Brain-computer interface technology is seen by Musk as a way for humans to achieve "immortality", however, this technology needs a living "test product" before it can be formally applied.
According to CbN reported on February 15, the US animal protection organization PCRM (Committee of Responsible Medical Practitioners) filed a lawsuit last week against Neuralink, the brain-computer interface company of Musk, the world's richest man, accusing it of "abusing" monkeys.
According to Sina Technology, PCRM claims that between 2017 and 2020, neuralink-owned experimental macaques were tested in the amount of torture, and the documents seen by the group included evidence of rashes, self-harm and cerebral hemorrhage in monkeys.
The experiment, conducted by the University of California, Davis and Neuralink, reportedly involved 23 monkeys, 15 of whom died or were euthanized due to complications or "inadequate animal care." Recently, PCRM complained to the USDA about the University of California, Davis, saying the primates "face extreme pain due to inadequate animal care and highly invasive head implants during experiments."
UC Davis said it had ended its collaboration with Neuralink in 2020 and had thoroughly reviewed and approved the research protocol during the experiment. A university spokesperson told the media: "UC Davis staff provide veterinary care, including 24-hour laboratory animal monitoring, and report any incidents to the U.S. Commission on laboratory animal stewardship and use (IACUC), which conducts training and modifies programs as needed." ”
Many monkeys experienced extreme pain in the experiments, the group wrote, due to inadequate animal care and the use of highly invasive head implants in the experiments. "These highly invasive implants and associated hardware, which were drilled into animal skulls and then implanted into their brains, caused recurrent infections in these animals, severely impairing their health and affecting the integrity of the study," THE PCRM wrote. The group also gave many examples of alleged failures, claiming to have seen monkeys suffer without justification, including one monkey losing its fingers and toes, possibly as a result of "self-harm" or other forms of trauma.
PCRM claims that in another case, a monkey's skull was drilled and electrodes were implanted in its brain, causing it to develop a "hemorrhagic skin infection." According to the complaint, the monkey eventually had to be euthanized. The third example given by the group is evidence that a female macaque monkey had electrodes implanted in her brain, causing her to vomit, gheat and wheezing, which turned out to be cerebral hemorrhage.
The researchers involved in caring for the female macaque wrote that it appeared to "faint from exhaustion/fatigue." Eventually, the monkey was also euthanized.
According to CBN, Neuralink responded that from 2020, the company will transfer these monkeys to its own animal house to improve the quality of life of monkeys. The company statement said: "We are absolutely committed to working with animals in the most humane and ethical way possible. ”
Neuralink said: "All new medical devices must be tested on animals first and then on humans. This is a rule that Neuralink cannot escape, and all experiments comply with applicable federal law. ”
In response, Neuralink detailed the causes of death in several monkeys, saying that many of them were already in poor health before the trial was conducted and were about to be euthanized.
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According to CCTV, in April 2021, Neuralink posted a video of monkeys playing video games with their own minds on social media. At the time, Musk said the long-term goal of the technology was to allow paralyzed people to use their phones through their minds.
It is understood that the monkey in this video is a 9-year-old macaque monkey who has always been named Pag, and was implanted with a brain-computer interface before the video was filmed.
Initially, the research team taught Pag to play games using a joystick and rewarded it with a banana shake fed through a metal straw. At this stage, the brain-computer device records which neurons are activated, modeling the relationship between Pag's neural activity and the expected direction of movement, enabling a "brain-computer connection." The researchers then disconnected the joystick from the computer, and without the joystick, Pag controlled the cursor with only its mind and continued to play the game of ping-pong.
As a new technology, brain-computer interface has emerged some new research and applications in recent years. As early as 2016, Musk founded this company dedicated to the study of brain-computer interfaces.
The so-called "brain-computer interface" is to use the current to interact with the computer and brain cells by implanting tiny electrodes in the brain. In 2019, Musk released his first product, which is based on the principle of drilling holes in the skull with a laser, and then avoiding the cerebral blood vessels and implanting a line into the brain.
In August 2020, to verify the effects of the brain-computer interface, researchers implanted devices in the bodies of three pigs, and Musk showed viewers the real-time transmission of piglet brain activity during the live broadcast.
Musk said that the brain-computer interface is connected to neurons in the pig's nose, so when it sniffs around and touches an object with its nose, it sends out neural signals.
Musk said that in the future, brain-computer interface technology can help solve the limitations of the human body, such as helping people with quadriplegics use mobile phones or even walk again.
Editor| Sun Zhicheng, Du Hengfeng, Wang Jiaqi
Proofreading | He Xiaotao
Daily Economic News Integrates Sina Technology, CBN, CCTV Finance
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