> Elon Musk preys on the hopeful and optimistic Yes but he also launches rockets into fucking space; that is to say, he may be selling snake oil, but he’s also selling legitimate magic beans.
Also , which has been done for decades.
I was excited for Neuralink, then I watched the demo
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Re: I was excited for Neuralink, then I watched the demo
#22> Elon Musk preys on the hopeful and optimistic Yes but he also launches rockets into fucking space; that is to say, he may be selling snake oil, but he’s also selling legitimate magic beans.
Indeed. He also launches supposedly self-driving passenger cars into concrete barriers.
It’s the latter that’s causing some concern I’d think.
Re: I was excited for Neuralink, then I watched the demo
#23These various networked computer components being attached to our bodies make me very nervous. See: hackers control pacemaker shock cycles with malware. [1] Software will always be vulnerable and it’s just a matter of time until someone gets eliminated by this vector - or worse, think about a wormable exploit aimed at mass adopted Neuralinks to mass fry people.. [1] https://www.wired.com/story/pacemaker-hack-malware-…
It is scary, but what is the actual incentive? Terrorism, and that is it as far as I can see. In cyber up until know, criminals and espionage seem like much bigger threats than terrorism. We are introducing a new attack surface here, and it makes sense to consider whether we want to. But it is not an attack surface that seems likely to attract many attackers.
Really invasive ads is the main one I'd say. Imagine scammy supplement ads appearing on your phone whenever your hearth beat got a bit unusual.
Heck, maybe messing with the rate for a short while is harmless but scary, and a good time to show ads for some pills...
Re: I was excited for Neuralink, then I watched the demo
#24These various networked computer components being attached to our bodies make me very nervous. See: hackers control pacemaker shock cycles with malware. [1] Software will always be vulnerable and it’s just a matter of time until someone gets eliminated by this vector - or worse, think about a wormable exploit aimed at mass adopted Neuralinks to mass fry people.. [1] https://www.wired.com/story/pacemaker-hack-malware-…
It is scary, but what is the actual incentive? Terrorism, and that is it as far as I can see. In cyber up until know, criminals and espionage seem like much bigger threats than terrorism. We are introducing a new attack surface here, and it makes sense to consider whether we want to. But it is not an attack surface that seems likely to attract many attackers.
Ransom.
Re: I was excited for Neuralink, then I watched the demo
#25If they handle the software for this in any way like the Tesla I wouldn’t want it near my head.
On the other hand, SpaceX runs rather professionally. It also has to, of course. My point is, they CAN deliver. Probably with Tesla they're just trying to get by with the least acceptable effort.
Re: I was excited for Neuralink, then I watched the demo
#26I am not an expert, but what I thought was remarkable is the 12000 channels Musk talked about. New cochlear implants have 120 channels - one channel is one neuron (AFAIK) - more neurons is better results. I would love some expert take on this, but my first reaction was „12000 sounds like a lot - they all work? That’s cool“. Also check out this wait but why article which I think explains the resolution pretty well: ht…
I’m very much not an expert. I think the state of the art for measuring brain activity is the functional MRI. fMRIs have limits on their spatial, temporal and ‘activity’ resolution. I think they also measure ‘only’ blood flow and not electrical activity.
My guess is that if Neuralink does nothing more than provide a more sophisticated tool for investigating the brain than the current state of the art then it will have been a success.
A quick google suggests the highest resolution fMRIs currently have about 1 million voxels of spatial resolution at a sample rate of about 1/sec. EEGs can measure electrical activity but only at very low resolution and on the surface.
Re: I was excited for Neuralink, then I watched the demo
#27The demo was impressive. Did the author not see the part where they were predicting the body position of the walking pig? I don't see how that is going to be done with stick on sensors. And yes, some implantable BCI devices have better capability. The point is to make this as cheap as possible... so that it doesn't require a brain surgeon to install. Because brain surgeons are expensive.
If he can't get cars to drive around a city autonomously, who is going to let him drive electrodes around their brain using automation? Brain implant surgery is incredibly invasive and risky even with brain surgeons.
They start with animal tests, then impaired people and finally public at large. It's stupid to get implanted with a work-in-progress device yet, except if your life quality requires it.
Re: I was excited for Neuralink, then I watched the demo
#28> Elon Musk preys on the hopeful and optimistic Yes but he also launches rockets into fucking space; that is to say, he may be selling snake oil, but he’s also selling legitimate magic beans.
And he does it very behind the first five to fifteen schedules he's promised, which is in line with the examples the article used.
Re: I was excited for Neuralink, then I watched the demo
#29I think the author calling Musk a conman is too strong a reaction to what goes on. I think Musk has a tendency to oversell already great technology with science fiction. Teslas are amazing cars but full self driving has been 6 months away for years now.
Like the author, I would also be upset if I believed Musks promises of a brain-computer interface, only to see them dashed. But Neuralink is already an amazing improvement, and I am still excited to see what will come of it.
Re: I was excited for Neuralink, then I watched the demo
#30> Elon Musk preys on the hopeful and optimistic Yes but he also launches rockets into fucking space; that is to say, he may be selling snake oil, but he’s also selling legitimate magic beans.
This is a physics problem (well constrained) versus biology and even worse consciousness where we are pretty much at ground zero. His claims/promises about what will be possible are absurd eg being able to store and replay memories. Snake oil territory. A marketing event for his messianic persona so fanboys buy more Tesla stock.
It is only rocket science, which is as we all know very easy /s.