Elon Musk has been pushing the forefront of technology with his widely successful driverless car company, Tesla. However, he has another company that may be doing even more groundbreaking work. Neuralink, a company dedicated to developing human tech integration, completed its first human implant of its chip on January 30.
Neuralink is a technology company working to bring humans and their technology closer together. The company was founded in 2016 and now after 8 years of animal testing, researchers are confident that their chip will work.
This chip has a wide range of uses. According to the Neuralink website, it will allow users to interact with computers via their mobile app. It cannot communicate with the user’s brain, it can merely read the signals. This means cyborgs are not quite here.
The company said in a brochure searching for volunteers, “The device is designed to interpret a person’s neural activity, so they can operate a computer or smartphone by simply intending to move – no wires or physical movement are required.” The main function of the chip right now is to help paraplegic people gain access to interaction with the world via these chips.
So what does this mean for the average American? Currently, not much because it is not commercially available, but if it becomes available it could have a large impact on how society functions.