Computers for brains
You can’t say he didn’t warn us. Space travel, electric cars, and autonomous vehicles just aren’t enough for billionaire Elon Musk, probably because they’re all about making machines that are smarter than we are.
To stave off the A.I. apocalypse, Musk recently launched Neuralink, a venture dedicated to achieving brain-computer interface.
Real life cyborgs
Most recently, Musk discussed the necessity of cyborg-dom at the 2017 World Government Summit in Dubai, citing the idea of a “neural lace” – an implanted overlay that would merge our brains with computer-based A.I.s.
And in January, Musk hinted in a tweet promising an announcement “Maybe next month” that he himself might be the one taking the lead in the “race to the lace,” as I hereby dub the human scramble to save ourselves from obsolescence.
So how close are we to the fabled neural lace?
Well right now, it’s stuck in the realm of science fiction.
However, electrode rays and other types of implants have been very sparingly used to treat Parkinson’s, epilepsy, and other neurodegenerative conditions.
Only a few people in the world have complex brain implants, and there are only tens of thousands of people, across the globe, with basic stimulating instruments.
Brain surgery is still brain surgery
Doctors are understandably wary of messing around in people’s brains. An implant, and the high-risk, invasive surgery that goes along with it, is usually the last resort.
But tech industry futurists like Musk won’t let a little thing like potential brain damage scare them away from the coveted neural lace.
Braintree co-founder Brian Johnson dumped $100 million of his own money into Kernel, a startup dedicated to reversing the effects of neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinson’s.
Proven electro-brain relief
“We know if we put a chip in the brain and release electrical signals, that we can ameliorate symptoms of Parkinson’s,” Johnson told The Verge last year.
“This has been done for spinal cord pain, obesity, anorexia . . . what hasn’t been done is the reading and writing of neural code.”
Both Kernel and Musk’s brand new Neuralink face an uphill battle of extensive medical research – in fact, The Wall Street Journal reports that Neuralink was founded as a medical research company, and not, as you might reasonably think, the human version of “Dumbledore’s Army.”
Still have to find a brain
Even once the science and technology are ready to go, the “lacers” will have to convince people to let them into their brains.
But depending on what A.I. is up to at that point, it might not be too hard of a sell.
