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Neuralink Show and Tell event

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
Full event:



00:00 Steampunk Elevator Music
16:06 Intro & Overview (Elon)
36:38 Generalized Interface to the Brain (DJ)
41:43 Live Robot Demo!
45:45 Neural Decoding (Nir)
51:35 BCI Reliability (Bliss)
55:48 Spike Detection (Avinash)
1:00:23 Robot Demo Result!
1:00:58 Charging (Matt)
1:05:23 Implant Testing (Julian)
1:11:16 Accelerated Lifetime Testing (Josh)
1:16:48 Surgery Engineering (Christine)
1:23:52 Upgradeability (Alex)
1:28:40 Needle Design & Manufacturing (Sam)
1:33:55 Proxy Design (Lesley)
1:37:09 Vision Applications (Dan)
1:46:42 Spinal Cord Applications (Joey)
1:54:49 Q&A


10 minute highlight:





"
In the intro video of Neuralink’s Show and Tell event, Pager the monkey seems to be learning to type words with his mind.

Elon Musk enters the stage and welcomes everyone to the event. Wasting no time at all, Musk dives into Neuralink’s Show and Tell, starting with the company’s goals. Neuralink’s goal is to make a generalized I/O interface for the brain that could help people with debilitating conditions.

Musk hints that some of the topics covered during the event will reach an esoteric level. He reaffirms that Neuralink is confident that its device will help people suffering with brain injuries along the way to bridging the gap between computers and the human brain.

“We are confident that this point we will succeed at solving many brain injury issues spine injury issues along the way,” he said.

Musk shows a video of Pager playing “Monkey Mind Pong.” The video was released about 18 months ago. The Tesla CEO emphasizes that Neuralink’s device is not outwardly obvious to others.

Pager initially learned to play Pong with a joystick. Neuralink later took the joystick away and had Pager play Pong with his mind though Neuralink’s device.

HUMAN TRIALS​

Musk reminds the audience that going from prototype to production is difficult and has many challenges. Neuralink has been working hard to start human trials. The company has submitted all the papers needed to start human trials to the FDA. Musk estimates that the first Neuralink device could be inside the human brain in 5-6 months.

Elon Musk emphasizes that Neuralink treats its animal subjects with respect. The company does extensive benchmark tests before implanting a Neuralink device into an animal.

Another Neuralink monkey, Sake, is typing with his brain. Sake spelled out the Neuralink event’s welcome tag: “Welcome to show and tell.”

NEURALINK UPGRADEABILITY​

Both Sake and Pager have successfully implanted with Neuralink’s upgraded device.

“Upgradeability is very important because our first production device will be much like an iPhone 1 and pretty sure you would not want an iPhone 1 stuck in your head if the iPhone 14 is available,” Elon Musk.

NEURALINK APPLICATION​

Elon Musk says that Neuralink can restore vision, even on someone who was born blind. The company is also confident that the Neuralink device can restore full functionality to a severed spinal cord.

RECRUITMENT​

“If you have expertise in creating advanced devices, like watches and computers, then your abilities will be of great use in solving these problems,” Musk said.

NEURALINK IMPLANT AND SURGICAL ROBOT​

Elon Musk passes the baton to DJ, who has been at Neuralink since the beginning. DJ talks about creating a high bandwidth generalized interface to the brain. He talks about safety, scalability and access to brain regions, the three pillars to get high bandwidth generalized interface to the brain.

DJ talks about the Neuralink implant (the N1) with thin threads N1 implant is about the size of a quarter. It has 1,024 channels that are capable of recording and stimulating.

He also talks about Neuralink’s surgical robot (the R1 Robot) that will help implant the company’s device into the brain. Neuralink does a live demo of the R1 robot at work with dummy patient Alpha.

Neuralink has a double operating room (OR) in Austin. The company plans to establish its own clinic in the future.

“Neuralink’s been working closely with the FDA to get approval to launch its first clinical human trial in the US hopefully in the next 6 months,” noted DJ.

NEURALINK SOFTWARE​

Neuralink has been working on improving cursor speed and accuracy since 2021. The speed and accuracy has improved, but Neuralink is still working on improving it. The company is also working on a mouse and keyboard interfaces to work with Neuralink N1.

Neuralink is training monkeys to write so it can get rid of digital keyboards and increase the typing rate when patients use the N1 implant to write with their minds.

NEURALINK N1 CHARGING​

Neuralink has improved the battery of the N1 since its last event. The new charger is uses an Aluminum battery base with 6.78 MHz drive circuit for double the battery life.. Neuralink charges the N1 implant wirelessly.

Neuralink is working on a third generation charger with a bidirectional near field communication.

NEURALINK N1 DEVELOPMENT​

N1 contains a small micro processor. Neuralink conducts hill tests on the N1. Testing became a bottleneck so the team created a new system, allowing it to rapidly test new hardware in the N1 implant, greatly accelerating its development.

Neuralink has developed its own system to rigorously test its implant designs.

R1 ROBOT DEVELOPMENT​

Nueralink’s R1 robot will help neurosurgeons implant the N1 chip. As the company continues to improve the R1 robot, it will perform more of the surgery. Neuralink developer, Christine, explained that the R1 robot could make the N1 implant surgery more affordable in the future.

NEURALINK NEXT GENERATION APPLICATION​

Dan explains the Neuralink’s potential capability to restore eyesight. Neuralink inserted the N1 into the visual cortex of two monkeys named Code and Dash. By observing Code and Dash, Neuralink can record the receptive fields of their visual fields.

“Our goal will be to turn the lights on for someone who spent decades living in the dark,” said Dan.

After Dan, Joey comes up to talk about Neuralink’s application for people with severed spinal cords. Neuralink has conducted tests showing that it can stimulate movement in animals through multiple implants: the N1 in the brain and implants in the spinal cord.

Elon Musk comes back on stage joined by the Neuralink team to answer questions.

QUESTION ROUND​

Elon Musk states that Neuralink does plan to provide some of its research and technology to research universities and hospitals after receiving FDA approval.

Musk says that Neuralink would consider open-sourcing its data sets. The company could publish them on its website.

Neuralink is working on making the electrode of the N1 implant smaller to prevent scar tissue and inflammation response.

Elon Musk hints that the N1 chip might be able to detect health conditions or monitor people’s health status in the future.

Neuralink is focusing on improving the longevity of the N1 device’s threads at the moment. However, the company appears determined to continue improving the N1 implant with no end date in sight.

Neuralink monkeys adapt and learn to utilize the N1 chip fairly quickly.

“Right now we’re just guessing at a lot about what’s going on in the brain. But if you have direct I/O, there’s no more guessing. What we will learn about the brain with such a device–in wide use–is many orders of magnitude than we currently understand,” Musk said, ending the Neuralink event on that note.
"
 

Valedix

Gold Member
season 3 spongebob b.c. GIF by SpongeBob SquarePants
 

Kenpachii

Member
Sounds good, first gotta see it in reality tho. Doubt u can cure blindness, not sure how that chip is going to fix that.
 
I've been telling people about that crazy "monkey uses computer with its mind for a banana milkshake" video for a while now. I had no idea that Elon Musk was involved in this company. For the sake of humanity, I hope it all goes well.
 

Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member
Musk reminds the audience that going from prototype to production is difficult and has many challenges. Neuralink has been working hard to start human trials. The company has submitted all the papers needed to start human trials to the FDA. Musk estimates that the first Neuralink device could be inside the human brain in 5-6 months.

5-6 months in humans is insane. I really hope this technology can help those who need it. This has some insane possibilities beyond even just restoring or enabling vision for those without.

Imagine walking around with a game-like HUD without needing to wear something over your eyes. Seeing your health bar, satiation, hydration... You could tap into the Metaverse without needing to give Zucc any money.

This is so cool.
 

sankt-Antonio

:^)--?-<
5-6 months in humans is insane. I really hope this technology can help those who need it. This has some insane possibilities beyond even just restoring or enabling vision for those without.

Imagine walking around with a game-like HUD without needing to wear something over your eyes. Seeing your health bar, satiation, hydration... You could tap into the Metaverse without needing to give Zucc any money.

This is so cool.
A buddy of mine had a start up with the goal of having hearing aids as implants. With their twist on it…
His company had to stop as bringing it to commercial state would have required 15years of case studies before being deemed save for use in humans.

This is not going to be a thing for a very long time.
 

Thaedolus

Member
A buddy of mine had a start up with the goal of having hearing aids as implants. With their twist on it…
His company had to stop as bringing it to commercial state would have required 15years of case studies before being deemed save for use in humans.

This is not going to be a thing for a very long time.
I’m not sure I buy the 15 years thing…but depending on how the trials go, Neuralink is still several years out I’d guess. FDA is supposed to process IDE submissions in 30 days but I’d anticipate them having a lot of questions about a novel device such as this, so a lot of back and forth which stops their review clock/goal. So I’ve had submissions under review for six months but according to FDA’s submission database they completed the review in 89 days (just under the goal of 90!)

If they’ve submitted everything and it’s a complete package, and they have enough feasibility samples, I could see them having them in humans by 2023
 

Aesius

Member
Elon Musk says that Neuralink can restore vision, even on someone who was born blind. The company is also confident that the Neuralink device can restore full functionality to a severed spinal cord.
I think this tech has some horrifying future implications/abuse potential, but THIS would be amazing.
 

BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
The presentation is like something out of a sci-fi movie from my childhood.

Of all the potential applications of this kind of technology, I am most interested in the simple uses - likes translating thoughts to images to be saved. I'd love to have a kind of gallery of memories, even if only in visual form, to be able to return to.
 

22•22

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
Trans humanism.

What's your take on this (most probably expanding) phenomena and how it will fundamentally change our life EviLore EviLore ?
 

22•22

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
Well if omni implemented down the line.. which could be a reality in 10 or so years. Being a number in a system takes on a whole different meaning.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
Sounds pretty amazing.

But believing Musk's pie in the sky babbling about tech is pretty foolish.

Hyperloop + Boring Company alone should have people pretty weary of this.
 
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Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
Sounds pretty amazing.

But believing Musk's pie in the sky babbling about tech is pretty foolish.

Hyperloop + Boring Company alone should have people pretty weary of this.
I can see why people might be skeptical, but he has enough wins under his belt for me give him the benefit of the doubt. Innovation is not always 100% successful. Progress takes trial and error.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
I can see why people might be skeptical, but he has enough wins under his belt for me give him the benefit of the doubt. Innovation is not always 100% successful. Progress takes trial and error.

Tesla is a great company as is Space-X.

That doesn't mean Musk has a good track record for what he says vs. what becomes reality. He is prone to just saying wild shit that never comes to fruition.
 

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
Tesla is a great company as is Space-X.

That doesn't mean Musk has a good track record for what he says vs. what becomes reality. He is prone to just saying wild shit that never comes to fruition.
Yeah I realize his record isn't 100%, but it's still accomplished enough that I'm willing to give him the opportunity to try. He's not Peter Molyneux-tier. Not yet anyway lol.
 
Tesla is a great company as is Space-X.

That doesn't mean Musk has a good track record for what he says vs. what becomes reality. He is prone to just saying wild shit that never comes to fruition.

It usually does, but takes longer than expected. See many FSD updates and rewrites. But when you consider the totality of what the man has built: from the entire vertical design of a car including the ASICs powering FSD to controlling over 50% of all satellites in orbit as well as single handedly restoring the US's return to space, it's impressive.

I work in Neuroscience and his implementation is interesting and novel and should be noted as such. Importantly, it scales whereas the old paradigm of Utah Arrays basically don't, I could elaborate but that's the core. He and his people are clever.
 
People with the means will be the first in line (rich get richer), affording themselves an incredible advantage head-start over those that can't/never afford it or would morally object to it. Imagine being able to access information that quickly and the multitude of implications that arise, even if entertained in a slightly malicious way. Those who refuse to adopt will be left in the theoretical stone-age when it comes to education, employment, or day to day societal participation.
I think the baitin' chair is a good intermediate step in our idiocracy before we go full on Skynet.

idiocracy-baitin.gif
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
Sounds good, first gotta see it in reality tho. Doubt u can cure blindness, not sure how that chip is going to fix that.
Visual information from your eyes is transmitted to your brain via electrical signal. If that signal is mapped fully, it can be replicated for a given input—your vision. Even if you didn’t have eyes anymore, a camera input could be sent to Neuralink and converted to the equivalent electrical impulse that a pair of eyes would have generated for a given field of vision. This can be sent to the correct destination in your brain, and the result would be your brain receiving visual data.

With the radical advancements in artificial intelligence over the past few years it’s actually feasible to interpret this kind of complex data and map it.
 

Ballthyrm

Member
Visual information from your eyes is transmitted to your brain via electrical signal. If that signal is mapped fully, it can be replicated for a given input—your vision. Even if you didn’t have eyes anymore, a camera input could be sent to Neuralink and converted to the equivalent electrical impulse that a pair of eyes would have generated for a given field of vision. This can be sent to the correct destination in your brain, and the result would be your brain receiving visual data.

With the radical advancements in artificial intelligence over the past few years it’s actually feasible to interpret this kind of complex data and map it.

With enough advancement you can do AR/VR that way too for sighted people.
 
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