We generally use computers using keyboards, mouse, or touchpad. And when we need to know about something, we used to browse it on Google, Facebook, or YouTube and then read some articles or watching videos to get knowledge. But is the best way to deal with computers?
So, by using a keyboard, mouse, touchpad, screen, speaker, or any input and output device we are telling what we have in our mind to a computer or computer telling us that what it knows. But this is not an efficient method to communicate with computers. But what if, we communicate with computers without typing, or command them vocally. So, it has to communicate directly using the brain. Then it’s more efficient and effective. This method is known as “Brain-Machine Interface”, or simply “BMI”. This is not a new concept, in history, many scientists tried to create a thing like it and they have succeeded many times. They were able to create BMIs to move mouse point and write an email. But any of those BMIs were not viable in our day to day life.
Elon Musk started a company named “Neuralink” in 2016 with the purpose of creating cheap, viable, and more safe BMIs that could use in our day to day life. Musk has an enormous fear of Artificial Intelligence and he called AI humanity’s “biggest existential threat” in an interview at MIT in 2014. And he reiterated his concern on AI “As AI gets probably much smarter than humans, the relative intelligence ratio is probably similar to that between a person and a cat, maybe bigger,” to Recode’s Kara Swisher in 2018. Therefore, he founded a non-profit organization, OpenAI. But Neuralink has a more solid and futuristic goal of creating AI-enabled BMIs capable of interacting with human brains. Maybe he would think, by that way, humanity could still exist and survive in the AI age by creating such a super-intelligence human. Maybe, Neuralink BMI will allow humans to achieve symbiosis with AI.
So, what kind of technology is used in this. Neuralink is the technology that helps humans interact with machines using their brain with help of BMI. Neuralink’s BMI is called “The link” and Elon unveiled the “LINK V0.9” version in the 2020 Neuralink Demo. The design of the chip resembles a small coin around 8mm in diameter and it has an all-day battery life which would be able to charge and connect to your phone wirelessly via Bluetooth with a range of 5 to 10 meters. The link contains tiny microscopic electrodes which are 1/20 thickness of a human hair and the chip plugs into the brain directly by tiny electrodes. “It’s like a Fitbit in your skull with tiny wires,” Musk explained the structure of the Neuralink BMI.
To install the chip, a tiny piece of the brain has to be removed and the chip needs to be slotted in. To do the installation process, Neuralink has developed a surgical robot. Neuralink wants to make the installation of BMI painless, quick and easy. They ensure electrodes of the chip will not damage your brain or vein. The process would complete in less than an hour without big incision and general anesthesia. The patient could leave the hospital on the same day of surgery. There will be only a tiny scar in your head after surgery and the link will not visible to out.
After the installation, the chip will be able to send and receive electrical signals. This will allow wearers to control devices like computers, machines, and other devices. The brain contains billions of neurons and it sends information to parts of the body using neurons. Every neuron connects with each other using chemical signals to form a network. Those chemical signals are called “neurotransmitters” and neurons communicate using those neurotransmitters. Every one of the signals generates an electric field. By placing tiny electrodes, we can record these chemical signals, and then electrodes translate that into an algorithm that computers can read. Not only that we could able to send signals and data to the brain using those electrodes also.
In August of 2020, Neuralink held the live demonstration, which has shown the installation of the chip in a pig’s skull. That experimental demo was a successful one which showed living animals can function normally while having the device in the brain and after the removal of the device also. They showed the live reading of real-time signals in pig’s brain neurons. The chip was in the pig’s brain for 2 months at the time. We also saw the chip predicting pig’s movements based on brain activity and we saw electrodes stimulating neurons and lighting up different brain regions which were awesome.
According to Elon, Neuralink obtained “FDA breakthrough device” designation which will allow them to do the limited human testings under the guidelines of FDA for medical devices in July 2020. This will accelerate their ambition of getting a medical device that could use to treat. According to Musk and Neuralink, the technology could be used to operate robots, cure paralysis, treat mental issues like depression, anxiety, addiction, treat spinal injuries, stream music directly with the brain, and extend the range of hearing beyond normal frequencies that humans able to hear now. Not only that you will also able to download new skills to your brain.
But they don’t want to stop there. They will cure blindness by implanting the chip in the visual cortex. Furthermore, Neuralink will enable humans to superhuman vision, telepathy, the ability to see UV light, connecting the brain into a robot, store your memory, upload, and download things to the brain. Musk said “the future’s gonna be weird” in the same demo after explaining the capabilities of the link. I don’t know whether it’s practical or not but these things are most likely to the things we were watched in sci-fi movies. But the Neuralink will surely move us to the next level of civilization.
But before succeeding in this futuristic goal, Neuralink has some ethical and technical hurdles to cross. We congrats them to succeed in their future plans. At Inventho, we intend to give you more about Science, Technology, Space, Motivational and Inspirational stories in addition to aware you with latest news in the science world. Stay tuned with us by subscribing to our website or Facebook page.
