This afternoon Elon Musk demoed the latest version of his neural link brain implant chip which he called a “FitBit in your skull with tiny wires”.
The demo was more of a call to arms for engineers and people with experience shipping similar products as he looks to grow the company moving forward. With the highlight involving three little piggies. One that never received the implant which was healthy and happy, one that did receive the implant and had had it removed which was healthy and happy, and a third which still had the implant in which was, yep you guessed it, healthy and happy.
In other words, the technology works, is reversible and upgrade-able, and doesn’t cause any harm to you! So much so, that the FDA has even approved upcoming human testing! And best of all the surgery can be performed without general anesthesia, in under an hour, in a same day procedure that will be entirely automated by a surgical robot!
But throughout the demo I couldn’t help but wonder what was the actual point of all this? Seeing the actual implant and how it gets inserted (without causing any brain damage or even any bleeding) certainly put my mind at ease and made me more likely to consider utilizing this technology one day. Suddenly the idea of having something drilled into my skull didn’t sound so scary. But, still. What was the point? Why would anyone voluntarily want to get this?
Well, those questions were answered at the very end of the demo when the entire staff went around and envisioned what they think the future holds. Hailing from different parts of the company, with different backgrounds and specialties, each person had a unique take on what this amazing technology could achieve.
Some possible use cases that they mentioned:
- Eliminating pain, fear and all other mental conditions.
- Curing addiction.
- Exploring/understanding the Nature of Consciousness.
- Figuring out electrical/chemical clues to prevent diseases ahead of time.
- Healing spinal cord injuries, brain disease.
- Assisting with autism – if desired.
- Visual prosthesis – plug into visual cortex to repair vision. In healthy people, create a Terminator style heads up display. Have Superhuman vision – see frequencies that we can’t see now.
- Consensual Telepathy – communicate without having to compress thoughts into spoken words.
- Storing memories in a repository so you never lose them. Elon: “In the future you will be able to save and replay memories. You could basically store your memories as a backup and restore the memories. You could potentially download them into a new body or into a robot body.”
- Mental artistry. Releasing your creativity by creating renderings of artworks that you imagine. Could be used for art, music, and engineering.
And Elon Musk’s personal favorite: co-existing with AI so that it doesn’t surpass us!
I’d like to add one more item to that list: repairing the brain damage I just suffered from having my mind blown. Seriously. And that may not even be the end of it. What about falling asleep on demand or Matrix style download learning?! The possibilities are truly endless. The Dawn of a New Era is upon us.
Is the Neuralink the Greatest Idea Ever?!
Leave a comment