How Do You Feel About Elon Musk Neuralink?
In an age where more and more of us are feeling like slaves to technology, it was bold to see billionaire Elon Musk introduce his Neuralink technology with a trio of microchipped pigs this summer. In a reveal that felt straight out of Black Mirror, Musk showed off his newly technology swine.
He asked us to dream of a future where communication happens telepathically, video games are played within the mind, and a litany of cognitive and spinal disabilities are improved, if not all together cured.
The technology represents a massive leap forward for electro neuro stimulation devices. As the presentation began, Musk illustrated the brutal nature of contemporary devices.
Rigid spikes placed in the brain by an air-hammer, metal rods lodged deep in the brain, providing current but also requiring the sacrifice of brain tissue. With these devices as the previous standard of the technology it’s clear that the small coin-like disk offered by Musk would be a welcomed improvement.
It’s clear that Musk wants us to approach this technology with an open mind, no pun intended. At one point in his demonstration, he compared the acquisition and the upgrading of the Neuralink devices would be no different than buying the latest generation of iPhone.
This seems hard to imagine. After all, getting a Neuralink installed required sitting inside a surgical robot, getting (anesthesia free), and having a fully human-free system thread tiny wires in between your blood vessels and into your brain tissue.
Neuralink is a rapidly evolving technology that may provide a better quality of life to millions of people, and that should be celebrated. As a therapeutic it may be perhaps the most sophisticated device ever offered on the consumer market.
Musk’s sole purpose here on earth seems to be to move us towards the future. In doing so, he has in no small order produced a medical marvel.
All that being said, there are still many questions left unanswered that cause this writer to think twice about ever getting the device installed. Every piece of technology anyone has ever owned has in some way malfunctioned, broken, or fallen subject to predatory behavior.
Can this device, produced within a generation, flawlessly interface with an organic supercomputer millions of years in the making?
Genius though he may be, Musk has a history of promising the future before it’s ready. The ultimate test will be to see if he has a Neuralink installed personally. How would a mind like Elon’s function with additional cybernetic enhancement, and what in gods name might it cause him to name his next child?
