6 ms·

Elon Musk's Neuralink looks to begin outfitting human brains with faster I/O

36 points by tcarn 7y ago

devoply 7y ago
In the 90s they did something similar, wiring up some poor soul who did not have any other options with a bunch of wires to make him walk by wiring impulses from the brain to the legs eventually to abandon him with all the wires still plugged up into him when the funding was cancelled. Please don't be that guy. This is very far fetched and totally science fiction and much like most of Musk's other schemes, or maybe like Elizbeth Holmes schemes, does not really match up with reality of what's possible.
- alunchbox 7y ago
  Didn't they already prove they can send images, feeling etc.. through the net from Chimp to Chimp. And more recently done this with humans? I 100% agree about not leaving these people in an unstable and uncomfortable state as that's inhumane, but I don't think we should be saying this isn't possible or reality.
  - devoply 7y ago
    Yes Chimp 2 verbally described what Chimp 1 saw in great detail so it was completely proven and could not have been a fluke as much of science these days tends to be so they can justify more funding.
- chillacy 7y ago
  The article seems to imply that it’s not very far along, they only said it was tried on rats and collected data at 10x the bandwidth of existing methods. Then said they announced to hire. Tech like this is bound to happen at some point in the next... 20, 100, 200 years? Someone’s gotta be first in line as it happens.
jammygit 7y ago
After just reading that recent article about working conditions at Tesla and the struggles there to produce at high enough quality levels, it is surprising that he is working on this as well. One can't help but to take it seriously considering his other achievements, but I hope he doesn't stretch himself too thin. - Tesla - SpaceX - Boring Co - Neuralink - Flamethrower innovator edit: the video linked in the ars technica article about similar tech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=QRt8QCx3BCo https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=QRt8QCx3BCo
- mandeepj 7y ago
  > Flamethrower innovator It was a small project or just sidekick. It's done >Boring Co Seems like no struggles there. Tech is established >Tesla They scaled it and are out of production hell > SpaceX Things are going smooth there. They have nailed landings and launches. No immediate fires to address Looks like Elon have some capacity to focus on other endeavors.
  - jameslevy 7y ago
    The only fires that SpaceX needs to address are the actual ones, like at the launchpad explosion a couple months back.
    - mlindner 7y ago
      You mean a couple years ago? There hasn't been a launchpad explosion since 2016. That was resolved a long time ago.
      - FrojoS 7y ago
        Crew Dragon (still uncrewed) exploded on April 20 this year during a test after its return from ISS. https://www.space.com/spacex-crew-dragon-explosion-nasa-memo.html https://www.space.com/spacex-crew-dragon-explosion-nasa-memo... It sounds like the program was only set back for a few months though.
- 7y ago
LinuxBender 7y ago
Will there be a bug-bounty program for the wireless brain interface?
pontifier 7y ago
I think he's hit the nail on the head about symbiosis with AI. If we can start to augment our own intelligence then we can, like he said, "go along for the ride". I feel like we've read a lot of the same Sci-Fi books... here are some of my favorites that involve augmented intelligence and the possible AI struggles in the future: True names, the Peace War books, as well as the short story "Bookworm, Run!" by Vernor Vinge. Old man's war by John Scalzi. The Heechee Saga by Frederick Pohl. The Fall Revolution series by Ken MacLeod. The Virga series by Karl Schroeder. Musk is playing an active role in the Sci-Non-Fi that we'll all be a part of if we live long enough...
- pontifier 7y ago
  Watching the video, near the end, I started thinking about wireheads in the Known Space books by Larry Niven... Sign me up!
nikolay 7y ago
Elon really likes to be the real-life Iron Man...

36 points by tcarn 7y ago

In the 90s they did something similar, wiring up some poor soul who did not have any other options with a bunch of wires to make him walk by wiring impulses from the brain to the legs eventually to abandon him with all the wires still plugged up into him when the funding was cancelled. Please don't be that guy. This is very far fetched and totally science fiction and much like most of Musk's other schemes, or maybe like Elizbeth Holmes schemes, does not really match up with reality of what's possible.

alunchbox 7y ago
Didn't they already prove they can send images, feeling etc.. through the net from Chimp to Chimp. And more recently done this with humans? I 100% agree about not leaving these people in an unstable and uncomfortable state as that's inhumane, but I don't think we should be saying this isn't possible or reality.
- devoply 7y ago
  Yes Chimp 2 verbally described what Chimp 1 saw in great detail so it was completely proven and could not have been a fluke as much of science these days tends to be so they can justify more funding.
chillacy 7y ago
The article seems to imply that it’s not very far along, they only said it was tried on rats and collected data at 10x the bandwidth of existing methods. Then said they announced to hire. Tech like this is bound to happen at some point in the next... 20, 100, 200 years? Someone’s gotta be first in line as it happens.

jammygit 7y ago

After just reading that recent article about working conditions at Tesla and the struggles there to produce at high enough quality levels, it is surprising that he is working on this as well. One can't help but to take it seriously considering his other achievements, but I hope he doesn't stretch himself too thin. - Tesla - SpaceX - Boring Co - Neuralink - Flamethrower innovator edit: the video linked in the ars technica article about similar tech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=QRt8QCx3BCo https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=QRt8QCx3BCo

mandeepj 7y ago
> Flamethrower innovator It was a small project or just sidekick. It's done >Boring Co Seems like no struggles there. Tech is established >Tesla They scaled it and are out of production hell > SpaceX Things are going smooth there. They have nailed landings and launches. No immediate fires to address Looks like Elon have some capacity to focus on other endeavors.
- jameslevy 7y ago
  The only fires that SpaceX needs to address are the actual ones, like at the launchpad explosion a couple months back.
  - mlindner 7y ago
    You mean a couple years ago? There hasn't been a launchpad explosion since 2016. That was resolved a long time ago.
    - FrojoS 7y ago
      Crew Dragon (still uncrewed) exploded on April 20 this year during a test after its return from ISS. https://www.space.com/spacex-crew-dragon-explosion-nasa-memo.html https://www.space.com/spacex-crew-dragon-explosion-nasa-memo... It sounds like the program was only set back for a few months though.
7y ago

LinuxBender 7y ago

Will there be a bug-bounty program for the wireless brain interface?

pontifier 7y ago

I think he's hit the nail on the head about symbiosis with AI. If we can start to augment our own intelligence then we can, like he said, "go along for the ride". I feel like we've read a lot of the same Sci-Fi books... here are some of my favorites that involve augmented intelligence and the possible AI struggles in the future: True names, the Peace War books, as well as the short story "Bookworm, Run!" by Vernor Vinge. Old man's war by John Scalzi. The Heechee Saga by Frederick Pohl. The Fall Revolution series by Ken MacLeod. The Virga series by Karl Schroeder. Musk is playing an active role in the Sci-Non-Fi that we'll all be a part of if we live long enough...

pontifier 7y ago
Watching the video, near the end, I started thinking about wireheads in the Known Space books by Larry Niven... Sign me up!

nikolay 7y ago

Elon really likes to be the real-life Iron Man...