Science Neuralink Chip In Brain Helps Paraplegic Person Play Chess - Initial results show promising neuron spike detection.

https://www.chess.com/news/view/paraplegic-plays-chess-helped-by-neuralink-chip-in-brain

A paralyzed man is able to play chess with the help of a chip produced by Neuralink and implanted into his brain. A video posted on Wednesday evening on the social media platform X showing the remarkable achievement has been viewed over 70 million times.

In January of this year, the 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh became the first-ever person to receive a chip implant from Neuralink, Elon Musk's startup that is developing technology for people with paralysis to be able to communicate with computers.

In Wednesday's nine-minute livestream on Musk's platform X, Arbaugh explained that he got fully paralyzed below his shoulders, losing all feeling in his body, arms and legs, following a diving accident eight years ago where he dislocated his C4 and C5 spinal vertebrae.

Sitting behind a laptop wirelessly connected to the Neuralink chip, Arbaugh shows that he is capable of "telepathically" moving the cursor on his computer screen, which is showing a Chess.com chessboard. He is playing a game on our server by pure brain control, and is also able to control music.

https://twitter.com/neuralink/status/1770563939413496146

(9 minute video of the person describing his experience)

In the video, Arbaugh says using the Neuralink implant feels like using "the Force" from the Star Wars franchise. Just by staring somewhere on the screen, he can place the cursor wherever he wants. He also revealed that the chip allowed him to play the video game Civilization VI for eight hours straight.

On January 29 of this year, Neuralink's billionaire founder Elon Musk revealed on his platform X that the first human had received a chip implant on the day prior and was recovering well, adding: "Initial results show promising neuron spike detection." Musk called his first Neuralink product Telepathy, first used by, as is now revealed, Arbaugh.

In September last year, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had given the company clearance to carry out the first trial of its implant on humans. Before, Neuralink tested their devices on monkeys, pigs and other animals, which led to criticism from groups such as the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

As The Wall Street Journal pointed out, moving a computer cursor isn't a big technical leap for brain-computer interfaces: "An older brain chip first implanted in a human in 2004 also helped a paralyzed person move a cursor with only their thoughts."

That older chip, however, needed to be attached to a device on the outside of the brain to transmit data which required wires sticking out through the skin. Neuralink's wireless connection between the chip and the laptop seems to be particularly special.

"It's not perfect," Arbaugh admitted at the end of the video. "I would say that we have run into some issues. I don't want people to think that it is the end of the journey, there's still a lot of work to be done, but it has already changed my life."

 

[Dick Mason]

I'm no paraplegic, but I want a chip to help me play chess. I'm not smart, but chip make smart?

 

[Sexy Senior Citizen]

Future headline: Neuralink Chip In Brain Helps Combat Misinformation - Initial results show promise, says lizard person.

 

[Megaton Punch]

Any time something involving neuralink comes up, everyone does the same thing they've been doing for the past two hundred years: assuming that technology is a century ahead of where it actually is.

This chip can do little more than receive certain inputs and send them to a computer. It's got all the terrifying capabilities of a computer mouse. We've only just recently figured out how to make a prosthetic limb that can send basic signals to the brain through already-existing pathways. We're another lifetime or two away from a chip that can force you to click fire hydrants before you can order a McRib.

 

[*sigh*]

Any time something involving neuralink comes up, everyone does the same thing they've been doing for the past two hundred years: assuming that technology is a century ahead of where it actually is.

This chip can do little more than receive certain inputs and send them to a computer. It's got all the terrifying capabilities of a computer mouse. We've only just recently figured out how to make a prosthetic limb that can send basic signals to the brain through already-existing pathways. We're another lifetime or two away from a chip that can force you to click fire hydrants before you can order a McRib.

Don’t be too sure about that.

https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/the-man-who-fought-a-bull-with-mind-control

 

[Absurdist Laughter]

"It's not perfect," Arbaugh admitted at the end of the video. "I would say that we have run into some issues. I don't want people to think that it is the end of the journey, there's still a lot of work to be done, but it has already changed my life."

Any time something involving neuralink comes up, everyone does the same thing they've been doing for the past two hundred years: assuming that technology is a century ahead of where it actually is.

I don't know what you're on about, they mention to temper expectations. Whenever there is an Elon Musk attached technology there is always a contrarian diminisher of a human accomplishment; it's clockwork. Any technology that allows the physically disabled to interact with the digital world is a win in my book.

I look forward to the advancements accelerating now that a chip is implanted. We'll have to wait and see if there are complications with the surgery but in the mean time, it's all software optimization now. Since it is wireless, it makes it easier to push updates to the chip. Not to mention work out bugs in the hardware for the next generation of chipsets. Data from a human being rather than apes.

It's like a virus that jumps from animal to human, rapid infection much death that eventually tapers down until the virus is as harmless as the common cold because there is no genetic advantage of killing your host.

 

[Otterly]

He also revealed that the chip allowed him to play the video game Civilization VI for eight hours straight.

Priorities, right

 

[Megaton Punch]

Don’t be too sure about that.

https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/the-man-who-fought-a-bull-with-mind-control

Electrical stimulation and actually sending signals to neurons are worlds apart. What Delgado did was essentially induce a small seizure. Percussive maintenance of the brain. Still has its uses, but it's never going to be used to feed actual information into a consciousness.

Whenever there is an Elon Musk attached technology there is always a contrarian diminisher of a human accomplishment; it's clockwork. Any technology that allows the physically disabled to interact with the digital world is a win in my book.

All I said was this isn't just like le epic black mirror episode. This is quite literally a mouse you control with your brain instead of your hand.

 

[Mr.Miyagi]

Priorities, right

"Mr. Arbaugh, we really need to perform some tests—"
"Just one more turn!"

 

[Otterly]

The problem of how to make wetware and hardware talk to each other is an interesting one. Personally I believe it’ll never work until you actually grow the chip into the brain. Brains aren’t electronics, and to treat them like you can just read out a signal and wire it out is missing a lot. What you need to do is create a biologically based architecture, not ram wires and hardware into something the consistency of cream cheese. The exercise is fundamentally flawed. The chip and devices that read and integrate need to be biological material.

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

I mean, I'd never put the chip in my head, but if I was I'd want to be able to aim and fire gun turrets with my brain not move a chess piece.

 

[ZazietheBeast]

Only way I'd go for this is if the chip is open source. That way I can make sure the damn thing doesn't beam ads into my dreams or have an inconvenient killswitch as Deus Ex has showcased.

Future headline: Neuralink Chip In Brain Helps Combat Misinformation - Initial results show promise, says lizard person.

And now in comic format!

 

[Duke Nukem]

Schizo time: Neuralink is a backdoor for Elon Musk's transhumanist cyborg army with which he will conquer the world.

 

[*sigh*]

Electrical stimulation and actually sending signals to neurons are worlds apart. What Delgado did was essentially induce a small seizure. Percussive maintenance of the brain. Still has its uses, but it's never going to be used to feed actual information into a consciousness.

I was under the impression that the current Neuralink version only reads signals and then, using signatures or “finger prints“ to determine which command to send. Read-only, in other words.

 

[Megaton Punch]

I was under the impression that the current Neuralink version only reads signals and then, using signatures or “finger prints“ to determine which command to send. Read-only, in other words.

Pretty much, yes. Communication only goes one way, and it's quite primitive. Still really nice if you're quadriplegic, but completely useless if you still have use of your arms. I guess you could eat a two hander sandwich while browsing the internet. That'd be something.

 

[WonderWino]

The problem of how to make wetware and hardware talk to each other is an interesting one. Personally I believe it’ll never work until you actually grow the chip into the brain. Brains aren’t electronics, and to treat them like you can just read out a signal and wire it out is missing a lot. What you need to do is create a biologically based architecture, not ram wires and hardware into something the consistency of cream cheese. The exercise is fundamentally flawed. The chip and devices that read and integrate need to be biological material.

Indeed, though even growing an organic version of such a chip directly into the brain, ethics and feasibility issues aside, are still going to be incredibly limited and probably not much more useful than what it can do now. After all, you still need to figure out enough about how the brain works and how it processes signals and data in order to actually design anything to interact with it. We don't have that kind of information yet beyond a very crude understanding of the absolute basics. Without doing incredibly dangerous, invasive and unethical experiments that would make SS doctors blush I don't see how we'll ever get that kind of information. I can't really see this sort of thing ever being useful for more than a little more than whats being done now. Play chess, move a mouse cursor around, ring an alarm if the patient needs help, maybe move an artificial limb a little better. At best allowing someone to move a wheelchair around with a thought to give them a bit of mobility. Though i'm not sure the tradeoff in invasive and risky surgery with unknown long term effects is worth that

Its one of the reasons i'm iffy about these kinds of experiments. As by necessity they involve recruiting desperate people as guinea pigs. They do the same thing with experimental cancer treatments and such. I mean you can push a hell of alot more on someone telling them what do they have to lose when they're desperate than you can on some random person off the street

That said, you'd think this kind of invasive tech would cause issues for the immune system and at least some degree of scar tissue in the brain, which can't be a good thing

 

[Agent Abe Caprine]

"Mr. Arbaugh, we really need to perform some tests—"
"Just one more turn!"

"Fuck! Gandhi nuked me!"

 

[N Space]

HE HAS CONNECTED TO THE HIVEMIND

 

[Absurdist Laughter]

The problem of how to make wetware and hardware talk to each other is an interesting one. Personally I believe it’ll never work until you actually grow the chip into the brain. Brains aren’t electronics, and to treat them like you can just read out a signal and wire it out is missing a lot. What you need to do is create a biologically based architecture, not ram wires and hardware into something the consistency of cream cheese. The exercise is fundamentally flawed. The chip and devices that read and integrate need to be biological material.

We are able to create artificial intelligence through advance learning models and deep learning techniques to replicate a brain in a digital space. We can use these signals to create tailored software to each individual person affording a faster degree of accuracy in the interpretation of biological signals to binary. Although I think it is a cool idea to one day "grow" an interface and implant it biologically I don't think it is the way. The materials used to read the electrical pulses of our thoughts and actions will outlast cells and once the technology research has been paid off will practically cost nothing to make at scale. I can see a future where both technologies exist but that'll be a far way away; I'll be a pile of bones by that point. I am curious though, why do you think it has to be biological for it to be feasible?

 

[Otterly]

I am curious though, why do you think it has to be biological for it to be feasible?

Because the alternative is hard physical stuff like wires or chips in or on a brain. I don’t know if you’ve ever touched or held a brain, but they’re like a blancmange or cream cheese sort of consistency. It’s like stirring jelly with a sword. We have to somehow read the output of a cell and maybe signal back to it and they’re tiny tiny signals. So either we have some way or reading and transmitting that doesn’t touch the brain at all (which right now needs serious kit) or we get right next to the brain. Imagine shaking a sieve holding a jelly. That’s what happens. It has to be some kind of soft or organic ‘thing’ that physically touches the brain. At some point it’ll have to talk to a hard computer of course but that can be done on the skull. It’s just sticking wires in brains is dumb.