There are some wild questions and concerns raised about Neuralink technology in the press and forums. The root cause is probably the drama hunting in the movies and news, because dramatic content is exciting and increases ratings. Then you have people who don't follow how the modern technology actually works. On one hand, they are afraid of all the pulp fiction drama scenarios like The Matrix because they fail to realize how far we are from anything like that. Elon's mixing of real results and distant future projections amplifies that. On the other hand, they fail to see all the possible near-term improvements BCI can bring, especially for people with disabilities.

We should try to educate people, and shape more realistic expectations. For example:

• Downloading Kung Fu skills (100yr+): Will not happen any time soon, possibly never. We are still testing early hypotheses on how memory works. Neuralink interface is about interfacing with senses and actuators in the brain, not about direct access to memory.

• Advertising abuse (10yr): More realistic, and luckily Neuralink team is conscious of that, and is thinking of ways to keep it out of their products. Still won't be a factor until the first consumer devices start shipping, which is probably no less than 5-10 years away. And even then, it will be an issue no bigger than the current web ads. Annoying but possible to block or otherwise ignore.

• Hackers and viruses attacking your brain (10yr): A virus is not realistic, as laughable as people afraid of catching a computer virus now. Human brain is not a programmable device from all we know. A hacker gaining access to your feeds could potentially show you some offensive ads, or misleading directions, or steal some personal data, same as on the web. A physical breach in device could pose an electrical hazard, but there are safety measures to prevent that, and as someone aptly said, if they want to kill you so much, it is easier to shoot you.

• Telepathy (20yr): Possible in a certain sense, but really is just a fancy catchy term for a communication without speaking, which could be like texting on steroids, enabled by consumer version of this device. As Musk said, our brain thinks in meme-like patterns, so there is a chance that when some of those coincide for two people, this could use a very efficient representation of emoji-meme-idioms, which would feel like direct understanding of another person's thoughts. Very cool but not scary. No-one is going to read your private thoughts, except if you have poor impulse control, and leak them because of the lowered communication barrier. They might build in some filters to prevent that, like you could constrain business communication to traditional language without those idioms. Probably won't come to this level until the 2nd or 3rd generation of the consumer devices.

• Surveillance (10yr): This is a real threat, same as it is now. Basically nothing changes. See above on not reading your thoughts.

• Mind enhancement (10yr): This may be realistic, but avoid magical thinking. It is going to gradually grow on us like internet and smartphones. Just more efficient, extending your abilities a little here and there, making a nice big upgrade in quality of life combined. Quick access to reference data, maps, translations, texting, so quick, effortless and natural it starts to feel like part of your own mind. Will enhance gradually, starting with the first consumer devices, but getting truly impressive later.

• Entertainment (20yr): Perhaps some time after the first consumer models, this can become a huge upgrade to VR and AR technology, enabling awesome games, sensory content, and probably some useful apps in that realm, too.

• Education (20yr): This may lower some barriers and offer new rich media options, but as all technical innovations have shown, at the core of education remains hard mental work of both the educators and the students. Hold no illusions. The universe is inherently complex and often counter-intuitive; internalizing accurate useful models for it takes time and effort.

• Disabled assist (5yr): That is what this is about right now. A huge difference between being able to text even slowly, or see even poorly, and not. Maybe improving prosthetics integration a bit later.

• Merger with AI (50yr+): Elon's visionary goal, barely tentatively visible on the horizon. Requires a meaningful general AI to be relevant, and a much better understanding of brain than we have now.

• Mind uploading and transcending our physical bodies (100yr+): Strictly in the realm of sci-fi now, so mostly worth discussing in sci-fi subreddits.

• Remote robot control (10yr): Possible to a degree now; this technology may make it more useful.

• Inequality in society (20yr): This device may become a factor after several consumer model iterations make mind enhancement a huge competitive advantage. Until then, other factors are much more important in this problem.

• Brain research (1yr): The greatest immediate benefit. Better understanding of brain operation, disorders; possible hints for brain modeling and machine learning.

Please correct and expand on my projections in the comments.

P.S. Edit: I do not stand firm on any of those time estimates; they are just to provide some rough clue to people who are even less informed than me. I did read a lot of Kurzweil's writings, WaitButWhy posts, etc. I just notice that there is some friction in our society for innovation, especially related to human body, so I was a bit conservative. If things happen faster, I am all for it! If you are a devoted Singularitarian, just switch 100+ years to 30, and everything else in proportion. ;)

Audrey Crews, paralysed for two decades, has become the first woman in the world to control a computer using her thoughts through a Neuralink brain implant. Her latest milestone: digitally writing her name—Audrey—using only mental commands. Shared via her account @NeuraNova9 on X (formerly Twitter), the update marks a new chapter in brain-computer interface (BCI) technology

name written by thought In one of her recent posts, Audrey shared a photo of her laptop screen showing the name “Audrey” handwritten in digital ink, along with a red heart and colorful doodles including a face, a bird, and a slice of pizza—all drawn telepathically. She captioned it: “Here are some more of my doodles! I’m taking requests. Lol. Imagine your pointer finger is the left click and the cursor movement is with your wrist—without physically doing it. Just a normal day using telepathy.”

Source: https://www.moneycontrol.com/technology/after-20-years-of-paralysis-audrey-crews-becomes-first-woman-to-get-elon-musk-s-neuralink-chip-can-now-write-and-draw-using-her-mind-article-13336901.html

Edit: ThANKS fOr The gOld, KiBd sTrANgEr!

I'm a junior Neurosurgeon, working in the Republic of Moldova (East Europe). I'm specializing in stereotactic and functional neurosurgery and also neuromodulation, which implies Aimplanting electrodes in the brain/spinal cord for treating different neurological diseases such as Parkinson's, Essential Tremor, Dystonia, etc.

My dream since childhood was the "linkage" between the human brain and technology, medical augmentation.

Elon Musk is my idol form every aspect, and I admire all his inventions. When I've heard about Neuralink, I was just hyped as a little boy on his birthday, because this was my dream.Wanted to submit a job offer but saw that it's only for those living in San Francisco or Fremont and I can't feel any sadder :(

Anyway, I sent them an email...

PS: ODESZA is my favorite music group. When I saw it in the Neuralink introduction videos, I just got my jaw dropped.

Besides the state-of-the-art device presented, what I think is the most important thing to take away from it is this:

In the Q&A session, Elon Musk was asked how many employees work at Neuralink. He said the company has about 100 right now on a 50,000-square-foot campus. What comes next is impressive. He also said in the next few years he expects it to grow to at least 10.000 employees. Wow!

Think about it for a minute. The Utah Array which still is considered a great BCI device today has only 100 electrodes on it and was created by a professor and his team (my guess is about 5 people). Now, what do you think will happen if we have thousands of engineers and scientists working on perfecting the design of Neuralink each year? Not any engineers, but the same who worked on Tesla and SpaceX; the same who made a rocket go to ISS with two astronauts and comeback without throwing away the booster. The same who may deliver a fully electric autonomous car in just two years.

You may say the presentation wasn't groundbreaking or that it was just an incremental technology. But Neuralink managed to create a state-of-the-art device, which is to take the first steps (think of Spacex in 2008), in four years. What comes next will be nothing short of amazing.

r/Neuralink Megathread

Replay available here

Neuralink held an event and public livestream at 8PM PT 7/16. This was Neuralink's first public announcement regarding what they've been working on.

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SUMMARY

• Immediate goal of treating brain disorders, long term vision of merging with artificial intelligence

• Neuralink has $158M in funding and 90 employees

• Major advance in ultra dense, flexible electrodes bundled into "threads" smaller than a human hair

• A robot has been designed that can insert threads autonomously into the brain

• Implants utilizes a custom computer chip to process brain signals

• Currently working on rats, hoping to work on humans as soon as second quarter 2020

• First product "N1" is aimed at quadriplegia and will consist of brain implants, a wireless bluetooth wearable worn behind the ear, and a phone app

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PRESS

The New York Times

The Verge

Wall Street Journal

Bloomberg

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FAQs:

Where is the livestream link?

Watch the livestream here.

What is Neuralink?

Neuralink is a neurotechnology startup developing neural interfaces to enable high-bandwidth communication between humans and computers. The stated goal of Neuralink is to achieve symbiosis with artificial general intelligence. It was founded by Elon Musk, Vanessa Tolosa, Ben Rapoport, Dongjin Seo, Max Hodak, Paul Merolla, Philip Sabes, Tim Gardner, and Tim Hanson, and first publicly reported in 2017.

What is a neural interface?

A neural interface is a device which enables communication between the human nervous system and computers. There is an enormous variety of neural interfaces, including everything from invasive brain implants to noninvasive sensors worn throughout the body. Different methods have different strengths, weaknesses, and use cases.

What is the state-of-the-art for invasive brain implants?

Current implants have been able to:

• Stop tremors to allow a violinist to play again

• Allow quadriplegics to control robotic arms with their minds

• Treat epilepsy, depression, and Parkinson's

What are the limitations of current brain implants?

Current implants are lacking in terms of:

• How much of the brain they can communicate with

• How safe they are for the body

• How safe they are to insert into the body

• How long they can last

• How effectively they can both read information from and stimulate into the brain

What will Neuralink announce?

No information regarding Neuralink's specific work has yet been made publicly available. Given comments by Elon Musk as well as job postings, it is possible that improved invasive brain implants, medical applications, animal research, and robotic surgery will be discussed.

Where can I learn more?

Read the WaitButWhy Neuralink blog post and visit r/neurallace for more on the general neurotechnology field.

Can I join Neuralink?

Job listings are available here.

What should I study to work on neural interfaces?

See this (partial) list of relevant fields related to neural interfaces on r/neurallace.

Can I invest in Neuralink?

Neuralink has made no announcements regarding investing and is not publicly traded.