Musk Beams Us Up To a Neurolink World

How can you not marvel at the sheer wonderment of human genius after Musk says his Neuralink has implanted a brain chip in a disabled person? He wants to make “The Matrix” a reality, but there’s still many devils in the details …

So warns the WSJ article by Rolfe Winkler & Jo Craven McGinty who concede “ambitions are lofty at the brain-chip implant company, but its immediate future rests on [proving it can really improve] life for severely disabled people” let alone anyone else far, far down the road. Before Musk’s dream of augmenting perfectly healthy people with brain chips so the human race can keep up with artificial intelligence, they caution, “it will take years of research and successful demonstrations of the technology, before such an aggressive goal is even remotely possible.”

Not that Neuralink’s tech doesn’t have the industry abuzz, though it’s NOT the first company to offer restoration of function for people who have lost control of their limbs. But, Neuralink’s brain chip the size of a quarter, “N1”, is uniquely implanted surgically by its robot, “R1”, in a matter of seconds. Musk says the surgery is “like replacing a chunk of your skull with a smartwatch” & sewing the threads (the width of a human hair) into brain tissue so they sit close to neurons & relay their electrical signals. Unknown “kinks” include whether brain bleeds will be triggered & how to keep the forever shifting brain from unraveling the needlework. Competitors like Blackrock Neurotech already make a similar device that has helped patients move a robotic arm with their thoughts or feed themselves. But one of “Neurolink’s potential advances would be its flexible threads” that supposedly move with the brain to avoid the possibility of damage. Then, there’s the what-if as to how long a patient will be able to tolerate the foreign chip before it rejects it, IF it rejects it. Buckle up folks. It’s another wild ride into the unknown of human genius given to him by God.

Davd Soul