Elon Musk-led Neuralink has shared a historic milestone that has the potential to catapult technology far beyond what we deemed possible. The company has shared a video on X (formerly Twitter), showcasing a quadriplegic man manipulating his computer cursor and even playing chess just by thinking about it.
Neuralink has been working on brain-computer interface technology called “Telepathy”. Musk confirmed last month that the first person to test the technology via an implanted chip has been making good progress.”Progress is good, and the patient seems to have made a full recovery, with neural effects that we are aware of. The patient is able to move a mouse around the screen by just thinking,” Musk had disclosed in a Spaces event on X.
Fast forward a month later, we can see the patient, now identified as 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh, move a cursor and play chess and Civilization VI on his computer thanks to Neuralink.
In 2016, Musk founded Neuralink as a medical research organization with the goal of transforming the way people with disabilities engage with the world around them. Using a complex implantation procedure, a robot embeds the chip, slightly larger than a coin, with thread-like electrodes going inside the brain to facilitate communication between neural activity and communication devices.
Arbaugh, who was rendered paralyzed from the shoulders down after a diving accident, has shared his enthusiasm about Telepathy saying, “I’m so freaking lucky to be a part of this, every day it feels like we’re learning new stuff”.
Despite showing immense potential, people have been hesitant about supporting Neuralink, owing to ethical reasons. The company was recently embroiled in scandals about allegedly causing severe distress and physical harm to primates via animal testing.
However, the technology itself has become the cause for optimism regarding better accessibility for disabled people.
