Recently, Musk's brain-computer interface company Neuralink has caused a hot discussion in the open recruitment of top neural directors. Recruitment information shows that becoming a clinical director will cooperate with the first batch of participants in clinical trials, and will lead the team to carry out clinical research activities. The recruitment message appears to people to indicate that Musk's company is preparing to start human clinical trials.
Animal experiments went smoothly and began to be converted to human clinical trials
Last year, Neuralink released a video of an experiment in which monkeys were able to use "consciousness" to play games by implanting brain-computer chips into monkey brains and using chips to analyze neuronal activity. The video shows that the test monkey successfully implemented the normal operation of the game with the blessing of the brain-computer chip.
After the success of the trial, Musk publicly stated that he would apply to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for human trials, and if it was successful, he would complete human clinical trials in 2022. Although the current application has not yet been approved, Musk has been eager to prepare and plan for related work in order to complete the superhuman cognitive plan through the brain-computer interface as soon as possible.
What can brain-computer interfaces bring to humans?
For the brain-computer interface, people who have seen "The Matrix" believe that they are more familiar with it, and they can realize the installation of interfaces in the human brain to bring humans into the virtual world. Of course, the picture depicted in the movie is far from being realized with the current technology, and it is unknown whether such a picture will appear in the future.
At this stage, the role of brain-computer interface is more for the treatment of some diseases with brain nerve damage or disorders, by replacing defective or missing neurons with circuits, so that patients can regain their normal life ability. This application field is currently the main direction of major enterprises in various countries.
Currently, a brain-computer company called Synchron, implanting a related brain-computer chip on a patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), has realized the transmission of simple electronic information through brain thinking alone, and the message transmitted is "Hello World". Experiments seem to have shown the possibility of human rehabilitation through this technique.
Of course, while many companies are researching with the goal of treating patients, their research doesn't stop there. For example, in Musk's view, the future society will be the era of artificial intelligence, the normal development of the human brain will inevitably lag behind artificial intelligence, human beings want not to fall behind, you need to use the brain machine to achieve human brain intelligence (HI) to achieve catch-up.
Or the brain-computer interface will become a way for people to realize the metaverse, and now the major Internet companies are using hardware devices such as VR/AR, but in the eyes of many people, those devices are only a transitional stage, and the final realization of the metacosm will use the brain-computer interface to bring human thinking into the virtual world.
The "Matrix" may become the biggest obstacle to brain-computer development
No matter how advanced a technology is, whether it can eventually be promoted and developed and applied still faces many practical problems. This technology is extremely advanced, but as described in The Matrix, it has developed to a certain extent, is it a person who controls the device or a device that controls the person?
Implanting a chip in the human brain to transmit information may enable people to store, play back, and transmit various information like computers. But it should be known that information transmission is two-way, the human brain neurons send signals can be received, parsed and performed specific actions by the chip, and the same chip can also transmit signals to the brain, so that people can also perform specific actions, and eventually make people become the carrier of the machine.
It sounds alarmist, but it is highly likely. In addition to safety issues, there are also a series of problems that need to be solved, such as ethical issues and the formulation of relevant standards. Nowadays, all countries have elevated brain-computer development to national strategies as high-tech research.
However, the research direction is still more to explore the human brain, overcome related brain diseases, and conduct brain-like research. In terms of mass field entertainment, the metaverse is not yet within the scope of development, and the behavior of finally letting everyone implant interfaces needs to be pondered!
summary
The human brain interface is constantly advancing, and whether it will develop into the Matrix in the future will take time to verify. Technological updates are driving human progress, and what was once presented in science fiction movies is perfectly presented in the future or in real life. For this new technology, many people believe that it will be the first time in the history of human development that artificial intervention in its own evolution will enable mankind to move towards a new stage. What do you think of epoch-making technology?
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