Is Neuralink the next big leap in technology?
Brain Machine Interface
The concept of Interface is not new to humanity. It’s something that sits between two systems and helps exchange input and output from these inherently different systems. We already have lots of real world examples: Your TV remote is a one-way interface — helps communicate you with your TV; The term user interface or UI is has become a very common term and used to indicate a layer for you to communicate with a system. Building an Interface comes down to the basics of learning how a system works, building an intermediary layer to communicate with this system and finally the external system to provide inputs and gather the outputs. Building a Brain Machine Interface (BMI) comes down to these same basics — Understanding how the Brain system works, building a tool or physical layer to provide inputs & gather the outputs and the final layer for humans to review these outputs and provide inputs. BMI is not a new technology — in-fact even in Elon’s presentation of Neuralink, he briefly talks about the timeline of BMI or (BCI — Brain Computer Interface) starting with Cochlear Implants for the hearing impaired in 1957.
The Neuralink
To understand the significance of Neuralink as a company, we have to look at the chip in detail. This is a very small silicon chip measuring 4mm X 6mm with 1024 strands and can act faster than your brain at 900ns (nano-seconds) which means there will be hardly any time delay between providing an input and the chip executing it. Moreover, this is an extremely energy efficient chip consuming only 6.6 µW of power — in comparison, the brain consumes about 20 µW of power! The strands from the chip are connected to electrodes and put next to Neurons in your brain.
The electrodes themselves are an achievement on their own — at 25 microns thick, they are 1/10th the size of a human hair! But there are some drawbacks having your electrodes so thin — they are prone to pickup noise and other infinitesimal interferences. The chip takes care of filtering out noise and amplifying only the relevant data. Any other company would have stopped here and let the medical industry figure out a way to insert this into your brain. But since it was Elon who run Neuralink, they knew the complexities of strands and electrodes so small and decided to build a robot to insert the electrodes without hitting any blood vessel. The robot is quite intimidating, looking like an AI Beast from another planet with a ton of shiny cameras and laden with gizmo electronics. Elon wanted this device to be a wearable that will stay on your body forever. There is also an external unit that wirelessly connects with the chip and can connect with a mobile app. The only gripe I felt about this mobile unit was the bluetooth. Could have been WiFi or any cool wireless technology like the AirDrop. May be for the next upgrade. This completes the entire cycle — the chip with strands, the electrodes, a robot to insert them, an external unit and a mobile app to control them all.
Talking about the company itself, it was a startup just over 2 years old with 90 employees and this is their 7th iteration of the Neuralink chip, which means they have produced a new version of the chip every 3–4 months! That’s insanely super fast development! Not to forget the robot and other allied research and development they had to do. It is also impressive how the company didn’t stop in the middle leaving a half backed solution until another company realizes the potential of the Neuralink chip. They went all in with a completely deployable product just short of FDA’s approval to test on a human!
Patient Trials, Ethicality & Future Possibilities
The company announced it would identify and operate on its first patient by 2020 hopefully before which the FDA signs off and provides the required approval. The first patient would be a quadriplegic (person with all four limbs paralyzed) and this operation would allow him to control devices like the mobile, keyboard and mouse. Even though the process was repeatedly said to be least invasive and could be performed under local anesthesia, I wonder how the body could reject or start defending against the electrodes intruding innate places of the brain.
On the most controversial subject — Ethicality, I don’t think Elon’s is trying to start a company to insert these Neuralink chips on all of human population and take them to Mars! That’s just paranoia of the internet! His intentions were clear that he would help quadriplegic patients to walk and live a normal life again. Imagine from the shoes of a quadriplegic or disabled person for whom the world seems like an end already and if this Neuralink solution could help restore some or most of his normal lifestyle, why not? Also imagine the cost associated with caring for each quadriplegic patient and if Neuralink could offset and turn the equation around in benefit of the patients, that is certainly welcoming. Quadriplegic patients could even take a loan to install this device and become productive, repaying & close out the loan. For starters, controlling devices like mobile, keyboard & mouse is a huge move that they would have otherwise required the assistance of someone else. They could become productive by learning to code, write a book or even engage in digital art — the possibilities are just endless. Every technology can be used for progressive or destructive purposes and it’s in the conscience of the user to decide how to use this technology. Reminder — we live in a world where guns are legal! Why be sarcastic and point out the negative effects of Neuralink rather than looking at the endless possibilities that could help advance human beings!
Elon’s Midas Touch
You could feel Neuralink screaming Elon’s personality like every other company he started — the ‘don’t give me reasons and bullshit, give me results’ attitude. Reminds me of the SpaceX incident mentioned in his book where an employee quoted the market price of 120,000$ for a valve and Elon just laughed at him asking the guy to start out from scratch and build the valve himself. This SpaceX employee worked his ass off, trying to learn everything about this component and produced a valve with a price tag under 6000$! He really likes being a leader, trying to get the best out people. Others would see it in a negative way but I would see that he is being extremely optimistic thinking beyond the limits of this human race.
Moreover, Elon is a guy who could think holistically, the big picture! You may be the smartest person alive in your field and you may have reached your maximum potential, but Elon would know how to make best use of you and how to help you to better serve humanity. Neuralink is nothing new from his incumbent desire to promote humans as an interplanetary species. Moreover, the Neuralink presentation wasn’t any sales pitch but an advertisement for recruitment calling all the smartest people to work for him. Elon’s missions are very clear and we are all just left with awe as this man effortlessly travels towards his dream!