Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk recently spoke about a very exciting topic, that is the idea of working to create an interface connecting the human brain with computers. As far fetched and unreal as the idea sounds, there are companies already working on it and Musk’s Neuralink Corp is one of them.
Musk has a knack for creating companies and tackling problems that are viewed a part of life by others, Look at Tesla, look at SpaceX……Musk takes what is believed to be impossible and by sheer will, creates a marketable solution. As grand as both Tesla and SpaceX are, Neuralink may be grander still and could well propel us into an altogether different sort of future.
For now, the company is focusing upon products that will help with a slew of severe brain injuries caused due to stroke, cancer lesion etc. However, that would be but a stop in its ultimate journey – which at its root, is exploiting the potential of the human brain. While a lot of how that will happen is uncertain, Musk talked about how humans will need to implant neural laces in order to keep up with the computers of tomorrow.
There are a bunch of concepts in your head that then your brain has to try to compress into this incredibly low data rate called speech or typing.
And brain interfaces could change that. According to Elon Musk, with two brain interfaces, you could actually do an uncompressed direct conceptual communication with another person. Or, converse telepathically. While the idea of having a device implanted in out body is totally alien at this point, Musk says that we are already part-cyborgs.
Speaking on the topic, Musk said:
The thing that people, I think, don’t appreciate right now is that they are already a cyborg. You’re already a different creature than you would have been twenty years ago, or even ten years ago. You’re already a different creature. You can see this when they do surveys of like, “how long do you want to be away from your phone?” and—particularly if you’re a teenager or in your 20s—even a day hurts. If you leave your phone behind, it’s like missing limb syndrome. I think people—they’re already kind of merged with their phone and their laptop and their applications and everything.
Meanwhile, the technology could actually be closer than you imagine it to be. Musk believes that prototypes to help the disabled will be ready in four years while, it could reach people with no disability in as soon as ten years. Exciting right?
