Neuralink and Its Creations
Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX, is also the founder of Neuralink, a company hoping to make strides in the fields of AI and neuro-engineering. The company was founded in 2016, but it was just this year that Musk presented some of the advancements Neuralink has made in developing brain implants.
Musk presenting at 2020 Neuralink Demo EventThe company developed a sewing-machine-like robot that is capable of "sewing" a thousand small electrodes into rodent's and pig's brains. These probes that are weaved into the animal's brain measure and record the electrical signals that are emitted by neurons in the brain as they fire.
Neuralink Electrode Sewing MachineDuring an online demonstration this past August, Musk also presented a prototype of the link itself, a small metal circle, about the thickness of the human skull, meant to be implanted in the head so it can be near the brain and transmit signals back and forth with the implanted electrodes. The link contains computer chips, and was designed so that it can be taken out to charge, or taken out in order to be replaced as new and improved links are created. So far the technology has only been tested on pigs, as was also demonstrated during the webinar in August. A pig was brought out, and noises were played over the speaker as the link detected the neurons in the pig's brain firing in real time.
From the pig demonstration during the August 2020 Neuralink WebinarCreativity and Inspiration
Musk is active in many different areas of his domain- science. His focus is mainly on technology, whether it be cars, spaceships, solar panels, or brain implants. Musk draws much inspiration from other members of the scientific domain, as well as from science fiction movies. A large part of Musk's creative process is to examine existing technology and systems and use his self proclaimed "physics fundamental thinking" to make the technology more efficient, more affordable, and better at fulfilling what it is supposed to do. Musk is intrinsically motivated to move technology forwards and turn ideas that we see in science fiction movies into a reality, but as a major business man he is also externally motivated by recognition and money. The creativity behind Neuralink comes from inspiration from science fiction movies in which people receive implants in their brain that give them increased intelligence and functioning. Musk also has a more specific goal for his technology- by looking at the field of healthcare and medicine from a new perspective- he had the idea of developing the link to tackle health issues such as depression and Parkinson's, as well as make paraplegics able to walk again. Musk has created great shifts in each subdomain he is a part of in the overall domain of science- revolutionizing the electric car, revitalizing space exploration efforts, creating solar roofs that are affordable and durable, and hopefully in the future, creating brain implants that can treat and cure neurological disorders.
Elon Musk is pretty much a household name at this point. His advancements in science and technology have been nothing short of revolutionary. The neuralink, in particular, is very interesting. As a neuroscience major, the advancements and rapidly fluctuating field prose so much possibility and Musk's contributions are very impressive. It's so cool to see how this chip could work on an array of neurological defects and make it easier/less invasive to track/detect. I find it interesting how you mention his intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to his career and his creative products. I know he's been under fire recently for his egoistical navigations with business and the unethical manner of his monetary greed. However, I don't doubt that some of his motivation does derive from his own personal desires to revolutionize scientific advancements. Only with his intrinsic motivation would he be able to create such products for all of mankind to utilize. I definitely see him as a Big-C creative because I know he has rebranded the automobile sphere with Tesla and continues to pioneer the ways of technological and scientific advancements.
ReplyDeleteWhat I also think will be really interesting to observe is how Musk and his Neuralink team go about addressing the ethical questions that will surely result from brain implants. People suffering from neurological ailments are among some of society's most vulnerable populations, and a product geared towards the manipulation of one's central nervous system will make them even more vulnerable in some senses. This is especially true as Neuralink's capabilities can be monitored and eventually will be able to be externally controlled as the technology progresses (inevitably leading to concerns about someone managing to be able to hack Neuralink's connection to your CNS and potentially cause destructive, irreversible damage). It will be intriguing to see how Musk and his team implement safeguards into the product and how much they value the safety of the people who use Neuralink in the near future. To a certain degree, protecting users might even be a greater test of Musk's big-C creativity than the actual idea of Neuralink itself.
ReplyDeleteElon Musk is an amazing, technologically focused creative! I loved learning about Neuralink- I had never heard of it until now! You did a great job connecting Musk to what we have talked about in class! I enjoyed learning about how Musk is motivated by science fiction movies. I never would have guessed that one of the greatest scientific minds of our lifetime was inspired by sci-fi! Great blog post!
ReplyDeleteI first heard of Elon Musk through a YouTube video (by Casually Explained) and did not quite believe the otherworldly time commitment and devotion that Musk has to manage 2 major companies, as well as play a large part in several other business ventures. While he is no doubt one of the more household names in the field now (as alluded to in another comment), Musk participates in a slew of other ventures, including politics and entertainment. In his own words, Musk is a "half-Republican, half-Democrat" and is a registered Independent voter. After seeing that he supported Andrew Yang for the 2020 Democratic nomination (my personal favorite choice), my opinion of him as a goofball, semi-erratic businessman has only increased. Your blog post really helped clarify a lot of the other parts and pieces that Musk has focused on!
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