In a far-ranging interview in a Q&A on Clubhouse, a private social app, billionaire whackadoodle Elon Musk claimed that he has put a Neuralink implant in a monkey’s brain… and that the animal can play video games ‘with his mind.’
The monkey, he says, is ‘totally happy’ and he hopes his efforts will eventually be able to help humans with brain and spinal injuries.
Musk, who has invested $100 million in Neuralink, claimed the start-up has a ‘monkey facility’ where one monkey has a ‘wireless implant’ in its skull.
He said: ‘We’ve already got a monkey with a wireless implant in their skull and the tiny wires who can play video games using his mind.
‘He’s totally happy. He does not look like an unhappy monkey,’ he added. ‘He’s not uncomfortable and he doesn’t look weird.
‘We’re trying to work out if we can get the monkeys to play mind pong with each other, you know that would be pretty cool.’
Musk also claimed that when a US Department of Agriculture official came to inspect their monkey facilities, she was mightily impressed.
‘When the USDA person came through and inspected our facilities, our monkey facilities, she said it was like the nicest monkey facilities she’s ever seen in her career,’ he said. ‘We went the extra mile for the monkey.”
Of the device, he says:
‘There have been primitive versions… with wires sticking out of your head but it doesn’t work all the time and you can’t take it home with you.
‘In simple terms, its sort of like a fitbit in your skull with tiny wires that go to your brain.’
Musk also claimed his team have already tested the implantation, removal and re-implantation of the brain chip.
He said: ‘We are really focused on the ability to remove the implant if somebody doesn’t want it or it’s not working. We can take it out and we can re-implant another one.’
He revealed early applications for the chip would be for people who have a serious injury but admitted that while the value of the implant is ‘enormous’, there is serious risk involved.
Other headlines to come out of the interview:
- He wants to put humans on Mars in five-and-a-half years, but admitted it would be ‘very dangerous and hard work’
- Bitcoin is ‘on the verge’ of being more widely accepted among investors as he expressed his support for the cryptocurrency
- He has seen no ‘conclusive evidence’ that aliens exist but it’s ‘quite possible’
- His boosting of online currency Dogecoin is intended as a joke
- His children ‘are mostly educated through YouTube and Reddit’
- He aims to produce 20million Teslas every year worldwide
- He things Chris Nolan’s Tenet is a good film but ‘if you think too hard about it, it’s not going to make complete sense, but it’s a good movie.’
And now you know.
More here.
(Photos: MediaPunch, Pixabay)
