To prevent getting lost, the elevator goes directly to the safety island to report Liu Yadong A
Source: Heart of the Machine
A 29-year-old man who has been paralyzed from shoulder down the shoulder for eight years in a diving accident relives the online chess and time-killing game Civilization 6 with the help of a brain-computer interface device.
It was the latest live broadcast by brain-computer interface company Neuralink, which quickly attracted more than five million onlookers.
In a short nine-minute livestream, Noland Arbaugh, Neuralink's first human subject, introduced himself and said he could use his Neuralink device to play online chess and the video game Civilization.
Arbaugh sits in front of his laptop in a specially made chair. When he tried to control a game of chess, his hands were still on the armrests of the chair:
"It's not perfect. I would say we ran into some issues. I don't want people to think that this is the end of the journey, there is still a lot of work to be done," Arbaugh said next to Bliss Chapman, engineer at Neuralink. But the brain-computer interface has already brought many improvements to his life, such as finally being able to play video games for hours without having to rely on his family.
His physical condition limited his ability to participate in his favorite video game, Civilization 6, as he could only play for a few hours at a time, and then needed the help of his family to readjust his sitting position. "I've basically given up playing that game," he said, adding that it's a "big game" that requires a lot of time sitting still.
With a brain-computer chip, it's not a problem to lie in bed and play video games for hours. If there is still a limitation, it is that after 8 hours of continuous video game play, the device must be charged again. This is really not enough for Civilization 6, which often "plays until dawn".
During the livestream, Arbaugh described the process of learning how to use a brain-computer interface: "I would try to move, let's say, my right hand would move left, right, forward, backward, and from then on, I felt like it became intuitive to start imagining cursor movements. ”
"If you can see the cursor moving across the screen, it's probably me," he said. ”
While there are relatively few details included in the livestream, Neuralink engineers said in the video that more information will be released by the company in the coming days.
An important step in the study of brain-computer interfaces
Founded by Elon Musk in 2016, Neuralink is currently developing a system known as a brain-computer interface that can decode motor intent from brain signals. The company's initial goal was to allow paralyzed people to control the cursor or keyboard with just their minds.
This livestream made Neuralink one of the companies that actually published evidence of human brain implantation. The other two companies that have released evidence, Blackrock Neurotech and Synchron, have been leading the way for many years, and the three companies have different approaches, and the track has also been flooded with startups.
For example, one of Neuralink's co-founders left the company in 2021 to start rival Precision Neuroscience, which began a human clinical study last June.
Neuralink has come under intense scrutiny, in part because its founder, Elon Musk, is also the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and is one of the richest people in the world.
Neuralink received the green light from the US Food and Drug Administration last year to proceed with preliminary human trials and begin recruiting paralyzed people to test the device in the fall.
But so far, Neuralink has revealed few details about the progress of the study.
In an X post in January, Musk announced that the first human trial subject had received Neuralink's implant and was "recovering well."
On February 19, Musk answered a question about the participants' situation in a Spaces audio conversation on X: "Progress is good, the patient seems to have fully recovered without the ill effects known to us." The patient is able to move the mouse around the screen simply by thinking. ”
Neuralink's device is implanted into the brain through a surgical robot developed by the company, and once implanted, it is visually invisible. In order to analyze brain signals and translate them into output commands to control external devices, Neuralink has also designed specialized software.
Arbaugh's livestream seemed to dispel concerns about device security: "I thought, there's nothing to be afraid of. The surgery was very simple and I was literally discharged from the hospital a day later. He also said there was no cognitive impairment after the surgery.
Brain-computer interfaces moving forward in the midst of controversy
Some neuroscientists and ethicists have criticized Neuralink's previous trials for their lack of transparency. In 2021, Neuralink caused a huge stir by posting a video showing a monkey implanted in its device playing a video game telepathically. PCRM, an American animal rights organization, had filed a lawsuit against Neuralink alleging that it "abused" the monkeys used in its trials.
Neuralink responded: "Many of the monkeys were in poor health before participating in the trial and were about to be euthanized. All new medical devices must be tested on animals before they are tested on humans. This is a rule that Neuralink cannot escape. But we are absolutely committed to working with animals in the most humane and ethical way possible. ”
The participation of human subjects in trials poses greater ethical challenges than animal subjects. Neuralink has not disclosed the number of subjects who will participate in this initial human trial, the trial location, or the evaluations that will be conducted.
Notably, Neuralink is not registered on ClinicalTrials.gov, a government repository containing information on medical research involving human subjects.
According to experts, even if a brain-computer interface device is proven safe for use in humans, it could still take more than a decade for Neuralink to be licensed for commercial use.
In addition to Neuralink, several other companies are racing to commercialize brain-computer interfaces. For example, Synchron is developing a stent-like device that tries to insert it into the jugular vein and move it upwards so that it fits snugly against the brain. In contrast, Synchron's vascular intervention has a higher level of safety than Neuralink, which requires a device implant that is inserted into the human skull.
Synchron has implanted Stentrode, a brain-computer interface device for ALS patients. After receiving the Stentrode implant, participants can use a computer to communicate over text and complete everyday tasks, such as shopping online and checking out banking.
Synchron's clinical participants communicate by digitally controlling his computer with his mind.
However, the FDA has not approved any brain-computer interface devices, and they are all still experimental.
Reference link: https://www.wired.com/story/neuralink-implant-first-human-patient-demonstration/https://www.sohu.com/a/535904499_121181007
This article is reprinted from the official account "Heart of the Machine", the original title is "After being paralyzed for 8 years, Musk's first brain-computer interface human implanter is playing Civilization 6 with his mental power".