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Neuralink video of a monkey playing brain pong.
Couple of comments in this thread https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1380313600187719682
Couple of comments in this thread https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1380313600187719682
2/ Moving a cursor with brain signals isn't new. Although the monkey does play Pong pretty fast.
The cool part is what you don't see--no big head stage or fat wire bundle coming out the head. It appears all the electronics is wireless and under the ape skull. That is new.
The cool part is what you don't see--no big head stage or fat wire bundle coming out the head. It appears all the electronics is wireless and under the ape skull. That is new.
3/ You may wonder why the monkey is sucking on that pipe the whole time. It is not Elon's new bong. Usually, to incentivize animals, researchers leave them without water overnight or longer. Probably the pipe is giving the monkey drops of water.
4/ or perhaps a banana smoothie
5/ Playing pong is not merely a demonstration. A while back, we spoke to a paralyzed man, Nathan Copeland, who has a different brain-computer interface, and he said he mostly wanted to play video games with it. https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/07/19/238809/nathan-copeland-man-with-brain-implant-on-elon-musk-neuralink-brain-computer-interface/
6/ here is old video of Nathan playing video games with a brain implant. https://twitter.com/antonioregalado/status/1152256303177318400
7/ neither here nor there, but monkey Pong fulfills our 2019 pre-unveiling prediction of what Neuralink would be doing. https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/07/16/134171/elon-musks-brain-interface-company-is-promising-big-news-heres-what-it-could-be/
8/ If the Neuralink system is entirely enclosed in that monkey's brain, that really does represent the type of advanced integrated system that Elon Musk's $ and approach can bring to brain-computer interfaces (previously to electric cars, rockets).
For comparison...
For comparison...
9/ Researchers with the BrainGate consorium, the mainstay of academic BCI research, just published the first demonstration of *wireless* brain control over a cursor by paralyzed *humans.* But you can still see a bunch of electronics screwed onto the skull of the two subjects.
10/ The image is from the recent article "Simeral et. al. Home Use of a Percutaneous Wireless Intracortical Brain-Computer Interface by Individuals With Tetraplegia, IEEE"
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=9390339
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=9390339
11/ You can read about the BrainGate wireless setup in this 2015 article. Took the academics a quite a while to apply it to humans https://www.technologyreview.com/2015/01/14/169635/a-brain-computer-interface-that-works-wirelessly/
12/Human subjects remains something that Neuralink doesn't have (that we know of). They will probably get there, but it's tricky. Paralyzed subjects are sick and sometimes fragile. It's not a game of Pong. It's not just for a press release.
13/In fact, in the image I posted above, of the BrainGate wireless device, two subjects are shown. The old man on the right, but on the left you can see the head stage is on the cranium of an African American. That other subject is already deceased.
14/ The point is that 'quads', or quadraplegics, are the first who might need this tech...but are at risk of death and often in difficult psychological place. Remember Chris Reeves, the Superman actor, who lived for about 9 years after the accident that left him paralyzed.
15/Neuralink does plan to work with paralyzed people. Aim is to give people "their digital freedom back": let them communicate via text, take pictures, play games.
16/ "Digital freedom" is an interesting phrase. May signal an important shift compared to past BCI research, which often aimed to let people control robots, graspers, or even their own limbs---ie physical freedom. A purely digital aim may be easier and more useful
17/ A story from 2014 about brain control over a robot arm. Was a profound experience for the subject, Jan Scheuermann, who was completely paralyzed. Not just because she moved objects around. Because she was participating in the world again.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2014/06/17/172276/the-thought-experiment/
https://www.technologyreview.com/2014/06/17/172276/the-thought-experiment/
