On January 29th Elon Musk, owner of X or formally known as “twitter” shared the plan of carrying out a brain implanted chip programmed to control certain aspects of daily life. The company now known as “Neuralink” shares their intentions as well as explains who would need such technology.
“Breakthrough technology for the brain” is posted on the front of the page on the official Neuralink website. On the site, you can find multiple resources explaining what the technology can and will do. The main goal of the Neuralink chip is to help people with possible disabilities. As stated on their website “ Our Mission: Create a generalized brain interface to restore autonomy to those with unmet medical needs today and unlock human potential tomorrow.” upon scrolling down on the Neuralink site, you can find multiple tabs explaining what the chip is.
“We are currently focused on giving people with quadriplegia the ability to control their computers and mobile devices with their thoughts.” stated on the “who it’s for” tab.
The definition of Quadriplegia is “a form of paralysis that affects all four limbs, plus the torso” and with the help of the brain chip, those with this condition can freely control their devices with their own brains. After the brain chip is implanted into the user, there are steps that must be followed in order to let the brain chip sync with the devices at hand. While setting up the devices you quickly see how easy it is for a user to control what they see. The tutorial is set up very quick and easy, with just a few simple steps the device is ready to be used freely.
The brain chip is implemented by a robot rather than a human. From the official site, they claim, “The threads of our implant are so fine that they can’t be inserted by the human hand. Our surgical robot has been designed to reliably and efficiently insert these threads exactly where they need to be.” it continues, showing each piece of their surgery robot, zooming in, and looking at it from all angles. “The needle, which is thinner than a human hair, grasps, inserts, and releases threads.”
Finally, one of the very last things you will find on the site is patient registration, where you can sign up to become one of the many few people with a brain chip. However, with this innovation, there are many issues that come up, and very important issues at that. One of the biggest problems at hand is the simple fact of liability.
While many people might trust Elon Musk, assuming that nothing will go wrong, many people feel otherwise. Doctors are fitted into the same pile as the people who are scared and worried about how this brain chip will do. “The claims-to-proof gap is too wide for doctors to be comfortable with Musk’s brain chip implant” mentioned Quartz, and from there we can see how far fetched this technology is.
As of February 2024, there has been no recent news in regards to the brain chip. For now, we can only speculate and assume the outcomes of this product with what we know currently. There are many positives that can come out of this project, as well as negatives, for now, we will have to patiently wait for any big updates in regards to Neuralink.
