Gone are the days when bionic eyes and high-tech brain implants were reserved for Arnold Schwarzenegger
and other actors in science fiction movies.
That's because Elon Musk’s Neuralink and other neurological startups are working round
the clock to make them available to everyone, including you.
And it doesn't end there.
These technologies are expected to come with several ground-breaking correctional health
benefits for humans.
Join us in today's video as we reveal Neuralink’s unstoppable brain implant chip that will revolutionize
the medical industry.
What makes this technology special?
How will they revolutionize the medical industry?
Can it be used outside the medical spectrum?
Let's find out together.
Founded in 2019, Neuralink is one of Elon Musk’s innovative startups that specializes
in developing brain implant technologies.
It hasn't gotten enough hype as Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter are getting.
Maybe because Musk hasn't dedicated enough time to it.
In fact, the Silicon Valley startup almost went bankrupt in 2020.
But things are set to change for the better following a range of new technologies that
the Musk-owned Neuralink company is set to release.
What are these products?
At the moment, scientists at Neuralink’s lab in San Francisco, California, are focused
on developing two products - a one-of-its-kind brain chip called the N1 and a surgical precision
robot that would implant them into the human brain.
This chip would be just about the size of a coin, and the wires attached to it should
be about 20 times tinier than human hair.
Very few details have been provided about the robot, but the thought of it alone is
mind-blowing.
However, we cannot claim to be surprised.
I mean, it's Elon Musk.
The guy that made the whole world fall in love with electric cars.
The guy who lobs rockets into space for fun and has a constellation of internet satellites
roaming the orbit.
Oh, and it's this same guy who's single-handedly trying to create a colony of humans on Mars.
His antics really shouldn't surprise us anymore.
How Does A Brain Implant Work?
A brain implant is an electronic device that can be placed inside the body of humans to
record neural activity.
They emit electrical signals to interact with neurons and are designed to correct any disconnection
between the pathway that connects the brain to the spinal cord and the muscles.
Basically, it's a tiny piece of high-end technology that allows Neuroscientists to hack into our
nervous system.
Considering that this system controls several voluntary and involuntary functions in our
body, including our ability to think, see, hear, feel, and move.
Neural implant treatments could be pivotal to solving a lot of medical problems that
currently have no solutions.
What Makes The N1 Special?
Before now, all of the brain implant gadgets that had been invented were wire-based systems.
However, the N1 has been designed to take a different approach because it is wireless,
battery-powered, and fully implantable.
Connections between the N1 and external computers will be facilitated through a Bluetooth protocol.
Scientists say this brain-computer interface will interact directly with the 85 billion
neurons in the human brain to stimulate dead body cells and nerves and perform mind-controlled
prosthesis.
The technology will be used to cure paralysis, memory loss, hearing loss, depression, insomnia,
morbid obesity, Parkinson's disease, and autism.
The components of this brain chip are so small that a robot is required to perform the implant
surgery.
And Elon Musk has made provision for that as well.
Developed by Neuralink and designed by Woke Studio, this brain surgery robot is about
eight feet tall.
To perform the surgery, the Neuralink bot will reportedly punch the ultra-slim wires
from the brain chip into the patient’s head using a stiff needle.
How Much Is It?
One would easily think that a technology with huge benefits like this one will cost an arm
and a leg.
But in contrast, the Neuralink brain implant chip cost $2,000 only.
That's quite affordable for lost people in the United States.
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Has It Been Tested?
So far, the Neuralink brain implant has been tested a couple of times on animals.
The first demonstration happened in 2018 when the technology was used to monitor the neural
activity in a Pig named Gertrude.
Graeme Moffat, a University of Toronto neuroscience research fellow, described the test as an
“order of magnitude leaps” above what was obtainable at the time.
The second round of testing was performed in April 2021.
This time a nine-year-old macaque monkey called Pager was used, but the results were outstanding
regardless.
At first, Pager was taught how to play a game of Pong using a joystick.
Every right move was rewarded with a sip of a banana smoothie.
After a few minutes, the joystick was unplugged, but Pager was still able to control the in-game
features with his mind, thanks to the two Neuralink implants in his head.
So far, the video has gathered six million views and over one hundred thousand likes
on YouTube.
“Neuralink's monkey can play Pong with its mind.
Imagine what humans could do with the same technology,” David Tuffley, a Senior ICT
Lecturer at Griffith University, asked on Twitter.
Paul Nuyujukian, director of the Brain Interfacing Laboratory at Stanford University, gave some
insights into what this ground-breaking technology will offer.
“We are on the cusp of a complete paradigm shift.
This type of technology has the potential to transform our treatments.
Not just for stroke, paralysis, and motor degenerative disease, but also for pretty
much every other type of brain disease.”
In January this year, Neuralink advertised a role for “clinical trial director,”
which means there are plans to carry out human testing in the not too distant future.
Especially because Neuralink’s biggest rival, Synchron has started testing its brain implant
technology on some patients in Australia and America.
The potentials are encouraging, but scientists believe we must be cautious in implementing
this technology on a large scale.
This is because the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has classified the Neuralink implant
as a class-3 medical device because, amongst all other medical devices, they pose the highest
form of risk to patients.
Elon Musk and Neuralink have an uphill task trying to convince the FDA to approve this
gadget.
More because it doesn’t have a predecessor as no other technology of its kind has been
approved.
Neuralink will attempt to change that by submitting a well-versed document.
The FDA will have three months to respond.
Musk is, however, confident that human trials could begin as early as 2023.
“We hope to have this in our first humans, which will be people that have severe spinal
cord injuries like tetraplegics, quadriplegics, next year, pending FDA approval,” Musk told
the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council summit.
Can Neuralink Be Used Outside The Medical Spectrum?
Trust Elon Musk to add a tiny element of surprise to the mix.
According to reports, Musk hopes that one day, the Neuralink device will be used for
conceptual telepathic communication.
Basically, what this means is that two or more people will be able to communicate with
their minds.
You’ll finally be able to gossip with your friends in class without getting caught.
But this next one is even more impressive.
Elon Musk says this technology would also be used to backup and restore human memories.
According to the billionaire, we’ll be able to save and replay these memories and wait
for it….there’s also a possibility that they could be uploaded into a new body or
robot.
That’d be revolutionary, to say the least!
However, some people have welcomed this news with great pessimism.
There have been questions like, what if the technology gets into the wrong hands where
it can be potentially used to cause havoc?
There are also other concerns about radiation and the probability of the device exploding
inside the patient’s body.
Some of these pessimistic opinions are valid, but the benefits of this Neuralink brain implant
are much more superior.
Studies have shown that up to one billion of the world’s population suffers from different
neurological disorders.
And the fate of these people could depend on the success of this groundbreaking technology
pioneered by Elon Musk.
If everything goes as planned, clinical trials of the Neuralink brain chip will be in full
swing a few months from now.
And depending on the results, it could become a standard treatment option for patients with
neurological disorders within a few years from now.
And once again, Elon Musk will get the full credit he deserves for being one of the best
minds in the tech world.
What do you make of the Neuralink brain implant?
Leave your comments down below.
And be sure to check out this video over here.