Elon Musk’s Neuralink

For stuff like that, Musk should man up (since he likes to project a [nerdy] tough guy image anyway) and be test subject number one, if he *truly* believes in the technology. If not, well...
 
Martin,

A lot of people have signed up for experimental things. As long as they are fully informed and all the paperwork is in order. A friend of mine decided to try an experimental medication and it worked for him. I think Mr. Musk is able to do certain things because he has a lot of money. I don't know if he has much imagination or technical skill.
 
As we say in french "charité bien ordonnée, commence par soi même" (any charity effort starts with oneself). Maybe Musk could invent an anti- alt-right cure, and apply it to himself ? what a relief that would be for that troubled world...
Imagine such colossal fascist SOB as Bolsonaro turned into a left-wing progressist groupie...
 
publiusr said:
Implants have a place
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There's a bunch of conditions that can be treated using different kinds of implants into the brain - deep brain implants for epilepsy, cochlear implants for severe hearing loss, we've been putting shunts into babies' brains to treat hydrocephalus for probably more than 50 years at this point. Musk is just pushing the envelope, as usual.

The closest analogies to Musk's implant are probably the cochlear implant and some of the experimental artificial vision stuff, but they're putting signals into the brain, there's nothing that extracts useful information.

What comes close is some of the research using fMRI or electroencephelograms to pick up gross brain concepts from outside the skull, but Musk needs to significantly level up from that for Neuralink to be seen as a success.

The reports seem to be that he's looking at people with quadriplegia as a result of ALS* or spinal injury as his test subjects. IMO that suggests he's significantly backed off from what he expects to achieve. The only way they're getting someone walking with the current setup is on the level of sending gross instructions to a powered exoskeleton: stand-up, walk forward, sit down, and without a complete sensory feedback loop , that's already been done without the need for a brain implant.

* I think there's an ethical issue in recruiting people with ALS, it's such a fast progressing condition I'm not sure people are really in a healthy position to give informed consent, and how do you allow for the progress of the condition when measuring the success of the implant.
 
Some good news in related fronts
medicalxpress.com

Brain implant in conjunction with AI app allows nearly mute man to speak in two languages

A team of neurosurgeons and AI specialists at the University of California, San Francisco, has found some success in restoring speech to a patient who lost the ability after a stroke.
medicalxpress.com medicalxpress.com
medicalxpress.com

New device helps paraplegics regain partial use of hands

More than 40 people suffering from paralysis from the neck down regained partial control of their arms and hands thanks to a relatively simple to use device, a large study said Monday.
medicalxpress.com medicalxpress.com
medicalxpress.com

Study suggests optogenetics can drive muscle contraction with greater control, less fatigue than electrical stimulation

For people with paralysis or amputation, neuroprosthetic systems that artificially stimulate muscle contraction with electrical current can help them regain limb function. However, despite many years of research, this type of prosthesis is not widely used because it leads to rapid muscle fatigue...
medicalxpress.com medicalxpress.com
medicalxpress.com

Adhesive hydrogel coating prevents scarring around medical implants, prolongs lifespan of such devices

When medical devices such as pacemakers are implanted in the body, they usually provoke an immune response that leads to buildup of scar tissue around the implant. This scarring, known as fibrosis, can interfere with the devices' function and may require them to be removed.
medicalxpress.com medicalxpress.com


Star trek med
medicalxpress.com

Promising results of helium plasma jet therapy: Ruptured Achilles tendon shows faster repair

What is the largest ligament in the human body? It might surprise some people that it is the Achilles tendon. Even though it is also considered the toughest ligament, the Achilles tendon can rupture, with many such injuries involving sports enthusiasts in their 30s or 40s. Surgery might be...
medicalxpress.com medicalxpress.com
medicalxpress.com

New CRISPR screening method could reveal what drives brain diseases

The brain is often referred to as a "black box"—one that's difficult to peer inside and determine what's happening at any given moment. This is part of the reason why it's difficult to understand the complex interplay of molecules, cells and genes that underlie neurological disorders. But a new...
medicalxpress.com medicalxpress.com
phys.org

Improved ultrasound wireless charging for implantable biomedical devices

Ultrasound-based wireless power transfer is becoming a more attractive option to power implanted biomedical devices because it could overcome many of the limitations and challenges facing other wireless charging approaches. Now, a new study has shown that the shape of the implanted receiver can...
phys.org phys.org
phys.org

New technique enables successful cultivation of stem cells on the surface of ionic liquids

The National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) has established a technique for cultivating human mesenchymal stem cells, widely used in regenerative medicine, on the surface of an ionic liquid.
phys.org phys.org
 
Trademarking Telepathy: Musk’s Neuralink Taps Into the History—and Hype—of Telepathic Tech

"Meanwhile, companies like REMspace, a California-based neurotech startup, have claimed to achieve telepathy-like capabilities through two-way communication during lucid dreaming. In experiments, two dreaming participants reportedly exchanged information using Wi-Fi-connected equipment. While this doesn’t match the traditional definition of telepathy, if future peer-reviewed studies validate these findings, they could represent a significant breakthrough. (The claims made by REMspace and The Telepathy Tapes regarding telepathic communication—either in lucid dreaming or between nonverbal individuals—have not yet been peer-reviewed.)"

Source:

thedebrief.org

Trademarking Telepathy: Musk’s Neuralink Taps Into the History—and Hype—of Telepathic Tech

Is Neuralink capitalizing on people's fascination with telepathy or are they genuinely interested in enabling mind-to-mind communication?
thedebrief.org thedebrief.org
 
In my opinion, what is being attempted with this technology is a form of electronic immortality, something like obtaining a digital map of the entire personality of a human to be able to transfer it to a machine. Initially it could be financed as an aid against the Alzheimer, to avoid the usual criticisms of medieval moralists... and it would be very popular.
 
Justo Miranda said:
In my opinion, what is being attempted with this technology is a form of electronic immortality, something like obtaining a digital map of the entire personality of a human to be able to transfer it to a machine. Initially it could be financed as an aid against the Alzheimer, to avoid the usual criticisms of medieval moralists... and it would be very popular.
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Let's see where this eventually actually goes (or not), and all the fun scify writers can have with it.
 
Scifi writers have fun with it for quite some time, see for example the Heechee series from Frederick Pohl. And of course Ghost in the Shell.
 
Initially it could be financed as an aid against the Alzheimer, to avoid the usual criticisms of medieval moralists
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Not financed but "Framed as an aid against Alzheimer"

Regards,
 
Justo Miranda said:
a digital map of the entire personality of a human to be able to transfer it to a machine
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Hubris.

At best, that gives you a copy of a personality in another medium, not a continuation of the original. Without detailed understanding of what constitutes a working mind and how it is connected with, or part of, the body, making "a map of the entire personality of a human" is a pipe dream.
 
Arjen said:
At best, that gives you a copy of a personality in another medium, not a continuation of the original. Without detailed understanding of what constitutes a working mind and how it is connected with, or part of, the body, making "a map of the entire personality of a human" is a pipe dream.
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P-zombies like myself don't really have to worry about it, its good.

God didn't give everyone a immortal soul, its so unfair~
 
Some agents proclaims to have a soul, including specifically prompted chatgpt sessons, so what do I know~

In any case, the data fidelity within a "person" overtime is not great. On the topic of inevitable losses of transmission, well that is like asking if you want to precommitting to "killing" yourself if you hit your head and suffered memory loss.
 

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