If anyone can arouse admiration and controversy is Elon Musk, it is said to be King Midas and even the new Nikola Tesla (hence the brand of his electric cars). Anyway, he seems determined to be a promoter of the technology of the future, and the test is his latest creation: a brain interface that connects to a computer. His name is Neuralink.
It is very likely that by reading the headlines of this news, many have already thought about what it might mean. This coin-sized chip can easily store large amounts of information, learn new languages like who downloads an app on a mobile phone and essentially allow a brain to reach its greatest potential. Everything we read in the novels of Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clark or Philip K. Dick.
- The truth is that the prototype that has just been presented has very simple aspirations (at least for now).
- So far.
- Animal models are being tested.
- And the implanted chip only records the brain activity of a group of pigs.
- Including Gertrude.
- A young sow who does not understand why this is the reason for the news.
The goal (in the short term) is to guide you toward medical goals, such as stopping seizures and improving the quality of life of patients with spinal cord injury.
Neuralink’s ultimate goal is to achieve absolute symbiosis with artificial intelligence, at least that’s the dream that Elon Musk created in 2016, a neurotechnology company specializing in the development of brain-computer interfaces, we are aware that something like this creates a strange feeling between agitation, curiosity, hope and, why not, fear.
The panorama that traces this proposal, which combines human life and machines, heralds an almost revolutionary change in our lives. It is little more than the fusion of technology with the body and, more specifically, with the brain. This, in itself, opens up a kaleidoscope of ethical and social issues that we need to start thinking about. Let’s find out more.
Neuralink is a type of technology that has been in development for four years, in 2019 a small device implanted in the brain of a mouse was already introduced; Now, on August 28, the second generation has been introduced, it is a device the size of a coin implanted directly into the skull (in this case, that of a pig).
Elon Musk points out that all these problems are nothing more than disturbances of the neural network, this tangled complex can be solved by an implantable neural link connected to a computer.
One of the aspirations of Neuralink technology is to achieve superhuman cognition, what does this mean and what implications does it have?Elon Musk’s goal is to get the machines at our service and not the other way around, the goal is to put artificial intelligence at your fingertips at all times to have control over it.
In the future, we could have brains with greater potential and, above all, good health, since diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease or any other neurodegenerative disease would cease to exist because memory and other cognitive functions would be preserved.
There is something obvious to note, the truth is that there are already basic devices that use this symbiosis between the brain and the machine, we have, for example, machines that already record brain activity, such as electroencephalograms (EEG). Similarly, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has also created a surgical microchip that allows a paralyzed person to fly simulated aircraft.
Neuralink means taking a step forward and getting continuous information between the computer and the brain, this is to see how a tetraplegic can walk again, allowing those who have suffered trauma to regain their functions or those with depression to receive other types of mental stimuli to gradually improve their condition.
Something like that will take time. In addition, Elon Musk noted that Neuralink would begin testing on humans by 2020, however, for the time being, this will not be possible because the implant interface still needs to be improved, with the aim of further optimizing the robot that we will perform these procedures to do so quickly, accurately and under local anesthesia, the procedure would take less than an hour and the device would not be visible , i. e. we wouldn’t notice anything.
“It’s certainly not science fiction,” said a member of the Elon Musk team that created the technology. “In time, it will be real, practical and commercial, but there is still a lot of work to do. ” There are other factors, which are ethical and social problems. Neuralink will have access to our thoughts and can even store them.
This would allow us, for example, to recover them in the event of illness or accident. What if someone else had access to our memory bank stored on a computer?In addition, the computer may decide, for example, to delete a traumatic element. experienced to improve our psychological balance, could that be legally speaking?Would we be safe from their attacks?
These are all questions that we must ask ourselves and face as quickly as possible, because the future is moving forward unstoppably and we will have to prepare for significant changes, are Elon Musk’s companies already leading the way?