Acromatòpsia, la vida en blanc i negre

El passat dia 12 de març el departament de llengües estrangeres va organitzar una xerrada per als alumnes de 2n de Batxillerat. En Neil Harbisson, mataroní nascut a Anglaterra, va explicar com viu la seva acromatòpsia i com la tecnologia l'ha ajudat a percebre la realitat d'una manera molt diferent a la resta. Aquí us deixem la crònica del Jaume Martínez:

Last Monday, Neil Harbisson came to INS Premià de Mar to give a lecture to the students of 2nd of Batxillerat talking about a very rare color-blindness.
Neil suffers a genetic disease called achromatopsia, which consists in seeing in black and white. He told us about his childhood, how much this disease made him hate colours and how he could realise they are everywhere. His life began to change when a man developed for him a device that could turn colours into sound, making every colour sound different from the others. Though this device bothered him a bit at first, he started to distinguish every colour. He wanted to experiment with them so he became an artist. The eyeborg changed him so much, that now it's an extension of his body and a sixth sense that from then on he's always carried.
The colour-hearing sense has helped Neil start a brand new life where the food, the dressing and even the faces have their own melody; and opposedly, every song and voice has its own colours. As he has realised that cybernetics can help people with different kind of problems like his, Neil Harbisson has created a foundation that introduces us to a new type of technology which amplifies the abilities of human beings.



There are lots of discussions about this way of improving ourselves: some say that it's not ethic, and some others say that everyone can do whatever they want with their body. In my opinion, this technology should be applied only on people who need it to fix any part of their body. While he was talking, Neil said that from his view point it's better to hear the colours than to see them; some of the students think that it is not, because listening the colours is an attempt of seeing them.
I think none of these opinions are really true, because we haven't got any experience of having both senses at the same time to be able to prove it. It was a very grateful lecture with lots of incredible and interesting points. He explained very well to make the students have a good time, we thank him very much for coming and I am sure we would all be glad of having him back.

Jaume Martínez Riera, 2n Batxillerat B