and composer, and choreographer Moon are the founders of the Cyborg Foundation and talk about their personal relation with cybernetics, and how technology changes their perception of life. At the end of the talk, they also do a short music performance using their cybernetic body extensions. Presented by Lila Pla Alemany.
Neil Harbisson, became the first person recognized by a government as a cyborg. Harbisson was born with achromatopsia, a condition that only allows him to see the world in black and white. Since he was 20 years, he installed an electronic eye (“eyeborg”) into his head that allows him to listen to colours.
Moon has been using other cybernetic devices such as the speedborg, the 360º sensory extension and the seismic sensor to extend her perception of movement and applied this to her artistic work with pieces like ‘Waiting for Earthquakes’.”

Moon Ribas – ‘Waiting for Earthquakes’