TECH INSIDER Elon Musk has launched a company that hopes to link your brain to a computer Danielle Muoio Mar. 27, 2017, 3:43 PM 21,766 elon musk Asa Mathat | D: All Things Digital Elon Musk has launched a company dedicated to linking human brains with computers, The Wall Street Journal's Rolfe Winkler reported Monday. Internal sources told The Journal that the company, called Neuralink, was developing "neural lace" technology that would allow people to communicate directly with machines without going through a physical interface. Neuralink was registered as a medical-research company in California in July. Neural lace involves implanting electrodes in the brain so people could upload or download their thoughts to or from a computer, according to the report. The product could allow humans to achieve higher levels of cognitive function. Musk said on Twitter that more details about Neuralink will be released in a week. Musk has expressed his interest in neural lace technology before. Musk first described the potential product at Vox Media's Code Conference in 2016, saying it would allow humans to achieve symbiosis with machines. He said neural lace could prevent a person from becoming a "house cat" to artificial intelligence. "The solution that seems maybe the best is to have an AI layer," Musk said at the Vox Code Conference. "A third, digital layer that could work symbiotically." Musk said on Twitter in January that he was preparing for an announcement regarding neural lace. Facebook is also exploring similar technology through Building 8, its secretive hardware division. The group is developing noninvasive brain-computer interface technology that would allow people to communicate with external hardware devices. elon musk Tesla Musk is attempting to set up safety standards for artificial intelligence through his nonprofit, OpenAI, which he founded with Y Combinator's Sam Altman in 2015. OpenAI's mission is to "advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole." But Neuralink's first products could involve using implants to treat disorders like epilepsy or major depression, according to The Journal. Researchers at universities like the University of California and Duke are also developing brain-computer interface technology that would allow people with paraplegia to walk again. Musk also plans to launch the Boring Company, a venture dedicated to building an underground network of tunnels to reduce traffic. Share your thoughts! Can't do fancy stuff as I am on cell. Source http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-neuralink-connect-brains-computer-neural-lace-2017-3
Underground tunnels? Like a subway for all of North America. Trains underground! What next, cars that fly?
This wants to totally avoid a situation like that. The issue with AI is that it's programmed to do certain things - if it views humans as expendable resources to achieve its goals, it's going to hurt people. Not intentionally, but to achieve its goal it's been told to do. It lacks the ability to come to clarity through compromise and work its way around issues like that. By linking AI with a human brain, it can say "oh, that's a hospital. I can't kill anyone in that. I'll find another way to destroy ISIS." rather than just saying "yep, that's a hospital. I don't care. I'll just send my robot soldiers to shoot up the place so we can get to ISIS's headquarters that are beneath it!'" That's actually... probably a really poor example, but yeah
I should post something serious here. The stuff he is doing is nothing new, as many people have tried to do, or have done some of these things before. Not to mention that we all have thought it would be cool to do these things many times before(or at least I have). The biggest thing here is that he has money, so he is able to afford all these ventures. He can pay the scientist to research extensively in these fields, and he can pay for the multi million dollar equipment to keep the advancements coming. The thing he is doing is something the government really should have been doing, but they don't seem to care much about spending billions on infrastructure and artificial Computer intelligence. But what Elon Musk is doing is ultimately good, as someone has to fund the research for these new and upcoming projects to increase our physical and mental abilities, as computers are now at a point where they can do almost anything better than us than think. On the topic of building an underground network of tunnels to reduce traffic, it would work in theory, but in practice not so much. It wont create less traffic on the premise that there are still the same amount of cars going to the same place, so no matter how many roads you build, there will still be the same amount of cars going to that place, so there will always be a bottleneck. And if there is "less" traffic on that road, more people will want to use it until it has the same traffic problems on any other roads. I recently watched a TED talk on a walkable city , and based on the way our infrastructure is laid out, adding these tunnels would just allow more people to drive cars, not ever solving congestion problems(decrease cars on the road). The best way to solve the problem would be to strategically relocate people for minimum commute distance to their work, but that would likely never happen as most people are contempt with their house and wouldn't want to move if they don't have to. Sorry this is a bit of a rant, but I have some thoughts and opinions on this subject and wanted to share them.
I'm going to go on a slightly different direction with this one(but still a rant). As far as we currently know, we are the only consciously aware species in existence. And one thing we don't know is why or how. While connecting our brains to a computer, we can monitor thoughts and feeling rather than just brain activity which is where we are now with MRI scans. How we interact with these computer systems can be used to make them more efficient and smarter. This interaction will allow us to come closer to making a fully conscious AI. Imagine if you had an aware supercomputer hooked to your brain. It would be able to extend your thinking abilities to something much faster than you ever could. imagine being able to calculate Pi to the N'th number in seconds in your head, as you have a computer assisting your brain directly in the calculation. Hooking computerized sensors to your brain would also allow for more senses. People that are blind can already get eyes transplanted, but it is because the body is already built to hold an eye (or 2). Things such as infrared or sonar image capabilities could be "upgrades" we may see in the near future to ourselves. currently we need eyes or ears to see or hear an electronic display which give us this information. Having these electronic sensors hooked directly to our brains would allow us to "see" parts of the world which we are currently blind to in everyday life. If it is dark out, use your infrared vision to see like a reptile. If you go for a swim in muddy water, use your sonar senses to see if you are close to hitting anything like a fish would.
