Elon Musk’s futuristic Neuralink announced on Tuesday that it is beginning “recruitment for our first-in-human clinical trial.”
“The PRIME Study (short for Precise Robotically Implanted Brain-Computer Interface) – a groundbreaking investigational medical device trial for our fully-implantable, wireless brain-computer interface (BCI) – aims to evaluate the safety of our implant (N1) and surgical robot (R1) and assess the initial functionality of our BCI for enabling people with paralysis to control external devices with their thoughts,” according to the announcement.
“During the study, the R1 Robot will be used to surgically place the N1 Implant’s ultra-fine and flexible threads in a region of the brain that controls movement intention. Once in place, the N1 Implant is cosmetically invisible and is intended to record and transmit brain signals wirelessly to an app that decodes movement intention,” Neuralink explains. “The initial goal of our BCI is to grant people the ability to control a computer cursor or keyboard using their thoughts alone. ”
“Those who have quadriplegia due to cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) may qualify,” the announcement states.
As BizPac Review previously reported, Neuralink announced in May that it had obtained permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to start conducting human trials.
Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain chip reaches a milestone, could mark a ‘new era of human potential’ https://t.co/1gzhwAdcsM pic.twitter.com/Zxudqe1apQ
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) May 30, 2023
Musk has said he hopes his brain-implant technology could one day be used to “cure a range of conditions including obesity, autism, depression and schizophrenia as well as enabling web browsing and telepathy.”
In November 2022, the brilliant billionaire stunned the world with videos of an implanted monkey telepathically typing on a computer keyboard.
(Video: YouTube)
Neuralink’s mission is to “create a generalized brain interface to restore autonomy to those with unmet medical needs today and unlock human potential tomorrow,” according to its website.
Eventually, the company hopes to “restore capabilities such as vision, motor function, and speech, and eventually expand how we experience the world.”
“The first human patient will soon receive a Neuralink device. This ultimately has the potential to restore full body movement,” Musk stated on X. “In the long term, Neuralink hopes to play a role in AI risk civilizational risk reduction by improving human to AI (and human to human) bandwidth by several orders of magnitude.”
The first human patient will soon receive a Neuralink device. This ultimately has the potential to restore full body movement.
In the long term, Neuralink hopes to play a role in AI risk civilizational risk reduction by improving human to AI (and human to human) bandwidth by… https://t.co/DzqoYI27Ng
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 20, 2023
“Imagine if Stephen Hawking had had this,” he added, referring to the brilliant theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), more commonly known as “Lou Gehrig’s disease.”
“Congrats on the progress on this,” wrote MIT research scientist and popular podcaster Lex Fridman to Musk. “It’s amazing!”
Congrats on the progress on this. It’s amazing!
— Lex Fridman (@lexfridman) September 20, 2023
But others fear that technology will turn the apocalyptic plots of many sci-fi novels and films into a “terrifying” reality.
Yeah, Revelation 13 incoming.
— LGK (@lionsgatekid) September 21, 2023
— Dave Kotlyar (@DaveKotlyar) September 20, 2023
That sounds terrifying
— AMC 2 Moon  (@AMC_Apee) September 20, 2023
Scary scenarios aside, others celebrated what could change the lives of many of our injured veterans.
“Our Marine vet Ian DeLaney is an incredible spirit. He has a cervical spine injury from being shot,” stated the charitable Code of Vets account. “This could be life-changing for veterans who will never walk again.”
Our Marine vet Ian DeLaney is an incredible spirit. He has a cervical spine injury from being shot. This could be life changing for veterans who will never walk again. pic.twitter.com/6PYUSQNXtL
— Code of Vets ™ (@codeofvets) September 21, 2023
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