Neuralink showed off its implantable device which is slightly larger than a quarter. They showed the device working in several monkeys and they showed the surgical robot that will be used to implant the device.
They are working to repair spinal damage. The current experiments are to monitor and activate spinal activity in a pig. They are controlling the leg movement of a pig.
They had some neuralink visual experiments.
They have 1000 channels per chip and four chips per implant. The next implant will have 4000 channels and four chips with over 16000 channels. The implant has 64 threads that go to different parts of the brain.
They have in-house microdesign and fabrication. They are able to iterate on designs for new needles every hour.
They have custom built chips and they have wireless charging.
The goal the implant procedure to be as fast as a lasik eye treatment.
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Somewhere I read that embedded devices will be rejected by the brain. Has Neuralink overcome this problem?
Like bad sci-fi.
I am just thinking about all the heavy metals and other poisons that these implants will be released streight to the brain and the electrical havoc that they will cause inside it.
I am just thinking about all the heavy metals and other poisons that these implants will be released streight to the brain and the electrical havoc that they will cause inside it. Here is a glimpse of how the medical medium understands what destroys our brains:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRAbnmgKxGw
It’s not just Musk. Other companies have thrown their hats into the ring too:
https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/synchron-implants-brain-computer-interface-first-us-patient-paralysis-trial
Also:
https://dataninja.medium.com/top-8-neuralink-competitors-everyone-should-track-91af48e0423d
Neuralink implant has killed nearly 3000 monkeys since last December, 98% fatality rate.
“Neuralink implant has killed nearly 3000 monkeys since last December, 98% fatality rate.”
I’m pretty sure the fatality rate is 100% because the animals have to be euthanized and their brain tissue examined to see what effect the implant had on the tissue – to see if there was anything that wasn’t expected.
The 2% that are alive are probably the monkeys they haven’t finished with yet.
That *is* an obscene number of primates to go through, though. That said I don’t know how many animals would be killed in the process of bringing any other implanted device to market.
I’m not sure sacrificing an experimental subject to do a dissection actually counts as the implant killing the animal.
Poor things.
I wish that I could press a like to your commnt.
Interesting. Could you provide a source?
Interesting details on the Austin Neuralink facilities that now include vertically integrated manufacturing of the robotic surgery systems and a couple operating rooms. They apparently plan a clinic in Austin.
Musk has been successful in other domains in bringing his constant innovation approach to areas that were very resistant so maybe he can do it here too. Similar medical tech typically invests a lot to get to a product then just executes for years and takes in profits. He wants to get to a product and generate revenue but keep up constant iterative improvement.
That would have seemed impossible in the car industry too until he did it. No Model years just introducing changes all the time as they are available would have seemed ridiculous.
One thing is sure, there is really a lot of work to do.
So ultimately I’m going to have one of these on my head with no more intrusion than a hearing aid. I’m immediately going to know the square root of 1,264,325 and all the kings of England in reverse order. But then I’m going to get an overwhelming desire to go to McDonalds, and I’m not sure whether its that I’m actually hungry or the neural link is compelling me. Its a scary future. I’ll be certain that Elon is a great guy though. The best person who ever lived.
Definitely not the best person who ever lived — that one goes to a guy born in Roman Iudaea — but definitely the best of all currently living people who have more than five billion USD to their name.
Regarding Neuralink compelling its patients to consume McDonalds, or whatever: either they would need to have all eight billion of us implanted and compel us to not care, or get immediately found out by everybody else. These things cannot stay secret for more than a day without some whistleblower throwing it all on the fan. In any case, it’s important not to dismiss real risks, but it’s also important not to overblow them.
Tis true, despite the mania of government officials everywhere to closely clasp every bit of information that they can, and their grossly underestimating what the public can handle and is entitled to, even the US has a very hard time keeping anything of a truly momentous nature secret for very long. While some leaks may make us wince or grind our teeth, I think that this is, overall, a positive thing.
Of the high tech billionaires, I think Musk is the least likely to abuse neural links in that manner. But I think your take on it is a little too anodyne.
Were something like this done, it probably wouldn’t be an overwhelming urge to purchase a particular company’s products. At least, it sure wouldn’t start out that way; As you say, too obvious, and likely to result in massive blowback.
It would probably manifest as a skewed tendency to find certain arguments credible that you hadn’t previously. Which could be blown off (By people who already found them credible…) as just demonstrating that the implants were improving cognitive function.
Or maybe the company running the implants would demonstrate remarkable insight into people’s thinking… on account of monitoring it, instead of leaving it private.
The real worry, of course, is that they’d play it straight until they achieved enough market penetration for the betrayal to be genuinely useful. This is, after all, what companies like Facebook, Twitter, Google, have done. They achieved their market dominance by evenhandedly providing a good product, and only abused their position once they’d achieved it.
The key thing to look out for are applications that phone home even though it’s not really necessary for their function.
I am worried about the ability to suppress violence.
Would it not be great if you could stop murderers from murdering again? Give them an intense head ache if they try to commit an act of violence. Who would be against that? And while we are at it, let’s stop convicted violent offenders from hitting other people. And wife beaters. Now, come to think of it, why should the public risk being assaulted at all? Let’s prevent anyone from hitting someone else with a weapon. And a fist. And… any form of violence.
And there you have it. Also, it probably would not stop there, unless we make a “constitution” now that says that an implant in the brain cannot under any circumstance change the behavior of the wearer.
There is no irrefutable proof that that guy born in Roman Iudaea ever lived.
I am the first human trial, and I can confirm, he is in fact the best human ever, I tweet that everyday while I’m at a stop light…in my Tesla.