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Neuralink 'Participant 1' says his life has changed

fortune.com

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Re: Neuralink 'Participant 1' says his life has changed

#21

Post by didibus »

kevinpet wrote: post #12
femiagbabiaka wrote: post #8

Have there been any reviews by independent experts? This reads like a promo piece, in particular I'm not sure why the fluff bits about Musk "being a regular guy" are relevant. Most of the linked sources are either other Fortune puff pieces or Neuralink press releases.

Reviews by independent experts about the quality of this guy's life? I think he can be considered an authority on that subject.

I think a bit of skepticism is warranted here. Patient number 1 isn't some random guy getting the procedure and recounting it's benefits. But someone self-selected and willing from day 1, massively engaged with the company, likely paid or compensated, getting a lot of promotion, visibility and attention, etc.

It's possible a lot of the QOL improvements are from the circumstances of getting all that attention, or the hype circle they themselves found themselves in.

I also think people need to be open minded to the possibility Neuralink does offer promising benefits.

I'm just seeing a lot of people strongly for or against, and really I think the reasonable stance here is to remain optimistically pessimistic until further evidence.

Re: Neuralink 'Participant 1' says his life has changed

#24

Post by zdragnar »

micromacrofoot wrote: post #19
kevinpet wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reviews by independent experts about the quality of this guy's life? I think he can be considered an authority on that subject.

so are people who claim placebos and homeopathy improved their conditions, we are not reliable on an individual level

No placebo can let him "do things like play Mario Kart, control his television, and turn his Dyson air purifier on and off without physically moving his fingers or any other part of his body."

Given that there are objective changes, it is not unreasonable to believe his claim that he is satisfied or has benefitted from them.

Re: Neuralink 'Participant 1' says his life has changed

#25

Post by jauzeyimam »

cromulent wrote: post #9

Friends with Parkinson's with neural implants anecdotally report great results, but of course with rather coarse tech. There seems to be lots of future potential. https://www.parkinson.org/living-with-parkinsons/treatment/s...

My brother has had YOPD since his late 20s. He got DBS done about 3 years ago, and it was life changing. Not only in the symptom reduction (tremors and rigidity significantly reduced -- he walked straight for the first time in years, could button his shirts again, etc), but also in lifestyle improvements around the amount and frequency of medication, the ability to sleep properly (several side effects of both PD and the meds affect sleep), the ability for his body to actually relax.

DBS, like you said, is rather course tech and actually quite old technology. Doctors still don't entirely know why it works, so the adjustment is often experimental. In fact prior to specialized MRI machines that they use during surgery now, the patients would remain awake during the placement (brain surgery) of the electrodes so that the surgeons would know when the placement was "correct" based on real-time assessment of their symptoms. Now they do it under MRI, but the point being it's far from an exact science.

Can't wait to see what the future holds as they improve on it. Hard to imagine a world where his symptoms are fully managed (PD is progressive degeneration, so his symptoms, even with DBS are gradually worsening with time), but it was also hard to imagine how DBS could overnight change his life in the ways it did.

Re: Neuralink 'Participant 1' says his life has changed

#26

Post by didibus »

SilverElfin wrote: post #15

Neuralink is amazing technology and watching videos of participants who have completely different abilities and freedom with Neuralink implants is mind blowing. It’s sad that many want to dismiss these amazing achievements just because it’s an Elon Musk founded company. At some point you simply have to acknowledge his success (and his team’s), and hope they get further with all of this. For those interested in their…

> It’s sad that many want to dismiss these amazing achievements just because it’s an Elon Musk founded company

That's not a fair take. This isn't "just a thing", this leads to massive financial gain by someone whose now a very influential power into people's lives from his involvement in politics and other circles of influence.

People can do good and bad at the same time, and if you're impacted by the bad things the person does, the good doesn't excuse it, and you'd want to stop them from doing more bad, it makes sense not to cheer on the good things they do that then fuels their effort into the bad things.

There can be disagreement on if they are doing bad, but to someone who believes so, it's a rational stance to not cheer on what can further fuel what they consider bad.

Re: Neuralink 'Participant 1' says his life has changed

#27

Post by femiagbabiaka »

bboygravity wrote: post #10
femiagbabiaka wrote: post #8

Have there been any reviews by independent experts? This reads like a promo piece, in particular I'm not sure why the fluff bits about Musk "being a regular guy" are relevant. Most of the linked sources are either other Fortune puff pieces or Neuralink press releases.

[flagged]

I don't care whether or not he likes Musk, this is America, we love assholes here. I simply don't see how that fact is relevant to an article discussing the merits of Neurolink the program.

Re: Neuralink 'Participant 1' says his life has changed

#28

Post by MSFT_Edging »

kevinpet wrote: post #12
femiagbabiaka wrote: post #8

Have there been any reviews by independent experts? This reads like a promo piece, in particular I'm not sure why the fluff bits about Musk "being a regular guy" are relevant. Most of the linked sources are either other Fortune puff pieces or Neuralink press releases.

Reviews by independent experts about the quality of this guy's life? I think he can be considered an authority on that subject.

Not if you're being paid to be there.

See: Yeonmi Park and the absurdity of her stories that are essentially a product of South Korea's day-time TV.

(North Korean refugees typically can't get work permits, some of the little work available is telling people how bad NK is. It is illegal to say anything good about NK in SK)

Re: Neuralink 'Participant 1' says his life has changed

#29

Post by femiagbabiaka »

kevinpet wrote: post #12
femiagbabiaka wrote: post #8

Have there been any reviews by independent experts? This reads like a promo piece, in particular I'm not sure why the fluff bits about Musk "being a regular guy" are relevant. Most of the linked sources are either other Fortune puff pieces or Neuralink press releases.

Reviews by independent experts about the quality of this guy's life? I think he can be considered an authority on that subject.

I can't tell if you're trying to be clever, sarcastic, or are failing at both so I'll answer earnestly: reviews by independent experts of the claims of Neurolink the company and of the methods used to achieve those claimed results.

Re: Neuralink 'Participant 1' says his life has changed

#30

Post by db48x »

micromacrofoot wrote: post #19
kevinpet wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reviews by independent experts about the quality of this guy's life? I think he can be considered an authority on that subject.

so are people who claim placebos and homeopathy improved their conditions, we are not reliable on an individual level

Placebos only effect subjective outcomes, not objective ones.
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