A recent report by Bloomberg News Agency reveals that thousands of individuals have eagerly applied to be part of groundbreaking experiments led by Neuralink, a company associated with American billionaire Elon Musk. These experiments involve implanting electronic chips in the human brain.
Ashley Vance, a renowned biographer of Elon Musk, was quoted by Bloomberg, stating that Neuralink, established in 2016, is on the cusp of conducting these groundbreaking experiments. Although the company has not yet implanted chips in human brains, its ambitious plan is to initiate trials on 11 people next year and expand this program to include over 22,000 participants by 2030.
Vance shared that he had visited Neuralink’s facilities on ten occasions, gaining insights into the company’s remarkable progress.
Earlier this year, the US Food and Drug Administration granted Neuralink the license to commence human trials involving brain chips. This significant step came after initial concerns about the safety of such procedures.
Last September, Neuralink announced its search for individuals with quadriplegia due to a vertical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) who would be willing to participate in these experiments. The purpose is to surgically implant chips in the area of the brain responsible for controlling movement, ultimately enabling participants to interact with computers using only their thoughts.
Neuralink asserts that it has achieved promising results through experiments on monkeys and pigs, paving the way for the next phase: human trials.
Vance highlighted the remarkable interest from thousands of prospective participants eager to join the trial. Nevertheless, the company is still in search of the first volunteer who will undergo a procedure involving the removal of part of their skull by a surgeon. This procedure will allow a sophisticated robot to insert a series of electrodes and super-thin wires with incredible precision into the volunteer’s brain.
Vance detailed the surgical process, explaining that it would take approximately two hours for the surgeon to perform the craniectomy, which involves removing the back and top of the skull. Following this, the robot will take about 25 minutes to delicately insert the electronic chips, electrodes, and wires.
The biographer also clarified that the foils and electrodes to be implanted will be remarkably thin, measuring just 1/14 of the width of a single strand of human hair.
However, it’s important to note that this innovative technique has raised both doubts and ethical concerns among neuroscientists and other experts. News reports have indicated that experiments conducted on animals have caused some suffering, with former employees of Neuralink revealing cases where devices were implanted incorrectly in pigs, leading to their unfortunate demise.
The journey into human brain chip implantation marks an extraordinary and potentially transformative development in the field of neuroscience and technology, although it also underscores the significance of ethical considerations and precision in such groundbreaking research.