The first invasive brain chip that Neuralink embedded into a human brain has malfunctioned, with neuron-surveilling threads appearing to have become dislodged from the participant’s brain, the company revealed in a blog post Wednesday.
It’s unclear what caused the threads to become “retracted” from the brain, how many have retracted, or if the displaced threads pose a safety risk. Neuralink, the brain-computer interface startup run by controversial billionaire Elon Musk, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Ars. The company said in its blog post that the problem began in late February, but it has since been able to compensate for the lost data to some extent by modifying its algorithm.
The company said in its blog post that the problem began in late February, but it has since been able to compensate for the lost data to some extent by modifying its algorithm.
Because that’s what people are worried about: THE LOST DATA.
The blog is obviously targeted towards advertisers. The future looks amazing and full of possibilities. Just think about how your 8 hours of sleep alone could be turned into product placement opportunities for nestle.
When a computer reads some signal, the 0s and 1s in it’s memory is the data. The data must be processed so that the computer can understand it.
This computer is using threads to read neuron activity. It must necessarily receive data because if it didn’t it wouldn’t be reading neuron activity. They’re the same thing.
This data is processed so that the computer can make sense of the brain. Once it understands some activity it generates signals that can control external devices.
Here’s an example. Imagine a device that monitors the heart and does something to fix a problem. The device would get data on the heart and process the data so that it can perform it’s function.
Wouldn’t monitoring health concerns and mitigating data loss be extremely important in these scenarios?
The point is that this is the opening paragraph about something going wrong in human brain surgery, and the first thing they tell us is “don’t worry, the data’s fine”, rather than anything about the human. Indeed, you have to read to the last paragraph to find:
Arbaugh’s safety does not appear to be negatively impacted.
and the first thing they tell us is “don’t worry, the data’s fine”, rather than anything about the human.
I do agree it would have been significantly more considerate to mention that the person is ok first, but I feel like you’re confusing data storage (ie something they’re collecting) with data processing (ie how the device operates). The data in question is the latter. In other words, they are explaining that the problems are being accounted for so that the device can still function in the human it’s attached to.
Have they tried firing most of the neurons, keeping only the most hardcore?
I can’t believe anyone willingly got this after the monkey testing thing. They have to be taking advantage of people not fit to make decisions for themselves.
The patient became quadriplegia in a car accident, I wouldn’t call it unfit for decisions but definitely someone desperate to find a sense of normalcy.
Guy has nothing left to lose really, I don’t blame him for taking this risk considering I would strongly consider it myself were I in his situation
Yes, unfortunately this is the case. In an article I read the guy was able to pay chess and Age of Empires with his thoughts and the chip, quite impressive tech indeed, it’s just that you absolutely cannot trust anything near Musk
The only thing he could lose is only a few important brain functions, if something truly does go wrong. Nothing major. /s
Wait, is that what these brain chips are for? Well now I can’t hate on them as much as I used to if they’re meant to help people learn how to walk again. I thought it was just supposed to help you process thoughts more quickly or something, like a math coprocessor in an old 90s PC.
I thought the goal was to reconnect the brain to the spinal cord though.
But dude is still stuck in a wheelchair, and so far it’s basically been just a fancy experimental mouse cursor? Installed in his brain? And already failing?..
Watching his videos he’s a clever snd self aware guy more than capable of thinking for himself. Hate Elon but you don’t need to shit on the disabled by acting like being in a wheelchair means you can’t think for yourself
I don’t really keep up with Elon moon shits, but I think the idea is to substitute the brains neurological commands. Research is still on the “read” stage, like knowing what information the brain is requesting. Eventually neurolink will also need to discover how to relay those signals back to the nervous system in a way it understands, engaging muscles and such, effectively rebuilding the bridge that was damaged. Or robot legs or whatever, but the key is first getting the information into a format they can act on. But I’m not smart, this is just how I understood it.
I don’t know which company I would trust developing my brain implant, but it sure as hell isn’t Tesla. Their software and hardware history is less than stellar.
It’s ok, there’s still other companies to choose from. Twitter can develop your brain implant instead!
It’s all very well having a Tesla implant, until you stop at a junction and your brain catches fire.
For stellar technology you need to go to SpaceX. You’ve been shopping at the wrong Musk store.
