Elon Musk's Neuralink hopes to begin human trials this year

[David Matthews]

Forward-looking: Neuralink's mission is to use groundbreaking brain-machine interfaces to possibly cure deadly neurological diseases and control our devices simply using our minds. The company may be taking a major step in that direction if the FDA approves human trials this year as Elon Musk suggests. The company has already experimented successfully on primates and pigs.

Elon Musk launched Neuralink back in 2017 with the goal of direct communication between the human brain and machines.

While the technology being developed is certainly interesting and carries many applications, the company has yet to experiment on humans. That could change as Musk recently said that Neuralink could receive FDA approval to start human trials as early as this year.

The SpaceX and Tesla CEO dropped that little bit of news in response to a Twitter user offering to be part of any clinical studies for Neuralink due to being paralyzed.

Neuralink is working super hard to ensure implant safety & is in close communication with the FDA. If things go well, we might be able to do initial human trials later this year.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 1, 2021

Providing the disabled with a way to move again would be excellent application of Neuralink's technology. Other neurological conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer's disease could potentially be cured or at least made substantially less deadly. That said, the company's long term goals seem to be "human/AI symbiosis" according to Musk.

Musk recently went on a talk show hosted on Clubhouse called the Good Time Show where he revealed some of Neuralink's advances. "We've already got a monkey with a wireless implant in their skull, and the tiny wires, who can play video games using his mind," Musk said. "He's not uncomfortable and he doesn't look weird and you can't even see where the neural implant went in."

Last August, the company held a live demo of its technology, showcasing the ability to predict the movement of a pig while it was on a treadmill. The primary difference is that the chip inside of the monkey was wireless while the pig was still wired. This is a vital step if the company wishes to implant a chip in human subjects.

We're obviously years away from human cyborgs, but the ability to test on humans would mark a huge step for the company. The long term health benefits and promise of such technology are tremendous.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/88499-elon-musk-neuralink-hopes-begin-human-trials-year.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Ain’t no way...

 

[sac39507]

If it made me smarter and make more money...maybe

 

[EClyde]

Good thing they didn't use wolves or penguins...people would FREAK out

 

[Danny101]

For the disabled, maybe, but I'm on electronics enough as it is to allow further integration. Looking more to the other direction, maybe, of reducing my electronic habits. I can remember the days before this obsession and was happy enough then.

 

[Ean Mogg]

SKYNET Satellite has been a British forces Communication aid since 1969 and is in it's fifth edition of the satellite.

 

[brucek]

The ransomware gangs must be very excited.

 

[Mister_K]

Ain’t no way...

Give it few a decades and you will have your one too with RTX9090Ti

 

[Mister_K]

The ransomware gangs must be very excited.

Only boomers and 420yolozoomers fall for Ransomware.

 

[Uncle Al]

Only way I would try it would be up the ars so I could quickly download it if it (no pun intended) didn't sit so well ......

 

[TheBigT42]

Skynet wasn't cyborgs it was pure Machines with no human parts.

 

[brucek]

Only boomers and 420yolozoomers fall for Ransomware

Also apparently hospitals, police departments, other government agencies, universities, etc, meaning that so long as its legal to pay the ransom, every tax payer is ultimately paying for it even if they're not falling for it.

I also think that's not quite right. Computer security is a contest that generally favors the attackers. I've never had a ransomware attack, but then again I'm a single user of no particular note who probably does not meet the specific targeting criteria of any of the more sophisticated attacks out there.

When a sophisticated attacker goes after a larger size organization with many users, most of whom are not thinking about computer security as part of their job, their chance of finding one unprepared computer, user, or succeeding with a phishing attack get pretty favorable. (and when that doesn't work, there's always bribing or otherwise turning someone on the inside.)

 

[Sedziwoj]

Ain’t no way...

They working with FDA more then year to put it to human trial. It don't mean what you think. It would help people which can't move any part of they body, completely cut off. To day they some are using Utah Array which is much more invasive and few thousand times less bandwidth, so they would do nothing special, only people are taking it out of context, and adding lack of knowledge in to mix.

 

[GLenn63]

I wonder if it may be something used to treat mental illness in the future.

 

[DonquixoteIII]

Not one reply from a disabled person... So here's the first. I lost my tongue (and everything else in my throat, EXCEPT my tonsils...) so am truly mute. I have offered to be part of his testing. For me, the wired aspect is just as good (maybe even better) as the wireless. so prognosis for being accepted are somewhat better.

If YOU were mute, or had a spinal injury, sight loss or any of a myriad crippling injuries / genetic dysfunctions... You'd probably be looking at this with a different viewpoint. The fact that the public is going all 'skynet' on this just shows how truly hidden impairments are. Kind of like, "I'm OK Jack" mentality.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Skynet wasn't cyborgs it was pure Machines with no human parts.

What about Terminator Salvation? I'd say he was a cyborg, my understanding is Marcus had his brain and heart still.

 

[TheBigT42]

What about Terminator Salvation? I'd say he was a cyborg, my understanding is Marcus had his brain and heart still.

That was a terminator not Skynet. Skynet built terminators.

 

[Underdog]

I can see it as a solution for seriously disabled people but like all new technology, there will be those who take it a step further looking for military uses. Througout history more R & D money has been spent on military weaponry than medicine.

 

[GLenn63]

I can see it as a solution for seriously disabled people but like all new technology, there will be those who take it a step further looking for military uses. Througout history more R & D money has been spent on military weaponry than medicine.

The way things are going I could see it

also being used for prosecuting thought crimes. Big Brother is here.

 

[Gastec]

Snake oil.

 

[animelover]

Snake oil.

um what

 

[animelover]

Wait a minute

sao's neuralink came out in 2022

so this is going to come out in 2022

the name of the product is the same as sao's

1.2022 just turned into a anime

2.elon musk is a weeb