Neuralink is a company co-founded by billionaire Elon Musk and it is unlike any of his other ventures. The company recently held an event after almost four years and some big announcements were to be made. The technology may sound strange, but human trials of Neuralink will begin within six months. Neuralink organized a ‘show and tell’ event where they demonstrated the steps taken in their technology. A primate was used to show some of the progress Neuralink has made over the years.
What is Neuralink?
The explanation lies in the name. Neuralink aims to manufacture a product that aims to augment or supplement the human brain. It calls itself a brain-computer interface company. The company aims to use the implant in the brain and use it to control computers with the help of brain activity (nerve impulses).
technology has been tested on pigs and monkeys. This year’s exhibit demonstrated the use of the Neuralink implant in a monkey’s brain. The implant was used to prompt the monkey to type ‘Welcome to Show and Tell’ at the start of the event.
how did musk explain it
During the event, Musk said Neuralink is like replacing a piece of your skull with a smartwatch. “For lack of a better analogy, it’s like replacing a piece of your skull with a smartwatch,” he said.
A piece of the skull is removed using precise robotic needles. During the demo, the engineers claimed that the small computation could be placed in the skull in about 15 minutes and that it would use 64 ‘threads’ to function in the desired fashion. These hair-like threads will be inserted into the brain at a very specific depth with the help of robotic equipment.
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Since it runs on battery, you will need to charge it as well. The engineers demonstrated how a monkey was lured into a position beneath a wireless charger to juice up the system.
