If Elon Musk’s recent livestream announcement is any indication, the border between science fiction and reality is about to become blurrier than ever before. Imagine controlling your computer or smartphone using nothing but your thoughts. Sounds weird? Well, that’s exactly what the technology billionaire is trying to achieve.
What is Neuralink?
Anyone who’s followed Musk’s career and ideas during the last few years is probably familiar with the magnate’s concerns and priorities. His sci-fi-inspired solutions to the woes that plague humanity and its long-term survivability have led him to pioneer research and take the first steps that would take us to a renewable-energized world and interplanetary colonization. And now, through his neurotechnology startup, Neuralink, he also wants to spearhead the technology that will one day fully integrate humans and computers. Or so he promises.
On Tuesday, Musk announced that his company is hoping to begin implanting microchips into human brains as early as next year through a minimally-invasive surgical procedure (comparable to a simple LASIK eye-surgery). The initial purpose of these implants is to help treat brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, as well as to allow paralized patients to regain some independence by controlling their devices through mental commands. Just imagine a paralyzed person who’s otherwise unable to speak recovering this faculty by merely thinking what she wants to say, and having the computer say it for her—with no nurses or interpreters involved.
But Musk envisions so much more for this technology. Eventually, Musk says, these devices should help us achieve a full integration with computers, serving as “brain-enhancers” that would allow us to make complex calculations or store precise information like never before.
In short, the eventual purpose is to reach “Full brain-machine interface, meaning that we can ultimately—and this is going to sound pretty weird—achieve a sort of symbiosis with artificial intelligence,” Musk explained. “This is not a mandatory thing. This is a thing that you can choose to have if you want.”
How does it work?
According to Musk, Neuralink’s system would allow for a tiny chip, measuring roughly 4mm by 4mm, to be implanted into the brain of anyone who wants it. Using flexible microscopic threads of electrodes, these chips would send signals in and out of the brain to be computer-processed. Each electrode will be inserted with incredible precision between the brain’s blood vessels to lie right next to several neurons in order to stimulate them and read the brain’s synaptic signals, which will then be processed and interpreted by the computer, turning them into commands. The electrodes are so tiny, however, that they will have to be implanted using a precision robot through the minimally-invasive procedure mentioned above.
“It’s not like a major operation — it’s sort of equivalent to a LASIK type of thing,” Musk assured. The device also features wireless technology, which means you don’t have to worry about cables protruding from your skull. “The interface to the chip is wireless, so you don’t have wires poking out of your head, that’s very important. It’s basically bluetoothed to your phone.”
This whole process and the device itself still needs approval from the Food and Drug Administration, however. But Musk is optimistic, as there are already some electrode-stimulating systems out there that have been used to control computers with varying degrees of success. Musk assures that Neuralink chips would be 1,000 times more effective than any other similar system in the market.
What are the risks?
As it’s readily apparent to most people, there are many risks associated with this sort of technology—some more obvious than others. For one, there’s the immediate health concerns that the medical procedure is simply not as safe as Musk would have you believe. Even if the surgery itself is minimally invasive, there’s always a risk when you’re introducing foreign objects into a biological system as fragile as the brain. Any complication with either the surgery or the device might result in irreversible brain damage, inflammation, and scarring—even years after the procedure has been completed.
Musk has stated fears about A.I. overtaking humanity on numerous occasions. “This is something I think is going to be pretty important at civilization-level scale,” said Musk. “Even in a benign-A.I. scenario, we will be left behind. But I think with a man-machine interface we can actually go along for the ride.” However, it’s not clear that Neuralink is actually the solution he himself thinks it is. If there’s an A.I. “uprising” in the horizon, it could just as easily happen from within our brain than from without. Having the interface linked right into our skulls simply doesn’t guarantee the A.I. won’t take over. If anything, many who fear such things could argue that all Musk is actually doing with Neuralik is giving the A.I. the means to more easily undermine our consciousness. It’s not that an A.I. take-over isn’t completely far-fetched, it’s just that Musk’s solution wouldn’t actually make us safer if it were to come.
But science-fiction alarmism aside, the technology, though hardly the deterrent to an A.I.-driven human extinction, is undeniably cool.
Is it even realistic?
“We hope to have this [technology] in a human patient by the end of next year,” Musk said, so we won’t have to wait too long before seeing the initial effects of these devices. But the optimistic “full symbiosis” with A.I. is admittedly still a very long way away (we’re probably talking about several decades or more before the technology even begins to get there), and Musk assured us that we’ll “see it coming.” That’s if it ever happens, of course. Some scientists, like Thomas Stieglitz from the Department of Biomedical Microtechnology at the University of Freiburg in Germany told Business Insider that Neuralink’s long-term goals are essentially unrealistic, or at least highly dubious. “Unless all this is clear, it’s simply not possible to upload knowledge somewhere else then upload it back into the brain,” he said. “While it might make for great science fiction, in reality it’s just hokum.”
So while the short-term promises to treat brain conditions are certainly plausible, the long-term vision of a full integration between human and A.I. might forever remain in the realm of fantasy. I guess only time will tell.
(Cover image: Heisenberg Media)
Don’t miss these other articles:
The Neuro-Therapy That Could Hack Your Brain To Mend A Broken Heart
This Wristband Electrocutes You Whenever You Engage In Bad Habits
4 Things More Exciting Than A New iPhone That Will Happen In The Next 5 Years
