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Neuralink’s FDA troubles are just the beginning

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Re: Neuralink’s FDA troubles are just the beginning

#21

Post by electric_mayhem »

extheat wrote: post #17
KerrAvon wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember that he’s not actually that smart. Rob Beschizza has the best description of Musk: “I love how childish and petty it is. There is no depth or human complexity to Musk whatsoever: he's just a rich kid who got lucky and now we marvel at his exertions day in, day out. The New York Times still casts Musk as a public intellectual, even now, because its editors live in a floating world of narrative imagination and…

Well, that's alot of "luck" then. If only everyone could be as "lucky". I wonder how many CEOs have in-depth understanding of their products? My guess is it would be few.

You might get some mileage out of FoolEd By Randomness, by N. Taleb.

What brings it to mind here is there’s a thought experiment that considers a very large number of people playing a series of rounds of Russian roulette. At the end there are a handful of very lucky and very wealthy people (and a vast graveyard of th unlucky).

Re: Neuralink’s FDA troubles are just the beginning

#22

Post by whatshisface »

klodolph wrote: post #16
transitivebs wrote: post #2

The example they gave of another company getting IDE Approval (Synchron) makes it seem possible, but I don't know how much of this is just general governmental inefficiencies and some level of systemic bias against Elon (stemming from big oil & auto). Or is the startup mentality of move fast and break things just not as applicable in this domain?

I’m having some trouble interpreting your comment, and I don’t know how much context you have for Neuralink, so I will share a small amount of context which you may already know. The basic summary is this: Neuralink is Theranos, except with animal cruelty. The improvements that Neuralink advertises aren’t there, scientists in the field don’t believe that they will materialize in the foreseeable future, and there are…

>The basic summary is this: Neuralink is Theranos, except with animal cruelty.

... and without the fraud? You can't get Neuralink installed at wallgreens, for example.

Re: Neuralink’s FDA troubles are just the beginning

#23

Post by sockaddr »

corbulo wrote: post #18
xiphias2 wrote: post #6

Reversing the aging process looks to be much easier problem to solve than uploading the brain. I dont understand why Elon didnt put his money in that direction. Luckily some people are starting to understand how close we are at solving reversing aging (measured in decades).

It was a philosophical decision. Paraphrasing, he believes that if people live too long it will hinder political evolution.

if(!is_elon) { // if people live too long it will hinder political evolution }

Re: Neuralink’s FDA troubles are just the beginning

#24

Post by iancmceachern »

zaroth wrote: post #15
iancmceachern wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.pcrm.org/news/news-releases/ahead-elon-musks-sho... This has some more details from the public info: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vox.com/platform/amp/future...

These are more like hit pieces by advocacy groups that are against all forms of animal testing. The Vox article for example was written by the partner of someone who worked at PCRM - the advocacy group that filed the complaint. The article is also packed with pictures of animal abuse that has absolutely nothing to do with Neuralink - which they do mentioned in the fine print. These images of course are entirely misle…

And those points make what happoned less true or less bad?

Re: Neuralink’s FDA troubles are just the beginning

#25

Post by justrealist »

xiphias2 wrote: post #6

Reversing the aging process looks to be much easier problem to solve than uploading the brain. I dont understand why Elon didnt put his money in that direction. Luckily some people are starting to understand how close we are at solving reversing aging (measured in decades).

Neuralink's premise is that unless humans undergo radical augmentation, we will become obsolete as contrasted to purely-mechanical thinking machines. Electronic / machine augmentation is a strategy for us to stay in-the-loop in order to maintain effective control.

Reversing aging does nothing to solve the same problem.

Re: Neuralink’s FDA troubles are just the beginning

#26

Post by justrealist »

electric_mayhem wrote: post #21
extheat wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, that's alot of "luck" then. If only everyone could be as "lucky". I wonder how many CEOs have in-depth understanding of their products? My guess is it would be few.

You might get some mileage out of FoolEd By Randomness, by N. Taleb. What brings it to mind here is there’s a thought experiment that considers a very large number of people playing a series of rounds of Russian roulette. At the end there are a handful of very lucky and very wealthy people (and a vast graveyard of th unlucky).

Taleb writes entertaining books, but fundamentally is a trader who made one good bet (against the housing bubble) and is going to milk it for the rest of his life (which is, amusingly, exactly what he accuses Elon of doing).

Re: Neuralink’s FDA troubles are just the beginning

#27

Post by leobg »

smt88 wrote: post #14
xiphias2 wrote: post #6

Reversing the aging process looks to be much easier problem to solve than uploading the brain. I dont understand why Elon didnt put his money in that direction. Luckily some people are starting to understand how close we are at solving reversing aging (measured in decades).

I don't know why you assume he isn't investing in solving aging privately. It's also a huge pet issue for all his wealthy SV friends (Thiel et al), so he may not feel he needs to add anything to it personally.

Because he thinks death is a useful thing, an enabler of change and adaptation. “People don’t change their minds. They just die.“

He explicitly said that he doesn’t want to live forever. Very different from other Silicon Valley rich kids. Humble, actually.

Remember Kurzweil? Called Steve Jobs’ commencement speech about death being nature’s change agent a “deathist statement”.

Re: Neuralink’s FDA troubles are just the beginning

#28

Post by htag »

whatshisface wrote: post #22
klodolph wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m having some trouble interpreting your comment, and I don’t know how much context you have for Neuralink, so I will share a small amount of context which you may already know. The basic summary is this: Neuralink is Theranos, except with animal cruelty. The improvements that Neuralink advertises aren’t there, scientists in the field don’t believe that they will materialize in the foreseeable future, and there are…

> The basic summary is this: Neuralink is Theranos, except with animal cruelty. ... and without the fraud? You can't get Neuralink installed at wallgreens, for example.

It feels distinctly possible that Nueralink is fraudulent. What is the point of the demos, slideshows, and general hype that comes from the company? They aren't selling anything, and don't expect to for years. Even then, the first customers will find the product medically necessary, and this broad marketing approach will be unnecessary. It's just odd to have so much PR for this.

Re: Neuralink’s FDA troubles are just the beginning

#29

Post by [deleted] »

whatshisface wrote: post #22
klodolph wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m having some trouble interpreting your comment, and I don’t know how much context you have for Neuralink, so I will share a small amount of context which you may already know. The basic summary is this: Neuralink is Theranos, except with animal cruelty. The improvements that Neuralink advertises aren’t there, scientists in the field don’t believe that they will materialize in the foreseeable future, and there are…

> The basic summary is this: Neuralink is Theranos, except with animal cruelty. ... and without the fraud? You can't get Neuralink installed at wallgreens, for example.

[deleted]

Re: Neuralink’s FDA troubles are just the beginning

#30

Post by zaroth »

iancmceachern wrote: post #24
zaroth wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are more like hit pieces by advocacy groups that are against all forms of animal testing. The Vox article for example was written by the partner of someone who worked at PCRM - the advocacy group that filed the complaint. The article is also packed with pictures of animal abuse that has absolutely nothing to do with Neuralink - which they do mentioned in the fine print. These images of course are entirely misle…

And those points make what happoned less true or less bad?

I can’t speak to “truth”, only trust. If the reporting is ideological, the likelihood that the narrative is slanted is high. Is Neuralink doing something wrong, or are they being targeting by ideologues? We don’t know.

I don’t think animal testing is bad per se, and I’m very distrustful of news releases from organizations that are against all animal testing where their reporting is peppered with totally unrelated images of animal abuse, just to be inflammatory.

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