Neuralink, the health technology company owned by billionaire Elon Musk, has been facing several ongoing scandals since early 2022, beginning with animal rights organizations accusing the company of conducting unethical experiments on monkeys. In February, news broke that the US Department of Transportation was investigating allegations that the company used unsanitary shipping methods when unsafely transporting brain implants from the brains of monkeys that may have been infected.
Neuralink plans to place coin-sized implants in human brains within 2024 with the aim of allowing the human mind to control complex electronic devices, helping paralyzed people restore motor function, restore vision for the blind, and treat other brain diseases, according to The New York Times.
But it seems that Musk was not affected by these accusations, according to the “Washington Post”, which indicated in a report, Tuesday, that he continued to promote his company’s device through videos on social networking sites in which test animals are shown to prove the effectiveness and safety of technology.
The most viral and controversial video featured a 9-year-old macaque named Pager playing a video game without a controller, just using a computer-mounted brain interface.
According to the Washington Post, Neuralink has not announced the negative effects of the implanted brain-computer interface on monkeys, and instead Musk chooses to focus on his experiments and research that he claims will improve the condition of paraplegics.
What are the experiences?
Musk created “Neuralink” in 2016, and announced at the time that he aims to invent a small device and wires with electrodes, which are supposed to be implanted in the brain, along with a computer that communicates with the chip inside a person’s skull, according to the American “Business Times” website. .
Musk announced that the goal of this device is to allow someone who suffers from a lack of movement, such as those who have amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or the after-effects of a stroke, to communicate through their thoughts. This brain chip translates neural activity into data that can be interpreted by a computer.
The CEO of Tesla electric cars explained that two of the company’s applications will target restoring sight even for people who were born completely blind, and there will be another application to move polio patients by restoring full body functions to people with severed spines, according to the magazine. American Forbes.
“We are confident that there are no organic limitations to full bodily function recovery,” Musk said. He announced that he plans to obtain one of these chips himself.
Musk indicated that the company could begin testing its motor cortex technology in humans within six months. He said, “We want to be very careful and sure that it will work well before putting the device in a person, and we also sent our papers to the Food and Drug Administration to obtain approval,” according to “Reuters”.
Disagreements about experiments
The Washington Post believes that the social effects of this contemporary biotechnology are negative and miserable because of Musk’s illegal experiments on animals and the way he promotes these experiments without social responsibility, which will extend to Silicon Valley, because Musk is not the only scientist who has technology he wants to test on the animals.
And the newspaper believes that when we watch videos of Musk’s experiments on animals, it is not only necessary to ask ourselves whether the science presented is true, but also whether the social changes that such science may lead to are positive.
Musk claimed that Neuralink would one day create a new kind of human being, capable of “supercognition” through their connection to computers, thus changing our identity not only as users but as a species.
And the newspaper considered that when comparing this conversation with the image of the test monkey, we find that Musk seems to be already able to enter such a new social technological era. However, it must be recognized that Musk’s ability to control animals is not only proof of scientific success, but may also be an indication of his aspirations to dominate the world socially and politically.
