Mind Control: The Next Generation of Touchless Tech

Can you imagine having an implanted microchip in your skull, and using a wireless charger that connects to the battery from the outside? Sounds like a dystopian plot right out of the Black Mirror, but that’s what Elon Musk is setting out to do with Neuralink (because of course he is...and also, because he can).  

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What is Neuralink and why is Elon Musk building it?

The neurotechnology company aims to implant coin-sized chips into the human skull using robotic surgeons. The chip connects to the Neuralink app via Bluetooth, which allows you to control your mobile device just by *thinking* about it. Musk’s grand vision is for the fully-integrated brain computer interface (BCI) to eventually help people overcome disabilities caused by neurological disorders. This could mean helping paralyzed people walk, blind people to see, deaf people to hear, and so on. Musk also purported the possibility of the device helping cure chronic pain, anxiety, and depression.


What happened during the live demo?

The latest from the forefront of neural engineering.

Last week via webcast, Musk revealed a working demo of Neuralink on a pig named Gertrude. The BCI showed a live demonstration of Gertrude’s neurons firing in real time via auditory beeps and visual waves. With the device’s Fitbit-like temperature and pressure sensors, Musk also demonstrated that it could predict the position of Gertrude’s limbs with high accuracy. The 23mm x 8mm implant, also known as The Link, is small enough to be embedded into the 10mm-thick human skull, and has 1,024 channels that can both receive and send brain signals. 

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Tech Square ATL Social Club - DARPA Cyborg Insects

DID YOU KNOW?

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has been developing insect cyborgs for decades. 


What does the potential of this futuristic technology mean for the public?

While a handful of critics were disappointed about the demo of what Musk describes as a “Fitbit in your skull with tiny wires,” what’s remarkable about these perceived publicity stunts is Musk’s open invitation for you to dream with him time and time again. The potential of bringing this biomedical technology to the masses and the wonder of seeing self-driving electric cars on the road gives onlookers like us a glimpse of sci-fi-like technology materializing on the horizon. 

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Imagine finally being able to be like Matilda, but in the later half of this millenia, controlling any device using your mind without touch. With this imaginative experience in mind, how do you feel about actual cyborgs living among us? Moreover, what do you think about this shiny new object being replicated by other companies (as it often and quickly happens in the startup world) for different purposes? Could we expect the next generation of touchless technology to be powered by your brain signals alone? Let us know what you think in the comments below. 

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