Musk, brain-computer interface, the first tool

From "Silicon Valley Iron Man" to "Realistic Iron Man", Musk has become "Human Tony Stark", which is gradually becoming a reality.

Just a few days ago, Musk’s brain-computer interface company Neuralink announced major progress——

Having received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), will launch its first human clinical study, which means that their device will be implanted in the human brain.

It is reported that they will focus on two applications: restoring human vision and helping people who cannot move muscles control devices such as smartphones.

In November last year, Musk once said that the first human trial is still about 6 months away. This is a complete sentence and does not need to be rewritten.

But later, due to high safety risks, violations of animal rights, and suspected illegal transportation of dangerous pathogens... Neuralink suffered setbacks one after another, and even faced investigations by relevant departments.

So much so that many people believe that Neuralink’s future is in doubt and that Musk is making a joke again.

But at this moment, it can be said that Neuralink is ready to go, and Boss Ma is not talking nonsense.

If the brain-computer interface can be successfully completed in the future, will bring major changes to human society.

一·Musk’s brain-computer interface dream

In 2016, Musk founded "Neuralink" as a neurotechnology company dedicated toconnecting the human brain with computers.

This technology is a brain-computer interface, which implants very small electrodes into the brain and uses electric current to "interact" between the computer and the brain cells.

At this stage, brain-computer interfaces are divided into two modes: "invasive" that requires craniotomy and "non-invasive" that is placed on the epidermis.

It can be seen from the naming that the invasive method is more difficult, so the risk factor is higher. Musk, who has always "unconventional", naturally chooses the "invasive method".

According to Musk's vision, by implanting a chip into the human brain and establishing a wireless connection with the computer, can enhance the computing and memory capabilities of the human brain and treat diseases.

Similar to most trials, Neuralink was first tested on animals.

In 2019, the company unveiled prototypes of its devices, a "hole punch" for punching holes in skulls and a "sewing machine" for implanting chips into people's brains.

The following year, they developed a chip called "N1" and implanted it into the cerebral cortex of a piglet, successfully demonstrated real-time neuron activity in the piglet's brain.

In 2021, Neuralink came up with new results, implanting a chip in the brain of a macaque, converting its brain waves into computer instructions, and finally playing video games.

At the end of last year, Neuralink went a step further. Macaques can type with their thoughts and type two complete sentences.

Although the macaques did not really learn to type, but were controlled by the device, this is enough to prove that the animals can effectively complete specific tasks.

However, the results achieved on animals obviously cannot satisfy Musk’s ambitions. He has always wanted to conduct human trials.

He has repeatedly talked about "human experiments" and said more than once that plans to implant a brain-computer interface device in his brain.

Now, with the approval of the FDA, Musk can wield the "first knife", and his brain-computer interface dream has officially begun.

2・The past and present life of brain-computer interface

In fact, brain-computer interface is nothing new, and humans have been studying it for decades.

The concept of brain-computer interface first originated in 1973, when Professor Vidal of the University of California first coined the term "brain-computer interface" in an academic paper.

He believes that brain-computer interface is "a way for the brain to directly communicate information with the outside world" , and built the world's first non-implantable brain-computer interface system.

The so-called brain-computer interface, simply put, is the ability to convert neuron signals in the brain into practical instructions that can move objects in the real world.

Give two easy-to-understand examples:

"Cochlear Implant" is one of the earliest brain-computer interface technologies developed and applied, which can provide artificial hearing for patients with severe sensorineural hearing loss and for whom traditional hearing aids are ineffective.

In the industry, cochlear implants are regarded as the most successful and most widely used brain-computer interface in clinical applications to date.

The equipment installed by the well-known physicist Stephen William Hawking is also similar to a brain-computer interface.

Under the influence of this device, Hawking's mind is connected to the computer, and he can connect himself with the outside world.

At present, brain-computer interface technology is still in the scientific research stage, but some companies have taken advantage of it and are ahead of Musk.

Also as a brain-computer interface startup, Synchron is already one step ahead in the progress of human trials.

Founded a year late, the company received FDA approval a year ahead of schedule, and as early as 2019 performed the first surgery to implant a brain-computer device in a patient in Australia.

It is reported that Synchron has previously implanted devices in four Australian patients to help them send messages on WhatsApp and shop online.

Last year, a 1.5-inch device was implanted for a patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which stole Musk’s limelight many times.

It is true that to a certain extent, the popularity of brain-computer interfaces is due to Musk's push, but on this track, there are already people running ahead of him.

3. The functions and problems of brain-computer interface

Currently, brain-computer interfaces have been used in medicine, military, neurology, cognitive training, biology and other fields.

For example, in 2016, during the flight of my country's Tiangong-2 and Shenzhou-11 manned spacecrafts, two astronauts completed the first brain-computer interaction in space in human history.

Through brain-computer interface technology, astronauts directly use their thoughts to output operating instructions, which not only saves time, but also reduces physical and mental consumption.

However, the reason why the world is eagerly looking forward to the brain-computer interface is mainly due to its application in the medical field, hoping that it can help some special groups treat diseases.

Such as paralysis, mental illness, Alzheimer's disease, etc., are mountains that modern medicine cannot overcome.

Judging from the current situation, brain-computer interface does have the ability to "change fate against the will of heaven":

Previously, a Dutch man whose lower body was paralyzed underwent brain-computer interface surgery, in which a chip was implanted in his brain and an electronic signal transmitter was implanted in his waist.

In this way, the signals from his brain were converted into instructions through the computer, and he was able to control the muscles of his lower body. In the end, he not only successfully stood up, but also regained basic movement abilities.

An American patient with severe spinal cord injury regained his sense of touch after undergoing surgery on a brain-computer interface project.

There is also a precedent for successful surgery in our country. Last year, a team from the Neurosurgery Stereotaxy and Functional Brain Disease Group led by two professors from the "Neurosurgery Department of Xuanwu Hospital" successfully performed a closed-loop reaction on a patient with refractory epilepsy. Sexual neurostimulation system Epilcure registered for clinical trial implant surgery.

It can be seen that once the brain-computer interface is applied to the medical field, it can help patients escape from the torture of illness.

Musk has stated that even people who are born blind have a chance to regain their sight. He also believes that can restore the full function of the severed spinal cord.

However, the prerequisite for realizing all this is that the technology is mature. At least now, there are several major problems with brain-computer interfaces.

Craniotomy has high risks, the human brain itself is fragile, whether the brain-computer equipment is stable, whether the human body will have a rejection reaction in the future... Any deviation in any link will have serious consequences.

So, there is still a long way to go before brain-computer interface can be commercialized.

4. Prospects for brain-computer interface

It is true that no one can say when the brain-computer interface will mature and be implemented, but its market size has reached the trillion level,

and has set off an "arms race" .

In recent years, a number of companies studying brain-computer interfaces have emerged overseas, many of which are leading companies that have received tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in financing.

At the same time, some giants are also targeting this market, mobilizing their "money capabilities" to acquire related companies, and some alliances researching brain-computer interfaces are also emerging one after another.

In addition, with the popularity of AI, some companies are also trying to integrate AI technology with brain-computer interface devices,

through the combination of software and hardware to create huge application potential.

While overseas markets are booming, the domestic market is also booming.

From a business perspective, from 2017 to 2022, 23 new companies were established in the medical brain-computer interface field, resulting in a total of 53 financing transactions, with a cumulative financing amount of approximately 2.6 billion yuan.

According to the "Brain-Computer Interface Standardization White Paper 2021" published by the China Electronics Technology Standardization Institute, the global brain-computer interface market size was approximately US$1.2 billion in 2019,

is expected to reach US$3.7 billion in 2027.

From a technical point of view, there are also good news:

Huami and the University of Science and Technology of China jointly build a brain-computer intelligence laboratory;

Scientists have made progress in brain neuroregulation and reading technology: it has important application prospects in areas such as brain-computer interfaces;

The first self-developed interventional brain-computer interface completed animal testing and only required minimally invasive surgery;

The first semi-invasive brain-computer interface device is released, which is expected to help patients with ALS, high paraplegia, etc.;

The first comprehensive open source software platform for brain-computer interface is released;

Beijing successfully completed interventional brain-computer interface trials on non-human primates.

......

From a policy perspective, the "14th Five-Year Plan" clearly includes brain-computer technology as a key technology category that needs to be tackled for the first time, making it clear that brain-computer fusion is the key to brain-computer technology

Zhao Zhiguo, chief engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that should regard brain-computer interfaces as an important direction for cultivating future industrial development.

However, as Pei Weihua, a researcher at the Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said, every aspect of progress in brain-computer interface is inseparable from the support of several other aspects. It is an interdisciplinary subject .

Therefore, if the brain-computer interface wants to mature, it needs to be developed in a practical and multi-faceted manner. If one link is frustrated or "stuck", it will be difficult to achieve results.

Fortunately, although there are many difficulties and risks, scientists are still actively exploring the implementation and application of brain-computer interface technology. Therefore, the future of brain-computer interface is worth looking forward to.

Musk emphasized 3 years ago that brain-computer interface technology is the future.

We will wait and see when this future will arrive and what changes it will bring to human society.

Reference materials

• Tech Diagonal - Trillions of brain-computer interface market, who is competing with Musk
• Origin Reading - How far is it from "brain-computer interface" to enter our lives
• Qubits - China Brain-Computer Interface Market Report: The scale has reached 1 billion but the industrial chain is immature and there are still opportunities for overtaking in corners

2023 Lenovo’s commercial product launch conference will be held at 14:30 pm on June 6th. It will be live broadcast simultaneously on the IT Home website & App. Welcome to watch!

In addition, there are many popular contents recently. Click on the blue text below to view:

• [Good things] iPhone 11 is on clearance at JD.com for 2879 yuan, and R7-7840HS mini host is on sale at a new low of 2680 yuan

• Fairy Sword, Fairy Goes

• Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 debuts early, Xiaomi 14 takes the lead

• Huawei Harmony OS is two years old and has become more capable...

Please ask Boss Ma to be the first one ↓↓↓

The above is the detailed content of Musk, brain-computer interface, the first tool. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!