Elon Musk unveiled Neuralink earlier this week, a startup that aims to not only revolutionize the growing field of brain-machine interfaces (BMIs), but eventually wants to make neural implants as common as LASIK outpatient procedures are today—that’s the long-term goal at least. And while virtual reality and BMIs are still relatively segregated fields at this point, Oculus CTO and legendary programmer John Carmack got a chance to visit Neuralink’s offices, calling it “very bold work.”

There’s a lot to unpack in Neuralink’s inaugural presentation, which Musk says is more of a recruiting tool more than anything. And while their intentions are clearly to attract more talent spanning a number of fields, this was the first moment we got to learn about the company’s research and what it’s been up to these past three years while in stealth.

Tuesday night, Musk presented the company’s prototype implant, the ‘N1 sensor’; it’s a very small, implantable SoC that has a number of extremely thin external ‘threads’ that measure 4 to 6 μm in width—much thinner than a human hair. In its most basic sense, the company has created an implant capable of measuring spikes in electrical current directly where they happen, in the brain, with the intention of reading, processing, and eventually ‘writing’ information back to neurons via these tiny, flexible threads.

Image courtesy Neuralink

Moreover, the startup also created a neurosurgical robot capable of inserting six threads (192 electrodes) per minute, the company says in their recently published research paper. “Each thread can be individually inserted into the brain with micron precision for avoidance of surface vasculature and targeting specific brain regions,” the paper’s authors cite.

In its most rudimentary phase, Neuralink’s technology aims to supplement damaged brain functions in disabled and/or diseased patients. Provided its N1 sensor is approved by the FDA, the company wants to begin in-human clinical studies in 2020 with the objective of letting quadriplegic patients control their smartphones, and use virtual mouse/keyboard functions using only their thoughts. The system also includes a wearable ‘pod’ that both powers the implants and transmits data via Bluetooth.

Neuralink’s  surgical robot, Image courtesy Neuralink

Although this is the most ‘basic’ task Neuralink hopes to achieve, Philip Sabes, emeritus professor of physiology at UCSF and Neuralink scientist, says that eventually BMI control could be sufficiently advanced to even decode complex signals such as running, dancing, “or even Kung Fu,” Sabes says, likely alluding to The Matrix (1999) protagonist’s virtually-learned ability.

“So that could give a paralyzed person the ability to control, say for example, a 3D avatar that they could use for online gaming, or sports,” Sabes explains. “It could allow you control a range of assisted robotic devices. And ultimately, if and when the technology for spinal cord, nerve, or muscle stimulation gets far enough, ultimately it could be used to restore that individual’s control of their own body.”

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To Musk, standard outpatient procedures performed by robots are still many years away, however Neuralink’s eventual long-term goal is, in Musk’s words, to “achieve a symbiosis with artificial intelligence” through a ‘full-brain’ BMI.

“There’s an incredible amount we can do to solve brain disorders and damage, and this will occur actually quite slowly. And so I do want to emphasize that it’s not going to be like suddenly Neuralink will have this incredible Neural Lace and start taking over people’s brains. It will take a long time. And you’ll see it coming. Getting FDA approval of devices of any kind is very difficult, and this will be a slow process, where we will gradually increase the issues that we solve until ultimately [we achieve] a full brain-machine interface, meaning that we can […] achieve a sort of symbiosis with artificial intelligence.”

Such a device would hypothetically provide the ‘read & write’ capabilities to not only simulate all manner of sensations such as sight, sound, and touch, but also deeply understand what thought processes are going on within that feedback loop—making it the ‘perfect’ VR device to serve up virtual reality.

And while Oculus CTO John Carmack didn’t say as much after he visited Neuralink’s offices last week, he left fairly impressed with the startup’s work thus far.

Across the virtual aisle, Valve’s resident experimental psychologist Dr. Mike Ambinder took the stage at GDC 2019 back in March to lay out the state of BMIs and gaming, and how they’ll inform the future of game design.

Ambinder thinks the near future will likely see VR/AR headsets kitted with non-invasive electroencephalogram (EEG) devices that could one day provide data to game designers so they can create a new generation of smarter, more reactive games. Companies such as Neurable are already productizing EEG devices today to better interpret human intent, and let users control the digital world with thought alone.

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The long-term view is definitely trending towards neuronal implants, Ambinder thinks though; he compares EEGs to sitting outside of a football stadium and trying to figure out what’s happening on the field just by listening to the intensity of the crowd’s reaction; it’s simply too noisy of a signal to reliably decode.

In the end, Musk revealed that Neuralink research has already begun on lab animals, including rats, and that a monkey has been able to “control a computer with his brain,” although this is admittedly in the service of the startup’s medical applications for the technology. Years of safety studies are required before the first elective procedure can even begin, although Neuralink is certainly shooting for the stars with their grand visions of human-AI symbiosis.

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Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 3,500 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Accel World, anyone?

    • Jistuce

      BURST LINK!

    • Jistuce

      More contentfully, thank you. I expected a Sword Art reference, and found much better.

    • Peter K

      starbustoo Streamuuuuuu

  • Hard nope. Wireless or nada. I’m not a fan of stitches, you think I’m letting someone thread electronics through my brain?

    • Zantetsu

      If you were a quadriplegic looking for ways to improve your ability to interact with the world, you would be much more motivated.

      • I’m sure they’d still prefer a wireless solution? Good point though, and I certainly wouldn’t want to stifle scientific progress that could help that particular demographic, however small. I’m over here just trying to play some VR games and answer my cell phone though.

        • dogtato

          can never get as good of a signal wirelessly. you can see activity in a region of the brain but you can’t listen to a specific neuron.

          If you had fancy brain wires, you could answer your phone in your head without having to find a device and you could talk without having to speak. Great for the movie theater!

          • It’s not about being technically the same bandwidth, but rather just “enough”. It doesn’t have to be as good as wires sticking into my brain if it still works. I don’t need to answer my phone that bad lol.

            Wireless data collection is the norm for mind control now, I think we just need to focus on that, and creating targeted EM fields of high enough resolution for effective, reliable two-way communication between devices and the brain at short range. Brain surgery and implants are a harsh no for many people, not least of all because I’d like to be able to actually remove the device when I don’t feel like using it, or if someone’s literally trying to hack my brain.

          • Alan Dail

            it won’t “still work”. That’s the whole point.

          • You somehow hold foreknowledge of all future human achievement? What a burden for a single internet commenter.

          • Alan Dail

            watch the presentation, they explain how it’s impossible to access they signals they are accessing remotely. The laws of physics prevent it.

          • Indeed, I hope you’ll forgive me if I tend not to place utmost confidence in the proclamations of a single video on the internet, put out by a company marketing a product they hope to sell no less, and not at all in those ascribing to completely understand the laws of physics, something being continually updated by the world’s foremost scholars who in any case often disagree even amongst each other. There is plenty of promising research into wireless BCI.

          • Zantetsu

            Again my point stands though. For you, this technology is just a way to enhance your already normal functionality. For a quadriplegic, the greater fidelity of control that a neural implant may provide could make a big difference in quality of life, and far outweigh the risks, whatever those may be.

          • I believe you’re either confused at my intentions or simply taking a “victory lap”? No one is arguing whether your point stands, it is rather self-evident. It was never my intent to trample poor disabled people who only wanted a chance at normalcy. My own point was rather that as augmentation to normal abilities, particularly in a consumer context, brain surgery and implants should continue to be a secondary line of research in favor of easily wearable wireless technologies – something which if developed to a sufficient degree will undoubtedly prove more than the sum of its parts.

            Besides being removable, non-invasive, and providing much simplified upgrading and servicing, it would also then allow for much faster iteration, and in turn with a better chance at mainstream acceptance due to a confluence of these factors among others, provide a much healthier revenue stream with which to continue advancing R & D. Of course, these benefits would not then just be limited to the average consumer but fold back into medical applications which would in many cases benefit equally.

            It is possible though, if you require control of a robot appendage, sight from a robot eye, perhaps an improved “smart” pacemaker, or indeed access to previously paralyzed limbs, some degree of surgical implant may always be employed. Psychiatric devices however (undoubted to eventually find off-label uses as recreation), to alleviate depression, PTSD, schizophrenia or even psychopathy (or temporarily induce it in soldiers), could still be wireless utilizing transcranial current and magnetic stimulation or other techniques. I’m sure there are countless opportunities that fall between these two sets of examples.

            As this is Road To VR though, the context of my thought was in mainstream consumer applications. AR, VR, etc. These are more difficult to parse. You’re attempting to create an image in the visual cortex and place it in a perceived real world location based on collected data, whether from external sensors or the very mind the system is interacting with. This is simultaneously a much more difficult task than any of the former, and a more frivolous one. It would also, I think, require a wireless approach not just to achieve mass adoption, but to out-compete highly advanced AR/VR glasses or even contact lenses in this space. Especially if these technologies themselves can integrate more straightforward BCI components such as haptic feedback, biometric authentication, OS navigation, or enhanced audio.

          • Replied a couple days ago but for some reason my comment was “Detected as spam”. Thanks Disqus. I’ll try posting again in a couple chunks to see if I can figure out what wording/syntax is causing the problem. Apologies if I murder your inbox.

          • 1 of 2

            I believe you’re either confused at my intentions or simply taking a “victory lap”? No one is arguing whether your point stands, it is rather self-evident. It was never my intent to trample poor disabled people who only wanted a chance at normalcy. My own point was rather that as augmentation to normal abilities, particularly in a consumer context, brain surgery and implants should continue to be a secondary line of research in favor of easily wearable wireless technologies – something which if developed to a sufficient degree will undoubtedly prove more than the sum of its parts.

            Besides being removable, non-invasive, and providing much simplified upgrading and servicing, it would also then allow for much faster iteration, and in turn with a better chance at mainstream acceptance due to a confluence of these factors among others, provide a much healthier revenue stream with which to continue advancing R & D. Of course, these benefits would not then just be limited to the average consumer but fold back into medical applications which would in many cases benefit equally.

          • 2 of 2

            It is possible though, if you require control of a robot appendage, sight from a robot eye, perhaps an improved “smart” pacemaker, or indeed access to previously paralyzed limbs, some degree of surgical implant may always be employed. Psychiatric devices however (undoubted to eventually find off-label uses as recreation), to alleviate depression, PTSD, schizophrenia or even psychopathy (or temporarily induce it in soldiers), could still be wireless utilizing transcranial current and magnetic stimulation or other techniques. I’m sure there are countless opportunities that fall between these two sets of examples.

            As this is Road To VR though, the context of my thought was in mainstream consumer applications. AR, VR, etc. These are more difficult to parse. You’re attempting to create an image in the visual cortex and place it in a perceived real world location based on collected data, whether from external sensors or the very mind the system is interacting with. This is simultaneously a much more difficult task than any of the former, and a more frivolous one. It would also, I think, require a wireless approach not just to achieve mass adoption, but to out-compete highly advanced AR/VR glasses or even contact lenses in this space. Especially if these technologies themselves can integrate more straightforward BCI components such as haptic feedback, biometric authentication, OS navigation, or enhanced audio.

        • Alan Dail

          they go into detail during the presentation why it’s physically impossible to accomplish what they want to do without sensors beside the neurons.

          • I’m sure it’s currently unknown how to accomplish this wirelessly, that certainly doesn’t make it impossible. To my understanding it would essentially necessitate a holographic EM field to wirelessly interact with high enough resolution to replace wires. This would also likely end up being superior for many other reasons than the obvious. It would be able to interact with the entire brain, something a few wires cannot. It’s not like you can send an individual wire to every single neuron in the brain, but you could theoretically do it wirelessly.

          • Byaaface

            Now that’s some speculation if I have ever seen it. I have a feeling we will be seeing wired brain interfaces many years (if not millennia, or ever) before your supposed ‘superior’ and ‘theoretically’ possible ‘holographic wireless’ tech. How do you read extremely faint and simultaneously firing signals from deep within the brain, for example?
            That being said, I am not exactly lining up to get wires implanted into my head either.

          • All of it’s speculation lol. If you’re actually trying to read and interact with all the individual neurons in the brain, I strongly believe that wires are a far more impractical and frankly unrealistic solution than wireless – besides being obviously less desirable. It’s not like you can hook a wire to 100 billion neurons. What you might be able to do though is create a high enough resolution EM field to scan activity though. This is essentially the modality used for fMRI brain scans today, and yields quite impressive results if not to the volume of 100 billion (actually only a cubed root of 4641.59 which seems somewhat manageable lol).

            Currently there are a number of consumer level brain-computer interfaces that use similar designs like Emotiv and Neurosky. The interesting thing is that even without a fully complete map of the brain and an actual understanding of what the exact function of different components are, these devices function surprisingly well just by reading overall scans and matching patterns to user-identified actions. It’s pattern recognition more than anything which may be the best route as everyone’s brain works differently, with the brain even remapping itself due to novel stimuli each person experiences, or different types of trauma whether directly to brain or to the body with for instance a blind person’s ears being remapped to the visual cortex – something that even a sighted person can establish in part with practiced echolocation. Each person’s brain is a unique puzzle, so sticking wires in there may not always yield desired results either.

            The real uncharted waters though are in 2-way communication with the brain. This is in its infancy with techniques like transcranial direct current and magnetic stimulation, or even good old “9v Nirvana”. Theoretically though, if you could read the brain to a high enough resolution, you could also triangulate either of these effects to a specific portion of the entire brain, perhaps even a neuron eventually. This can’t be said of any theoretical wired solution. Whether it’s impossible or not remains to be seen, but there is an ocean of research to delve into first to find out, and human ingenuity often astounds. I certainly wouldn’t want to advocate for the termination of either line of research, but in the end I believe wireless is in many ways the more promising of the two.

    • dk

      it is wireless …u can’t have wireless headphones without the thing that goes inside your ear or in this case inside your brain ….currently they r using a port on the skull https://www.google.com/search?biw=1366&bih=657&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=AhczXc3CKsLFwQLlt5zYDA&q=quadriplegic+skull+port&oq=quadriplegic+skull+port&gs_l=img.3…4372.7976..8119…0.0..0.251.1743.0j9j2……0….1..gws-wiz-img…….0j0i8i30j0i24.meHrdXnNfxY&ved=0ahUKEwjNy_OOzcPjAhXCYlAKHeUbB8sQ4dUDCAY&uact=5 or there might be wireless solutions too
      ….what u mean is u want wireless external to the scull device ….u can’t have a device like that without a massive loss in the signal …..btw it’s a few mm tiny incision ….but yes obviously almost no one will volunteer for something like that unless u stand to gain a massive quality of life improvement

      • Do you truly imagine someone would confuse these two types/interpretations of “wireless”? I mean what I specifically say, we should be investing mind-share into near-field completely wireless solutions. Today there are already many examples of such methods of wireless EEG scanning brain commands as well as sending signals back to cause effects in the brain such as transcranial magnetic and direct current stimulation. These are very promising technologies that with greater resolution and targeting of effects should be very capable of achieving true wireless interaction, by these or related discoveries found exploring this path.

        Argument otherwise, outside of extreme circumstances already discussed otherwise in this thread are a wasted path in the face of actual use-case scenarios. This rather reminds me of advocating spending trillions of dollars creating colonies on Mars, an objectively horrible place to live certainly much worse than Earth, in favor of instead investing those resources in ensuring Earth itself remains vital into the future. Why attempt primarily at a goal, however grotesquely impressive its attainment may be, that is but a stopgap for what your true endpoint is?

        • dk

          it is wireless high fidelity interfacing with the brain…. and there is no wire coming out of your head :P
          like I sad if it won’t give u a massive quality of life improvement like a paralyzed person would get almost no one will go beyond the super limited over the skull sensors
          researching interfacing with nerve clusters is at the level of researching artificial hearts …..it’s just not the casual gaming hardware people were hoping for

          • To be clear, it’s only the wires inside my brain I’d be trying to avoid ;-) I’m sure it I could be much more easily convinced if it was treatment for some serious medical condition, as I would for most surgery, not least of all brain surgery.

          • Alan Dail

            watch the video of the presentation, they go into great detail of why they have to embed it into the brain to access the signals they need to detect and then go into great detail about the many, many medical conditions they hope to be able to treat, including paralysis, blindness, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, etc, etc.

            Imagine a person with the same disease Steven Hawkins had being able to control a computer, type 40 WPM, talk in real time, etc, because of technology like this.

          • I’m well aware of the theories represented here. I simply propose that surgical brain implants aren’t the path to mainstream adoption on the level of consumer electronics like smartphones, not that there are zero uses otherwise.

      • Medieval_Miloš

        Wise words. If it was wireless we would also have significant EMF radiation. Look at replacing your earphones/headphones with tubes. Good luck will.

    • asshat

      ok thats fine for YOU, but for everyone else, we can do what we want with our body, so sure if we want we can put electronics through our brain. Sure itll be a risk but theres also the hope that this will improve aspects of our lives and even give you an edge above others. Very Viable to people who can see through the immediate culture shock of the situation and think in broader terms about body modification.

      basically there are people who want it and unless youre deep into your religion, there isnt really a moral guideline for body modification that we need to follow.

      • Both of us can do what we want with our body. My point was never to discourage body modification for those who are actually interested, just that it’s a small group who would decide to implant electronic interfaces into their brain unless there was a very serious benefit – of which VR and answering a cell phone for instance would certainly not qualify for many.

        There are already a small but dedicated group of people around the world who experiment with implants for various purposes. I really like the balance and north facing mods for functionality, but I’d still prefer a non-implanted version which for those devices is relatively straightforward. They likely never would have been invented without that community though, I think there is obvious benefit in that research I just don’t consider it a mainstream solution, for now at least.

      • Trenix

        You definitely need that edge, let me tell you.

    • WyrdestGeek

      It might not ever be possible without some sort of implant. But perhaps it would one day be good enough to not have to wires coming out of the skin.

      Like: you implant something, then it communicates wirelessly to a nearby device.

      It also depends on the actual goal.

      When data collection is the goal, some degree of lag wouldn’t be an issue.

      But when you’re trying to do full VR, sensory lag could be a big deal.

      • Who knows, it may not be possible either way – I do go into depth why I think it’s perhaps realistic in some other comments here that are much too long to recount lol. I don’t see many people electing brain surgery to play some games and answer their cell phone with a modicum more convenience though. Especially with high quality AR over the horizon. When you can go to the optometrist and get any pair glasses AR/VR capable as an option alongside anti-glare and scratch coatings, we’re living in a fundamentally different world of computational devices and interaction with technology – not to mention when this reaches contact lenses. I think it’s reasonable to assume we will arrive at these waypoints before any kind of brain-computer interface is capable of providing a similar experience. Especially in this situation I think only a wireless solution would ever see mainstream adoption.

  • Foreign Devil

    I’d not be surprised if we find out they are already doing the experiments on humans in somewhere like China. It will be a race to see who can get ahead with brain/computer implanted communications.

    • dogtato

      nah, it’s still too cutting-edge to steal so they’d have to invent it for themselves

      • Foreign Devil

        That’s an old meme. China is now well ahead of USA in many aspects of A.I. research and of course networking technology.

        • dogtato

          You’re right, and they’ll probably invest in developing this sort of technology. The ability to monitor/reprogram people’s thoughts must be enticing.

          • sebrk

            Joke is on you; they’ve done that for the past couple of decades already

          • asshat

            nooo theyll wait till any other country invests and then theyll have secret employees still sensitive information .

        • Zantetsu

          Evidence please. And not just a list of websites showing research that China may or may not be doing, because without evidence of whether or not those things are “well ahead of the USA” such a list is useless.

          What I mean is, show me some evidence of China being well ahead of the USA in many aspects of this research that isn’t cherry-picked to ignore whatever research might be done in the USA in the same area.

          I am not saying you *are* wrong, but I’m saying you *sound* wrong, so please back your statement up with some facts.

          • Neuro(mancer)

            You know, you can google it yourself. Two of the examples from the top of my head are small helmets for train staff that detect neurological brain activity and artificial intelligence with an aim to predict crimes ahead of time. You can verify those two yourself if you want.

          • Zantetsu

            OK so you have no evidence I guess. Sure we can all google for anything we want to and draw conclusions based on what we see but that’s not evidence for anything except confirmation bias.

    • kool

      They already do it here on disabled people. They sign waivers all the time to try this type of stuff. YouTube it!

  • Mateusz Pawluczuk

    I was expecting some more cutting edge :p BCI that uses optogenetics would be something. If you listen to people like Philip Alveda you can see how quickly BCI tech is advancing these days. Still, it’s great to have a commercial player in that space :)

  • We’ll need decades for this to be applied to healthy people… but it is already fascinating at this stage

  • Varmintbaby

    Elon Musk is evil. He was chosen by the elites to play the role of a Tony Starke type character, that makes people believe he’s a billionaire genius that’s going to usher in some utopian/great world. Human beings do not need to interface with machines. Machines are a creation of man, and some say a device of satan. God created man perfectly in his image and we don’t need to be messing around with who we are.

    A young man who was trying DMT regularly posed a question to the “machine elves” that people often describe seeing when on DMT. He asked them about Jesus and they got very upset. After a back and forth they were revealed to be half human/half mechanized entities occupying the space he was in (demons) and they had to leave when he commanded them to in the name of Christ Jesus.

    People don’t fall for this stuff. This is not the direction we need to be going in. We can use computers to better our lives without them entering our bodies and becoming a part of us. Those demons want us to be like them, and they want to be like God. We already have a common link and thread as living things on this earth. We’ve just forgotten how to use it. Intuition and all that is a part of that. Seek God and turn away from this nonsense. If they do release this, shun it and don’t fall for what they tell you its doing. It’s end goal is to control human beings, which is what satan wants to do. God bless.

    • R3ST4RT

      wut

    • Wow. You apparently don’t need an always-on BCI to influence people’s thinking in weird ways…

      With all due respect: don’t talk about people being evil, just point out potential unintended side effects of what they do (which can be important). And don’t say anything before you think you really understand what’s going on. Musk could live like a god but dedicates his live to extending human life on this planet and others before astroid, climate change or AI makes it uninhabitable for humans.

      Also, I recommend reading more science fiction. It helps you imagine future outcomes.

      • Waji Anwar

        Hmm I can imagine in the future where a malevolent AI travels back i time and uses our neural implants to make us its army of destruction. And since time is an endless loop this will repeat over and over until someone can break out and save us

        • That’s a really good idea for a story you should call dibs or I will.

          • Waji Anwar

            Lol it already it ;)

          • Really? Exactly as you described?

    • VRgameDevGirl

      Really? Find someplace else to troll

    • Trenix

      I think it’s funny how Facebook gets hit with billions and now the US government is figuring how what they can do to further prevent social media from invading people’s privacy and censorship. Just like a phone, companies will do whatever they can to track you. I’m surprised why no one is convinced that this kind of devices will not be as invasive and used in the wrong way than it’s intended purpose. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if that is their actual intended purpose.

    • impurekind

      Dude, you need to get off the carousel. I agree that there’s dangers and stuff in using and abusing this tech in ways that are just unnecessary, but all your talk and preaching about people seeing demons and basically connecting with God and stuff is a result of you buying into some ramblings of people with either overactive imaginations–surprise, they were on drugs–and those selling you a bunch of stories and lies in order to profit from your very human gullibility and fallibility and fear of being irrelevant and dying after living a meaningless life. Don’t just believe every single thing you read as gospel (pun intended); exercise some common sense, critical thinking, and maybe even do a bit of actual independent research so you’re a more all round informed person speaking from a position of authentic knowledge rather than ignorance and blind belief in whatever some random told/tells you in a way that appealed/appeals to you. You’re better than that.

    • Virtual Fairy

      Christianity has clearly been an unhealthy influence on you.

      • Trenix

        VR has clearly been an unhealthy influence on you. Virtual fairy? Seriously?

        • Virtual Fairy

          You seem to be on the wrong website.

    • Medieval_Miloš

      Fearinnoculum

    • Evil is a false idol.

  • knurvs

    If this better-than-reality-direct-to-brain VR doesn’t come with 1000x time dilation, I’m out.

  • Trenix

    Unless it’s for a medical reason, no one should be injecting anything
    into their bodies. They’re asking for problems. Our advances in
    technology isn’t as fast and as superior as many people portray it. I’ve found that tech is getting less reliable than ever before. We’d had phones exploding, airplanes malfunctioning causing all passengers to die, and Windows 10 has been a piece of garbage.

    VR can’t even get their act together, they’re reducing reliability just so they can reduce costs to obtain the masses, which doesn’t even work. I can go on and on. In the past, our tech was never unreliable, the worst we had was viruses to deal with.

    • aasd

      we can put things in our bodies if we want to…. who are you to say were not allowed to? If i want to pioneer new technology at the risk of brain or body damage, thats my risk to take and you cannot tell me thats immoral or bad. That would just be your opinion

      • Trenix

        Obviously, welcome to the comment section. Yes I stated my opinion, you leftist nuts really find any opportunity to push your “my body my choice” diabolical narrative. Go get help, just like all the so called “parents” that aborted their children for mere convenience and have resulted into depression from the common sense trauma you leftist nuts push them into.

        Out of empathy, very much unlike you, I’m forewarning people to not make stupid mistakes. If they’re willing to take the risk, I’m not going to forcefully stop them from doing so. Be my guest, undergo some procedure that can go wrong. Trust these devices that could potentially malfunction which can permanently damage or even kill you.

        I personally trust my own body than some sort of device. Unless my body is failing and is in need of some sort of assistance from a device, I will not bother and will advise others, to not be stupid. Also I bet you don’t even know a single thing about morality. Bet you’re an atheist and you believe that morality is mere opinion. Now if that’s true, then morality is unique for everyone and therefore no even murder is wrong.

        Sick of people like you, you’re exactly why the world is a horrible place to live in. Especially with your wacky social justice nonsense that is doing more harm than good for civilized people.

        • prg4mer

          Boomer alert

          • Trenix

            Millennial actually and ashamed of it.

        • Zantetsu

          I stopped reading at “you leftist nuts”. Sorry you wasted so much time writing stuff no one will read …

          • Trenix

            You stopped reading because it applied to you.

          • Zantetsu

            No, I stopped reading because I don’t have time for people who have to bring political prejudice into every discussion because it is that attitude that is ruining our society. You’ll find that most people are ignoring you on this site though so … keep up the good work?

          • Trenix

            I don’t care what you and most people think. You’re the type of person that would support censorship, don’t lie.

          • Lucas Mills

            Agreed. Ad hominem completely ruins whatever argument might be there otherwise, and it makes the user sound unintelligent.

            There is enough tribalism already; I don’t really appreciate being exposed to it around every corner I turn.

  • impurekind

    “Very bold work”

    Notice how it’s not “very exciting work” or “very compelling work” or “very enjoyable and entertaining and magical work”. . . .

    I think this kind of thing would be very useful for people suffering issues where some kind of neural link may help improve their quality of life, but I just do not buy into the notion that this will ever become some kind of mass market thing that most people actually want to subject themselves too, and certainly not as long as it’s invasive in any way.

    The amount of stuff that could be a problem for people adopting this, outside of those doing it for very necessary reasons, is just beyond the benefits it might offer in terms of entertainment and lifestyle enhancements imo.

  • Jens

    Even with the electrodes implanted it will take years for the brain to train itself to recognize the signals as anything useful so I dont really see how it could ever create an interface for AR/VR, it’s just not how the brain works.

  • GigaSora

    Glasses that interpret the world then inject this information directly into your brain. Cutting out the body’s latency of vision to understanding. An electrical (instead of the nervous system’s chemical) connection to your muscles from your brain. Cut out think to move latency. Now we’re super human kung fu fighters. I think I just solved all the world’s problems.

    • Lol I’m pretty sure superhuman kung fu fighters make more problems for all of us…

  • John Overholt

    Yay! Oculus is watching! I can’t wait to see the Oculus Brain Controllers, imagine having squid arms for controllers.

  • Randy V.

    200 years from now a 12 year old hacker will get everyone in the world to pee at exactly the same time no matter what they are doing. The only way that can happen is to take these first baby steps.

  • Jon

    Why direct to the brain? why not using the nerves and neurons of other parts of the body, for example the hands…

  • Nah, I think this is where things start to get very weird. You plant a microchip inside your head, it connects to your brain and is able to interfere with your normal brain function, at what point is it able to connect to AI? How many firmware updates does it take before it can be remotely controlled, what happens when it gets hacked? Not for me.

    • Medieval_Miloš

      There’s also EMF radiation effects which would be amplified if transmitting directly inside your brain. They would have to use scalar to transmit signals. I completely agree. There’s a good reason why religion warns against augmenting the body and that’s because the body has so much profound power that has not been unlocked already because most humans living their wakeful life asleep on this planet haven’t made the link between science demystifying the mystical aspects of religious practise and ritual. Lets look at a few examples: The ice man who can literally walk through snow naked and keep his internal organs at high enough temperatures to survive where all other humans would die achieved it through a Tibetan meditation that involves imagining a flame is inside your torso warming your organs. There was another who could ignite things on fire through the power of chi and even transmit that chi into the limbs of scientists who could feel it like electric shocks. Also people like joe dispenser have now come out with entire series dedicated to showing you meditation rituals that get your brain performing in higher wave states where you have the power to enhance creative intelligence while increasing the signals you transmit to your pineal gland.

      The smart option is always the safer option even if it means limiting your capability to transmit information by waiting for a better option. Let the fools become tempted by power and watch as it corrupts them. Some will likely want use this technology as soon as it comes out to overcome physical constraints, for those people I suggest waiting the odd year for a safe removable and non hack-able version to become available. Something that preferably only goes through wires. If you can simulate sensations of feeling sight and touch then you don’t need it to be wireless. Wireless = high levels of EMF exposure and wireless = hack-able. Tube headphones are the exception as the world has it’s first radiation free blue-tooth now available on smart and safe.com.

      • I found your reply really interesting, I agree that there is a lot of evidence to back up what you are saying, EMF radiation directly into the brain would most likely lead to a lot of abnormal brain function, cancer increase, all sorts of problems.

        The meditation aspect and ability to go to a higher state of consciousness through meditation (alpha brainwaves) seems a key aspect to be able to do things that most would consider impossible. Look at what the shaolin monks can do with their bodies and mind, the whole mind over matter thing is incredible.

        Since we as humans have a very limited range of senses, visible light been only a tiny fraction of what exists we are simply unaware of other forces going on around us, there are some scientists who are trying to explain this whole thing through quantum mechanics and the Akashic Field which is hard to understand but sounds like it could explain some of this stuff. I guess it goes into some deep theories about what we are and the nature of reality.

      • Medieval_Miloš

        There is a show called wisdom teaching on gaia. I think you would be ready for it. Watch it with an open mind. While your at it check out re-wired and the blue shields emf protection website. You sound like you’re on the right path. I’m already well aware of what you speak about. I hope you do great things for the world with your knowledge, the world needs great people right now more than ever. Things are moving quickly downwards. -Warm regards from down undah.

  • Ko-chin Chang

    If I were the researchers, I’d seriously look into a possible connection between acupuncture and neural info transmitted by the brain. It may be possible to communicate with the brain through points in the other parts of the body without a implant into the brain.

  • Medieval_Miloš

    There’s also EMF radiation effects which would be amplified if transmitting directly inside your brain wirelessly. That’s why the neural link has a connection through the skull, it’s not planned to be wireless. I completely agree with your main point on safety I would be cautious to test these. There’s a good reason why religion warns against augmenting the body and that’s because the body has so much profound power that has not been unlocked already because most humans living their wakeful life asleep on this planet haven’t made the link between science demystifying the mystical aspects of religious practise and ritual. Lets look at a few examples: The ice man who can literally walk through snow naked and keep his internal organs at high enough temperatures to survive where all other humans would die achieved it through a Tibetan meditation that involves imagining a flame is inside your torso warming your organs. There was another who could ignite things on fire through the power of chi and even transmit that chi into the limbs of scientists who could feel it like electric shocks. Also people like joe dispenser have now come out with entire series dedicated to showing you meditation rituals that get your brain performing in higher wave states where you have the power to enhance creative intelligence while increasing the signals you transmit to your pineal gland.
    If any of you reading this were serious about unlocking your brain there are ways you could already be doing it. Subscribe to gaia for a month and watch the entire re-wired joe dispenser series.

    The smart option is always the safer option even if it means limiting your capability to transmit information by waiting for a better option to come out after it’s been proven to be safe. Let the impatient and easily tempted become led away by the influence of power and watch what happens. Some will likely want use this technology as soon as it comes out to overcome physical constraints, for those people I suggest only getting in early if it can’t be hacked, and is shown as being safe for our bodies through blood test analysis through a microscope (that’s how you check the EMF negative effect in a controlled environment EMF radiation free testing environment). If you can simulate sensations of feeling sight and touch then you don’t need it to be wireless. Wireless = high levels of EMF exposure and less information is able to be transmitted. Wireless = hack-able. Tube headphones are the exception as the world has it’s first radiation free blue-tooth now available on smart and safe.com.