Have you ever watched ,,Star Wars” ? If the answer is ,,yes” then I am sure that you dreamed about great power of mind. Nowadays, it doesn’t have to be just a dream anymore.
On August, at a presentation broadcast over the internet, Elon Musk showed off the progress of his firm named Neuralink. He surprised everyone with appearance of Gertrude, a pig with a chip implemented into her brain. The device use technique called electroencephalography (EEG), which reads the brain’s electrical signals. EEG provides useful information that can be used in many ways and the only obstacle is human imagination. Furthermore, the Gertrude’s device carries invasiveness one stage further and makes EEG recorder a potentially permanent implant.
While Gertrude was searching for food, her brain activity was tracked on the screen. As her snout touched things, a display showed an array of dots and a series of noises indicated when more neurons were firing.
Besides, this device can control prosthetic limp and real one, which normal nerve connections are injured. It is also possible to give instructions to the brain rather than receive them. That might be used to treat hearing loss or Parkinson’s disease.
Moreover, Musk took a step further and have created a robot that will implant his device. The robot scans human brain and then it is able to precisely sew the electrode threads into place. He said it could be done without general anesthesia in under an hour. To top it all of, Musk showed the pig which had had its implant removed safely, because his plan is also to provide updates to the hardware over the time.
The next step of Musk’s vision is connection between people and machines. He wonders, if it is possible to download human memory and store it. Also, he would like to achieve what he calls ,,AI symbiosis”, which allows the human brain to merge with an artificial intelligence
Overall, this device is the next step into the future. However, we need to ask ourself do we want to share our imagination with a person like Elon Musk. Is it a good deal for us ?
Resources:
https://www.voanews.com/silicon-valley-technology/musks-neuralink-puts-computer-chips-animal-brains
https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2020/09/02/elon-musks-vision-of-the-future-takes-another-step-forward
https://star-wars-the-lost-galaxy-wiki.fandom.com/wiki/The_Force
Elon is a genius manager of the XXI century, who provides us with top-level devices.
Love reading such topics, that makes me more convenient about the future XD
+1
Great topic Jakub! Neuralink is incredible project with huge potential.
Nice one!