Inventor, Tesla CEO, futurist and real-life Iron Man Elon Musk has launched a new venture called Neuralink to explore merging computers with human brains, reports The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter.
The young company has no public presence yet, but is developing electronics for implantation under the skull that will create a direct interface between the brain and a computing device or extend our own natural internal memory storage, cyborg-style. The Wall Street Journal says Neuralink originated as a medical research company in California last July.
At a February event in Dubai that The Verge reported on, Musk spoke on the subject of cyborgs, stating: “Over time I think we will probably see a closer merger of biological intelligence and digital intelligence,” and adding: “it’s mostly about the bandwidth, the speed of the connection between your brain and the digital version of yourself, particularly output.”
Currently, very few humans in the world have complex technology implants in their brains, and those implants are chiefly in use for the purpose of ameliorating the effects of neurodegenerative diseases. A greater number have basic stimulating devices, though even then that number only registers in the tens of thousands.
Another company working towards merging brains and computers is Kernel, created by Braintree co-founder Bryan Johnson, which is currently at work on aiding patients with neurodegenerative diseases.
Image credit: Dan Taylor/Heisenberg Media
Source: The Wall Street Journal Via: The Verge
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