Technology seeks to control human minds through chips implanted in them.. Can it do that? (Dal A)

In the 1974 science fiction film The Terminal Man, hero Harry Benson (George Segal) undergoes a brain transplant in hopes of curing violent epileptic seizures that cause him to lose consciousness. He's a computer scientist specializing in artificial intelligence who predicted that computers will conquer humanity, but there are some unexpected complications.

In the field of comedy, who among us does not remember “Lumpy 8 GB”? The Egyptian film that was produced in 2010 and revolves around a poor person with limited intelligence who is exposed to an accident that causes a disturbance in the brain’s signals, so a doctor helps him implant a small chip that was a source of superhuman intelligence.

And also the series “Black Mirror,” which was produced in 2011, and its events revolve around a chip in the brain that enables anyone to recall any memory they have experienced.

In the movie “Upgrade,” which was shown in 2018, the hero Logan Marshall appears as a quadriplegic after his spinal cord was cut, so he agrees to a request to implant an electronic chip that helps him not only regain his abilities, but also greatly enhance them. Extremely physically and mentally.

Today, it seems that these new, old imaginary ideas in movies and in dreams have begun to transform from fantasy to reality after the first human patient underwent the implantation of a brain chip from chips produced by billionaire Elon Musk’s emerging company, Neuralink.

The patient who had the chip implanted in his brain began to recover well, according to Musk’s statements published by The Business Insiders website. Preliminary results show promise for detecting increased neurons, yet the brain chip transplant is just the beginning of a decades-long clinical trial surrounded by competitors, financial hurdles and ethical quandaries.

Neuralink.. Years of fictional claims

Elon Musk is famous for his high-profile technology companies such as Tesla and Space To motivate him.

Musk founded Neuralink in 2016, and it first became publicly known in 2017 when The Wall Street Journal reported on it. It was not revealed to the public until 2019 when Musk and other members of the company's executive team demonstrated their technology in a live-streamed presentation.

In July of this year (2019), Musk presented a group of curious engineers and consumers with a seemingly science-fiction invention made by his emerging neurotechnology company, Neuralink. It is a "brain chip about the size of a coin that can be implanted in a person's skull that will integrate biological intelligence with machine intelligence."

According to Musk's description, this chip will be installed in the person's brain by drilling a hole with a diameter of 2 mm in the skull, with electrodes connected to his brain, and through it a group of small wires - each of which is about 20 times thinner than a human hair - will be sent to the patient's brain. He stressed that “the interface of the chip is wireless, so there are no wires coming out of your head,” and it is capable of monitoring brain activity and transmitting data wirelessly through the chip to computers, where researchers can study it.

Musk argued that such devices would help humans deal with so-called AI dominance, a scenario in which AI becomes the dominant form of intelligence on Earth - such as computer programs or robots - effectively on the planet away from the human race.

Musk wants to combine man and machine through Neuralink and its major project that includes another device, a robot that can automatically implant the chip, and works using a solid needle to puncture the flexible wires emanating from the Neuralink chip in the person’s brain, just like a sewing machine. Musk claimed that the device could make the process of implanting Neuralink electrodes as easy as eye surgery using LASIK.

In the following video clip released by Neuralink, the clip shows the aforementioned robot in January 2021.

In 2020, Neuralink demonstrated one of its chips integrated into a female pig called “Gertrude,” and the presentation showed how the chip was able to accurately predict the position of “Gertrude’s” limbs when she was walking on a treadmill, in addition to recording neural activity when she was searching for food. Musk said that the pig had been living with the chip implanted in its skull for two months.

Neuralink went a step further with its animal demonstrations in April 2021, when it showed a nine-year-old pager monkey playing video games using a joystick that had been disconnected from a game console, meaning it was controlling The indicator uses his brain signals as his arm moves, Musk says.

Musk announced enthusiastically in a presentation in 2019 that Neuralink had succeeded in implanting its chip in a monkey, and said: “A monkey has been able to control a computer with its mind,” which seemed to have surprised the company’s president at the time, Max Hudak, who said: “I did not realize “We were getting that result today, but here it is.” Musk repeated this claim in February 2021, two months before the video was released.

Musk likes to boast that his company can allow monkeys to control computers through brain signals, but neuroscientists don't think this is surprising or even impressive. Neural brain interfaces have previously been implanted in primates to allow them to control things that appear on screens. Researchers first pioneered this type of technology in 2002, but its origins can be said to date back to the 1960s.

In February 2022, the animal rights group Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine filed a complaint with the USDA against Neuralink over possible violations of the Animal Welfare Act and the cruel treatment of monkeys as a result of highly invasive experimental implants during trials between 2017 and 2020.

“Neuralink” refuted the animal rights group’s accusations that its experimental monkeys were subjected to mistreatment, and said in a post on its website: “At Neuralink, we are fully committed to working with animals in the most humane and ethical ways possible,” and that the company built its own facility with an area of ​​6,000 to house the animals in 2020, adding that her animal enclosures contain “environmental enrichments” including swimming pools, hammocks and treehouses.

None of the technologies Neuralink had demonstrated up to that point were particularly groundbreaking; according to neuroscientists, all the company did was its ability to package existing technologies into a nice little form.

"All of the technology that Musk demonstrated had already been developed in some way before, and what he basically did was just copy and paste a lot of work from labs that were working on this and then send... data wirelessly.

Moreover, Neuralink has suffered from a history of broken promises, not least a failure to meet its timelines. Musk has said that his company hopes to begin implanting its brain chips in humans in 2022, two years later than he originally envisioned.

Speaking at the Wall Street Journal CEO Summit on December 6, 2021, Musk said, “Neuralink hopes to begin human trials the following year pending approval from the US Food and Drug Administration,” and he repeated this claim on Twitter by saying : “Progress will accelerate when we have devices in humans (it is difficult to have precise conversations with monkeys) next year.”

Replacing faulty/missing neurons with circuits is the right way to think about it. Many problems can be solved just bridging signals between existing neurons.

Progress will accelerate when we have devices in humans (hard to have nuanced conversations with monkeys) next year.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 7, 2021

This is not the first time that Musk has set a timetable for delivering Neuralink chips to humans. Musk said during his appearance on a podcast presented by American comedian Joe Rogan in May 2020 that his company could begin testing on humans within a year, and he presented the same The claim, during an interview on the Clubhouse program in February 2021, and before that in 2019, said that the company hoped to implant a chip in a human patient by the end of 2020, and experts expressed doubts about this timeline at the time.

Musk has previously made many imaginative claims about the enhanced capabilities that his company can provide, and in 2020 he said that people will “save memories and replay them” as in the movie Black Mirror, or summon their cars telepathically, and as usual, many doubted this. Allegations.

During an appearance on the “Artificial Intelligence” podcast with Lex Friedman in November 2019, Musk said that Neuralink could in the future “solve a lot of brain-related diseases,” and mentioned autism and schizophrenia as examples, although autism is classified as a developmental disorder. It is not a disease, and the World Health Organization describes schizophrenia as a mental disorder.

At the end of January 2024, Musk claimed that the first human patient; He received one of the company's brain implants, and said in a later post that the first chip is called "Telepathy," adding that the device "allows you to control your phone, computer, or almost any device just by thinking, and the first users will be "They are those who have lost the use of their limbs." But this chip and this experience are not the first of its kind.

Brain chip racing

Brain-computer interfaces (PCIs), devices that connect the brain to a computer to allow the user to complete some type of action using brain signals, have been around longer than you might think, and over the past decades scientists have investigated the use of BCIs. To restore lost senses and control prosthetic limbs, among other applications.

The first demonstration of a brain-computer interface occurred in 1963. During a lecture at Oxford University, neuroscientist William Gray Walter astonished his audience by connecting one of his patients' brains to a projector, where they developed presentation slides using only their thoughts.

Early brain-to-brain interface devices began to develop from then on, and the first indications of persistent communication were relatively simple and were used on cats and other animals to develop communication pathways. Jonathan Wolpaw developed the first implantable device in humans in 1991, and allowed its user to control the cursor with his brain signals.

Advances in machine learning over the years have paved the way for more sophisticated implantable communicators, which can control complex devices, including robotic limbs, wheelchairs and exoskeletons, and the devices are becoming progressively smaller and easier to use thanks to wireless connectivity.

Advances in machine learning over the years have paved the way for more sophisticated implantable communication indicators (Getty)

One of the oldest systems for implanting advanced artificial intelligence devices in the brain was the BrainGate system, which was founded in 1998 in Massachusetts, and has been around since the late 1990s. It relies on placing the device in the brain using fine needles similar to the technology used by Neuralink.

BrainGate devices are perhaps the most advanced when it comes to BCI functionality, and one of its wired devices provides a typing speed of up to 90 characters per minute, or 1.5 characters per second.

A study published in January 2023 results of data collected over 17 years from 14 adults who received brain surgery dating back to 2004. During this time, the results did not include any deaths, and there were few “adverse events,” including These included infections, seizures, surgical complications, irritation around the implant (chip), and brain damage. Only 6 of the 68 incidents were considered “serious.”

However, the current wave of exploration into using brain recording techniques to restore movement and communication to severely paralyzed patients began in the early 2000s and is based on studies conducted in the 1940s to measure the activity of single neurons, and more complex experiments in rats and monkeys. In the 1990s.

In this decade, several prominent companies have entered the brain-computer interface space backed by multi-million dollar investments, and Musk's company is just one of a growing list of companies dedicated to developing brain-computer interface technology, or systems, to facilitate direct communication between human brains and external computers.

Musk's company faces competition in this field, especially from companies with a proven track record dating back two decades, as the Utah-based BlackRock company implanted the first brain-computer communication mechanism in 2004.

This mechanism was designed based on an early device known as the “Utah Array,” which is widely used in current brain-computer interfaces and has been available since 2005. The array, as it is known, resembles a small hairbrush containing about 100 fork-like electrodes. It is part of a system that BlackRock hopes to put on the market this year. The device has also been shown to cause inflammation and scarring in brain tissue, which may lead to a loss of signal quality over time.

In 2016, Kernell, an American neuroscience company working to change the way the brain is measured and treated, began researching implantable devices, before shifting to focus on technologies that do not require surgery.

Even Facebook experimented with brain-computer interfaces, with an ambitious plan to create a headset that would allow users to type 100 words per minute, but it stopped this research in 2021 to focus on other types of human-computer interfaces.

The Neuralink chip will be installed in the person's brain by drilling a hole in the skull with electrodes connected through which a group of small wires (Neuralink) will emerge.

In April 2021, Max Hudak, co-founder and president of Neuralink since 2017, left the company for unknown reasons. In February 2022, he revealed that he had invested in and backed a rival biotech company that beat Neuralink in human trials using its neural interface technology.

This company was called “Synchron”, an Australian company founded in 2016 in Melbourne, and is also one of the largest competitors to “Neuralink”. In 2019, it became the first company to obtain approval to conduct clinical trials in Australia, and in 2021 it obtained approval to start... Her experiments to develop a chip that would allow paralyzed people to write by thinking.

The company conducted experiments on animals and was criticized for the death of dozens of sheep that were subjected to the first experiments, but in the end it preceded Musk's company after it succeeded in the summer of 2022 in implanting a chip in the brain of an American patient for the first time after obtaining approval to conduct clinical trials in 2020.

Unlike Neuralink, which implants its devices by drilling a hole in the skull, Synchron's approach is to avoid a complete surgical procedure by using blood vessels to implant electrodes in the brain. This minimally invasive approach is similar to other stent procedures routinely performed in clinics, and thus may The tiny Sensron stent helps bring BCI operations closer to daily routine.

There is also the company "Precision", which was created by one of the founders of "Neuralink", which aims to help people with paralysis. In its mechanism, a very thin strip is implanted on the surface of the brain through a small incision in the skull, which is a much simpler procedure.

The University Medical Center in Utrecht, the Netherlands, was the first to achieve a completely wireless implantable brain interface technology that patients can take home.

The medical center's device uses an electrocortogram, known as "eCog", in which electrodes in the form of metal discs are placed directly on the surface of the brain to receive signals, and are connected wirelessly to a receiver, which in turn connects to a computer.

Participants in a clinical trial that lasted from 2020 to 2022 were able to; They took the device home and used it daily for about a year. The device allowed them to control the computer screen and type at a speed of two letters per minute. Although this typing speed is slow, it is expected that future versions containing more electrodes will perform better.

Also in the Netherlands, there is a company called “Onward” that has developed an electronic chip that stimulates the spinal cord and allows quadriplegics to regain the ability to move, which is almost the same achievement reached by researchers in France from the “Clintech” Institute in Grenoble, who developed a chip called “Wemagine.” Through the use of an exoskeleton, this chip also allowed quadriplegics to move again.

In the same context, a Swiss team developed an algorithm for humans that relies on connecting the brain to the nerves in the non-working limb, by inserting two disc-shaped implants (chips) into the skull that wirelessly transmit brain signals.

“Neuralink” implants its devices by drilling a hole in the skull, while “Syncron” avoids performing a complete surgical procedure (Neuralink)

These companies are just a few of the competing venture-backed companies working on devices for people with paralysis. Last November, a startup called Science unveiled the concept of a bioelectrical interface to help treat vision loss. Last September, Magnus Medical obtained US Food and Drug Administration approval for a targeted brain stimulation therapy to treat major depressive disorder.

Market intelligence firm Grandview Research estimated the global brain implant market at $4.9 billion in 2021, and other companies expect that number to double to $9.5 billion by 2030.

As the race to “occupy” human brains intensified after the announcement of the “Neuralink” chip, the next day China set a timetable for developing its own “brain-computer interface” to compete with this new step in the field of technology, with its “innovative products” such as the brain interface arriving. Computer brain-like chips and neurocomputational models of the brain, as early as 2025.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology says it wants to develop several user-friendly brain interface products, and points to the possibility of using brain technology in driverless driving, virtual reality and medical rehabilitation. “Brain-inspired intelligence,” also known as “generative AI,” has also been cited several times as potentially compatible with these new technologies.

Last year, the Chinese government opened a laboratory with 60 people that focuses entirely on brain-machine interfaces, and is primarily focused on transforming its research into practical applications that can compete with Neuralink. Researchers in China have also developed a computer that connects to the brain via the inner ear without the need for Implanting a chip such as the Neuralink chip.

These early announcements offer a glimpse into the biggest international technology battle of the next decade. And when someone discovers how to put your smartphone directly in your head, you won't need to move a muscle to watch videos on TikTok, and your body can become powerless when technology companies steal the data of your thoughts, and instead of working from home, you can work from your mind.. It's a fact Miserable, China and Elon Musk have been working on it for years.

What future awaits human brains?

Although humans have not yet produced flying cars, or sent missions to Mars, brain-computer interfaces may be the most important technology, not only catching up to, but in some cases surpassing, early science fiction imaginings.

More than 200,000 people around the world already use some type of BCI, mostly for medical reasons, and perhaps the most well-known use case is the cochlear implant, which enables deaf people to hear to some extent.

Another notable use case is the prevention of epileptic seizures, and some researchers have proposed systems that not only detect seizures but preempt them through electrical stimulation, roughly the same mechanism depicted in the movie The Terminal Man.

Currently, brain-computer interface technology is limited to the medical field, but a wide range of non-medical uses for this technology have been proposed.

The company "Neuralink" displayed one of its chips integrated into a female pig named "Gertrude" (social networking sites)

This competitive landscape raises potential ethical issues related to the well-being of patients in the Prime study conducted by Neuralink and approved by the US Food and Drug Administration last year. It will last for 6 years and aims to study the safety of brain chips, robots and surgery, and test the functions of their devices.

On the one hand, it is extremely difficult to recruit participants for nerve implant studies until patients meet strict criteria to be eligible, and trials are inherently risky and require a lot of participants, yet the company will need to be prepared to provide long-term support for patients.

If things get worse, patients may need support to cope with the consequences. If all goes well, Neuralink may need to make sure the devices don't stop working.

In 2022, a company called “Second Sight” demonstrated the risks. The company performed retinal implants to treat blindness, and when the company went bankrupt, it left more than 350 patients around the world with old implants and no way to remove them.

If Neuralink devices are successful, they will likely change patients' lives. But what happens if a company ends operations because it cannot make a profit? It is necessary to develop a plan for long-term care.

In the near term, a chip in someone's brain could allow people to control robotic prosthetics with their minds, help better treat neurological disorders such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, and give people with quadriplegia the ability to regain their digital freedom by controlling phones and laptops. Neuralink announced it following a $205 million financing round from investors including Google Ventures in July 2021.

Although Musk has promoted Neuralink's applications in the near term, he often links the company to his concerns about artificial intelligence, and believes that humanity will be able to achieve "symbiosis with artificial intelligence" using the technology developed by his company, but experts doubt this.

This may sound like science fiction, but the reality is that we have reached a point where the cultural and ethical barriers to this type of technology are beginning to surpass technical barriers.

Despite the fictional nature of "The Terminal Man," its hero's catastrophic transformation raises real questions about the unintended effects of brain-computer interfaces.

Through brain-computer interfaces, the biological barrier between you and big tech will eventually be erased, and technology will have unfettered access to your thoughts, potentially learning everything there is about you.

Your brain is the data center that technology companies have been seeking for the past two decades. Thanks to social media algorithms and internet tracking, such as cookies, technology has slowly gained an understanding of what motivates, excites, and rages you.

The worst-case scenario for all neurotechnology research would be a repeat of Walter Freeman's disastrous prefrontal lobotomy experiments in the 1940s and 1950s, which had disastrous consequences for patients and set research back generations.

In the end, it's good to know that some of the most trusted names in technology, like Elon Musk and China, are driving the latest terrifying wave of technology.

Source: Al Jazeera + websites