One more sci-fi idea is closer to reality

US technology entrepreneur Elon Musk’s announcement that his company Neuralink has successfully implanted a brain-computer interface chip in a human being has brought science fiction a step closer to reality. The announcement was not entirely surprising because the process of the experiment was known and Neuralink had received approval from the US Food & Drug Administration in September last year. The declared aim of the company is to treat physiological disorders related to the brain, and the breakthrough it has made can possibly help to address physical and cognitive limitations and disabilities. The surgical implant of chips in the brain allows humans to wirelessly connect their brain with phones, computers and other devices. The chip captures the thoughts in the brain, converts them into signals, and moves a cursor or produces a text. It is mind moving matter, and works like telepathy. It will enable a disabled person to control a computer, robotic arm, wheelchair or other devices through thought alone. Previous experiments, done by others, had tried to physically connect the brain to a computer through a port in the skull. This raised the possibility of infection and limited the scope for usage.

Scientists have worked on brain-computer interface for long, and Neuralink’s experiment was part of these efforts. The company was founded by Musk in 2016, with the objective of meshing human brain with Artificial Intelligence (AI). He has set up other companies also which seek to develop cutting-edge technologies in many frontier areas. He has succeeded in some of them with his missionary zeal and business skills. Neuralink is now enrolling only people who are living with quadriplegia due to a spiral injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a debilitating condition. There are other companies also working in the field but Musk seems to be ahead of them. 

Neuralink’s achievement has produced both excitement and caution. The value and usefulness of the brain-computer interface is well recognised and it has great potential for development. But safety and sustainable long-term use are important requirements which will have to be rigorously tested and confirmed. There are apprehensions about degradation of signals over time. This is important because the electrodes cannot be replaced easily. There is a lack of detailed information about the achievement, and that makes a correct judgement of it difficult. There are ethical issues relating to privacy and the handling of data available from the brain. Questions about whether the technology can be misused are relevant. If implanted electrodes can read thoughts, will it be possible to read them without implanting a device? Can technologies be developed to control thoughts or write thoughts into someone’s brain? There are many other questions, too.