Noland Arbaugh, became the first individual to receive the brain implant developed by the company Neuralink, which has advanced telekinetic and neurological capabilities, under a safe and painless operation to its potential carriers.
The success of the first brain implant
In an interview, Arbaugh expressed how his life has taken a drastic turn drastically changed thanks to the implant, mentioning,“I had nothing to wake up in the morning for and this has changed that for me.”
Before the implant, Arbaugh relied on a small pencil, held tightly by his mouth, to interact with his personal computer. Today, you can control your equipment, almost completely with your thoughts, creating improvements in your quality of life.
The Link implant has 1,024 electrodes distributed in 64 cables or “wires” connected to different areas of the brain responsible for motor functions. These threads, approximately 4 micrometers thick and 20 mm long, are thinner than a human hair.
How does the Link brain implant work?
Given the complexity of the procedure, absolute precision is required to place the implant, and for this purpose, Neuralink has developed a specialized robot called R1, which implants the wires using needles barely larger than a red blood cell, thus minimizing damage to brain tissue.
Arbaugh’s chip implantation went smoothly, and he was discharged the next day with no complications or side effects. Within a month, he learned to control the mouse cursor on his computer via Bluetooth, using only his thoughts.
The implant is virtually invisible and is charged by induction, with a battery that lasts eight hours before needing a new charge. For Arbaugh, it has allowed him to enjoy multiple games such as Chess, Mario Kart and more, draining the battery after hours and hours of use, all through telekinesis.
The failure of the first implant
In the course of the days, the wires in Arbaugh’s implant began to fail as they were removed from his brain tissue as they withdrew from his brain tissue, resulting in a“bit-per-second (BPS) reduction.” That is, a decrease in the speed to control the computer with the mind. Neuralink has not specified how many threads have been retracted, but they have mitigated data loss issues by improving the implant algorithm.
In its blog, Neuralink explained: “In the weeks following surgery, several wires retracted from the brain, resulting in a net decrease in the number of effective electrodes. This led to a reduction in BPS. In response, we modified the recording algorithm to be more sensitive to neural signals, improved the techniques for translating these signals into cursor movements, and optimized the user interface. These improvements resulted in a rapid and sustained improvement in BPS, surpassing Noland’s initial performance.“.
The search for new human carriers
Now, Elon Musk is looking for a second human patient to continue clinical trials. Candidates must be quadriplegic or have ALS, and can register on the official website. The Neuralink team is hopeful that future interactions and advances in hardware will enable motor restoration in people with spinal cord damage.
Some of the company’s experts indicate that the threads may have retracted due to a condition called pneumocephalus, where air is trapped inside the skull after surgery, causing some threads to disconnect.
Neuralink contemplated removing the implant completely before making adjustments to electrode sensitivity and achieving a higher BPS. Nevertheless, Arbaugh feels optimistic and grateful, with no safety concerns for his health and well-being, even though some threads remain displaced.
The future of assistive technology. Source: Neuralink
Despite the advances, Neuralink has not been without controversy. Some reports record the death of more than a dozen monkeys during initial testing of the chip under development. Musk provided some statements and claimed that they were only tested on “terminally ill” monkeys, although company employees have contradicted these claims.
Nevertheless, the FDA oversees and regulates the company’s chip advances, authorizing human testing, increasing the small possibilities for quadriplegics… or perhaps, providing a great leap of faith, for years to come.
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Source and photo: Neuralink
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