The man with a mind-reading chip in his brain, thanks to Elon Musk

By having a chip in your brain that can translate your thoughts into a computer command, it may look like science fiction – but it is a reality for Nolland Arbagh.

In January 2024 – eight years after being paralyzed – 30 -year -old, US neurotechnology firm, became the first person to receive such a device from a neurlink.

This was not the first such chip – a handful of other companies have also developed and implanted them – but the founder of Nolland’s essential neurlinks: Elon Musk attracts more attention due to Elon Musk.

But Nolland says that the important thing is neither he nor Kasturi – but science.

He told the BBC that he knew what he was doing – but “good or bad, whatever, I will help”.

“If everything works, I can help being a participant of the neurlink,” he said.

“If something was terrible, I knew that they would learn from it.”

Nolland, who is from Arizona, was paralyzed under the shoulders in a diving accident in 2016.

His injuries were so serious that he was afraid that he would not be able to study, work or even sports.

“You have no control, no privacy, and it is difficult,” he said.

“You have to learn that you have to trust other people for everything.”

The neurlink chip appears to restore a fraction of its previous independence, allowing it to control a computer with his brain.

It is known as a brain computer interface (BCI) – which works to detect small electrical impulses generated on thinking about human thinking and translate into digital commands, such as transferring cursors on a screen.

It is a complex subject that scientists have been working for several decades.

Essentially, participation in the area of ​​Elon Musk has turned the technology and Nolland Arbagh – into the headlines.

It helps the neurlinks to attract a lot of investment – as well as examining the safety and importance of an extremely aggressive process.

When Nolland’s transplant was announced, Experts saw it as a “important milestone”Also warning that it would take time to actually take time – especially given the skill of musk on “generating publicity for your company”.

At that time Musk was publicly zero, just writing in a social media post: “The initial results show promising to detect neuron spikes.”

In fact, Nolland said, billionaire – what he spoke before and after his surgery – was far more optimistic.

“I think he was as excited as I had to start,” he said.

However, he emphasizes that the neurlink is more than its owner, and claims that he does not consider it “an alone musk device”.

Does the rest of the world sees it in this way – Especially given his fast controversial role in the US government – remains to be seen.

But there is no question on what effect the device has had on Nolland’s life.

When Nolland woke up with surgery, which installed the device, he said that he was initially able to control a curse on a screen thinking about shocking his fingers.

“I did not know what I expected – it seems so much science -fluff,” he said.

But after seeing his neurons on a screen – all excited neurlinks are surrounded by staff – he said “it all sinks” that he could control his computer with his ideas only.

And – even better – Their ability to use implants over time has increased to the point that he can now play chess and video games.

He said, “I am playing the game,” he said – when he became disabled, he had to do something like this “.

“Now I am beating my friends in sports, which should not be really possible but it is.”

Nolland is a powerful performance of technology ability to change life – but shortcomings may also occur.

“One of the main problems is privacy,” said Anil Seth Professor of Neuroscience of Sussex University.

“So if we are exporting our brain activity (…), then we are not only what we do, but potentially we think what we believe and what we feel, allowing access to what we feel,” he told the BBC.

“Once you get access to accessories inside your head, there is actually no other obstruction for personal privacy.”

But these are not worried for Nolland – instead he wants to see chips what they can do.

He told the BBC that he hoped the device that the device may eventually allow them to control their wheelchairs, or even a future humanoid robot.

Even with technology in its current, more limited position, it all has not been smooth sailing.

At one point, an issue with the device lost her completely control over her computer, when it was partially disconnected from her brain.

“It was really upset to say at least,” he said.

“I didn’t know if I would be able to use the neurlink again.”

The connections were repaired – and later improved – when engineers adjusted the software, but it highlighted the concerns raised by experts on the boundaries of technology.

Neurlink is one of the several companies, which is detecting digitally tapping in our brain power.

Synchron is a firm that states that its stent will require less aggressive surgery for the purpose of helping people with neuron disease to help.

Instead of the need for open brain surgery, it is installed in a person’s jugular vein in their neck, then went to their brain through a blood vessel.

Like the neurlink, the device eventually connects to the motor region of the brain.

Chief Technology Officer Ricky Burnerjee said, “It arises when someone is thinking about tapping or not to tap his finger.”

“By being able to take those differences, it can create that we call a digital motor output.”

The output is then converted into a computer signal, where it is currently being used by 10 people.

One such person, who did not want his last name to be used, told the BBC that he was the first person in the world to use the device with Apple’s Vision Pro Headset.

Mark said that it has allowed him to be almost discharged in far -flung places – from standing in the waterfall in Australia to a walk on the mountains in New Zealand.

“I can see a road in a world in the future where this technique can actually be, in fact it can create a difference for someone in which it or any paralysis is,” he said.

But for Nolland there is a warning with his neurlink chip – he agreed to be a part of a study, which installed it for six years, after which the future is less clear.

Whatever happens to him, he believes that his experience can only scratch the surface of one day reality.

“We know very little about the brain and it is allowing us to learn so much,” he said.

Additional reporting by Yasmin Morgan-Grifiths.