{"id":4740,"date":"2023-11-08T13:03:12","date_gmt":"2023-11-08T13:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/used82.com\/?p=4740"},"modified":"2023-11-08T13:03:12","modified_gmt":"2023-11-08T13:03:12","slug":"elon-musks-company-neuralink-looking-for-first-volunteer-to-have-robot-insert-wires-inside-their-skull","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/used82.com\/?p=4740","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk\u2019s company Neuralink looking for first volunteer to have robot insert wires inside their skull"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A company owned by Elon Musk is looking for a volunteer for a rather unusual experiment.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Launching into both literal\u00a0space<\/a>\u00a0and cyberspace is clearly not enough for billionaire\u00a0Musk<\/a>, who also owns the\u00a0company<\/a> Neuralink.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

In layperson’s terms, Neuralink is researching how to insert chips into people’s brains as a way to help restore lost\u00a0limb function<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Neurolink founder DJ Seo told Bloomberg\u00a0News<\/a>: \u201cThe short-term goal of the company is to build a generalized brain interface and restore autonomy to those with debilitating neurological conditions and unmet medical needs.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

There’s just one catch, which is that they need volunteers to be able to test how the device will work on an actual person.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

That means that someone will need to volunteer to have a hole drilled in their skull and a device inserted by a robot.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

It will be made up of the chip, about the size of a quarter, and tiny wires and electrodes thinner than a human hair.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Neuralink<\/picture>
Neuralink is owned by Elon Musk. Credit: Kirsty Wigglesworth – WPA Pool\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

Originally, the company had planned to get approval to implant this device into ten patients, but then negotiated a lower number with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The exact number of approved patients is not known.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

But Musk doesn’t want to stop at conditions affecting mobility.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

He also has ambitions to use the chips with mental health conditions such as depression and schizophrenia, and even to ‘treat’ developmental conditions such as autism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Ultimately, Neuralink wants to move beyond just medical applications, saying that it would ‘unlock human potential’.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Seo said: \u201cThe long-term goal is to have this available for billions of people and unlock human potential and go beyond our biological capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Neuralink<\/picture>
Neuralink researches implanting chips into the brain. Credit: Mateusz Slodkowski\/SOPA Images\/LightRocket via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

However, the company has already encountered difficulties in its development, facing a federal probe in 2022 after employee backlash over animal testing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Reuters reported that staff at Neuralink had complained that animal testing was being ‘rushed’.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

An investigation by Reuters found that as of December 2022, the company had killed around 1,500 animals, including more than 280 sheep, pigs, and monkeys, in experiments carried out since 2018.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The deaths of the animals is not necessarily a violation of US regulation on animal testing, but employees claimed that the number of deaths may have been higher than necessary due to Musk’s demand for greater progress on testing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Things have clearly progressed, with the company now exploring the possibly of moving forward to testing on humans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

UNILAD has reached out to Neuralink for a comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A company owned by Elon Musk is looking for a volunteer for a rather unusual…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4741,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"views":36,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}