New Modes of Perception

A philosophical inquiry into sensory substitution and augmentation

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This workshop delves into conceptual, ethical and epistemological questions relating to sensory substitution and augmentation technologies. It includes vivid case-studies including:

Video clip: Emilie Gossiaux, an artist who lost her sight and who uses a sensory substitution device––the BrainPort––to ‘see’ with her tongue. The BrainPort comprises a camera linked to an electrode-rich tongue-piece that generates tactile sensations. This technology has contributed to Emilie’s continuing productivity in the visual and plastic arts.
Video clip: Daniel Kish, an expert in human echolocation who is also blind, and who uses ‘flash sonar’ to build rich, detailed spatial awareness. He advocates for the use of echolocation as a path to greater freedom for blind people.
Video clip: Neil Harbisson, the world’s first legally-recognised cyborg, who is totally colour-blind, and who has an antenna implanted in his head allowing him to hear colours through bone conduction. He can also hear frequencies beyond the visible spectrum (infrared and ultraviolet) as well as receiving sonic colour perceptions from elsewhere on earth and in space, via the internet.

This workshop tackles questions such as:

What is seeing?
How do our senses shape our reality?
Should sensory substitution be promoted to overcome the social exclusion of people with sensory impairments?
Should sensory augmentation go mainstream?

This workshop builds on neuroscientific concepts of neuroplasticity and cross-modal integration. It references philosophical issues arising from the Molyneux problem as well as synaesthesia. It promotes inquiry into the prospect of continued adaptation of the human sensory and cognitive systems in transhuman/posthuman futures.

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The following workshop materials are shared under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike) for all original material. (Materials from other sources are clearly credited in the runsheet.)

Runsheet – New Modes of Perception (100 mins)
PDF slides – New Modes of Perception (video clips not included – to view video clips, use hyperlinks indicated on the runsheet)
Printable cards for activity (please print and guillotine quote cards and heading cards. You may wish to print multiple copies of the quote cards to distribute among various pairs/small groups)
Creative response stimuli (please print and guillotine)

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This work is available free of charge, so that those who can’t afford it can still access it, and so that nobody has to pay before discovering it’s not what they are really seeking. But if you find it valuable and you’d like to contribute whatever easily affordable amount you feel it is worth, please leave a donation via Paypal below.