Neuralink : Musk reveals pigs in his demonstration

Neuralink: Elon Musk reveals pigs in his demonstration

Have you been a fan of ghost in the shell, altered carbon, and marvel's iron man?
If yes, then Elon Musk is here to fulfill your fictional dreams.
A few years before, Elon Musk publicized the idea of connecting a small chip into the brain of people and then boom he founded Neuralink in July 2016.
With Neuralink, Elon Musk promised to create the neural chip or BCI (Brain-Computer Interface) which can one day help humans to connect to technology around and move one step ahead in the future.

Brain Computer Interface

On 28th August 2020, Elon Musk showed us a live alibi to his idea by going on a live interview session about the new upgraded neural link chipset.

So is this something new in the world?

Previous attempt toward BCI (Neuralink/YouTube)

The answer is no, the first occurrence of such an idea was practiced in the 1990s. After that many attempts have been made by many companies to create some prototypes and even finished products such as Utah array and Deep Brain Stimulation, which are tested and have helped many people.

So what does Elon Musk have different?

Elon Musk With Neuralink Chip
(Neuralink/YouTube)

First of all the Neuro-tech created by these companies have a greater size due to which we have to cut a bigger chunk of the brain which may lead to accidents or even brain failure. In comparison to that Elon Musk's device is a small coin-shaped chip or like a Fitbit as stated by Elon himself which will fit in your head without anyone noticing it. Secondly, it’s wireless and can be removed once inserted as stated by Musk himself.

Upgrade to the Device from Last summer presentation

A comparison between Previous and Today's Neuralink(Neuralink/YouTube)

At first, the device presented by the Neuralink team was quite bigger than the updated one; the older version had the chip wired behind your ear. The updated version is a small coin-shaped device which is directly inserted in your skull. It is inductively chargeable and has a full day battery, I know we were expecting it to be like iron man’s arc reactors but that's too far to be applied practically currently with the available resources. Elon also added that these devices will be upgradeable and will be able to be removed completely from the brain.

Specifications of the device Link V0.9:-

Specification of the Link V0.9
(Neuralink/YouTube)

It has in total of 1024 channels per link. The dimensions for the device are 23 mm x 8 mm.
It is invisible to naked eyes due to its size.
It has many sensors like 6-axis IMU, temperature sensor, pressure, etc. and has an all-day battery.

Insertion of neuralink:-

Insertion of the Neuralink in Humans
(Neuralink/YouTube)

The neuralink chip is inserted into your skull. A robot cuts a coin-shaped part from your skull then the chip is inserted into your skull and then the skin is patched once again.
The duration of the surgery is predicted to be close to an hour and can also be performed without any general anesthesia.

The surgery robot:-

Robot for the operation
(Neuralink/YouTube)

The major part of the surgery is performed by a robot and minor adjustments are supervised by professional neurosurgeons. Elon stated that the future version of the surgery robots will be able to perform full surgery without any help.

The three pig experiment:

Gertrude Pig (Neuralink/YouTube)

The Neuralink team demonstrated a three pig experiment. Pigs named Joyce, Gertrude, and Dorothy were used as test subjects for the experiment. Joyce (first pig) was not implanted with any chip at all to show how a normal pig behaves. While Gertrude (second pig) was implanted with the chip and was seen healthy and happy. The third pig Dorothy was implanted with the chip which was removed to illustrate the reversibility of the neuralink chip and she was too seen in happy and healthy condition. Surprisingly there was a fourth pig with two neuralink chips implanted into its skull and this one was also healthy. These chips have 1000 channels and Musk added they will increase the number of channels by a factor of 100 in the near future.

Motion Sensing (Neuralink/YouTube)

For instance, in the interview, they showed the movement of the pigs mapped on a screen with the data sent by the chip.

Neuralink Reading the brain activity
(Neuralink/YouTube)

So does it work on humans??

For now, it has not been tested on humans but the FDA has approved the testing of this device on humans which may give a new lead towards the improvements and adjustments to the device for it to be adaptable to the human brain.

Potential of such technology:

The potential of such technology is high if it is implemented properly, then it will take us to new heights. We will be able to talk to AI, do stuff like typing and listening to music directly through our thoughts, draw images we imagine about directly on the screen and may be able to control the emotional state of a person, etc. It has negative potential such as the government to control one's interest or even hackers manipulating one's mind to suicide or even murder someone. Transferring one's consciousness into another mind. Imagine not using hardware devices like phones or computers to do the daily work or make calls.We could talk to each other directly from the implant. In short, everything is possible.

Public opinions towards the chip:

 People on twitter asked questions like "can we play games on it?"To which Elon replied by saying yes! but for now, we are concerned with health-related purposes. People are interested in using it majorly for entertainment and for doing techy stuff. While the company at hand claims to be focused on general health-related problems like handicap body parts which lack signal transmission from the brain to the affected part and paralysis etc as stated by Elon Musk. But currently, they haven't achieved any significant stage in health benefits that Elon Musk claims.

We will get more clarity on the neuralink chipset and the questions that come with it as soon as the first finished product is launched in the market. Until then I'm looking forward to seeing this technology in action.