Elon Musk’s Neuralink Hints at Future Pathways for the Human Race
Some are exciting, some a little disturbing.
On Friday, August 28th at 6:30 PM Elon Musk emceed a presentation of Neuralink. It is an electronic disk around the size of a quarter and thickness of about 1/4” that sits in a round cavity to replace the same size bone plug taken from the top of the skull underneath a flap of scalp which is then sewn back in place. Trailing from it are nearly a hundred tiny filaments containing thousands of electrodes to conduct electrical signals. These are individually installed via robotic surgery into the brain to serve as electronic connections between it and the device.
The development of Neuralink is currently touted for medical reasons such as allowing people with Parkinson’s disease to control their own movements. For the paralyzed it is hoped the tiny wire fibers can collect signals from the brain allowing them to communicate with others. Knowing that Elon does not think small, the ultimate goal may be to cheat death by uploading human memory and consciousness into a computer.
With the specter of true, non-specialized artificial intelligence just around the corner, perhaps digitally augmented human intelligence is just what we’ll need to serve as an interface; half-machine, half-human ambassadors preventing AIs from…
