mvm.

We are already a cyborg to some degree … you got your phone, you got your laptop… If you’re missing your phone, it feels like missing limb syndrome.

Musk with Joe Rogan, May 2020

Set for a teaser update on August 28th, Elon Musk’s Neuralink would be the first of its kind to not only make the major population look like Arnold’s Terminator but be the first to fully link technology to support, analyse and improve the brain.

I think that’s scary on both levels.

With Musk revealing that testing people via these neural links could commence “in less than a year” from now, how far away are we really to be one-on-one with A.I?

We’ve scaled neural recording and stimulation to thousands of channels, providing a clearer picture of activity in the brain.

Neuralink

The technology is largely aimed to ‘repairing broken neural connections’ for those who suffer brain disorders including Parkinson’s, Musk mentioned in a recent podcast appearance. The sheer complexity of such a device nowadays will be so impactful on improving health conditions on devastating diseases that wipe out hundreds of us each day.

When Musk was asked on Twitter, “if we implement neuralink – can we listen to music directly from our chips?, the self-made entrepreneur and millionaire simply answered with a curt, “yes.” Nothing further is needed, it seems.

Granted – while some music headphones within the high-tech industry promises to beam music “straight to your brain,” they actually achieve this by sending vibrations to the skull – and not actually simulating neurons inside the brain, like Neuralink declared, back in 2019.

In his most recent chat with Rogan, Musk revealed that the device would need to be implanted by “removing a small section of the skull.” With Musk downplaying this zapping of the brain, like “kicking the TV,” time will truly tell us if the brain will happily accept the first prototypes.

We have a chance of putting a link in someone and having them be healthy and restoring some functionality that they’ve lost.

Musk, 2020

One thing I know for sure – the effects would be devastating on the world we see it today. Restoring lost memories? Listening to music directly to our brain neurons?

It would be a huge breakthrough in the world of science, health and music, too of course.

Of course, this may all still be a pipe-dream, as there is still a long way to go.

But – we better start thinking about it …

because it’ll be here before we know it.