Elon Musk is a name you are probably very familiar with. As the head of two large enterprises (Tesla and SpaceX) Musk is in the middle of attention.
Some of you might have heard that in 2016 Musk founded a company with the name “Neuralink”. On my behalf, I had only very briefly heard about it. However, in one of the breakout rooms during our Information Strategy class, Neuralink was spoken about and it sparked my interest. Now that I have read about it more, I am astonished, and this is why I would like to share this with all of you with the hope that it will also interest you as much as it did to me.
On August 28th, 2020, Elon Musk held a conference and updated the world on his progress in creating a brain-machine interface. But what does BMI mean exactly other than a machine that can have an interface with a brain? It is a device that “translates neuronal information into commands capable of controlling external software or hardware” (B. Silversmith and Abiri, 2020). This means that BMI could be used to help disabled people move robotics limbs (a.k.a modern-day prosthetics that are controlled by microprocessors and nerve impulses).
The device, the link V0.9, measures 23mm by 8mm and would replace a piece of the skull, rather than residing entirely in it. Flexible electrodes are attached to it and extend down into the cerebral cortex (which is the part of the brain responsible for numerous functions such as motor control and sensory feedback) (Lewis, 2020). The strands are only a few micrometers thick that are threaded in between neurons in order to read their activity. Each link is composed of 1024 channels to monitor the neural activity of the brain. The signals from the cortex are amplified and this data is then sent to a computer wirelessly at a rate of megabits per second. It is also possible to insert multiple links if needed ( Neuralink, 2020).
What I also find quite incredible is the way the technology is inserted into the human brain. A hole is drilled in the skull. The BIM is disk-shaped and fills in the hole. Then the skin is literally just glued back on it and the only thing left as proof of the operation is a small scar. This sounds as though we were creating cyborgs (Seeker, 2020).
Some of you might ask how does this device battery survives and is charged in our brain? Elon Musk announced that the battery lasts 24 hours without being charged and can be charged wirelessly overnight. I guess the wireless idea would make this device way handier, no need to open up your skull every day to charge. I do however have some doubts about how well this could work or what the consequences would be if the charging didn’t work one night.
So now that we have covered the technical aspect of this technology, why is NeuraLink so revolutionary?
Let’s first talk about what has already been done by the company. Neuralink introduced their device into a pig. Fun fact: Pigs are used for tests and experience due to their similar skull thickness and membrane than the human brain. A Link V0.9 was installed for two months in the pig’s brain and was positioned in such a way that the electrodes were situated in a part of the cortex that connected neurons that represented her snout. When the pig sniffed the food, or someone touched her snout, a screen showed the activity in her brain spinning (B. Silversmith and Abiri, 2020)
Another great advantage of using pigs for experience is that they can also be trained on treadmills! This allows the researchers to read neurons dealing with moving joints and they were able to accurately predict where the joints would move. This has a huge consequence on the paraplegic and tetraplegic people.
A person that is paralyzed due to an accident that affected their spine previously had an existing connection between their brains and their limbs that is now inexistent. Neurelink could then help those people by decoding movement impulses. If this does happen to work this could change the lives of thousands. I honestly find this mind-blowing.
But Elon Musk is even more ambitious than that. Link V0.9 can also send impulses to neurons themselves. This could be the solution, according to some scientists, of treating a lot of brain disorders such as depression, blindness, or memory loss. In the future the aim would be for the device to be used for storing memories, downloading them into robots, or communicating at high speed with Artificial Intelligence (Neuralink, 2020)
Before reaching that phase, the device will need lots of testing on humans. For now, its only use is implanting electrodes into the cortex. However, The Food and Drug Administration already provided Elon Musk with a “breakthrough device designation,” allowing NeuraLink to soon start a clinical trial on people. This was allowed as the technology was shown to be the same and not to cause any damage to the brain tissue (Lewis, 2020).
Skeptics might say that we do not have enough knowledge and understanding about the brain yet for this innovation to work. To provide results, the language of neurons should be understood completely. However, couldn’t NeuraLink be the revelators of what really happens in our brain? It could help to find all the missing pieces and connect all the dots. I believe that this project will become something huge in a couple of years. Some challenges might indeed appear such as scaling up the number of electrode or the interconnections between them. But, even if it is indeed a very optimistic project, the recent growth of technology it is not impossible to imagine either. Finally, Elon Musk has the advantage of being able to find a huge amount of investments to help the company grow and recruit the best scientist. I might be naïve, but I have hope in NeuraLink.
Please let me know what your opinion is in the comment section!
References:
Silversmith, D. and Abiri, R., 2020. Surfconext – Select An Institution To Login To The Service. [online] Www-nature-com.eur.idm.oclc.org. Available at: <https://www-nature-com.eur.idm.oclc.org/articles/s41587-020-0662-5> [Accessed 9 September 2020].
Lewis, T., 2020. Elon Musk&Rsquo;S Pig-Brain Implant Is Still A Long Way From &Lsquo;Solving Paralysis&Rsquo;. [online] Scientific American. Available at: <https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/elon-musks-pig-brain-implant-is-still-a-long-way-from-solving-paralysis/> [Accessed 9 September 2020].
Neuralink.com. 2020. Neuralink. [online] Available at: <https://neuralink.com/science/> [Accessed 9 September 2020].
Seeker (2020) Elon Musk Just Showed Off How Neuralink’s Implant Works. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB1gDYkvU3w> [Accessed 9 September 2020]
This was a really insightful and exciting read! I enjoyed the way that we could truly follow your own thoughts about Neuralink while discovering all of its components. It sounds like an extremely complex innovation which can be developed by people who possess the ability to think big. I hope this innovation is possible for the sake of the people it could help. In combination with this, I also hope that the innovators are conscious of the ethical elements of the innovation and possible consequences.
Thank you Nelly for your comment! I agree with your last point and even believe they should make it as a necessity if we still want to make sure that Neuralink, or any similar technology, does not degenerate in something more negative than positive for humans.
Hi Amandine,
I find your article very interesting, and really appreciate the enthusiasm! I personally have heard of this before and was also always very intrigued by it. In the last paragraph of your article, you mention that skeptics might think the research about the brain is limited. However, I think it is further than people realise. Back in 2018, two people were able to communicate vie the internet by merely using their brain. No words were spoken. This is referred to as “brain-to-brain” communication, in case you want to look into it! This being said, the technology being developed in the field of neurology is fascinating and very promising.
Kind regards,
Olivia van Aalst
Thank you for sharing this information! It sounds very interesting and I will make sure to check it out.
Best,
Amandine
Thanks for this informative post! Neuralink is definitely one of the most interesting topics when it comes to new technologies. Just like you, I’m also optimistic that this project will be realized sometime, especially with the enormous amount of resources Elon Musk can bring into this project. It can also bring a lot of value to our society (think in terms of controlling protheses using your thoughts etc.). However, there are also some ethical questions arising: How far are we gonna go in improving our brain and our body? Will this have an impact on our personalities? Isn’t the most human things about us our imperfections and weaknesses? If everyone can update their brains to maximize their potential, will we all be robots without any emotions then? I think there are many issues we have to encounter once this vision becomes reality.
Thank you Rabea for your comment! You raise a very interesting point; if we are all able to fix all of our imperfections we could all become the best in everything and differences between humans might fade. The survival of the fittest would maybe not even apply anymore…