Althouse: Neuralink.

March 27, 2017

Neuralink.

Elon Musk's new company — "focused on developing the capabilities of the brain through technological augmentation."

17 comments:

Humperdink said...: I wonder how many billion $$$ Musk's new company will cost the taxpayers? His expertise seems to be looting the US treasury.; 3/27/17, 7:44 PM
JackWayne said...: Exactly. He's a scam artist.; 3/27/17, 7:54 PM
rehajm said...: Brilliant solutions in search of problems.; 3/27/17, 7:54 PM
David Begley said...: Other than PayPal, I don't think any Musk founded company has ever turned a profit. His solar company, PayPal and Tesla all depend on the government in one way or another.; 3/27/17, 8:02 PM
khesanh0802 said...: Too much money, too much ego, but an interesting guy. How is he going to soak the taxpayers for this idea?; 3/27/17, 8:04 PM
buwaya said...: Hopefully no need for legislated or mandated payoffs.
He doesnt get govt money directly, mostly, he has the govt, especially the CA govt, make other people pay him.
I suspect that for some of his other businesses the jig is up, so this may be legit, where funding can be sourced from the tech industry and the very wealthy.; 3/27/17, 8:05 PM
buwaya said...: Its an inevitable line of inquiry.
I think its fascinating.
I dont know if there is a business in this yet.

Science Fiction ref George Alec Effinger - "When Gravity Fails" series - people augment their brains with swappable modules to give them professional knowledge and skills as needed. Also these things are crime mysteries/roman policiers of the sex and drug soaked North African underworld of the future. Very outside the envelope.; 3/27/17, 8:12 PM
bagoh20 said...: Is there anything our species will ever do again that matches the accomplishment of going to the moon and returning over and over with 1960's technology? These new "amazing" things are only amazing if you forget that one. It may be well beyond our current capabilities 50 years later considering the self-imposed shackles we have adopted and believe to be essential today. Tender snowflakes do not fly. They only fall softly in great numbers blown by the wind each unique, but none special, becuase they don't have the right stuff.; 3/27/17, 8:14 PM
Humperdink said...: LA Times headline: "Elon Musk's growing empire is fueled by $4.9 billion in government subsidies"

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-20150531-story.html; 3/27/17, 8:15 PM
bagoh20 said...: He must spend a fortune on lobbyist knee pads.; 3/27/17, 9:08 PM
Sprezzatura said...: "Exactly. He's a scam artist."

That'll move him to the top of the R's POTUS candidate list, next time.; 3/27/17, 9:44 PM
Caroline said...: Ubermenschen for the 1%.; 3/27/17, 9:58 PM
Zach said...: At some point you have to wonder if all the pie in the sky projects are some variation of an R&D scam, where you get a big up front investment and report great progress without ever reaching the product stage. Sort of like The Producers, only with engineering.; 3/27/17, 10:38 PM
Zach said...: As long as we're wishing for comic book technology, can I put in a request for x-ray specs?; 3/27/17, 10:46 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Yeay! There's hope for conservatives yet!; 3/27/17, 11:39 PM
StephenFearby said...: "...Neuralink isn’t going to be focused on upgrading ordinary human brainpower at first, however, according to the WSJ report. Instead, it’ll explore how brain interfaces might alleviate the symptoms of dangerous and chronic medical conditions.

These could include epilepsy and severe depressive disorder."

"Brain-computer interface" is another name for "Neurofeedback" or "EEG Biofeedback" most frequently used to describe interventions (some successful to a degree) to deal with the loss of all or almost all motor control in Locked-in Syndrome.

This was the basis for the 2007 film, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. After a stroke, journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby could only communicate with the world by flicking his left eyelid.

Locked-in Syndrome is not a large market, but garden variety problems like epilepsy or severe depressive disorder is another kettle of fish. However, implanted electrodes (the Frankenstein monster had them in his neck) is not likely to be a winner.

IMO, the most interesting trends in this area involve a "one-man band" approach combining promising interventions which work in different ways. Including either monitored transcranial direct current, alternating current, or random noise stimulation with pulsed electromagnetic field stimulation and EEG biofeedback. A March, 2017 brain stimulation conference in Barcelona sponsored by the Elsevier journal, Brain Stimulation, had over 500 published abstracts of even a wider variety of approaches than described above. It's a hot topic.

Mr. Musk is probably very unlikely to succeed in his endeavor as it is now described.; 3/27/17, 11:40 PM
Achilles said...: The Toothless Revolutionary said...
"Yeay! There's hope for conservatives yet!"

I was going to say that maybe it would help AGW believers and people who support single payer be more entertaining to discuss issues with, but if it makes you smarter they will most likely realize they are just tools.; 3/28/17, 12:31 AM