Elon Musk demos Neuralink Brain Computer Interface update

[HEXUS]

A live demo streamed last Friday starred Gertude the pig. Human trials still pending.

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[Nifl]

I just hope there aren't big "Tesla Gaps®" between the device and the skull when it goes into mass production xD

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If the reliability and repairability of Tesla is anything to go by,I would rather being a modern techno-luddite and use my fat fingers to operate stuff.

[ilh]

I believe this is really an implant to help people pronounce his son's stupid name.

[Ttaskmaster]

Just tell me when he's scheduled to livestream himself having a chip implanted.
I presume they'll name a new strain of cabbage after him....

[John_Amstrad]

Total vaporware. He must firstly develop an implant to cure his own idiocity.

[nacasatu]

Musk is a time traveler from the future. He's a proper ignorant plonker but he managed to travel back in time and bring a load of tech blueprints with him. That or we're all in a simulator and he's the chosen one by whatever stupid alien kid is playing the game with us all.

[philehidiot]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - this is not how medical advancement works. You can not make a something and then find some human volunteers in which to see what you can do with it.

You first identify a mechanism by which you can attack a specific disease or problem and then you build a device to do that.

We already know what we can do with brain stimulation, so if he wants to build one to attack the tremor of Parkinson's or other neurological diseases that is fine. Do the research on the disease and build a device to match. They are building a device and then saying it could help a bunch of disparate problems but ultimately they are searching for an application.

It seems like they will want to implant this in beta testers, collect a load of data and then do analysis to see what they can interpret from it. This would be huge but it requires BRAIN SURGERY. A lump of skull being chopped out and replaced with an invasive device, without a disease being treated is ethically awful. You never recover from such things. You never fully heal and there is always significant risk.

When we implant things like this in people, we know the risks, and we also have to establish the risks of not treating. The risks of treating have to outweigh the risks of doing nothing.

The risks here are huge. It will NOT be "perfectly" flush with the skull. This is a living being and there is turnover of bone tissue, there is fibrous tissue which will grow and so on. It isn't a solid panel of metal that you can finish to the nth micron. It will also not be pain free. Take that from someone who lives with this kind of tech stuck in him.

The risk of a simple infection is horrific if it takes hold, and the risk from residual, chronic inflammation is also there. I have my doubts about the safety of putting electrodes into the brain directly and to do it in a surgical procedure, you have to be damned sure that the risk/benefit analysis has been done.

Musk is going to do what he does best, whip up a storm and get some enthusiastic volunteers who think he's Electric Jesus to leap into this. It is ethically unsound to say "we have this thing and we think we can do some good stuff with it, and we want some volunteers to undergo brain surgery for research purposes".

People never heal properly after you do stuff like this to them. We patch ourselves together but anyone who has a previously broken limb that aches in the cold, or an old back injury which occasionally goes into spasm knows this. I'm sorry EJ, you come near me with experimental stuff like this and I will beat you with it.

And this is the person who was first to leap into the clinical trial to make me a cyborg and has equipment marked "for investigational use only" implanted within him. There is a right and a wrong way to do this, and EJ is doing the modern equivalent of "let's get someone to eat these strange berries and see if they are good".

[Spud1]

I'm genuinely surprised by the negativity on this thread!

Personally, I think it's impressive that someone is pushing things like Musk is - some things will work, some won't, some will be middle of the road - but it's absolutely how technological advancement works, even if its a non traditional way.

This is nothing to do with Tesla, and is an entirely separate company with a different management team etc etc, so its a bit unfair to make jokes about their quality issues when it comes to a device like this that is in very, very early stages. It's clearly nowhere near the fantastical "sci fi" ideas of controlling things with your brain, or "mind reading" - but thats not the point or the impressive thing yet....

Clever stuff imo and i'll be really interested to watch it's progress over time, along with the competition, and in 10-20 years time who knows where we'll be.

Good on him for investing his cash into this sort of thing rather than just keeping it in a bank until he's dead.

[Ttaskmaster]

This is nothing to do with Tesla, and is an entirely separate company with a different management team etc etc, so its a bit unfair to make jokes about their quality issues when it comes to a device like this that is in very, very early stages.

We don't care what company it is - It's Elon Musk. The guy is the gigantic end of a massive bell, and anything with his name on it will be immediately met with suspicion.

More importantly - Look at the internet. A world wide web of interconnected commucations protocols, allowing the best minds on the planet to share ideas and progress civilisation beyond all imaginable limits.... and yet, the majority of it is hatred, bile, Twitter, Farcebook, cheeseburger cats, porn and paedophile rings.
Now Electric Jesus wants to put chips in your brain, ready for when Farcebook does a hostile takeover and acquires the ability to stream adverts directly into your neural cortex...

We have no problem with the ideas of innovation, advancement and improvement... But based on previous experiences right up to the present day, we just cannot and do not trust it with the sort of people who have the power in this world.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Tesla is run by Elon Musk. They have a history of shoddy engineering,stupid cost cutting such as using eMMC in their control units(which wears out quickly),not allowing third party repairs,switching off stuff remotely,production problems,etc.

So why would anyone who isn't a bit potty,want to test some effing untested chip in you own brain - so you can get a bloody lobotomy,when it probably will end up failing prematurely due to cost cutting. Most modern electronics is designed for built in obsolescence,so how easy is it to replace or upgrade such chips,once they are in your head?? What is the lifespan of these chips in your body?? Is the enclosure going to be perfectly sealed for decades,and if not will there potentially be poisoning if the innards get exposed to the CSF?? You can't just open up your skull like a window.

Maybe he can put on in his head,and test it for a few years then!

[Spud1]

Fair enough, i don't want to start a debate about him on this thread and dig deeper - but interesting to read and I can google a bit more.....maybe an interesting discussion for a different day

[Luke7]

Total vaporware. He must firstly develop an implant to cure his own idiocity.

he's clearly not an idiot.

[Luke7]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - this is not how medical advancement works. You can not make a something and then find some human volunteers in which to see what you can do with it.

You first identify a mechanism by which you can attack a specific disease or problem and then you build a device to do that.

Well you should probably stop saying it then because it seems like you've completely missed the point of this project.

[Kovoet]

Damn mad South African is rich enough already.

[philehidiot]

Well you should probably stop saying it then because it seems like you've completely missed the point of this project.

There are few things which REALLY infuriate me but you've just hit on one of them. Do not reply to a considered and informed argument with some form of "you're wrong". If you think I'm wrong or I've missed the point, tell me why, correct me or just don't bother.

I've put the effort in to making a point from my perspective, if you want to just disregard that then fine, but do it to yourself. If you want to actually engage in a discussion I'm all for it.

That kind of "you're wrong" approach just riles people and makes it look as though you don't want to contend with an argument and just ignore it whilst feeling and sounding all superior.

Prat.

Tell me why I'm wrong, what I've missed or don't bother.