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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

#31

Post by vansul »

To me (neuro undergrad, comp sci masters), the demo seemed underwhelming but encouraging. As far as I can tell the tech was not doing anything particularly novel and the 'fitbit in your skull' analogy was personally uninspiring. [edit: the volume of reads /form factor is a step forward]

That said, the demo was mostly for attracting talent - lots of money and a great team will likely get them somewhere. In terms of their long term goals I expect the area that will give them the most trouble is reading/writing interesting stuff on the cortex. Neural coding is really hard and poorly understood.

Re: I was excited for Neuralink, then I watched the demo

#32

Post by jansan »

diffeomorphism wrote: post #30
PanosJee wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It may actually be relatively easy compared to what he is trying with Neuralink.

Re: I was excited for Neuralink, then I watched the demo

#33

Post by mustyoshi »

CPLX wrote: post #22
peteretep wrote: post #9

> 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.

Is it more or less concerning than when humans do the same?

Autonomous driving is still a relatively young beast. I don't have specific numbers infront of me, but I imagine mile for mile, autonomous vehicles are still safer than humans.

Re: I was excited for Neuralink, then I watched the demo

#34

Post by visarga »

CPLX wrote: post #22
peteretep wrote: post #9

> 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.

> He also launches supposedly self-driving passenger cars into concrete barriers.

Planes used to fall a lot in the beginning, computer hardware was once finicky and unreliable, even rockets used to blow up before they got it right. Takes time, and sometimes it takes early adopters trust to get to safety.

Re: I was excited for Neuralink, then I watched the demo

#35

Post by H8crilA »

arijun wrote: post #29

I 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 improv…

A tendency you say?

https://elonmusk.today/

Re: I was excited for Neuralink, then I watched the demo

#36

Post by genidoi »

mseidl wrote: post #21
peteretep wrote: post #9

> 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.

...by governments motivated to have launchable nuclear weapons, not by private citizens creating profitable companies through venture capital. Reusable rockets put his companies work way ahead of government rocketry capabilities.

Re: I was excited for Neuralink, then I watched the demo

#37

Post by blackflame7000 »

SiempreViernes wrote: post #23
rocqua wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Sort of like a Smart watch?

Re: I was excited for Neuralink, then I watched the demo

#39

Post by CJefferson »

arijun wrote: post #29

I 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 improv…

As you say, Musk has been claiming self-driving is 6 months away for years now, yet whenever a crash happens they claim drivers must keep full attention. How is that not the definition of a con-man?

Re: I was excited for Neuralink, then I watched the demo

#40

Post by visarga »

djohnston wrote: post #8

one feature i dont understand about neuralink is the promised transmission of thoughts. lets say i have a device that can encode activity of every neuron in my brain simultaneously. i think some variation of the thought "elephant," and the neuralink creates some digital representation of these signals. then i send that digital encoding to your brain's neuralink. how on earth are you going to think of ANY elephant, le…

> how on earth are you going to think of ANY elephant, let alone my elephant?

Both brains sensors are calibrated on the same images, then a common representation can be found as intermediary. It has been done with neural nets translating into a common intermediary language, thus needing N encoders/decoders instead of (N-1)^2 separate networks. In the easiest case it can be a simple linear transform to map one vector space into another.

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