[HN Gopher] Neuralink patient controls games by thinking during ...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Neuralink patient controls games by thinking during interview
        
       Author : sambroner
       Score  : 63 points
       Date   : 2024-03-20 21:37 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (twitter.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (twitter.com)
        
       | hablary wrote:
       | That's pretty amazing, the fact he's able to click the pause
       | button with his brain alone is insane to me - that's like Apple
       | Vision Pro without the gigantic goggles.
        
         | sambroner wrote:
         | This is a good point. Seems like a likely candidate for an S
         | curve in tech development. i.e. next 15 years of VR are
         | improvements to camera, display, and tracking technology.
         | Following 15 years are brain implants.
        
       | sidewndr46 wrote:
       | Good thing no Musk owned companies have a well established track
       | record of faking the entire thing
        
         | j4hdufd8 wrote:
         | like?
        
           | BadHumans wrote:
           | They are referring to Tesla promotional FSD videos being
           | heavily edited.
           | 
           | https://www.pcmag.com/news/tesla-faked-autopilot-video-
           | engin...
           | 
           | While not an Musk company, it is worth remembering Theranos
           | demos being convincingly faked as well. I don't know if it is
           | happening here but it does happen.
        
             | dkersten wrote:
             | Doesn't have to be faked either, I remember the Emotiv made
             | similar claims and had similar demos where to the best of
             | my understanding eventually people figured out it wasn't
             | really reading your brainwaves but rather facial muscles or
             | something (a friend of mine works in brain computer
             | interfacing and explained it to me once but I don't
             | remember the details -- it wasn't that they were actively
             | trying to mislead necessarily, more akin to leaking
             | validation data into neural network training than to
             | outright deceiving).
        
             | mdeeks wrote:
             | A single event isn't a "track record". Though I guess he's
             | been touting the Robotaxi idea for a long time and it still
             | isn't anywhere on the horizon.
        
         | yinser wrote:
         | Speculative mud slinging
        
         | TheAlchemist wrote:
         | Exactly my thoughts, unfortunately.
         | 
         | But giving it the benefit of the doubt, this looks mind blowing
         | to me !
         | 
         | It was kind of known that the research and tech is almost there
         | for a while already, but seeing the demonstration live like
         | that - incredible !
         | 
         | But then it takes me back to those Musk companies - maybe it's
         | just a repackaged already available research presented in a
         | nice way - making us believe it could be 'deployed' in real
         | world, while in reality it can only be done in a very
         | controlled environment. And we are led to believe that we are
         | '2 weeks away' from it being widely available. Hope we're wrong
         | here.
        
       | brettv2 wrote:
       | I haven't followed Neuralink too closely since it was announced,
       | so I was not expecting to see what I just saw. I've seen a
       | handful of breakthrough moments in my life - I think this will be
       | remembered as one.
        
       | ccozan wrote:
       | It is fascinating. But looking at this guy condition, playing
       | games would be IMHO not the prio. I would hook up the remote
       | controlling to a robotic exoskeleton, for just be back and
       | function normal. I guess that also can be detected ( intention to
       | move feet or hands in any direction ).
       | 
       | But let's see, we are really at the beginning.
        
         | justrealist wrote:
         | Well I don't think those exoskeletons even really exist yet. So
         | baby steps.
        
         | Firaxus wrote:
         | Of course, but that's going to take so much more time and
         | effort. You can see how much joy this man is in just having the
         | autonomy to move a mouse again. That's honestly amazing.
        
         | modeless wrote:
         | I don't think it can simultaneously control the dozens of
         | degrees of freedom that a robot would have. Yet. You only need
         | three degrees of freedom for a mouse with button. That alone is
         | transformational for a quadriplegic.
        
         | logtempo wrote:
         | there is good works done in this article:
         | 
         | https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06094-5
         | 
         | https://www.cea.fr/english/Pages/News/brain-computer-interfa...
        
         | timschmidt wrote:
         | Better than an exoskeleton is a second implant below his C4/5
         | to reconnect his spinal chord with his brain via wifi.
        
       | Firaxus wrote:
       | The sheer joy on this mans face to be able to freely control a
       | mouse again, and engage with general technology. If they're able
       | to make this into a generally safe procedure, a lot of people
       | will be interested in just that.
        
       | mdeeks wrote:
       | I love that one of the first things he said he did was binge on
       | Civilization 6 until 6am. Welcome back, buddy!
       | 
       | Strangely that simple example was the most powerful part for me.
       | I've done that so many times and it was such a fun experience.
       | Now he gets to re-live that joy (and follow up shame) again!
        
       | heavyset_go wrote:
       | I'm curious if he's signed any type of NDA or non-disparagement
       | agreement to receive the implant.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2024-03-20 23:00 UTC)