In a presentation given yesterday, Elon Musk updated the public on Neuralink’s work on creating an interface between the human brain and computer. In July 2019, the entrepreneur showed a prototype announcing that the company was about to begin testing on humans. Actually, the neural implant was redesigned and tested on pigs, included in the demonstration. Neuralink is working to begin human testing of this new version.
Elon Musk gets often inspired by ideas seen in science fiction works, and what he initially called “neural lace” is among them. For this reason, some people consider them impossible, at least until they become reality. In the case of Neuralink’s neural implant, there’s still a lot of work to be done, but each update shows important technological advances.
Even speaking on occasions unrelated to Neuralink’s activities, Elon Musk expressed concerns about possible dangerous developments of artificial intelligence, and stated that he sees neural implants as a way for humans to maintain control over their civilization. However, in yesterday’s presentation Musk talked a lot also about the possible medical applications, linked to degenerative diseases, drug addiction and events such as accidents and strokes that can damage the brain and nervous system.
The neural implant shown yesterday is quite different from the one shown in 2019, and Elon Musk pointed out that the idea behind the changes is to simplify it. The new version is the size of a coin, although its 8- millimeter thickness is much greater. There are still the very fine wires for the connection to the brain.
According to Elon Musk’s statements, implanting the neural lace in a person’s head is a simple operation, performed in about an hour by a robot surgeon like the one alongside Musk during the presentation. It’s a type of implant that can be removed if the owner no longer wants it or if he later wants to exchange it with a more advanced one.
For now, the tests have been conducted on pigs, among the protagonists of the presentation. In particular, the sow Gertrude has a neural implant and her brain activity transmitted by it has been shown. Honestly, it’s nothing revolutionary, and the advance over last year is the wireless data transmission. In essence, the ambitions remain remarkable, but there’s still a lot to work on. If Elon Musk keeps his promises, the implant will be useful to a lot of people, from those suffering from diseases and the consequences of accidents to videogamers, but human tests are the ones that will give a real idea of Neuralink’s progress.
