Elon Musk is planning to merge Our brains with computers

pulse

March 30, 2017 7:11 AM

Elon Musk is the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, but today he announced his backing of Neuralink, a venture in the world of—no joke—brain computers, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Elon Musk, CEO SPaceX and Tesla Inc.

We are now only two steps away from Westworld.

Elon Musk is the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, but today he announced his backing of Neuralink, a venture in the world of—no joke—brain computers, according to the Wall Street Journal. The company doesn’t have any sort of public presence yet, but it will operate in the realm of devices that can be implanted in the human brain.

Think the freaky virtual reality thing from Black Mirror or the whole situation from Manchurian Candidate. Both of those scenarios were not good for the people involved, and we’re not saying that this thing is going to be like those other (fictional) times, but we are saying we’re going to be cautious.

No shady government operatives are coming around our brains, at least for the time being.

Right now, brain-centric technology is super limited. In medicine, electrode arrays and other implants are used to counter the effects of certain neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s or epilepsy, however, there isn’t much of a precedent in the world today for intense, complex brain implants.

The main obstacle right now is really that the brain is just too delicate and finicky to mess with—you can screw it up pretty easily—so even those who have the electrode arrays have used them as a last resort.

The worst-case scenario for Neuralink is that they build a successful neurotransmitter, implant it in all our heads under the guise of “maximizing our minds,” then throw one giant switch and turn us all into will-less husks.

But that’s the worst-case scenario. It’s not likely to happen. But there is a chance. Stay frosty.

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