World’s First Neuralink Plays Chess After Brain Implant
Neuralink on Wednesday streamed a video of its first human patient playing computer chess with his mind and talking about the brain implant making that possible
Noland Arbaugh, 29, who was left paralyzed from the shoulders down by a diving accident eight years ago, told of playing chess and the videogame “Civilization” as well as taking Japanese and French lessons by controlling a computer screen cursor with his brain.
“It’s crazy, it really is. It’s so cool,” said Arbaugh, who joked of having telepathy thanks to Elon Musk‘s Neuralink startup.
Arbaugh said he was released from the hospital a day after the device was implanted in his brain, and that he had no cognitive impairment as a result.”There is a lot of work to be done, but it has already changed my life,” he said.”I don’t want people to think this is the end of the journey.
“He told of starting out by thinking about moving the cursor and eventually the implant system mirrored his intent.”The reason I got into it was because I wanted to be part of something that I feel is going to change the world,” he said.
Arbaugh said he plans to dress up this Halloween as Marvel Comics X-Men character Charles Xavier, who is wheelchair-bound but possesses mental superpowers.”I’m going to be Professor X,” he said.”I think that’s pretty fitting… I’m basically telekinetic.”
A Neuralink engineer in the video, which was posted on X and Reddit, promised more updates regarding the patient’s progress. Neuralink’s technology works through a device about the size of five stacked coins that is placed inside the human brain through invasive surgery.
The startup, cofounded by Musk in 2016, aims to build direct communication channels between the brain and computers.
The ambition is to supercharge human capabilities, treat neurological disorders like ALS or Parkinson’s, and maybe one day achieve a symbiotic relationship between humans and artificial intelligence.
Musk is hardly alone in trying to make advances in the field, which is officially known as brain-machine or brain-computer interface research.
Source: Science Alert
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Howdy
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Allready seen it on star trek, where Reginald Barkley showed the computer how to generate a mind link to overcome latency.
A lemming, testing the latest addition to control weapons of war faster, or for pure bone idleness where one literally doesn’t raise a finger?
I see a problem. Supposing the person gets angry, is in charge of something critical, and imagines an outcome? Would that transpire to a mis-firing of the system?
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Anapat
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You have to be really stupid if you can not play chess without a brain implant.
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Cathleen
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Aren’t there voice activated programs that Noland could use to play chess, etc., instead of having an implant in his brain? If the implant could make him walk again, that would be wonderful, but that’s not happening. With an implant in your brain, anyone could control your emotions and thoughts, that’s the evilness (and I believe the real agenda) of this.
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