Get ready for Mind Pong, or Planet of the Apes. One of them.

[Sparko]

Neuralink's brain-computer interface demo shows a monkey playing Pong

Without a joystick.

Elon Musk's last update on Neuralink — his company that is working on technology that will connect the human brain directly to a computer — featured a pig with one of its chips implanted in its brain. Now Neuralink is demonstrating its progress by showing a Macaque with one of the Link chips playing Pong. At first using "Pager" is shown using a joystick, and then eventually, according to the narration, using only its mind via the wireless connection.

In an accompanying blog post, Neuralink says it's building on decades of research that developed systems connecting "a few hundred electrodes" that needed a physical connector through the skin, compared to its N1 Link with 1,024 electrodes. According to Neuralink, "Our mission is to build a safe and effective clinical BMI system that is wireless and fully implantable that users can operate by themselves and take anywhere they go; to scale up the number of electrodes for better robustness and higher information throughput; and to automate the implant surgery to make it as rapid and safe as possible."

Musk, as usual, went a bit further in his tweets, saying the "First Neuralink product will enable someone with paralysis to use a smartphone with their mind faster than someone using thumbs...Later versions will be able to shunt signals from Neuralinks in brain to Neuralinks in body motor/sensory neuron clusters, thus enabling, for example, paraplegics to walk again."
https://www.engadget.com/monkey-mind...003709524.html

see also: https://neuralink.com/blog/

[TheLurch]

It's an impressive demo, but we've been doing things like this for about a decade now:

[Sparko]

It's an impressive demo, but we've been doing things like this for about a decade now:

I think the difference is the number of electrodes and the ease with which they calibrate it.

They have even developed a robotic surgery machine that will implant the electrodes and chip, which is charged via induction, like a phone. And it appears to transmit the signals wirelessly, meaning no helmet or physical connection to the electrodes is necessary. Basically telekinesis.

Surgery bot: https://www.engadget.com/elon-musk-u...231559145.html
Also they can remove the hardware at any time or replace it to "upgrade"

[TheLurch]

I think the difference is the number of electrodes and the ease with which they calibrate it.

They have even developed a robotic surgery machine that will implant the electrodes and chip, which is charged via induction, like a phone. And it appears to transmit the signals wirelessly, meaning no helmet or physical connection to the electrodes is necessary. Basically telekinesis.

Surgery bot: https://www.engadget.com/elon-musk-u...231559145.html
Also they can remove the hardware at any time or replace it to "upgrade"

Most of that should be prefaced with a "they say." None of this has been independently verified. They have a surgical robot, but we don't know whether it's ready for use or has been used on this monkey. They say they can remove and upgrade, but we don't know about whether removing the electrodes (which are inseparable from the rest of the implant) and reinsertion will cause scarring and make the second implant less effective. Etc. etc.

They really need to start publishing stuff.

[Sparko]

Most of that should be prefaced with a "they say." None of this has been independently verified. They have a surgical robot, but we don't know whether it's ready for use or has been used on this monkey. They say they can remove and upgrade, but we don't know about whether removing the electrodes (which are inseparable from the rest of the implant) and reinsertion will cause scarring and make the second implant less effective. Etc. etc.

They really need to start publishing stuff.

Actually if you read the link above it says:

During the live demonstration, Musk introduced the crowd to a trio of pigs: Joyce, Gertrude and Dorothy. Joyce has not had the implantation surgery and appeared to be a perfectly happy and healthy pig. Dorothy had the surgery but had the implant subsequently removed to illustrate that the Link device is not a permanent attachment but rather can be installed and removed at will should the patient want to upgrade the hardware. Finally, Gertrude had the surgery and still has the link installed in her head.

But sure, it's still experimental.