Why does Elon Musk want to read your mind?

Science Weekly

The Guardian

Science

4.2 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 February 2022

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A few weeks ago, Elon Musk’s company Neuralink posted a job advert recruiting for a ‘clinical trial director’ to run tests of their brain-computer interface technology in humans. Neuralink’s initial aim is to implant chips in the brain that would allow people with severe spinal cord injuries to walk again. But, Musk himself has said that he believes this technology could one day be used to digitally store and replay memories. Madeleine Finlay speaks to Prof Andrew Jackson about how brain-computer interfaces actually work, where the technology is at the moment, and if in the future we could all end up communicating telepathically. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the Guardian. It hasn't been a great couple of weeks for Elon Musk.
0:18.0	One of his rockets is currently on a crash course to the moon.
0:22.8	Four tons of metal traveling at 5,000 miles per hour.
0:27.2	The moon's gravitational pull sucking it in.
0:30.3	Impact calculated for March 4th.
0:33.0	A 19 year old demanded $50,000 to remove a Twitter account
0:39.0	which tracks Musk's private jet.
0:42.0	Imagine scrolling through your phone and Elon Musk slips into your DMs.
0:47.0	You see a freshman Jack Sweeney didn't have to imagine it.
0:51.0	And just a few days ago ago it was confirmed that 80% of his SpaceX
0:56.2	starlink satellites that launched last week are expected to burn up instead of
1:01.6	reaching their intended orbit.
1:06.0	Although in better news for the billionaire,
1:09.0	there was a lot of excitement after Musk's other company, Nurelink, began recruiting for a clinical
1:17.4	trial director to run tests of their neural or brain computer interface in humans.
1:27.0	In humans.
1:31.0	In the first instance, Musk hopes that this technology, which allows the brain to communicate directly with a computer,
1:38.0	could soon be used to help those with severe spinal cord injuries walk again.
1:43.4	We hope to have this in our first humans which will be
1:48.6	people that have severe spinal cord injuries like tetraplegics, quadriplegics next year,
1:56.3	pending FDA approval.
1:59.4	But of course, his ambitions don't stop there.
	...

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