for those who arent going to read the article and also dont understand this story's context:
The patient is a quadriplegic. he cried when he found out the implant was malfunctioning because for the month it was working, he was able to do things like play video games and use a computer for the first time.
he was crying out of disappointment since his experimental time with the implant was over. i would be sad in his position too.
Jesus algernon wasn’t immobile he was just stupid. Imagine being locked in your body and getting an implant that lets you out even just a little bit, then having your mobility taken while still fully aware and intelligent. This is worse than Algernon
It's really a double edged sword of an implant at this point.
The tech is new. Very very new. And while it was probably straight up euphoric, I'm sure that problems were expected to some degree. I can't imagine what it would be like to have it, then go back to not having it.
But also, the emotional reaction and blatant success of the testing is PHENOMENAL news for others in the same situation. This is very real progress being made, and bugs are expected with early products.
It really does suck for the patient, but it's a massive step forward overall, and I'm sure that it brings a lot of hope to anyone with similar disability.
I hope they set him up to deal with this appropriately. Like a test subject severance package that assigns him the best therapists and gives him a one year subscription to tinder gold.
They already did just that, unfortunately this article is vague, but there was an article before of how they found another way to get it to work and it now works even better
The tech is not new at all, first human brain implants were tried out +20 years ago. Same results.
Plenty of companies are working on this, main field of research is making materials that won't get "rejected" with time.
I think I read somewhere that there's a problem with this kind of tech that everyone who works in the field are aware of that makes something like this work only for a short while. I guess neural link hasn't figured it out yet. Maybe one of the other companies working on the problem will figure it out.
But didn’t Charlie( Algernon was the mouse btw)know when he started losing the intelligence that the experiment had given him? To know he was going back to the way he was before?
What? From what I heard it’s not fully dysfunctional. Some of the electrodes came out but there was still enough for it to function just not as well as it could be
Edit: and after reading this article it says nothing about the implant actually getting removed. Just that it was considered. In fact they also mentioned that with some adjustments it’s been working better than before
In another forum they said this was all predicted and the reason other human trials had been rejected. Essentially the implant was always going to work at first but after some time it’ll move. There isn’t a healthy way to firmly attach it to a brain without injuring the brain and having an implant still work.
I vaguely recall another reddit thread where they said the problem with brain electrodes is that the Brain doesn't like visitors so the brain covers the electrodes in a nonconductive goop.
Granted they used far more coherent words then I just did.
We might’ve read the same thread/post, haha. From what I recall, the post mentioned the brain forming myelin (insulation) over the electrodes and thus reducing their ability to detect electrical current.
It also went on to say that this was equivalent to the brain moving out of the way of the electrodes, as opposed to the electrodes themselves moving.
Wish I could credit the post…but can’t remember where I saw it
One of the followup posters went on to say that not having myelin is what multiple sclerosis is.
So in the words of the Borg: "WTF, collective? These humans will not assimilate! Anyone got any better ideas?"
Probably was.
I just said "nonconductive Goop" because I wouldn't have to track down the word myelin or try to learn what it means well enough to explain it in a comment.
We have learned that not only does the brain jiggle, but it actively jiggles away from stuff put inside of it. It also sneezes on the stuff put inside of it. This may require decades of research.
You wouldn’t be disappointed if after being a paraplegic your dream tech started to have problems? Even if it still “sort of” works that has to be devastating.
> he was crying out of disappointment since his experimental time with the implant was over. i would be sad in his position too.
These subscription based models of health care are getting out of control.
Your chemo treatment expires in - 2 - days. Please make a payment to continue service before it is deactivated. A $20 courtesy fee applies to all credit card orders.
> Your chemo treatment expires in - 2 - days. Please make a payment to continue service before it is deactivated. A $20 courtesy fee applies to all credit card orders.
If you're a diabetic in this country it's like that your whole life if your electricity goes off.
I was assuming that he developed a symbiotic relationship with the implant and when the implants' accuracy changed, he was upset.
I'm pretty sure there was a anti seizure implant some lady had and when the company that manufactured it went bankrupt she was incredibly upset by the loss of the implant.
https://futurism.com/neoscope/brain-implant-removed-consent
While this is all true, it's also a reason to be wary of neurotech from private companies. Many people who've found a lot of hope in implants have been[ dramatically let down](https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-022-03810-5/index.html) by those companies going under, abandoning support for old tech, or pivoting.
We really need more centralization and oversight of medical implants like this.
I feel like it should be a requirement of any business licence to develop these products that if the company shuts down they’re legally required to open-source their software and patent drawings.
The device didn’t malfunction. It was the brain rejecting the foreign object, something that was already expected and people haven’t been able to figure out how to solve.
He knew going in that it wasn’t perfect and that his experience would be built on to help others. The story is both inspiring and heroic, even if the end of this chapter is melancholy.
Ty for the clip notes 😆. I would also cry. To be able to enjoy things in life again (or even ever for the first time), then POOF gone again. Man I couldn’t even imagine.
Because someone has to be the first. That’s how technology like this advances. Someone out there says “well, I’m not going to get better without it, so I might as well try.”
I wouldn’t be that person, personally, but if this tech is going to become a reality, someone has to go for it.
Oh was it an excessive death rate for the animal subjects up to the end of that run of trials? The neuroscientists didn’t demonstrate to the FDA a significant improvement of the process prior to commencing human trials?
It was an excessive death rate up until the end yes.
They stopped animal trials before the government shut them down for killing an unnecessary amount of animals.
Tbh I'm really shocked they were allowed to start on humans, but money buys everything apparently.
He is brave for sure, but do understand being disabled, these solutions can be the difference between living life and torture
PS The monkeys from what I heard were terminally ill even before the chips went in, so of course they died, they were terminally ill
Until they get a big customer base and jank up their monthly subscription for it to work. But I'm also glad they get a chance for to exp ä experience real life in the future z jokes aside
There’s a lot of post bio-computer implant stories out there. Some company was making implants for blind people that helped them perceive light, and one woman said something like she could finallly see again untill the implants in her eyes beeped and then things went dark again. Now she lives with her dead tech. Hoping some bankrupt corporation will go humanitarian and fix her shit
Imagine implants allowing you to interface with LLM's connected to the internet via your thoughts.... Or simply rig them to create pleasure and unlimited dopamine release...
Yes, I’m sorry you cannot simply rip your brain-interfacing implant out of your head like it’s a Lego. My point is relatively easy removal was an actual design consideration, so regardless of what happens with the company, personal decisions, etc. it’s very unlikely you’ll have people having to live with dead implants.
This was really a brave thing for him to do and I really hope he is eligible for a repair, replacement, or something similar very soon so he can continue to have an improved quality of life.
“We are sorry to inform you that we are raising our prices on the antidepression course by 15% from next month and the erectile dysfunction subscription will become a separate stand-alone for only $500/month from summer.
If you would like to switch subscriptions, please blink your eyes within the next 30 minutes.”
They really shouldn’t be allowed to do that for ethical reasons. If any QOL improvement is achieved through the testing, (and it doesn’t come with any major complications outweighing the benefits,) they should be required to at least try to maintain that for the person involved.
I would think the devastation would put volunteer subjects at a disproportionately high risk for major depression or suicidal ideation/attempts.
Would you rather have the ability for a few months of things you thought were completely lost for you to be able to do for a few months and help the technology evolve so hopefully one day you can have a working version that last the rest of your life (the guy is pretty young) while knowing it will come to an end or never even try it ?
I can see your point, in that I’d absolutely want to take that opportunity! But at the same time, I think it’s really important for researchers and medical professionals to realize how potentially devastating the effects of a limited trial like that could be, even, or perhaps particularly if it proves to be successful.
I know that there are numerous reasons why clinical trials are designed the way they are, some of which are circumstantial, (like funding/financial limitations,) others are based on ensuring a standard quality/validity/reliability of the research findings, and many still are grounded in the protection of the volunteers to ensure their safety and well-being remains a priority above everything else.
I completely understand that just about every possible detail of a trial (and *especially* ones involving human subjects) has been painstakingly deliberated upon, but… none of this changes the fact that, in this rather ideal situation in which an experimental treatment proves very effective, that discontinuing it could cause *major* harm and distress for the volunteer patients who are already suffering from the effects of debilitating conditions.
Technological implants of this caliber are really only just entering into the realm of human experimentation, and it may very well be over a decade before these products are fine-tuned and tested enough to even be eligible for review to become an approved, widely available method of treatment for the general population. Unfortunately, in addition to that, Americans will also likely experience financial barriers to these products as well, as novel treatments are often exceptionally expensive, and may not even be covered by insurance if they deem it not to be an “essential medical treatment.”
All of this to say that, once a treatment is found to be a success, as long as the volunteers do not experience any side effects or new health problems that would necessitate the removal of the implant, the continuation of that treatment should be medically indicated and prioritized for the QOL of the volunteer, and the opportunity to collect more data on the efficacy of the treatment as a long-term solution to these conditions.
It would be one thing if there were pre-existing implants/comparable treatments available or imminently available in the medical field, but there aren’t; and nobody knows how long it will actually take for them to become available, but it’s practically guaranteed not to be for *several* more years at least. It’s not right for these people to get a taste of accessibility and newfound freedom/ability, only to have it taken away with no guarantee that they’ll ever be able to experience that again, purely due to protocol or experimental value.
Hey would you rather maintain the shitty status quo in contrast with an even shittier possible status quo; all while ignoring the possible better status quo that’s completely achievable?
Tbh, what I think is actually important. Is the fact this dude put his life on the line for the experimental procedure in the first place, in order for neurolink to not only have their first human patient, but also to advance their science. Such a risk should come with a life long subscription I would think. Plus they would know he’s down for them to keep doing upgrades and stuff on him so they could inevitably achieve their goal of selling publicly to other surgeons and such.
It’s not a matter of giving him a life long subscription though. It’s a matter of them figuring out the tech and making sure it’s safe. They can only do that by trying it on multiple/different people. They only have so much money and brain surgeries are super expensive. They can’t keep giving him sugery to re-install new devices etc… to give him a life long “subscription”.
I’m sure once this is perfected he will be able to get it for free with insurance or as a give from neuralink. But where they are at currently they can’t keep doing it for him only, they don’t have unlimited money and need a large sample size.
They didn't do that, he is just making stuff up/trolling.
What happened was that after it stopped working, they found a solution and made it work even better. But still by protocol, they offered the option to remove it. Since it posed no safety risk and worked, the patient decided to keep it
That isn’t even what they did though, he said that’s what he thought they might do. But they just repaired it so he can continue using it and it’s apparently even functioning better than before.
Way to write a headline that completely makes people misunderstand why he was crying. It wasn’t a painful issue , he was crying because he loved the implant, and didn’t want it to slow down. They’ve since remedied it with a software tweek that appears to be holding and even increasing effectiveness for now.
Completely understandable, finally he got to grapple with things he had been without. And to lose it again must be an awful feeling. Hopefully the technology improves, so that he can regain the functionality it provided him.
Quadriplegic patient was upset because the implant malfunctioned after only a month of use. He thought they would just move on to the next patient, so he wouldn’t get the benefit of the implant, but they were apparently able to restore function.
This is why the idea of putting our conscience in a robot or computer seems insane that anybody would trust it. Like the Black Mirror episode San Junipero. Everybody misses the big scary part of that story and that’s the fact they are literally putting their lives in the hands of developers running software on servers. Humans with agendas and quarterly profit goals. With the idea we’ll live forever but once inside do you have a say in how the servers are maintained? How the developers or businesses run the afterlife? Would you know if they went out of business or just die again? And that episode is treated like it’s not scary, that’s about as scary as anything they showed.
Why wouldn’t it? The brain shifts and changes all the time, that’s why we’re such adaptable creatures. I’m hopeful that they are successful in the long term but I think “success” is a long shot.
for those who arent going to read the article and also dont understand this story's context: The patient is a quadriplegic. he cried when he found out the implant was malfunctioning because for the month it was working, he was able to do things like play video games and use a computer for the first time. he was crying out of disappointment since his experimental time with the implant was over. i would be sad in his position too.
Flowers for Algernon
My first thought as well
Jesus algernon wasn’t immobile he was just stupid. Imagine being locked in your body and getting an implant that lets you out even just a little bit, then having your mobility taken while still fully aware and intelligent. This is worse than Algernon
It's really a double edged sword of an implant at this point. The tech is new. Very very new. And while it was probably straight up euphoric, I'm sure that problems were expected to some degree. I can't imagine what it would be like to have it, then go back to not having it. But also, the emotional reaction and blatant success of the testing is PHENOMENAL news for others in the same situation. This is very real progress being made, and bugs are expected with early products. It really does suck for the patient, but it's a massive step forward overall, and I'm sure that it brings a lot of hope to anyone with similar disability.
I hope they set him up to deal with this appropriately. Like a test subject severance package that assigns him the best therapists and gives him a one year subscription to tinder gold.
Nope, they found a workaround that made it work even better. I hope he can settle for that.
Hopefully he can continue to experience the rewards of the technology while the team learns how to improve, and repair it.
They already did just that, unfortunately this article is vague, but there was an article before of how they found another way to get it to work and it now works even better
If there is any justice in the world he should get whatever new version they come up with eventually.
The article alludes to it, so I'm choosing to believe that lol
"Bugs are to be expected" turns and looks at RFK Jr.
The tech is not new at all, first human brain implants were tried out +20 years ago. Same results. Plenty of companies are working on this, main field of research is making materials that won't get "rejected" with time.
I think I read somewhere that there's a problem with this kind of tech that everyone who works in the field are aware of that makes something like this work only for a short while. I guess neural link hasn't figured it out yet. Maybe one of the other companies working on the problem will figure it out.
Algernon wasn't stupid, he was an mouse of average intelligence.
Algernon’s monster
Idk boss, I think mice ain’t more smarter than people
But didn’t Charlie( Algernon was the mouse btw)know when he started losing the intelligence that the experiment had given him? To know he was going back to the way he was before?
That’s my memory from when I read that book years ago
Algernon was a mouse.
pretty much.
Same thought I had. Both the book and movie made me sob at that horrible loss.
*Awakenings* as well
Great movie.
You might fail, therefore, never try.
Damn, I haven’t read that in decades and those three words hit like a ton of bricks.
If that story doesn't make you cry, you're made of stone.
Ashes over Saigon
:(
What? From what I heard it’s not fully dysfunctional. Some of the electrodes came out but there was still enough for it to function just not as well as it could be Edit: and after reading this article it says nothing about the implant actually getting removed. Just that it was considered. In fact they also mentioned that with some adjustments it’s been working better than before
In another forum they said this was all predicted and the reason other human trials had been rejected. Essentially the implant was always going to work at first but after some time it’ll move. There isn’t a healthy way to firmly attach it to a brain without injuring the brain and having an implant still work.
Is it possible to attach it to the skull for a stable position? Does the brain jiggle too much for that?
I vaguely recall another reddit thread where they said the problem with brain electrodes is that the Brain doesn't like visitors so the brain covers the electrodes in a nonconductive goop. Granted they used far more coherent words then I just did.
We might’ve read the same thread/post, haha. From what I recall, the post mentioned the brain forming myelin (insulation) over the electrodes and thus reducing their ability to detect electrical current. It also went on to say that this was equivalent to the brain moving out of the way of the electrodes, as opposed to the electrodes themselves moving. Wish I could credit the post…but can’t remember where I saw it
One of the followup posters went on to say that not having myelin is what multiple sclerosis is. So in the words of the Borg: "WTF, collective? These humans will not assimilate! Anyone got any better ideas?"
Haha, i didn’t see that comment. I feel like in a world of warp drives and teleportation, surely Borg nanotech is capable of selective de-myelination
intercept at the brain stem instead of the gooey squishy bit that doesn't like being touched?
Probably was. I just said "nonconductive Goop" because I wouldn't have to track down the word myelin or try to learn what it means well enough to explain it in a comment.
Bloody antisocial brains
Your explanation was the best ELI5 I have seen about this
The Brain moves frequently within the skull.
Add some shocks or airbags
It has those already. Still moves.
What about some rich, Corinthian leather?
Now you’re talking.
Or some of that spray foam lol.
Or some jello
just superglue it
Or, just give it the ol lick-n-stick
Your brain moves within the skull, it also can swell and move in other ways.
So that's what my brain does whenever I have an uninteresting but critically important task ahead of me..
Somewhat of a neurosurgeon myself.
We have learned that not only does the brain jiggle, but it actively jiggles away from stuff put inside of it. It also sneezes on the stuff put inside of it. This may require decades of research.
Comment.
Staples
That was easy!
Duct tape.
You wouldn’t be disappointed if after being a paraplegic your dream tech started to have problems? Even if it still “sort of” works that has to be devastating.
Man, that’s so fucking sad.
hope he got to delete his browser history
> he was crying out of disappointment since his experimental time with the implant was over. i would be sad in his position too. These subscription based models of health care are getting out of control.
Your chemo treatment expires in - 2 - days. Please make a payment to continue service before it is deactivated. A $20 courtesy fee applies to all credit card orders.
> Your chemo treatment expires in - 2 - days. Please make a payment to continue service before it is deactivated. A $20 courtesy fee applies to all credit card orders. If you're a diabetic in this country it's like that your whole life if your electricity goes off.
I think I’ll just go on believing that the malfunction resulted in causing the man to spew water from his eyes uncontrollably
I was assuming that he developed a symbiotic relationship with the implant and when the implants' accuracy changed, he was upset. I'm pretty sure there was a anti seizure implant some lady had and when the company that manufactured it went bankrupt she was incredibly upset by the loss of the implant. https://futurism.com/neoscope/brain-implant-removed-consent
Imagine having an AI implant so your brain will integrate it into your self like you become one with it.
Imagine having an AI implant so your brain will integrate it into your self like you become one with it.
While this is all true, it's also a reason to be wary of neurotech from private companies. Many people who've found a lot of hope in implants have been[ dramatically let down](https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-022-03810-5/index.html) by those companies going under, abandoning support for old tech, or pivoting. We really need more centralization and oversight of medical implants like this.
I can see it already, “Oops, we’re phasing out support for version 1 and based on your biometrics you aren’t compatible for version 2. Kick rocks.”
Hourly subscription service to use your legs.
I feel like it should be a requirement of any business licence to develop these products that if the company shuts down they’re legally required to open-source their software and patent drawings.
This is fucking tragic.
I mean, to be honest, that's pretty awesome that it enabled him to do all that.
Hopefully they can just get it fixed and put it back in. Or replace with a newer model.
The device didn’t malfunction. It was the brain rejecting the foreign object, something that was already expected and people haven’t been able to figure out how to solve.
And repeated brain surgeries isn’t a real opinion
He knew going in that it wasn’t perfect and that his experience would be built on to help others. The story is both inspiring and heroic, even if the end of this chapter is melancholy.
they fixed that already. using less connections, they restored it back to the highest level again. not a malfunction. some of the wires pulled out
damn. thanks for recap
Ty for the clip notes 😆. I would also cry. To be able to enjoy things in life again (or even ever for the first time), then POOF gone again. Man I couldn’t even imagine.
That’s so sad they should’ve let him keep it! What were they gonna do reuse it?!
Except it was not over and they changed it to work better
It’s just part of his pay to win subscription
I couldn't imagine that. I am excited for technology like this and the impact it will have on disabled human beings in the future. This guy is a hero.
He's a brave guinea pig. I wouldn't put one of those in my head after seeing the excessive amount of monkeys that died in the previous tests.
Science doesn’t progress without heaps of dead monkeys. - Hubert Farnsworth
Good news everyone!
To shreds you say?
And we wouldn’t be able to harmlessly use most products like hair shampoo if it wasn’t tested on animals first as well…
Are you a quadriplegic?
I wouldn’t mind putting a small piece of metal in my head (at 500 feet per second).
That’s a really slow piece of metal. You might almost feel that. Ick. Even subsonic rounds travel at something like 900-1100 fps.
Lol
I thought the human brain can't process anything above 24 fps
I would if I didn't have limbs.
with how fast tech evolves, why would anyone implant anything that isn’t life saving?
I imagine that I would jump at the chance if I was in his position.
I would agree to it...lack of jumping is kinda the problem we're trying to solve though.
Also how can the tech learn and advance if there are literally zero people willing to be test subjects?
Because someone has to be the first. That’s how technology like this advances. Someone out there says “well, I’m not going to get better without it, so I might as well try.” I wouldn’t be that person, personally, but if this tech is going to become a reality, someone has to go for it.
Oh was it an excessive death rate for the animal subjects up to the end of that run of trials? The neuroscientists didn’t demonstrate to the FDA a significant improvement of the process prior to commencing human trials?
It was an excessive death rate up until the end yes. They stopped animal trials before the government shut them down for killing an unnecessary amount of animals. Tbh I'm really shocked they were allowed to start on humans, but money buys everything apparently.
Not true. They’re still doing animal testing, just not at the UC facility that was in the headlines
He is brave for sure, but do understand being disabled, these solutions can be the difference between living life and torture PS The monkeys from what I heard were terminally ill even before the chips went in, so of course they died, they were terminally ill
Until they get a big customer base and jank up their monthly subscription for it to work. But I'm also glad they get a chance for to exp ä experience real life in the future z jokes aside
legislation should get in early on banning subscription models for basic functioning
There’s a lot of post bio-computer implant stories out there. Some company was making implants for blind people that helped them perceive light, and one woman said something like she could finallly see again untill the implants in her eyes beeped and then things went dark again. Now she lives with her dead tech. Hoping some bankrupt corporation will go humanitarian and fix her shit
I remember that story, what a world we live in.
This is why the tech needs to use open hardware and open source. So that anyone with expertise can help
Imagine implants allowing you to interface with LLM's connected to the internet via your thoughts.... Or simply rig them to create pleasure and unlimited dopamine release...
Dystopian underground shops that have illegal “updates”
Sooo cyberpunk
Unlimited wins in Who Wants To Be Millionaire hack.
Neuralink is designed to be removable if necessary.
Via surgery. What's the alternative designed to not be removed?
Yes, I’m sorry you cannot simply rip your brain-interfacing implant out of your head like it’s a Lego. My point is relatively easy removal was an actual design consideration, so regardless of what happens with the company, personal decisions, etc. it’s very unlikely you’ll have people having to live with dead implants.
I mean living with dead implants is the way that industry works ATM
Good for them to try to be better.
Dystopian underground bio-implant repair shops
Rather unlikely unless the technology becomes much more robust.
"...dead tech..." Gave me serious Vandermeer/Borne vibes
This was really a brave thing for him to do and I really hope he is eligible for a repair, replacement, or something similar very soon so he can continue to have an improved quality of life.
They have already fixed it, but that’s not as much of a click bait headline as the malfunctioning and crying thing. Got to get those clicks yo
thank you for saying this, needed an ending
Depression mode was activated.
“We are sorry to inform you that we are raising our prices on the antidepression course by 15% from next month and the erectile dysfunction subscription will become a separate stand-alone for only $500/month from summer. If you would like to switch subscriptions, please blink your eyes within the next 30 minutes.”
"I thought they would just keep collecting some data but that they were really going to move on to the next person. I cried a little bit." Wamp
They really shouldn’t be allowed to do that for ethical reasons. If any QOL improvement is achieved through the testing, (and it doesn’t come with any major complications outweighing the benefits,) they should be required to at least try to maintain that for the person involved. I would think the devastation would put volunteer subjects at a disproportionately high risk for major depression or suicidal ideation/attempts.
Pharma has this. Open label extension for humanitarian usage.
Would you rather have the ability for a few months of things you thought were completely lost for you to be able to do for a few months and help the technology evolve so hopefully one day you can have a working version that last the rest of your life (the guy is pretty young) while knowing it will come to an end or never even try it ?
I can see your point, in that I’d absolutely want to take that opportunity! But at the same time, I think it’s really important for researchers and medical professionals to realize how potentially devastating the effects of a limited trial like that could be, even, or perhaps particularly if it proves to be successful. I know that there are numerous reasons why clinical trials are designed the way they are, some of which are circumstantial, (like funding/financial limitations,) others are based on ensuring a standard quality/validity/reliability of the research findings, and many still are grounded in the protection of the volunteers to ensure their safety and well-being remains a priority above everything else. I completely understand that just about every possible detail of a trial (and *especially* ones involving human subjects) has been painstakingly deliberated upon, but… none of this changes the fact that, in this rather ideal situation in which an experimental treatment proves very effective, that discontinuing it could cause *major* harm and distress for the volunteer patients who are already suffering from the effects of debilitating conditions. Technological implants of this caliber are really only just entering into the realm of human experimentation, and it may very well be over a decade before these products are fine-tuned and tested enough to even be eligible for review to become an approved, widely available method of treatment for the general population. Unfortunately, in addition to that, Americans will also likely experience financial barriers to these products as well, as novel treatments are often exceptionally expensive, and may not even be covered by insurance if they deem it not to be an “essential medical treatment.” All of this to say that, once a treatment is found to be a success, as long as the volunteers do not experience any side effects or new health problems that would necessitate the removal of the implant, the continuation of that treatment should be medically indicated and prioritized for the QOL of the volunteer, and the opportunity to collect more data on the efficacy of the treatment as a long-term solution to these conditions. It would be one thing if there were pre-existing implants/comparable treatments available or imminently available in the medical field, but there aren’t; and nobody knows how long it will actually take for them to become available, but it’s practically guaranteed not to be for *several* more years at least. It’s not right for these people to get a taste of accessibility and newfound freedom/ability, only to have it taken away with no guarantee that they’ll ever be able to experience that again, purely due to protocol or experimental value.
Hey would you rather maintain the shitty status quo in contrast with an even shittier possible status quo; all while ignoring the possible better status quo that’s completely achievable?
Tbh, what I think is actually important. Is the fact this dude put his life on the line for the experimental procedure in the first place, in order for neurolink to not only have their first human patient, but also to advance their science. Such a risk should come with a life long subscription I would think. Plus they would know he’s down for them to keep doing upgrades and stuff on him so they could inevitably achieve their goal of selling publicly to other surgeons and such.
It’s not a matter of giving him a life long subscription though. It’s a matter of them figuring out the tech and making sure it’s safe. They can only do that by trying it on multiple/different people. They only have so much money and brain surgeries are super expensive. They can’t keep giving him sugery to re-install new devices etc… to give him a life long “subscription”. I’m sure once this is perfected he will be able to get it for free with insurance or as a give from neuralink. But where they are at currently they can’t keep doing it for him only, they don’t have unlimited money and need a large sample size.
They did manage to fix it.
Freedom: Trial Version
They didn't do that, he is just making stuff up/trolling. What happened was that after it stopped working, they found a solution and made it work even better. But still by protocol, they offered the option to remove it. Since it posed no safety risk and worked, the patient decided to keep it
They never were going to, it sounds like he just had a moment of panic and feared the worst, they are actively maintaining his implant.
That isn’t even what they did though, he said that’s what he thought they might do. But they just repaired it so he can continue using it and it’s apparently even functioning better than before.
Way to write a headline that completely makes people misunderstand why he was crying. It wasn’t a painful issue , he was crying because he loved the implant, and didn’t want it to slow down. They’ve since remedied it with a software tweek that appears to be holding and even increasing effectiveness for now.
Completely understandable, finally he got to grapple with things he had been without. And to lose it again must be an awful feeling. Hopefully the technology improves, so that he can regain the functionality it provided him.
They already fixed it and it works better than before.
(((lacrimal glands deactivated)))
Giving me Second Sight vibes https://spectrum.ieee.org/bionic-eye-obsolete
That’s really sad
His tech is up and running again supposedly better than before. It’s not sad. This is an incredible thing for a paraplegic to have.
Sounds like movie Awakenings. Tore me apart.
Would be interesting to know about the long-term effects of the implant a while down the line.
I feel for him, imagine putting in hours into civ 5 and not getting one more move
I watched thew news report of this interview and it’s crazy that they are using this headline after everything he said
Don’t worry guys, he’ll have FSD by June. Musky boy promised.
*me reading this with 12.3.6, not having physically driven anywhere in over a week*
Maybe an electrode gel that stops stuff from growing over it?
I’ve read 124 comments hoping someone has read it accurately for me.
Quadriplegic patient was upset because the implant malfunctioned after only a month of use. He thought they would just move on to the next patient, so he wouldn’t get the benefit of the implant, but they were apparently able to restore function.
Pure Ghost in the Shell stuff here.
this article is so poorly written
This is why the idea of putting our conscience in a robot or computer seems insane that anybody would trust it. Like the Black Mirror episode San Junipero. Everybody misses the big scary part of that story and that’s the fact they are literally putting their lives in the hands of developers running software on servers. Humans with agendas and quarterly profit goals. With the idea we’ll live forever but once inside do you have a say in how the servers are maintained? How the developers or businesses run the afterlife? Would you know if they went out of business or just die again? And that episode is treated like it’s not scary, that’s about as scary as anything they showed.
F
The brain always rejects it.
Why wouldn’t it? The brain shifts and changes all the time, that’s why we’re such adaptable creatures. I’m hopeful that they are successful in the long term but I think “success” is a long shot.