It's unclear what caused the retraction or how many threads have become displaced.
  • SadSadSatellite @lemmy.dbzer0.com
    78·
    6 months ago

    Well yeah fuck that guy and this program and it’s implications, but this particular issue doesn’t sound too unexpected considering the scope of the procedure.

    I’m all for the science, but you know this is going to be some directly streamed ads hellspace we’ll never escape from if it comes to fruition.

    Here’s a good rule for this sort of thing to move forward: No implants before right to privacy and freedom from advertising.

    • mozz@mbin.grits.devOP
      33·
      6 months ago

      Honestly I agree. I don’t think Elon Musk has demonstrated the good judgement that means a company he’s in charge of should be in there fuckin with people’s brains, but reading the article it sounds pretty frickin cool what they’re doing. I hope it works out and good things come out of it.

    • Wirlocke@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      17·
      6 months ago

      Can’t wait for FOSS brain implants, it would still be hellish but a fun kind of hellish.

      I want someone like Linus Torvalds to verbally abuse someone for not understanding basic computational neuroscience.

      • DdCno1@beehaw.org
        2·
        6 months ago

        I’m the kind of person who reads the source code of software I’m using at least some of the time (and modifies it on occasion), but I’m no genius and not qualified to notice a well-hidden backdoor or potentially fatal software bug - let alone issues with the design, construction or implantation of the hardware. I would never ever trust a brain implant or any device that interfaces directly with my brain.

      • LoreleiSankTheShip@lemmy.mlEnglish
        1·
        6 months ago

        I’d prefer no implants ever if I can help it. I’d only be fine with one if it saved my life. Otherwise, there are just too many things that can go wrong with it in ways our current technology can’t. You can go off-grid now if you get sick of tech, but that becomes infinitely harder if you have a chip in your brain

  • frog 🐸@beehaw.orgEnglish
    25·
    6 months ago

    I mean, I’d like to be surprised that a technology driven by a techbro with the “move fast and break things” mentality has broken because of moving too quickly into human trials, but…

    I guess we should just count ourselves lucky that the poor human test subject patient wasn’t permanently harmed by Musk’s raging arrogance.

    • 4dpuzzle@beehaw.orgEnglish
      2·
      6 months ago

      I’m shocked that the human trail was authorized at all, considering the fate of the monkeys that were subject to the same. I’m not confident that this man or any future subjects will be truly safe. We won’t know even if something goes wrong.

      • frog 🐸@beehaw.orgEnglish
        2·
        6 months ago

        Yeah, I’m surprised as well. I assume it’s a reflection of how weakened regulators have become that no one was able to say “no” to Musk.

    • 4dpuzzle@beehaw.orgEnglish
      2·
      6 months ago

      You have seen what he has done to twitter/X. For all his talks about freedom, free speech and survival of mankind, he is fundamentally a conservative billionaire oligarch who has no qualms about exploiting others to death to add to his wealth.

      Now just imagine if a brain implant goes the same way. Forget his delusions about backing up the human brain and telepathic nonsense. Even simple implants meant to help paraplegics are going to be dangerous under the control of people like him. Just the way the brain moves our limbs can be used against us.

      This is why it’s important to report on matters like this. So that people understand the danger and avoid it, instead of falling for the propaganda that he is some sort of tech messiah.

  • pbjamm@beehaw.orgEnglish
    6·
    6 months ago

    Buckaroo Banzai was working on similar tech all the way back in 1984!

    RAWHIDE:Dr. Banzai is using a laser to vaporize a pineal tumor without damaging the parthogenital plate. A subcutaneous microphone will allow the patient to transmit verbal instructions to his own brain.

    STAR SURGEON: What, like “raise my left arm”?

    RAWHIDE: Or “throw the harpoon,” . People are gonna come from all over. This boy’s an Eskimo.

  • meseek #2982@lemmy.ca
    4·
    6 months ago

    It’s a con. There is no chip. None that works. This is Holmes 2.0. Except he may never be caught. The project will get into more “problem” and he’ll string investors along to secure himself a net positive position before letting it languish into oblivion. It’s probably one of the things that’s actually making him money.

    Break down the whole thing. What am I supposed to go to McChip to get some kid with 6 weeks training to install these? If not some doctors with a 8y waiting list? How do you scale that part of the process? Doctors aren’t bountiful. And expensive.

    And the elephant in the room: you can’t shove some electrodes into your midbrain and do things. The video of the guy moving the cursor around can be done now in macOS Sonoma with accessibility features. It would have been a different story if he was actually thinking about opening a photo from 3 years ago and it did that. But he was just moving a cursor around.

    All he’s actually accomplished outside of lining his coffers is kill a bunch of innocent apes.

  • Gork@lemm.ee
    3·
    6 months ago

    I would have hoped that before putting this implant in the guy’s brain that they had a plan for what to do in this situation. Like coming up with a method to potentially reseat the retreated “threads” it without invasive surgery. Especially if this it’s a recurring issue.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    2·
    6 months ago

    🤖 I’m a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles:

    Click here to see the summary

    Neuralink, the brain-computer interface startup run by controversial billionaire Elon Musk, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Ars.

    The goal is for the threads to be placed near neurons of interest so that signals detected by the electrodes can be recorded and decoded into intended actions, such as moving a cursor on a computer screen.

    On January 28, the company announced that it has surgically implanted its brain-computer interface into its first clinical trial participant, 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh, who developed quadriplegia after a 2016 diving accident.

    It remains unclear why the threads moved from their placement, but one hypothesis that sources told the Journal is that there was air trapped inside Arbaugh’s skull after the surgery, a condition called pneumocephalus.

    However, the company reported that the retraction of the threads lowered his bits-per-second (BPS) rate, which is used to measure how quickly and accurately a patient with an implant can control a computer cursor.

    The Journal reported that the company has told the Food and Drug Administration—which regulates clinical trials and granted approval for Neuralink to test its device in humans—that it believes it has fixes for the problem.

    Saved 68% of original text.