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Neurolink Product Update: Extending Human Capabilities

Neurolink unveils its latest contribution to modern technology as it reveals a coin-sized computer chip called “the link”.  This is a device that compresses and transmits signals recorded from electrodes.

Many believe that the invention is a step closer to creating a brain-to-machine interface. It will potentially extend or restore human capabilities in the future.

The four-year-old startup company founded by Elon Musk focuses on neuroscience.

It intervenes in the nature of consciousness in general and aims to cure blindness, deafness, paralysis, mental illness, among other revolutionary contributions.

In a YouTube stream led by the chief executive himself, he showcased the company’s advance towards affordable and reliable brain implants. Should this be successful, it will help millions of people suffering from brain and spinal problems in the future.

The video showed a pig named Gertrude, with a two-month-old brain implant. Other two samples include another pig with a removed brain implant who still functions normally and in good health condition. The latter is without prior surgery or implant.

The procedure will be entirely automated, administered by a robot that will carve out a bone circle from the skull and thread electronics into the brain.

The entire procedure would not need general anesthesia and could take up only an hour to complete. The patient who underwent the operation in the morning could leave the hospital by the afternoon.

Sounds simple? It is not. Experts in the field note that the company’s medical claims remain “highly-speculative” and use a “super-dense technology,” which is still in its animal testing stage.

It advocates for the same concept already started since the early 1990s, when robot arms and mice with visual implants were introduced to the study field.

 

Too Good to be True?

The possibility of new invention stirred technology news after founder Elon Musk hinted at its development on Twitter last month.

Four years after its formation, Neurolink is not making a step towards treating insomnia and depression. Nor any other illnesses under the same nature.

The neurotechnology company will have to weather challenges on its goals that could take years and even decades to solve. Some, it may not solve at all.

The link will be easy to plant and easy to remove for easier updating as technology improves. Users would not want to be stuck in the prior version for life, the company said.

Musk did not disclose definite dates for the completion of the project nor the official start of a clinical trial to real patients during the session.

The company is however, considering testing the device on more human participants, particularly on paralyzed patients, as early as next year.

Neurolink is a grounding experience for the founder who has been focusing more on rocket launches. The triumphant return of the crew dragon led to increased fanbase for SpaceX due to the brighter future for interplanetary travel.

Similarly, an unprecedented rise in EV sales during the lockdown resulted in an uncontrollable rise in Tesla’s per-share price. It will offer its first stock split today.

Consequently, his Boring Company tunnels are ready for operation in a few months.

It seems like its only good news for Elon Musk this year. But the latest release by Neurolink is still far from notching another achievement for the controversial leader due to the expansive and delicate nature of neuroscience.



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