Context: Tech. Entrepreneur Elon Musk and start-up Neuralink are trying to build a "Fitbit in your skull"— an ambitious device to connect the human brain to a computer.
The functioning of our brain:
Composed of neurons, which talk to each other via network points called synapses-- they communicate through chemical signals called neurotransmitters.
All our experiences are just neurons firing electrical signals, or action potentials, which are momentarily converted into chemical ones through the release of neurotransmitters;
Multiply this process by 100 billion and that's our brain in a nutshell.
Features of Neuralink
Use of flexible threads: Every Neuralink chip measures roughly 4x4 mm and connects to the brain through electrode threads.
This technology would use neurosurgical robots to insert electrode threads within the brain.
These small chips would be connected to a tiny wireless battery-powered gadget behind the ear.
Safer than currently used materials: the system may include "as many as 3,072 electrodes per array distributed in 96 threads". The threads are 4 to 6 microns in width — much thinner than a human hair.
Safe use of lasers: to get through the skull, rather than drilling holes.
High number of electrodes: improve the efficiency of control in robotic limbs.
Advantages of Neuralink:
Medical Significance: It may allow those suffering from paralysis or conditions like Parkinson's disease to control their body movements and manipulate machines.
It can create scalable high-bandwidth Brain-Machine Interfaces (BMIs).
Uploading information to the brain: Neuralink wouldn't only read data from the brain but also upload information to it.
It would then be connected to a smartphone via Bluetooth or WiFi.
Arguments against the technology:
Inadequacy of machine learning: Even if Neuralink could sample enough of the 100 billion cells in the brain, it would be difficult to generate all our thoughts to calibrate a useful mind-reading device.
Neuralink may be good example of technology outstripping our current ability to know how to use it.