Elon Musk provided a live webcast update on Neuralink, the brain-computer interface business he founded back in 2016, at the end of August of last year.
Maverick technologist Elon Musk, CEO of both the cutting-edge electric car maker TeslaTSLA +3 percent and the space exploration firm SpaceX, presented the visionary plan for humanity’s future.
In Elon Musk’s vision of the future, cybernetic-enhanced super-humans will not only be able to battle the scourge of disease and infirmity but also be able to transcend their physical form by fusing with machines and technology.
Elon Musk described the implantable Neuralink device as “like a Fitbit in your skull.”. The technology aims to make it possible for high-throughput connections to external computers and, possibly, additional “links” installed elsewhere in the body. It makes use of electrode-laden, incredibly thin threads.
Without a doubt, Neuralink is not a scam either. The company has more than 100 employees as of right now, and it wants to grow quickly.
Along with his own money, Musk has invested $100 million in the project. He also disclosed that Neuralink was designated as a Breakthrough Device by the US Food and Drug Administration in July of last year, which could speed up the approval process.
It’s possible that Musk’s repeated assertion that Neuralink would initially try to “solve important brain and spine problems” caught the attention of people with disabilities.
In fact, during the presentation, it was mentioned that Neuralink might be able to treat a variety of chronic and fatal conditions, including blindness, spinal cord injuries, memory loss, brain damage, and even depression.
Patients with spinal cord injuries will be the primary focus of the company’s initial round of clinical trials.
If anyone with a disability is listening, they might find this to be a fun story—or at the very least, something different from the dry statistical data and medical jargon that are typically found in professional journals.
Certainly, Musk’s multibillionaire status and reputation as a trailblazing astronomer who pushes the boundaries of science have an effect on this.
Even more intriguing is the undeniable fact that Musk’s goals for Neuralink go far beyond merely assisting those who are disabled.
Elon Musk has frequently expressed to the public his worries about the risk that artificial intelligence poses to humans.
In his opinion, AI technology poses a greater threat to human life than nuclear weapons because, at some point, he predicts, it will surpass humans and become uncontrollable.
Musk’s transhumanist desire to maintain control over extremely intelligent technology and AI is essentially what gave birth to Neuralink.
In reference to the species as a whole, Musk said that “it’s critical to understand how we coexist with advanced AI, achieving some AI symbiosis, such that the future of the world is controlled by the combined will of the people of the earth.”. The impact of a technology like this might be most noticeable in that regard.
There are more recent business opportunities that can be taken advantage of despite the rise of cyborgs in the future.
In the end, who wouldn’t want to be able to play virtual and immersive games with their mind alone?
Since the technology interacts with more overarching corporate or even existential goals, it is incredibly fascinating to people with physical limitations.
Only a few examples of extremely uncommon neurological conditions include Parkinson’s disease, motor neuron disease, and multiple sclerosis.
Yes, they are all brain-related, but each one has its own underlying causes and modes of operation. In order to compete for limited resources, research for these diseases is therefore highly specialized and moves slowly within academic silos.
Any new technology overnight transforms into an extremely alluring possibility, especially if it is backed by funding and more ambitious, mass-market objectives.
the consensus among scientists.
The research into brain-machine interface (BMI) began in the 1970s, it should be recalled at this point. Early demonstrations involved patients moving a computer cursor while wearing external electrodes. The motion of wheelchairs, model cars, and robotic arms has recently been controlled by researchers using BMIs.
The neuroscience community has responded to Neurolink in a variety of ways, according to how it has been perceived.
The use of electrodes, which enables previously unheard-of throughput and data volumes (10 times greater than any other device), appears to be the company’s key innovation.
Neuralink’s hardware, in terms of size, portability, power consumption, and wireless capabilities, is “order of magnitude leaps” ahead of any rival, claims University of Toronto neuroscience research fellow Graeme Moffat.
A huge technical accomplishment, according to Ralph Adolphs, the Bren Professor of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Biology at California Institute of Technology, the Neuralink release is “tremendously exciting.”. “.
Furthermore, Neuralink has created a surgical robot that enables the insertion of minute wires with an approximate diameter of a human hair. Long-term plans call for performing the procedure as a day surgery using minimally invasive methods, similar to how LASIK eye surgery is currently carried out.
Neuralink’s theoretical foundations have drawn criticism from some academics, especially when it comes to simulating higher-level brain activities like memory storage or thought.
A failure of biological knowledge can be seen in the naive confusion of thoughts and memories with the electrical discharges that occur alongside them, according to Loren Frank, a neuroscientist at UCSF and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. “.
This should come as no surprise since there is no established scientific theory of human consciousness.
The current stage of Neuralink, according to Musk’s presentation, is “solid engineering but mediocre neuroscience,” according to Professor Andrew Jackson of neural interfaces at Newcastle University. “.
However, given Neuralink’s potential in medicine, there is still hope for those who are interested in it.
Although it presents many difficulties, controlling motor actions is unquestionably not as difficult a task as understanding concepts and memories.
“The biggest thing these patients want is independence; this technology has the potential to give them that,” says Steven Chase of Carnegie Mellon’s Neuroscience Institute. The former will be of particular interest to people with disabilities.
Therefore, there is hope that a commonplace device for regulating brain electrical signals may actually represent a new therapeutic field and method for disabling neurological illnesses, but the timing of this promise is less certain.
After all, this Elon Musk is the same one who predicted that one million fully autonomous vehicles would be on the road by the end of 2020.
Perhaps more than any other group in society, people with chronic illnesses are aware that progress in medicine can occasionally be laborious and slow.
Because research is inherently difficult, there is no other explanation for its dispersion. A whole research team’s lifetime may be spent figuring out the mechanism of action of a single drug, gene, or protein for a given disease.
The idea that a cure or a fix might one day be discovered is the most tantalizing taboo, even for those who suffer from the worst illnesses.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to treating medical conditions, just as there is no one-size-fits-all approach to how some individuals in the disability community see their impairment as a fundamental part of who they are.
The opportunity to live in a more accepting, diverse, and barrier-free society is often the solution for many disabled people rather than something that needs to be “fixed” medically.
However, many people who have been identified as having a neurological disorder that may shorten their lifespan in later years would probably jump at the chance to keep those priceless skills that many neurological disorders cruelly and gradually rob them of.
We’ve all been taught that as technology advances, doctors will eventually discover a way to treat illnesses that were previously thought to be incurable.
The question of when it happens and which generation will benefit is more important than whether it will happen.
In the end, “Generation Fixed” may not have yet been a reality, but those of us alive today may be witnessing the development of a technology that will, in the future, make the removal of disabilities caused by neurological disease more than just a pipe dream.
Musk may come to the conclusion, when he is old and arthritic, that his journey to the uncharted territory of the human brain was more difficult than even exploring the stars and outer space.
