Technology

World’s first cyborg artist to speak at Web Summit

Neil Harbisson has an antenna implanted in his skull so he can hear images

The world’s first cyborg artist, Belfast-born Neil Harbisson, is to speak at the Web Summit in Dublin this November. Mr Harbisson has an antenna implanted in his skull so he can hear images and paint sounds. Photo: Lars Norgaard

Pamela Newenham
Thu Oct 16 2014 - 01:25

Neil Harbisson has an antenna implanted in his skull so he can hear images and paint sounds. In 2004, the British government officially recognised Belfast-born Harbisson as the first human cyborg, and since then his passport has shown his cyborg nature.

The artist and cyborg activist has been added to the line-up of speakers at this year's Web Summit, along with Y-Combinator partner Justin Kan and Funny or Die CEO Dick Glover.

Mr Kan founded Twitch, which was acquired by Amazon for $970 million earlier this year. He also founded Socialcam, which was acquired by Autodesk for $60 million in 2012.

Comedy-video website Funny or Die has had more than 143 million video views and features and more than 24 thousand videos. Its award-winning video The Landlord, featuring Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, is among the top three most- watched videos on the web, having been viewed more than 55 million times since its debut.

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Also addressing the November 4th-6th Dublin event are Tinder founder Sean Red, actress Eva Longoria, supermodel Lily Cole, Amazon CTO Werner Vogels, Paypal co-founder Max Levchin, and Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior.

Some 20,000 people from more than 100 countries are expected to attend this year’s Web Summit, which takes place in the RDS. The event has been expanded to include a food summit, a film summit, a music summit and a sport summit.

A Food Tech Stage, which will host discussions and demonstrations of the latest innovations in food technology, will form part of the food summit. Speakers will include Drop founder Ben Harris, Dairymaster CEO Ed Harty, Pernod Ricard head of digital Antonia McCahon and Hampton Creek CEO Josh Tetrick.

Tetrick’s food start-up, which is backed by Bill Gates, created the first artificial egg. Attendees at the food summit will be able to see what a 3D printed lunch looks like.

The World Economic Forum will run daily sessions on the library stage, focusing on an overarching theme of “Technology for humanity: navigating the complexities”.

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