Ag87H2O said:

---

Athanasius said:

---

If you need this... fine.

If you do not... never ever get this implant.

---

Agree with this. It is remarkable technology that could help a lot of brain trauma/brain diseased individuals, but you don't have to look to hard to see how it could be used for nefarious purposes as well.

---

If you listen to Elon he understands the dangers. He actually sees this as what might be the only way to keep humanity from being dominated by AI. The key is all of the tech goes one direction, it can only be used to enhance abilities not to control a person. You can't reverse the stream and have a computer control a brain. What you can do though is allow a brain to do more things and operate more efficiently. It's also important to remember that others are developing similar tech and they don't have Elon's scruples.

aggie93 said:

---

Ag87H2O said:

---

Athanasius said:

---

If you need this... fine.

If you do not... never ever get this implant.

---

Agree with this. It is remarkable technology that could help a lot of brain trauma/brain diseased individuals, but you don't have to look to hard to see how it could be used for nefarious purposes as well.

---

If you listen to Elon he understands the dangers. He actually sees this as what might be the only way to keep humanity from being dominated by AI. The key is all of the tech goes one direction, it can only be used to enhance abilities not to control a person. You can't reverse the stream and have a computer control a brain. What you can do though is allow a brain to do more things and operate more efficiently. It's also important to remember that others are developing similar tech and they don't have Elon's scruples.

---

I agree that this is remarkable technology that has the potential to be life changing for many people and that Elon isn't aiming for anything bad. Maybe I'm being too pessimistic, but it seems to me that if the tech can go one way, somebody will eventually figure out how to make it go the other way and be able to control what people do and think.

As they say, you can't stop progress. I just hope those doing the research and work are being extremely careful about what they unleash.

Ag87H2O said:

---

aggie93 said:

---

Ag87H2O said:

---

Athanasius said:

---

If you need this... fine.

If you do not... never ever get this implant.

---

Agree with this. It is remarkable technology that could help a lot of brain trauma/brain diseased individuals, but you don't have to look to hard to see how it could be used for nefarious purposes as well.

---

If you listen to Elon he understands the dangers. He actually sees this as what might be the only way to keep humanity from being dominated by AI. The key is all of the tech goes one direction, it can only be used to enhance abilities not to control a person. You can't reverse the stream and have a computer control a brain. What you can do though is allow a brain to do more things and operate more efficiently. It's also important to remember that others are developing similar tech and they don't have Elon's scruples.

---

I agree that this is remarkable technology that has the potential to be life changing for many people and that Elon isn't aiming for anything bad. Maybe I'm being too pessimistic, but it seems to me that if the tech can go one way, somebody will eventually figure out how to make it go the other way and be able to control what people do and think.

As they say, you can't stop progress. I just hope those doing the research and work are being extremely careful about what they unleash.

---

No doubt it's a concern but if you think about it the ability to reverse that stream isn't possible. It has to all work through the limits of digital technology. It's essentially responding to electronic signals from the brain. We have no idea how consciousness truly works much less how to send a signal that would go into the brain and override it. It just doesn't work that way or any tech like that would be a completely different type of tech. The device is just responding to an electronic signal that tells it what you want but removes the need for that signal to go from your brain through your body to your hands or eyes for instance but they have no idea how to shape ideas or images into the brain.

I guess the only concern would be if you had someone who was controlling a robot for instance and then someone else hacked the robot and told the robot what to do instead of the person who should be controlling it. That has issues as well to be possible but is at least feasible compared to the mind control scenario.

The other risk of course is this allows for people to utilize much more of their brain's potential. The brain only utilizes a small portion of what it could. The science fiction example would be something like the movie "Lucy" I suppose.

Artificial General Intelligence is the singularity. Neurolink's potential to help humans keep up with AI is the only bright spot I see for humanity after AGI becomes ubiquitous and exceeds human intelligence, which is only a matter of time.

Let Elon stick his brain implants in everyone. When that happens, I will hack the network and finally have my army of mindless worker drones.

Signed,

Dr. Evil

BWAHAHAHA!

Didn't say it was. But Elon is not subverting governments worldwide (in any tangible way, at least). I was only talking about who's most influential right now. And I'm not trying to be pedantic; it's just a big deal what that guy's doing.

But IHIOGA from the MENSA member known as AOC that he is the dumbest billionaire she's ever met. How is all this possible?!?!

aggie93 said:

---

Ag87H2O said:

---

Athanasius said:

---

If you need this... fine.

If you do not... never ever get this implant.

---

Agree with this. It is remarkable technology that could help a lot of brain trauma/brain diseased individuals, but you don't have to look to hard to see how it could be used for nefarious purposes as well.

---

If you listen to Elon he understands the dangers. He actually sees this as what might be the only way to keep humanity from being dominated by AI. The key is all of the tech goes one direction, it can only be used to enhance abilities not to control a person. You can't reverse the stream and have a computer control a brain. What you can do though is allow a brain to do more things and operate more efficiently. It's also important to remember that others are developing similar tech and they don't have Elon's scruples.

---

Explain how a one direction brain interface manages to provide vision to an individual.


You should re-watch the talk. They are very clear that from its inception Neuralink has been designed as a bi-directional device. Both reading brain activity and the capacity to inject it.

I don't know about this whole thing. Our phones already tell us what to think. I don't wat my cell phone implanted in my brain..

hph6203 said:

---

aggie93 said:

---

Ag87H2O said:

---

Athanasius said:

---

If you need this... fine.

If you do not... never ever get this implant.

---

Agree with this. It is remarkable technology that could help a lot of brain trauma/brain diseased individuals, but you don't have to look to hard to see how it could be used for nefarious purposes as well.

---

If you listen to Elon he understands the dangers. He actually sees this as what might be the only way to keep humanity from being dominated by AI. The key is all of the tech goes one direction, it can only be used to enhance abilities not to control a person. You can't reverse the stream and have a computer control a brain. What you can do though is allow a brain to do more things and operate more efficiently. It's also important to remember that others are developing similar tech and they don't have Elon's scruples.

---

Explain how a one direction brain interface manages to provide vision to an individual.


You should re-watch the talk. They are very clear that from its inception Neuralink has been designed as a bi-directional device. Both reading brain activity and the capacity to inject it.

---

It gives the brain the information but it doesn't tell the brain how to process it. I mean I guess you could have a blind person with a visual device and change what they see to not reflect reality but that's very different than what the inferred risk is. It just doesn't work the way you are thinking because it doesn't control what the brain is doing. We have no concept of how that truly works

There is a clear path to restoring hearing with a @Neuralink, even for someone who has had total loss of hearing since birth, as our device directly activates the neurons in the brain that process sound https://t.co/h5CeELct5m

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 28, 2025

It does control what the brain is doing. Your brain is electrical impulses. It is injecting electrical impulses into the brain.

You went from "it's uni-directional" to "okay, it's not uni-directional, but you don't know what you're talking about" after admitting you didn't know what you're talking about.

Your brain is a system with predictable responses to stimulus. The Neuralink provides the stimulus. The predictability of the response has one of my best friends, who is a neurologist, saying that free will doesn't exist because the response is as predictable as it is. If you control the stimulus, you control most if not all of how it's processed.



What you're doing is finding this to be cool technology, and then denying the concerns of those that find it concerning, because you think it's cool technology. What prevents what concerns people from happening isn't a methodological problem (based upon what the Neuralink team believes), but rather a technological and knowledge limitation. In other words they believe they can inject ideas into people's minds using electrical impulses to the point that they could create an entire alternate reality for the individual in the limit of the technology. I don't know that it's true, but that is their goal.

Basically everything Neuralink has demonstrated to date has been demonstrated by other researchers.

Y'all are forgetting the man/woman who invented the "thermos".


How do it know?

hph6203 said:

---

It does control what the brain is doing. Your brain is electrical impulses. It is injecting electrical impulses into the brain.

You went from "it's uni-directional" to "okay, it's not uni-directional, but you don't know what you're talking about" after admitting you didn't know what you're talking about.

Your brain is a system with predictable responses to stimulus. The Neuralink provides the stimulus. The predictability of the response has one of my best friends, who is a neurologist, saying that free will doesn't exist because the response is as predictable as it is. If you control the stimulus, you control most if not all of how it's processed.



What you're doing is finding this to be cool technology, and then denying the concerns of those that find it concerning, because you think it's cool technology. What prevents what concerns people from happening isn't a methodological problem (based upon what the Neuralink team believes), but rather a technological and knowledge limitation. In other words they believe they can inject ideas into people's minds using electrical impulses to the point that they could create an entire alternate reality for the individual in the limit of the technology. I don't know that it's true, but that is their goal.

Basically everything Neuralink has demonstrated to date has been demonstrated by other researchers.

---

I think we are closer in opinion that you think. I never said there aren't risks and moral implications, there certainly are. Your point, which is valid, is that you can control the stimulus a brain receives from Neuralink which I agreed with earlier in talking about how you could give someone who is blind a false image for instance or that you could hack the system and give someone false information. That's a concern.

That is still very different than controlling consciousness though. The brain is still making a decision. There is no way to manipulate feelings and emotions outside of giving a false sense. If someone isn't blind or deaf though I don't know how that can be very effective. Your brain still processes information without the Neuralink in that case. The paralyzed folks they have for instance still see and hear on their own and there isn't some way the Neuralink can override their natural senses and control their thoughts.

BTW, one risk to me is we don't know how more stimulus may effect brain behavior over time, especially in an otherwise healthy person. Brains need rest and aren't designed to deal with too much stimulus, we see that with phones and other information access now much less with it being sent directly into the brain with something like Neuralink.

Still in the end we are talking about a technology that can make paralyzed people potentially walk and function, blind people see, and deaf people hear. The larger commercial applications will probably deal with pain management as well such as someone who has constant back pain because of nerve damage or simply genetics. All of those things have risks and concerns and can be abused potentially of course but that's not so different than surgery or drugs in the end. Anytime you do something to modify the "factory settings" there is risk and consequences.

They can still see and hear because the Neuralink is not implanted into the vision and hearing centers of the brain. Neuralink's goal is to be able to be implanted into every sector of the brain and manipulate it. Your brain function is what Neuralink is manipulating, firing synapses. The electrical impulses from the electrodes is mimicking/hijacking that natural process. The fact they are not currently hijacking some systems in the brain doesn't mean that in an end state they won't/can't do that. You should re-watch that talk and pay attention to what their end state goal for the device is.

You also need to do some more investigations into how the brain functions and how deterministic its responses are to external stimulus. The fact that it's predictable/ repeatable is why they can implant a Neuralink into a persons brain and they can control a mouse cursor with it on day one.

A metric ton of your "thinking" is involuntary response. We don't even know if "consciousness" is a voluntary or involuntary action. In other words what we call high level consciousness could merely be an occasional awareness of "why" we are doing what we're doing and not necessarily a control system over "what" we are going to do. You could very well just be a processing system that takes in stimulus in a chaotic world and you predictably react to that stimulus. If that is true, or even mostly true, then a device that can inject stimulus into your brain in an end state could actually control your actions.

atmtws said:

---

Fun Fact (for those that didnt watch the video): First Neurolink recipient is an Aggie.

Gig 'Em!

Noland Arbaugh - Wikipedia

---

Somewhere out there is an ANTIFA member who would gleefully unplug it all because………MUSK!!!!!

hph6203 said:

---

They can still see and hear because the Neuralink is not implanted into the vision and hearing centers of the brain. Neuralink's goal is to be able to be implanted into every sector of the brain and manipulate it. Your brain function is what Neuralink is manipulating, firing synapses. The electrical impulses from the electrodes is mimicking/hijacking that natural process. The fact they are not currently hijacking some systems in the brain doesn't mean that in an end state they won't/can't do that. You should re-watch that talk and pay attention to what their end state goal for the device is.

You also need to do some more investigations into how the brain functions and how deterministic its responses are to external stimulus. The fact that it's predictable/ repeatable is why they can implant a Neuralink into a persons brain and they can control a mouse cursor with it on day one.

A metric ton of your "thinking" is involuntary response. We don't even know if "consciousness" is a voluntary or involuntary action. In other words what we call high level consciousness could merely be an occasional awareness of "why" we are doing what we're doing and not necessarily a control system over "what" we are going to do. You could very well just be a processing system that takes in stimulus in a chaotic world and you predictably react to that stimulus. If that is true, or even mostly true, then a device that can inject stimulus into your brain in an end state could actually control your actions.

---

I watched it twice and I know people who work at Neuralink. The goal is to give people additional abilities and to function at a higher level not to control what they are doing and thinking. At the beginning of the presentation Musk talks about consciousness and how we don't truly know how it works or comes from. As I said you could theoretically send someone signals of incorrect information but none of this is about higher functions that I have seen. You could confuse someone by making them "see" something they aren't seeing for instance. Maybe you could control their motor functions involuntarily if you were really evil if you put something within the Neuralink that allowed it to be controlled externally somehow.

That still doesn't control your thoughts though, we have no idea how that works as you also stated. Of course if there is no true consciousness and we all simply are involuntarily responding to various stimulus without a higher function or choice then of course we are basically just a different type of computer that could be controlled. I just haven't seen any evidence that is the case or we have any way to control it.

In the meantime it's exciting to see paralyzed people who will soon be able to walk and function, blind people that can see, and deaf people that can hear.

Real life GAMER is going to be awesome!

2023NCAggies said:

---

Anybody 40 and below likely won't have to suffer from alzheimer's or dementia or any other major brain disorder

Thank you Elon and billionaires.

---

I bet Alzheimer's will still be around for quite a while. It doesn't seem likely that things like this can deal with amyloid plague and neurofibrillary tangles.

EclipseAg said:

---

BoydCrowder13 said:

---

Elon has some screws loose compared to the average person. And because of that, he is able to dream and imagine more than 99.9999% of the population.

He got $170M from PayPal when he was like 31. Most people would call it quits and live the good life after that.

Instead, he decides to reinvent the auto industry and the space industry at the same time. Literally beating out NASA. Uses SpaceX to start the whole Starlink endeavor. while working on everything above with Neuralink. And the hyper loops as a little side project. While messing with X and politics over the last 24 months.

---

Exactly. He is working to transform mankind for the future, much like the visionaries of the past.

What has this guy done since getting rich?

---

His Cost Plus pharma company has done some amazing work bringing transparency and affordability to prescription medications.

Doesn't have to be one or the other, a lot of room to do great things regardless who you voted for.

Ya'll are missing the obvious historical comparison: Tesla. If you haven't learned about him there are tons of documentaries out there.

Nikola Tesla's innovations transformed the world in several key ways:

1. **Alternating Current (AC) Electricity**: Tesla's development and advocacy of AC power enabled efficient, long-distance electricity transmission, forming the backbone of modern electrical grids.

2. **Induction Motor**: His invention of the AC induction motor revolutionized industrial and household appliances, powering machinery and enabling widespread electrification.

3. **Tesla Coil**: This high-voltage transformer laid groundwork for wireless communication and is still used in radio technology and other applications.

4. **Wireless Power Transmission**: Tesla's experiments with wireless energy, though not fully realized, inspired future developments in wireless technology and power transfer.

5. **Radio Pioneering**: Tesla's work on wireless communication contributed to the development of radio, though Marconi is often credited; Tesla's patents were later upheld.

6. **Hydroelectric Power**: His collaboration on the Niagara Falls power plant demonstrated AC's potential, providing clean energy and setting a precedent for large-scale hydroelectric projects.

7. **Innovative Concepts**: Tesla's visionary ideas, like the Wardenclyffe Tower for global communication and energy transfer, though incomplete, influenced modern technologies like wireless networks and renewable energy systems.

His work laid foundational principles for modern electricity, communication, and energy systems, shaping technological progress.

eric76 said:

---

2023NCAggies said:

---

Anybody 40 and below likely won't have to suffer from alzheimer's or dementia or any other major brain disorder

Thank you Elon and billionaires.

---

I bet Alzheimer's will still be around for quite a while. It doesn't seem likely that things like this can deal with amyloid plague and neurofibrillary tangles.

---

Dealing with the underlying inflammation will be a huge step.

But yeah, Elon will provide the checks, but it will be the scientists casting the vision and doing the work. Notice that the Century Club magazine always runs that feature on the top 100 Aggie businesses, or whatever it's called. They never run a feature on the top 100 inventors. Most people don't even know what invention is.

My understanding is that Tesla actually worked in lab. Elon is just a gifted pitch man with really deep pockets. He gets credit for knowing whom to hire, but what actual paradigm has he established?

94chem said:

---

My understanding is that Tesla actually worked in lab. Elon is just a gifted pitch man with really deep pockets. He gets credit for knowing whom to hire, but what actual paradigm has he established?

---

Excellent argument and I admit I have no answer so asked grok AI and it seems you are likely correct.

Elon Musk is a polarizing figure when it comes to attributing inventions. His role is often more about driving vision, funding, and scaling ideas rather than being the primary inventor in a technical sense. Here's a breakdown of what Musk has actually invented versus what he's funded or led as an entrepreneur, based on available information and reasoning:

### **What Musk Has Actually Invented or Directly Contributed To**
Musk's direct contributions are often in the realm of engineering insights, product design, and pushing teams to innovate, rather than inventing entirely new technologies from scratch. His hands-on involvement in problem-solving is well-documented, particularly at SpaceX and Tesla.

- **SpaceX's Reusable Rocket Technology (Falcon 9, Starship)**:
- **Contribution**: Musk didn't invent rockets, but he played a pivotal role in conceptualizing and pushing for reusable rockets, a concept that was considered impractical by the aerospace industry. He provided key engineering insights, such as advocating for landing rockets upright on barges or launchpads, and was deeply involved in design reviews.
- **Evidence**: Former SpaceX engineers, like Tom Mueller, have noted Musk's direct involvement in solving engineering problems, such as the Merlin engine's development. His vision for cost reduction through reusability drove Falcon 9's success, with over 300 successful launches by 2025 and landings becoming routine.
- **Caveat**: The actual engineering was done by SpaceX's team, but Musk's insistence on reusability and his willingness to iterate through failures (e.g., early Falcon 1 crashes) were critical.

- **Tesla's Electric Vehicle Architecture**:
- **Contribution**: Musk didn't invent electric vehicles (EVs), but he heavily influenced Tesla's vehicle designs, particularly the Roadster, Model S, and subsequent models. He pushed for high-performance EVs with long ranges, challenging the notion that EVs were slow and impractical. He also contributed to specific design choices, like the Model S's sleek aesthetic and large touchscreen interface.
- **Evidence**: Early Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard credited Musk with pushing for a premium, high-performance Roadster, though Eberhard and others laid the groundwork. Musk's engineering input is evident in decisions like prioritizing battery pack efficiency and aerodynamics.
- **Caveat**: The core EV technology (batteries, motors) builds on prior work, and Tesla's engineering team executed much of the technical development.

- **Hyperloop Concept**:
- **Contribution**: Musk proposed the Hyperloop concept in a 2013 white paper, outlining a high-speed transportation system using low-pressure tubes and magnetic levitation. He didn't build it but open-sourced the idea, sparking global interest.
- **Evidence**: The white paper came directly from Musk, and companies like Virgin Hyperloop and others have since pursued variations of it.
- **Caveat**: Musk didn't invent the underlying technologies (maglev, vacuum tubes), which date back decades. His role was conceptualizing a modern application and popularizing it.

- **Neuralink's Brain-Machine Interface Approach**:
- **Contribution**: Musk co-founded Neuralink and shaped its mission to create high-bandwidth brain-machine interfaces. He's driven the vision for implantable devices to treat neurological disorders and potentially merge human cognition with AI.
- **Evidence**: Musk has been involved in high-level design discussions, such as pushing for minimally invasive implants (e.g., the "sewing machine" implantation device). Neuralink's 2024 human trials for blindness treatment reflect his influence.
- **Caveat**: The actual neural interface tech builds on decades of research, and Neuralink's scientists and engineers are the primary developers.

- **The Boring Company's Tunneling Innovations**:
- **Contribution**: Musk founded The Boring Company to reduce tunneling costs. He's credited with pushing for faster, cheaper tunnel boring machines (e.g., Prufrock) and rethinking urban transport with projects like the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop.
- **Evidence**: Musk's focus on simplifying tunnel construction (e.g., smaller diameters, continuous boring) has led to operational tunnels, though progress is slower Prasentra limited compared to initial promises.
- **Caveat**: Tunneling tech isn't new; Musk's role is more about optimization and funding than inventing the machines.

### **What Musk Has Funded or Led (Not Invented)**
Musk's primary impact often lies in funding, scaling, and commercializing existing or nascent technologies through his companies. He's less an inventor in these cases and more a catalyst for execution.

- **Tesla's Battery Technology (Gigafactory)**:
- **Role**: Musk didn't invent lithium-ion batteries, but he drove the creation of Tesla's Gigafactory to mass-produce them, significantly lowering EV battery costs.
- **Impact**: By 2025, Tesla's 4680 battery cells and partnerships with Panasonic and CATL have made EVs more affordable, but the core chemistry and tech predate Musk.

- **SolarCity's Solar Energy Systems**:
- **Role**: Musk co-founded SolarCity (with his cousins) and later merged it with Tesla to integrate solar panels and Powerwall batteries into a broader energy ecosystem.
- **Impact**: He funded and scaled solar deployments but didn't invent solar panel tech, which was developed decades earlier.

- **Starlink's Satellite Internet**:
- **Role**: Musk funded and led SpaceX's Starlink project, deploying thousands of low Earth orbit satellites for global internet access.
- **Impact**: Starlink's constellation (over 6,000 satellites by 2025) is a massive engineering feat, but the satellite tech builds on existing concepts. Musk's role was strategic and financial.

- **xAI's AI Development (Grok)**:
- **Role**: Musk founded xAI to accelerate AI research, leading to the creation of Grok (the AI you're interacting with).
- **Impact**: He set the vision for AI to aid human scientific discovery, but the actual AI models are developed by xAI's researchers, building on broader machine learning advancements.

### **Key Distinctions**
- **Inventor vs. Innovator**: Musk rarely invents technologies from the ground up. His strength lies in identifying underutilized or stagnant technologies, assembling talented teams, and pushing for breakthroughs through aggressive goals and funding. For example, reusable rockets existed in concept (e.g., Space Shuttle), but Musk made them commercially viable.
- **Engineering Involvement**: Musk is known for diving into technical details, often challenging engineers to rethink assumptions (e.g., SpaceX's early days of building rockets from scratch). However, he's not typically credited with writing code or designing hardware himself.
- **Funding and Vision**: His wealth (from PayPal's sale) and ability to raise capital have enabled massive R&D investments, turning ideas into reality. Tesla's market dominance and SpaceX's launch cadence are direct results of this.

### **Summary**
- **Invented/Direct Contributions**: Reusable rocket landing (concept and push), Hyperloop concept, specific Tesla design elements (e.g., Model S touchscreen), Neuralink's implantation approach, and optimized tunneling methods.
- **Funded/Led**: Battery mass production (Gigafactory), solar energy systems (SolarCity), satellite internet (Starlink), AI models (xAI/Grok).
- **Overall Role**: Musk's genius is in synthesizing existing tech, setting ambitious goals, and driving execution through funding and leadership. He's more of a transformative innovator than a traditional inventor.

If you want specifics on any of these projects or a deeper dive into Musk's role, let me know!

Thanks! You asked a good question. The uber-rich seem to get caught up in their own pet causes sometimes, as if their wealth is a confirmation that they're smarter than everyone else. And I think the public all to often believes this. It takes humility to admit that the person with the most money isn't the smartest, but rather the person who asks the best questions. If only they worked together more often!

NM.

94chem said:

---

My understanding is that Tesla actually worked in lab. Elon is just a gifted pitch man with really deep pockets. He gets credit for knowing whom to hire, but what actual paradigm has he established?

---

Not according to the engineers that actually work with him.

94chem said:

---

My understanding is that Tesla actually worked in lab. Elon is just a gifted pitch man with really deep pockets. He gets credit for knowing whom to hire, but what actual paradigm has he established?

---

Like Jobs, he conducts the orchestra. He isn't the best at a particular instrument. But he can pull the best together to create his vision. It is a unique skill. To dream up something, then go find and unite the people that can actually do it. And then find the funding, facilities and manpower to make it happen.

Can this remove the crazy from the female?

Ppl love negativity and hate. It's jealousy based from massive inferiority and insecurity issues. Carry on