Brain implants developed by Elon Musk's company Neuralink have been
approved for human testing. The safety of the devices previously came under scrutiny following reports of "botched surgeries" in animal test subjects.© NurPhoto / Contributor via Getty ImagesNeuralink has been cleared to begin the first in-human trials of its brain implants and the surgical robot used to install them.
Elon Musk's brain-implant company Neuralink has been given clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to
carry out its first trials in humans, according to news reports.Neuralink aims to use its brain-computer interface (BCI) technology to
restore movement in people with quadriplegia, meaning complete or partial paralysis of the arms, legs and trunk. Musk has also said that the brain implants could be used to
restore sight in blind people.
Neurons, or nerve cells, communicate via electrical signals to coordinate our thoughts, feelings and behavior. Neuralink's implants, which have only been tested in animals, would theoretically work by interpreting these electrical signals and transmitting the decoded information to a computer via Bluetooth. In the case of helping to restore movement, for example, the computer would then analyze the incoming information and respond by sending signals back to the body,
stimulating nerves and muscles to control movement.
The implant is inserted into a small hole in the skull created by a surgery-performing robot and the implant's electrodes are then embedded just a few millimeters into the cortex, the brain's outer layer. The procedure can be done in 30 minutes, without general anesthesia,
Musk has claimed — although again, this has never been attempted in humans.
Neuralink is not the only company working on BCI technology. For example, in 2022
Synchron implanted its Stentrode system into its
first human patient after gaining FDA clearance to begin in-human trials; the device is designed to let people with paralysis
operate assistive technologies using only their thoughts. Synchron also aims to restore movement in severely paralyzed people, according to
Forbes.
Musk once
reportedly approached Synchron's founder about a potential deal. This approach came just months before a federal investigation into Neuralink was launched to look into potential violations of animal welfare and Neuralink staff raised complaints that the company's animal testing was being rushed, leading to unnecessary animal suffering and deaths,
Reuters reported.
An animal rights group, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), filed a complaint in February 2022 that accused Neuralink of "botching surgeries." The group claimed that surgeons had used an
unapproved glue on two occasions to fill the holes in the monkeys' skulls, which then leaked onto the animals' brains and ultimately killed them. Separately, based on a PCRM tip, the
Department of Transportation is investigating whether Neuralink is taking the required precautions when transporting implants that have been removed from monkey brains.
Neuralink has killed an estimated 1,500 animals since 2018, including sheep, pigs and monkeys, Reuters reported. While it is unclear how many died due to complications with Neuralink's brain implants, Futurism reported that, in one Neuralink experiment involving 23 monkeys, five, or 21%, of the test subjects were
euthanized due to device-related issues.
Neuralink's first attempt at gaining FDA approval in 2022 was rejected on safety grounds, according to
an exclusive Reuters report. Musk, however, remains confident in the safety of Neuralink, claiming that he would be willing to implant the technology
in his children's brains and
even his own brain.
The upcoming in-human trials must prove the safety and efficacy of Neuralink's brain implants before they can become FDA-approved and widely available. Recruitment for clinical trials is not yet open,
Neuralink wrote in a tweet.
Reader Comments
But to your point, he might become the father of the borg. I'm withholding judgement, since I can do little to stop it. We'll see if the singularity this creates is to the benefit or demise of this stage of humanity.
What I’m equally certain about is it will be able to control our mood and likely our thoughts.
I’m also certain about how I feel and what I think about this Frankenstein technology. When they hacked our minds via psychology they gave us propaganda. When they hack our brains via a physical implant we’ll no longer be ourselves. As propaganda leaves us estranged from the truth, so brain implants will leave us estranged from ourselves, and God.
And now are reading the Elon Musk of brain implant, a history, a space program that can't get off the ground, Tesla cars that explode for no reason. and a Satellite program from the MOD in the US called starlight, that would be ultimate defense in defending Ukraine.
Well, if I was one of the used car salesmen in the old days, where they were full of the gab, you walked off the lot and discovered, you were sold a dud. Talk to all those exploding car owners?
But then again, he bought Twitter, lost what was it 40 Billions/millions, what does it matter, when lives in a lie of zeros, then recovered his losses according the new Forbes/Bloomberg of financial analysis as the top dog in the finance world.
The amazing thing to my mind, that people, mostly men believe in this magical journey of an of induced reality.
Isn't this a strong suggestion that there have been many such Elon Musks in the past????;-)
It makes sense in this world. Cheaper. More disruptive.
One day, one day, maybe, big maybe, people will wake up.
If you can dream it they have it.
So any of these expensive "Musk" projects are simply the last activities of a dying empire printing it's own demise.
And yet, he's got 4 hours to go on Rogan and smoke weed and pontificate. Fucking nonsense. And listening to the actual man in such a setting reveals he's just not that special or bright. He's got the long dramatic pauses down, but there's hardly any keen insights ever revealed. And now he's got endless time to Twat and argue online too....
Those in control of all the supposed technologies, he has supposedly created, they don't need him.
I see some form of exit strategy in the future...IMO it would be a wise choice.
On a separate but related note, the older I get, the more I come to realize the subjective nature of reality, and that in part due to my propensity for isolation, I have created a reality for myself that might seem insane without the context of how I came to live in my reality (what experiences and knowledge led to this worldview).