This Thing Called Body Modification

Just when you thought humankind had reached its fullest potential, it pushes the envelope once again. Welcome to the current stage in evolution.

- Josh Sims

Of course I get stopped by strangers, Neil Harbisson laughs. First, people thought it was a reading light, later a GoPro or some kind of selfie-stick. Some people have been fearful, others have said what I do is anti-human or against God'. And others have just found it ridiculous or funny. The reactions have been very interesting to witness.

And no wonder. The 37-year-old artist, who explores the intersection of humans and technology, has a self-designed antenna protruding from the top of his head. Remarkably, it extends the normal range of human senses and allows him-as someone profoundly color-blind-to feel color through sound vibrations in his skull. The tech has had several upgrades, adding infrared or wireless connectivity. And, just to be clear, Harbisson isn't wearing his antenna-it's osio-integrated, which is to say that the bone in his head has grown into the metal. It's so much part of him that in the UK he's become the first government-recognized cyborg.

Cyborg is a term science-fiction has spun into the dystopian visions of RoboCop, or the Borg in Star Trek. Part-man, part-machine and all rather uncanny-if not plain creepy. The term itself a portmanteau of the words cybernetic and organism-was coined by scientists Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline in 1960. Referring to the use of technology to restore said organism's functionality or enhance it so that, for instance, humankind is suited for interstellar spaceflight. And what's more, cyborg ideas are already being realized.