Elon Musk's Neuralink has published a live-streamed video on X, formerly known as Twitter, of the first patient with a brain implant, as part of the company's clinical trial with humans.
The video features 29-year-old Nolan Arbaugh who said he's a complete quadriplegic after a "freak driving accident", and paralysed from the shoulders below, assisted by a Neuralink engineer. Arbaugh is using the Neuralink brain-computer interface to control the cursor on a computer screen.
— Neuralink (@neuralink) March 20, 2024
He said receiving the implant was "super easy" and using it involves training yourself to differentiate between imagined and attempted movements.
After a while, Arbaugh said the process had become very intuitive, to imagine the cursor moving. "Like using the force," Arbaugh said. He compared the experience to using a mouth stick, and while generally positive about the Neuralink implant, he did say it's not perfect and that there are some issues with lots more work to be done.
"It's crazy, it really is. It's so cool," is his verdict on the device he calls life changing. Watch the video and see for yourself.
2 Comments
Well worth the time to watch.
Personally, I doubted there would be sufficient neural plasticity to gain much function from Neuralink, but this gives a lot of hope.
Think of how much people bitched about covid lockdowns, then consider the degree of lifelong lockdown people such as this suffer when they lose control of their limbs, and the far wider impact it has on their families.
This has potential to greatly enhance peoples lives. With a bit more tech and hardware this guy could hand control from his laptop to a hoist, to a wheelchair, to a commode, to a bidet.
Suddenly nobody needs to be there to wipe his backside, and his world suddenly extends a lot further than his bedroom.
Slightly disappointing (if perhaps fitting for the zeitgeist) that the first use for a system as sophisticated as Neuralink is to play games, and absolutely, 100% nothing else.
But still, this is astounding progress that could create a completely new future for anyone like Nolan.
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment.
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.