Elon Musk is not a novice to making bold statements – from his plans for colonize Mars to his dream of constructing transport links beneath our largest cities. This week, the world’s most wealthy man revealed that his Neuralink division was able to implant its first wireless brain chip in the human.
Does he have the right idea in his assertion that this technology may be able to be able to save humanity in itself?
Implanting electrodes into the brain is nothing new at all.
In the 1960s and 70s, electrical stimulation was employed to induce or suppress aggression in cats. At the beginning of 2000, monkeys were taught to move their cursors around the computer screen using only their thoughts.
“It’s not a new concept but implantable technology will take some time to become mature and get to a point that companies are able to access all the pieces and can begin to put them together” claims Anne Vanhoestenberghe, professor of implantable medical devices that are active within King’s College London.
Neuralink is among several universities and companies that are trying to develop and eventually commercialize the technology. The primary focus, at the very first, at least is on paralysis and the treatment of more complex neurological disorders.
The human brain houses approximately 86 billion neurons, nerve cells linked to each other by synapses. Each time we wish to move or feel or think an electrical signal is created and transmitted rapidly from one neuron another.
Scientists have designed devices that can recognize certain signals, either with caps that are not invasive and that is placed on the head or wires that are implanted into the brain.
The technology, also known as the brain-computer interface (BCI) is where thousands of dollars worth of research funding could be headed at present.
Neuralink’s device, which is about as big as a penny is placed inside the skull. It is equipped with tiny wires that can detect the activity of neurons and transmit an electrical signal to an amplification unit. The company has tested its technology with pigs and claims that monkeys could play a basic version the game video Pong.
The approval came from the US Food and Drug Administration for human studies in the month of May 2023.
We have learned that the patient’s first has been given the implant, but the details are a bit thin on the surface. Musk has stated that the patient has been “recovering good” and that initial tests demonstrate “promising neurons spike detection”.
This may sound like sci-fi, however in a few ways Neuralink is trying to catch up.
One of its biggest competitors, a startup known as Synchron with funding from investment firms owned by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos has already implanted their stent-like device inside 10 patients.
In the month of December 2021 Philip O’Keefe, a 62-year old Australian living with motor neurone disease, wrote the first tweet with just his thoughts and his cursor.
Researchers at Lausanne University in Switzerland have demonstrated that it is feasible for a paralyzed person to walk with the help of several devices to repair injuries caused by a cycling accident.
In the research paper that was published in the year they showed that an electrical signal that could be transmitted through a device located in the brain to a second device placed at the base of his spine that could cause the limbs of his body to move.
People who suffer from spinal injuries are skeptical about the sudden enthusiasm for this type of new technology.
“These breakthroughs are repeatedly announced and aren’t moving any further,” says Glyn Hayes who was paralyzed in an accident on a motorbike in 2017. She is now the director of public activities on behalf of the Spinal Injuries Association.
“If I had something back, it would not be walking. It would be investing more money into a method of relieving nerve pain for instance, or methods to improve bladder, bowel and sexual functioning.”
For Elon Musk “solving” the spinal and brain injuries only the first step of Neuralink.
The long-term goal is “human/AI synergy” He describes it as “species-level significant”.
The key to success is designing a system that will interpret or translate signals that come from the brain at an even greater degree of precision. When that happens, humans might be able connect to computers, as well as other devices electronically in a manner which is not understood currently.
Imagine being able to place an order for an order of food using your mind, or even search on the internet and translate between two languages instantly in your mind, just by imagining it.
Musk himself has spoken about the possibility of a future in which his device would allow users to talk with computer or phone “faster than a speed-typist or an auctioneer”.
The past has seen he’s even stated that that reliving and saving memories could be possible, however, he recognized “this is becoming more like something from a Black Mirror episode.”
Others are less convinced: “At the moment, I’m unable to find an application that a patient would be able to benefit from, but that would not carry the risk of having surgery,” says Prof Vanhoestenberghe.
“You’ve to think about whether you put yourself at risk for brain surgery to be able to place an order for pizza via your smartphone?”
She believes that the initial commercial applications could be to stimulate the brain to address issues such as treatment-resistant depression, dementia and some sleep disorders, but the benefits aren’t being certain, and research is still at an infancy stage.
The Dr Dean Burnett, honorary research fellow at Cardiff University’s school of psychology is also of the opinion that there are a lot of practical hurdles in the way of Neuralink becoming a common consumer product.
“Everyone’s brain is unique. There isn’t a single chip that is universally applicable and does the exact thing. It’s an extremely precise procedure,” he says.
“Technology is constantly evolving, so do you have to purchase an updated chip at every 5 years? It’s the same as using the old Nokia in your brain that was fun in the past, but now it’s no longer of any to be used?”
One thing that nearly everyone in the field is that there is that this type of technological advancement is decades away, if not more, from an High Street brain surgeon near your home.
Elon Musk, too has said that the goal’s ultimate aim is in not getting faster the process of taking your order, but rather to better defend humanity from the dangers associated with Artificial Intelligence (AI), which he has previously declared in the past to be being an “existential risk”.
Through better combing the human brain with computer and brains, we’re less likely to get “left in the dust” for a reason. the author claims: “With a high bandwidth brain-machine interface we’re able to go along with the journey.”