A cybernetic organism or “cyborg” is an organism with both biological and technological component. A lot of people remember Cyborg from Arnold Schwarzenegger who played the role in the epic blockbuster, ‘The Terminator’.

Born colour-blind, Neil Harbisson, referred to as the world’s first “officially” recognised Cyborg recently visited Africa for the first time and was received with curious and rapt attention. With a fully-functioning antenna installed in his skull to help him “hear” colour and paint sounds, Neil “decided to merge with technology in order to sense more realities with the natural world. Neil can only see in the grayscale with no ability to perceive colour.

SAS, a leading global analytics firm and a technological partner across various industry verticals and public sector that has always played a proactive role in fostering innovation and transformation has brought a cyborg to Nigeria as part of its Digital Transformation and Artificial Intelligence, AI Showcase in Lagos.

“Humans have limited number of sensors, but if we merge with technology, we could have more sensors that will enable us understand and unfold the real beauty of nature. We can add new senses and additional organs to extend our bodies’ capacity to experience the world. We can, in effect, redesign ourselves. Our current evolutionary step is to merge with technology and take an active part in the birth of our future selves. I work with artificial senses, which I call AS,” Neil said. “My antenna allows me to detect not only colour visible to the human eye, but also beyond,” he adds. “I can sense infrared and ultraviolet light from my camera, but also from cameras owned by friends across the world who send information to it.

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