A Year of Telepathy
35 comments
·February 11, 2025hexator
OsrsNeedsf2P
This is 85% of the threads in the device failed, yet it was allegedly mitigated after a software update, and usage of Neurolink continued to climb for the patient, suggesting the device is still functional
jdoe1337halo
As much as I hate Musk, this brings a tear to my eyes seeing these disabled people regain autonomy and feel like a person again.
rezmason
As much as I like regaining autonomy, we should hold back those tears until a patient's implant outlasts a product cycle. I can't find the article to link to, but there's an ongoing issue with tech companies producing assistive devices or prosthetics and obsoleting them when the company pivots, gets bought or goes under.
Corporate cyborg parts are an already-predicted nightmare, already taking place, unfolding in slow motion, and soon it will breach the sanctity of human thought.
blacksmith_tb
I think that would be these eye implants[1].
the_optimist
As a study in caveat, why do you assert to hate Musk?
“Anger is always concerned with individuals whereas hatred is directed also against classes: we all hate any thief and any informer. Moreover, anger can be cured by time; but hatred cannot. The one aims at giving pain to its object, the other at doing him harm; the angry man wants his victims to feel; the hater does not mind whether they feel or not. All painful things are felt; but the greatest evils, injustice and folly, are the least felt, since their presence causes no pain. And anger is accompanied by pain, hatred is not; the angry man feels pain, but the hater does not. Much may happen to make the angry man pity those who offend him, but the hater under no circumstances wishes to pity a man whom he has once hated: for the one would have the offenders suffer for what they have done; the other would have them cease to exist.” -A
What is the source of your indirect offense?
soVeryTired
Was publicly throwing a sieg heil not enough for you?
the_optimist
He stated “I did not do that,” and yet here you are saying he did. Do you assert he is sending secret coded messages that only certain people are equipped to read or hear?
losvedir
I think people who (still) support him don't think it was a sieg heil, and just chalk it up as an awkward gesture.
Personally, I can't imagine why he would throw one, so a priori it seems like an unlikely gesture, though I admit it's strange what he does in the video I saw.
The most awkward part of it is the beginning of the gesture where he clutches his chest like he's having a heart attack. I've tried searching for what a sieg heil actually looks like and had a hard time finding videos on YouTube, but I don't think grabbing the chest is part of it, right? Can someone clarify what the gesture really is? The couple I saw from Hitler were just a swift raising of the hand from the waist.
TheMiddleMan
Not everyone has the precise same definition of hate, and you know what they ^ mean.
Elon used to be all about truly advancing society, now he only seems interested in gaining wealth and power.
vermilingua
Elon used to appear to be all about truly advancing society; his motivations haven't changed, his PR strategy has.
walrus01
At this point it would be much less effort to make a short list of the unquestionably good things he has done or is well known for, rather than attempting to list all of the despicable things he is recently associated with.
cubefox
It is strange that nobody seems to be able to point out concrete "despicable" things he is "associated" with. Like, what would be the top 3? I suspect his main misstep was supporting the wrong political party.
joseppudev
[dead]
kadushka
I’m curious why for Noland and Alex the implant usage dropped in the fourth month?
_--__--__
In both cases it looks more like a usage spike in the third month and then back to a pattern of roughly linear growth. Not sure if those spikes were related to updates to the neuralink itself or they just got really into a game/project/etc
hall0ween
I've been out of live neural recordings for about 3 years. While this is neat, it's my recollection that this is dated science...with better PR.
walrus01
I am extremely unlikely to ever allow anything even vaguely related to Elon Musk to implant something in my brain, or even to wear as completely noninvasive "through the skin" helmet or headband-like sensing device. Nevermind something with him as a founder.
bloopernova
I'm reminded of The Diamond Age novel, where a character hears about someone who had an implant which was hacked. If I recall correctly, the hack caused the implant to display an advertisement in a different language at the edge of their vision.
That seems pretty benign compared to what a neural implant could be made to do to someone.
ivraatiems
If it was that or be paralyzed for the rest of your life, would you at least consider it?
I don't like Musk and I find Neuralink spooky in terms of their overall goals, but it's hard to deny how much this invention helps people.
ben_w
Given the security track record of software in general, not even specifically those of Musk's companies but more broadly zero-days in all the major platforms, I would worry about a scenario half way between the plot of the film Upgrade and the long-standing trope of using hypnosis to turn someone into an unwitting assassin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upgrade_(film)
tmnvdb
It seems easy to worry about somewhat far-fetched scenarios like this when one is not paralyzed and thus not making a trade-off between risks and a fully paralyzed life.
ben_w
"Mind virus" has a whole extra dimension when IoT is hardwired to your brain.
mr_sturd
`Neuralink.Woke` Will kill you.
OsrsNeedsf2P
The article shows a video of Noland, paralyzed from the shoulders down, playing Polytopia. It's great to be fully able-bodied and mock Elon Musk, but for someone to go from using a mouth stylus to playing Polytopia via telepathy is very cool and should be celebrated.
walrus01
There is more than one organization/company in the world working on human-computer assistive interfaces for the paralyzed. For instance:
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20230824/Brain-computer-in...
https://news.brown.edu/articles/2012/05/braingate2
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/STROKEAHA.123.037719
If you google "BCI brain computer interface paralyzed" you will find a wealth of researchers and organizations working on it which are not Neuralink.
IncreasePosts
[flagged]
Not mentioned at all is the failure rate, which back in May was reported by Ars to be 85% with the first patient, Noland. [1]
[1] https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/05/neuralink-to-implant...