[Text/Observer Network Li Zexi]
On November 30, local time, Tesla CEO O Musk said that its brain-computer interface company Neuralink has provided "most" of the required information to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and plans to start clinical experiments on implanting brain-computer interface chips into the human body within six months.
At Neuralink's 30th exhibition, Musk said that the brain-computer interface can help patients with ALS communicate with the outside world through their thoughts in the short term. However, he devotes more space to introducing the future possibilities of brain-computer interfaces.
He said that he established Neuralink in 2017 out of concerns about the development of artificial intelligence technology, believing that if humans do not use technology to enhance their own capabilities, they will face the risk of being "eliminated"; with the combination of brain and computers, the "broadband speed" of people's interaction with machines can be improved, thereby improving the overall efficiency of human beings.
According to Neuralink's technical path, the brain-computer interface is to implant a chip the size of a coin into the human brain, communicating with the brain through many extremely subtle wires, while the chip interacts with external machines, such as computers, mobile phones, etc. through radio signals, and can currently transmit 50 kilobytes (KB) per second. The chip and wire will be implanted into the brain with a "sewing machine-like" device that Neuralink says will greatly reduce invasiveness and damage to the brain.
Brain-computer interface chip
At present, the brain-computer interface needs to implant the chip into the brain through craniotomy; Musk once said that in the future, it will plan to directly "inject" the chip into the internal jugular vein to reduce the scale and risk of the operation. However, the "future implantation method" shown in the 30th display is still craniotomy.
Musk also tweeted that "I believe that brain-computer interface devices can be used in humans, and the timeline for advancing (human experiments) only depends on the speed of approval by the US Food and Drug Administration."
Musk’s Twitter screenshot
In fact, the brain-computer interface was certified as a “breakthrough therapy” by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in July 2020, indicating that although the device is risky, it can be “die when it’s alive” for patients with almost no cure; this allows the brain-computer interface to conduct limited human clinical trials. The brain-computer interface did not seem to have used this "right" before, and this time it was applied for the qualification to conduct a comprehensive human trial.
brain-computer interface was originally conducted on pigs, but later it was transferred to monkeys that were closer to humans. In February this year, the American non-profit physician group Physicians' Physicians' Physicians' Physicians' Physicians (PCRM) accused the brain-computer interface, which caused the monkeys to suffer psychological stress, extreme pain, and chronic infections caused by surgery during the experiment. The American Medical Association for Physicians said that of at least 23 monkeys tested for brain-computer interfaces, at least 15 monkeys died or were euthanized due to the test. Neuralink issued a statement at the time saying that his approach was "not unusual", saying that only eight animals were euthanized.
Brain-computer interface uses monkeys as the test object
In the 30th display, an engineer at Neuralink responded to the question, saying that the company is currently working to improve the reversibility of chip implants and is also committed to reducing the security risks of use. Musk emphasized that he believes that the security of brain-computer interfaces has "far beyond" the requirements of the US Food and Drug Administration.
In Musk's comment section, many of the new right-wing fans who Musk has added due to the acquisition of Twitter and other operations are obviously not very interested in the concept of brain-computer interface, and are worried that their thoughts may be controlled by external forces after being implanted into the chip. Some netizens who claimed to be "super MAGA supporter" in the introduction said that they opposed Musk's move and believed that "it's still natural and better."
Right-wing netizens’ Twitter screenshot
There are also right-wing people who say that they have always supported Musk’s actions, but the brain-computer interface “scared” me.
Right-wing netizens’ Twitter screenshot
However, some netizens also expressed their willingness to "contribute" themselves as the experimental subject.
Strange netizens’ Twitter screenshot
In addition, Musk said in the display that he also planned to use brain-computer interface to help blind people “regain their minds” and people with spinal cord broken regain control of their bodies.
Brain-computer interface or is used to help blind people and people with spinal cord breaks
In fact, Musk's imagination of brain-computer interface is much more than treating diseases. He once proposed a crazy "brain plan", with the goal of "downloading" or "storing" personality consciousness on Tesla humanoid robots to help humans achieve "immortality". He even sent robots with human consciousness to Mars through SpaceX recyclable rockets to work in place of humans.
Ideals are full, but Neuralink's current situation seems to be unsatisfactory. To this day, six of the company's eight co-founders have successively "run away", leaving only Musk and an implant engineer. Among them, Max Hodak, which left in May last year, invested in a brain-computer interface company called Synchron.
It is worth mentioning that Synchron completed the first access operation of a brain-computer interface device in the United States in early July this year. The startup has previously implanted a brain-computer interface device into four Australian patients, which is even higher than Neuralink's progress. In China, Nankai University completed the first animal test of the interventional brain-computer interface independently developed by my country on June 25.
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