Neuralink: Bringing Sci-Fi movies to life with BCI
Have you ever wanted to be telepathic? You are not alone, these ideas also resonate in the minds of top members of the Neuralink team, who believe over time with the development of BCI this fictitious sentiment is a lot closer to becoming a reality, thanks to Elon Musk’s company Neuralink.
Neuralink is a company that produces BCI’s (Brain Computer Interface). Simply said, these are devices that go into your brain, skull or on your head that relay or can stimulate the electrical signals from your brain to output devices(computers) in order to carry out desired actions. Common uses today, include controlling a prosthetic, or hearing through a cochlear implant. But Neuralink is trying to reach past relying on external devices and focusing on stimulating and analyzing electrical signals.
Currently, their purpose is to limit human suffering, by solving important brain and spinal issues. Their intent is to correct muffled electrical signals which prevent mobility and affect cognitive and mental health. However, they are not there quite yet.
In their Showcase, this past summer they demoed three healthy pigs who have been using their BCI, since pigs have similar brain anatomy to humans. One pig had one chip in their head, another two chips, and the last used to have a chip but now was living without one, to show that with and without the chip the pigs remained unchanged and happy. Though, the purpose of their demo was to show that the live brain signals indicating the movement of the pigs were almost identical to the predicted signals from the Neuralink in their head, but how?
How does the device work?
Tiny electrode threads which are attached to the implant penetrate 3–4 mm into the outer surface of the brain and detect electrical impulses from nerve cells and communicate this data back with compressed and exact generated signals.
These tiny strands are about the size of one human hair cut into 20 pieces, they are super thin and insulated due to the corrosive environment of the brain.
Neural lace is the technology used, it is a very thin mesh composed of threads that monitors brain function. These threads are unlike any other BCI because they read 1,024 channels of data relating to inertial measurements, pressure on the brain, and brain temperature. For reference, current BCI’s that are medically approved can only read about 100 channels of data. This data is also algorithmically filtered to highlight signals of interest in less than 900 nanoseconds(basically real-time). This is why you can see the pig’s signals instantaneously and extremely accurately.
Neuralink can also correspond to neurons, using two-photon microscopy, enabling the Neuralink team to impact neurons as the device sends electrical signals. But how does this help Humans?
When in Humans
If electrodes can influence between 1,000 and 10,000 neurons. Multiplied by 1024 channels, each device can influence over 10 million neurons. And with multiple devices, the BCI could then influence tens of millions of neurons, possibly changing someone’s life. Elon explains, “If you can sense what people want to do with their limbs, you can do a second implant where the spinal injury occurred and create a neural shunt,” which he believes could restore one’s full body motion.
They have run many experiments to mimic the conditions the device will see in the human body, like what chemicals it will come in contact with, pressures, natural pulsations, shock, and vibrations to ensure biocompatibility. Nonetheless, it is very important for this device can also co-exist in the world of technology we live in, since the device uses Bluetooth low-energy radio to correspond with the wearable device the implant communicates(and then to the app) the signal must always be strong; The Neuralink team are experimenting operating devices at different frequencies to avoid issues with signals. Once implanted, the chip would have a twelve-hour battery before the user would need to wirelessly charge it.
Getting the Neuralink
The surgery is completely done by a robotic surgeon because the device parts are so small they can not be handled by a human. The procedure is estimated to take under an hour, and won’t require any general anesthesia. Elon notes that once the surgery is permitted, it is estimated it will be a few thousand dollars which includes the BCI and the surgery, but over time the price will be much lower since the materials can be mass-produced.
They have not yet tested the chip in humans but they have been designated as a Breakthrough device by the FDA. Neuralink’s first clinical trials will be including a small number of human patients to treat paralysis or paraplegia, head surgeon Dr. Matthew MacDougall said when they have gotten permission.
Future Applications
Circling back to the idea of telepathy, some members of the Neuralink team claim that we will be able to use BCIs to communicate with one another just by thinking about it once the device is perfected. Although much more complicated, the notion that someone can send and receive an airdrop or text using a device through signals could be done through brains with the Neuralink through different signals from one individual to another who has the implant.
Understandably, it is scary to think of a future where people have brain chips. This realization, forces us to consider a world where instead of our emails getting hacked our mind might, begging the question of security and privacy, will we live in a world with laws for the Brain? Also the social inequality between those who have a brain chip and those who do not. These may seem like specific futuristic problems, but as a species, we are getting there sooner than later and questions will need to be answered.
The idea of fusing the brain and computer will be hated and resented but it may actually save our lives. Currently, we live in a world where our ideas and thoughts need to be communicated, just like writing this article- imagine if you could compress those thoughts through non-linguistic communication, we could unlock trapped creativity and ideas in a more wholly way. Not to mention the impact this would have for people with neuro-genitive disease. Collectively with all our mind’s in a similar state we may be able to solve the world’s problems, in a way that could never be put into words or expressed before. The device could also help us understand our Brain more and also pick up on chemical cues in the body to make unhealthy imbalances known in order to prevent diseases and understand them more. And, most importantly, give humanity a fighting chance against AI, which Elon calls our “greatest existential threat.” Symbiosis may seem like we are characterizing ourselves in the sequel of the novel FEED, but it may be the only way humanity can live in our collective free will.
The possibilities and growth of BCI technology are boundless (especially when Elon Musk is your CEO), and arguably the ideas it can be used for may not even be thought of yet.
We are yet to see the next evolution of humankind, where instead of our phones being in our hands, they are in our head.
