Medical Technology
The overall arc of technology in recent years has been to make technology ever-smaller and more integrated into our lives. We have seen phones progress from brick-sized methods for talking to someone over long distances to tiny integrated devices, containing our camera, phone, credit cards, banking details: basically anything that makes us, us. So, technology has been becoming ever-closer to us, but what if it was under our skin?
In 2016, Elon Musk announced his Neuralink venture.
He describes the device as the ‘Link’. It is a 2cm disk that is implanted in the skull. Using wires, the Link is able to record 1,024 different channels of neural activity in the brain and they also allow it to stimulate parts of the brain. The main advantage of this over standard deep brain stimulation devices is that is implanted in the skull directly, instead of the chest, as with current devices. This is a big advantage as it may allow for Link implantation to be an outpatient procedure, letting a patient walk out with their shiny new Link the very same day they get it implanted.
More:
https://medical-technology.nridigital.com/medical_technology_oct20/neuralink_neural_implants