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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

#461

Post by y-curious »

micromacrofoot wrote: post #70
y-curious wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are right when it comes to qualia, but wholly incorrect in this case. There are measurable metrics in his life (ie independent use of computers, social engagements etc.) It's not like he's having to rate his level of happiness here, these are physical benefits

Who is measuring the physical benefits? because based on this article it's no one... so again, we're taking one person's word for it... and it's very likely this person is contractually obligated to not disparage the company

He explains his expanded day to day functionality in the article

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

#462

Post by 542354234235 »

cobbzilla wrote: post #360
fracus wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I've read, if you are blind from birth, but visual signals were suddenly restored, your brain wouldn't know how to process them. Blind from birth = blind forever. I'm not certain though.

Some part of this is true, but it’s complicated. I lack stereoscopic vision, due to eye surgery in infancy & wildly different focal lengths in each eye (one is very nearsighted, the other farsighted). I can still see in 3D because my brain uses tricks like relative object size, shadows, and sometimes I move my head laterally so my farsighted eye gets different angles on an object (“faking” stereoscopic vision with on…

It makes me wonder if you had been given lenses that started at small corrections, and you switched them out for greater corrections could allow your brain to adjust. Like the Invisalign of glasses. People are often able to adjust to diminishing eyesight, adapting and finding ways to make use of what is left, so it seems that if your vision got slightly better every two weeks, your brain could adapt and adjust. Hell, people are able to adjust to wearing mirror glasses that flip everything upside down, so eventually your brain would probably adjust and correct for the size difference.

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

#463

Post by 542354234235 »

BrandoElFollito wrote: post #297
crote wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a brain chip. How do you feel about being blind and paralyzed? Or comatose? Or dead? How about never-ending pain or constant bright flashes? What if they go bankrupt, and something happens to the implant? Brain surgery isn't exactly an industry where "move fast and break things" is an acceptable approach - especially when you are the patient. Considering Neuralink's historical record, going first sounds like a h…

How do you feel about not having THE sense that defines your whole life? This is a matter of personal choice and weighing risks vs your life as it is. Nobody is forcing anybody to have the chip - my question was about the reasons behind not taking it for someone who is blind, as a matter of curiosity. It is obvious that everyone will react differently. As I mentioned, my wife went for that and it was quite a ride ini…

My brain defines my whole life. Risking damaging the thing that defines everything I love, hate, have interest in, or remember is a pretty high bar. Blind people live pretty rich, full, independent lives, even if they have to forgo many things the sighted enjoy. I don't know if I would say the same for the severely brain damaged.

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

#464

Post by 542354234235 »

BrandoElFollito wrote: post #312
jibal wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One cannot measure calories out (other than deducing it from calories in and weight change), which is a complex function of diet, metabolism, and a host of other factors. As for the rest--your other posts implicitly assume that everyone else shares your choices and priorities--and if not then they aren't relevant. (BTW, there is strong evidence showing neither you nor anyone else knows what they would do after receiv…

> One cannot measure calories out (other than deducing it from calories in and weight change), which is a complex function of diet, metabolism, and a host of other factors. Sure, but when you eat sugar in several forms and overeat generally, you statistically get fatter. This works the other way round too. There are myriads of specific cases on the sides of the bell curve but the solution for the everyday Joe is to e…

>> As for the rest--your other posts implicitly assume that everyone else shares your choices and priorities--and if not then they aren't relevant.

>Wow, where do you get that from?

I mean, right off the bat, you started with "If you are blind it cannot be worse" which is a pretty big assumption that being blind is so horrible and makes your life so worthless, that risking your life to reverse it seems like the obvious choice.

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

#465

Post by cobbzilla »

542354234235 wrote: post #462
cobbzilla wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some part of this is true, but it’s complicated. I lack stereoscopic vision, due to eye surgery in infancy & wildly different focal lengths in each eye (one is very nearsighted, the other farsighted). I can still see in 3D because my brain uses tricks like relative object size, shadows, and sometimes I move my head laterally so my farsighted eye gets different angles on an object (“faking” stereoscopic vision with on…

It makes me wonder if you had been given lenses that started at small corrections, and you switched them out for greater corrections could allow your brain to adjust. Like the Invisalign of glasses. People are often able to adjust to diminishing eyesight, adapting and finding ways to make use of what is left, so it seems that if your vision got slightly better every two weeks, your brain could adapt and adjust. Hell,…

The upside down glasses is a good example. As I understand it, after you get used to wearing them and then take them off, you see everything upside down with your regular eyes, and it takes a while to get back to normal. Doesn’t sound fun.

But in my case I don’t think even that would work. Elaborating further on the ophthalmologist’s words (and as another poster here noted), the neuroplasticity required to develop stereoscopic vision is just not there past some age. No amount of lens trickery will join the left-right circuits in the cortex.

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

#466

Post by ryoshoe »

maxlin wrote: post #434
LunaSea wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> man sues to receive the thing he earned over several years of accomplishment that made a lot of people a lot more money than they originally agreed to pay him Do you have a source for this? As far as I understand, the bonus package represents a large part of revenue of all Teslas sold since the beginning. > is something a lot of people are understandably sympathetic to. Does he also need to pay back stocks when he…

Imagine people going around you and waiting to take photo of you calling a taxi a bit wonkily then using that as a proof to try to make your employer sue you for all you're worth. Everyone who even alludes to it as a salute is quite far deranged, especially if still talking about it

This wasn't an ill timed photo. There's a video of him making the gesture, twice

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

#467

Post by BrandoElFollito »

jibal wrote: post #308
BrandoElFollito wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course, this is why I gave the counterexample of the case where it would be.

Of course your statement is false? Strange.

@crote wrote

> How do you feel about being blind and paralyzed?

To what I replied

> How do you feel about not having THE sense that defines your whole life?

→ this meant "how would you fel if you lost THE sense that defines your life, such as loding your sight when you are an artist" (for example). The idea is that what is a disaster depends on people (this is what I meant in This is a matter of personal choice and weighing risks vs your life as it is.).

In other words - losing a sense can be so devastating that you can risk much more for the (large, tiny, incalculable?) risjk of losing even more. Everyone is free to decide.

Hope this is more clear now

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

#468

Post by BrandoElFollito »

542354234235 wrote: post #464
BrandoElFollito wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One cannot measure calories out (other than deducing it from calories in and weight change), which is a complex function of diet, metabolism, and a host of other factors. Sure, but when you eat sugar in several forms and overeat generally, you statistically get fatter. This works the other way round too. There are myriads of specific cases on the sides of the bell curve but the solution for the everyday Joe is to e…

>> As for the rest--your other posts implicitly assume that everyone else shares your choices and priorities--and if not then they aren't relevant. >Wow, where do you get that from? I mean, right off the bat, you started with "If you are blind it cannot be worse" which is a pretty big assumption that being blind is so horrible and makes your life so worthless, that risking your life to reverse it seems like the obvio…

Yes, I was not clear here (I clarified in another comment) - I meant if you are blind, you cannot get "blinder".

There are other risks of course, which I addressed in the comments (basically, it is for an individual to decide whether they want to accept risks, also in the case where the risks are not quantifiable)

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

#469

Post by enslavedrobot »

LunaSea wrote: post #333
maxlin wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Companies like this going under is a horror story for the patients I've seen playing out a few times. But I honestly can't see something as public and well-funded having the same fate. "Elon Musk losing interest" isn't really something I see likely as he doesn't function in the money-oriented ways pretty much almost all other billionaire-types do. He loves the tech and the ideals, and Neuralink is past the point of e…

> isn't really something I see likely as he doesn't function in the money-oriented ways pretty much almost all other billionaire-types do Is that why he sued to obtain his $29B package from Tesla shareholders?

Let's make a deal. You invest $100 in my company. I won't take a salary unless I at least double your money. Everytime I double your money you owe me 1% of your gains. Is this a fair deal?

That's the deal we voted for and Tesla grew 2000%. Very pleased with the outcome and would vote for any pay package at any company that was similarly structured.

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

#470

Post by fracus »

jibal wrote: post #443
fracus wrote: post #438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I" think was obvious

And you are wrong, as noted. If you mean "it was obvious to me ", that's a different matter ... but it's also irrelevant.

It isn't always pragmatic to account for the 5% of people who misinterpret what is being said or who aren't able to contextualize because they are stupid. We've all misinterpreted obvious things before. It isn't that big of a deal.
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