Elon Musk is betting everything on Neuralink. The new Telepathy chip has been implanted in the first human. How does it work?
Elon Musk we have gotten to know him over the years. The richest man in the world who made his fortune with Tesla and its electric cars, is a visionary, a dreamer, and a person who sets no limits. In addition to Tesla, over the years he has given life to several other projects ranging from the conquest of space with the company SpaceX, to scientific research with the creation of Neuralink Corp, founded in 2016 together with 7 scientists.
Elon Musk’s Neuralink Corp. aims to revolutionize the world by improving the lives of millions of people suffering from paralysis, stroke, Lou Gehrig’s disease, and hearing and vision loss. How? By implanting a chip in the brain, individuals can achieve symbiosis with artificial intelligence and improve their lifestyle.
Animal experiments have been going on for years, and various criticisms have come from animal rights groups who have accused the company of cruelty towards the monkeys, pigs, and other mammals on which the implants have been tested so far. He is accused of killing over 1,500. But now the research has moved forward and has taken the next step: the implantation of the chip in a human brain. The product is called Telepathy and promises to be a revolution.
Telepathy: what it is, how it is made and how it should work
After much work, the first chip prototype produced by Neuralink has come to life. It’s called "Telepathy" and claims to be able to connect the human brain to machines. Science fiction or reality? It seems that Elon Musk’s project has gone from testing on animals to testing on humans. The first man, whose identity nor the health conditions that led him to this choice are unknown, received his implant.
The experiment involves the triggering of an implant composed of small discs and a series of wires that are capable of translating brain signals into actions on devices, such as a computer or a smartphone. At least that’s what Elon Musk says in the announcement given to social media.
How is Telepathy made? The implant is made up of five elements: a capsule, a battery, a chip, 1024 electrodes, and an electronic part. The capsule is the external one that contains the entire implant and is the one that is inserted into the subject’s brain.
The battery has been made high-performance and can be recharged externally. The chips and the electronic part, i.e. the one that transmits to the devices, together with the 1024 electrodes (distributed over 64 ultra-thin wires and connected to the brain) are always found inside the same capsule.
How is Neuralink’s Telepathy project implanted?
The implant is small and well-inserted in a capsule. The intervention to insert it into the brain, however, could be more complex. According to what was said, the surgery requires great precision.
Telepathy is made up of microscopic threads and can therefore only be inserted by a robot. The technique involves using ultrasensitive optics and a needle thinner than a hair to weave circuits in the brain.
At the moment, the identity of the first person who underwent the experiment is not known. However, one can imagine that it is a subject forced into immobility due to some trauma to the spine.
Musk explained it: the first users will be those who have lost the use of limbs. So since September, the company has been looking for volunteers with tetraplegia due to cervical spinal cord injuries or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The subject of the experiment should therefore be a person with these characteristics and ready to challenge the innovation of such a chip.
The bureaucratic difficulties of the project
Neuralink is an ambitious project, the success of which could change the lives of many people for the better. It is clear, however, that it presents various problems and many doubts about the ethics of experimentation. Since the company was founded in 2016, only in 2022 was the first step forward from a bureaucratic point of view.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the US government agency that regulates pharmaceutical products, stated that the delay in approval for the trials was due to missing documents from the company. So after an initial failure and a second request rejected due to concerns for the safety of the plant, only today was it possible to confirm the first step towards experimentation on human beings.
Many doubts remain, including the risk of permanent brain damage, the impossibility of removing the chip, the risk linked to lithium batteries, and several others. Finally, in May of last year, approval was granted for the first step towards humans having telepathic abilities through electronic devices connected to their brains.
Original article published on Money.it Italy 2024-01-30 19:24:06. Original title: Neuralink Elon Musk, cos’è e a cosa serve il chip Telepathy
