Neuralink, a brain-computer interface company under Musk, held a launch event and revealed the practical Neuralink equipment and automatic implant surgery equipment.
Elon Musk used a pig named Gertrude to show the latest technological level of his start-up company Neuralink. Neuralink can establish a digital link between the brain and the computer, the so-called “Brain-Computer Interface”. The wireless connection on the Neuralink device shows the brain activity of the pig when he sniffed around a pen on stage on Friday night .
Neuralink’s demonstration shows that, compared to when the product debuted in 2019, brain-computer interface technology is closer to realizing Musk’s ambitions. In 2019, Neuralink only showed one photo. In the picture, Neuralink connected a mouse neuron through the USB-C port, which is far from realizing a brain-computer interface. But Musk said that the US Food and Drug Administration approved a “breakthrough device” test in July.
Musk also showed the second-generation device, which is more complete and can be fitted into a small cavity dug in a hole in the skull.
Musk said when talking about this device: “It’s like a Fitbit installed in your skull with many small wires.” This device can communicate with brain cells through 1024 thin electrodes that penetrate brain cells. In addition, there is a Bluetooth connection to an external computing device. But the company is studying other radio technologies, hoping to significantly increase the number of data connections.
Neuralink’s medical purpose
Neuralink first focused on medical treatments, such as helping people deal with brain and spinal cord injuries or congenital defects. This technology can help those paraplegics who have lost their ability to move or feel due to spinal cord injury. The first application of Neuralink in the human body will be to improve the living conditions of patients suffering from paraplegia or quadriplegia.
Musk said: “If you can feel people want to do with their limbs, you can have a second implant in the injured spine and produce a nerve shunt. In the long run, I am confident to recover Human body activity.”
But in fact, Musk’s views are much more radical, including “consensual telepathy,” that is, two people can communicate digitally by thinking about each other instead of writing or speaking. Neuralink’s long-term goal is to build a “digital superintelligence layer” that connects humans with artificial intelligence. In Musk’s view, artificial intelligence is a threat to human survival.
The most extreme future
When talking about Neuralink’s sci-fi use, Musk said: “The future will be very strange. In the future, you will be able to save and restore memories. You can basically use your memories as a backup and then restore them. You can Download them to a new body or the body of a robot.”
Musk said that he knows that some people will point out Neuralink’s problems. Musk said: “This sounds more and more like an episode in the dystopian TV series “Black Mirror.”
Neuralink is developing a robot installation program, which is ultimately designed to handle the entire surgical installation process. This involves opening the scalp, removing a portion of the skull, inserting hundreds of 6 mm deep “threaded” electrodes together with the accompanying chip, and then suture the incision. Musk said that this device is designed to avoid blood vessels to avoid bleeding.
Like Fitbit, Apple Watch and other wearable technologies, Musk believes that in addition to direct brain-computer communication, neural links can also bring health benefits. Musk said that the neural chip can measure temperature, pressure and exercise, and these data can warn users before a heart attack or stroke.
Neuralink’s previous work
Since its launch last year, Musk and Neuralink have published a scientific paper in the October issue of the Journal of Medical Internet Research. This paper describes the development of their robotic device, a robotic arm that can finely insert hundreds of fine threads (about one-tenth of a human hair) into the brain . It is sometimes called a “sewing machine” and can insert 6 threads per minute. Each thread is made of flexible plastic and is equipped with 192 electrodes.
Neuralink’s early research focused on connecting with rodent brains. In a paper published in October, Musk and Neuralink detailed two neural network systems A and B tested on rats. The former can insert more than 1500 electrodes, and the latter can insert more than 3000 electrodes. This paper describes a freely moving rat connected to the B system with a USB-C slot on its head, but there is no clear indication that Neuralink has determined the best location for the electrodes.
In the paper, Musk and Neuralink admitted that “significant technical challenges must be solved before high-bandwidth devices are suitable for clinical applications.”
Research on rodents is impressive, but what caught people’s attention last year was Musk’s assertion that monkeys “can control computers with their brains.” The paper published on JMIR did not provide evidence to support this assertion, and Musk did not mention this on Friday.
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