Neuralink: Much Ado About Nothing?
The so-called ‘fitbit in the skull’…
Over 100 000 viewers patiently awaited the Neuralink demo on the YouTube Livestream. The company, founded in 2017 by Elon Musk, promised to innovate neuroscience by creating a machine interface for the brain. What does this mean for humanity?
A fascinating article written on the blog Wait But Why goes into the potential challenges and implications of such a device. Musk’s business model focuses on creating a match to ignite a new industry. SpaceX creates a cheaper way to send rockets to space that will hopefully fuel cheaper space exploration in the future. Tesla creates electrical vehicles that will hopefully fuel a profitable but sustainable manufacturing paradigm for the future.
After more than half an hour of waiting for the demo, the livestream kicked off. Though skeptical, I was waiting to see a magnificent brain-computer interface in action. A neuroscientist can dream!
The Neuralink logo appeared front and centre. The logo transitioned into a sleek, exciting video showing researchers hard at work designing what is supposed to be this revolutionary device. As the video ended, the Neuralink logo reappeared on the screen briefly, before switching to a live demonstration. It was just last year that the founder of the company, Elon Musk, hoped to…
