(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) On Wednesday night, Elon Musk’s Neuralink Corp. announced at an event at its Fremont, California, headquarters that it hopes to turn the idea of transhumanism into reality by starting to insert the company’s coin-sized computing brain implant into human patients within six months, according to the Post Millennial.
The brain-computer interface will “allow a person with a debilitating condition — such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or the aftereffects of a stroke — to communicate via their thoughts,” Bloomberg reported.
We are now confident that the Neuralink device is ready for humans, so timing is a function of working through the FDA approval process
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 1, 2022
“We are now confident that the Neuralink device is ready for humans, so timing is a function of working through the FDA approval process,” Musk said at the event. “As miraculous as that may sound, we are confident that it is possible to restore full-body functionality to someone who has a severed spinal cord.”
The product — which consists of a small device and electrode-laced wires — is implanted into a brain of a person by using a robot that carves out a piece of skull and then implants the wires onto the brain tissue.
For now, Neuralink is concentrated on making sure that the robot will be able to perform surgery quickly and with minimal harm to the human body. Musk said that he thinks one day a person will be able to sell his body to him after a quick procedure.
The discussions with the Food and Drug Administration have gone well and Neuralink is now ready to experiment on people within the next six months, according to Musk.
However, there is a competitor in the market.
“… there are some similar startups ahead of Neuralink for human trials such as Synchron Inc. that have been able to implant a small stent-like device into the brains of patients in the US and Australia,” the Post Millennial reported. “The company’s product has made it possible for patients who were unable to move or speak to communicate wirelessly via computers using their thoughts.”
During a recent product review meeting, Musk urged his engineers to work faster.
“We will all be dead before something useful happens,” he told them.
Bloomberg also reported that Musk plans to put humanity into his version of a Matrix by making his new device mainstream so that the transfer of information between humans and machines could be possible.
