Although chess is a very tactical game, many people find it boring to watch. Now a man played the game for the first time with an implant of Elon Musks Neuralink in his brain, and it means very much for the future.
Elon Musk we know mostly from Tesla, X and SpaceX, but with Neuralink he also has a company that makes special brain chips. In that, it has now taken another step.
The company shared a video on X showing a man playing chess while having an implant from the company in his brain. This is just a start toward many more possibilities.
A paralyzed man can play chess thanks to Elon Musk’s Neuralink
The man playing chess is 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh. He was paralyzed from his shoulders to his feet in an accident. Playing a game through his hands would be impossible, but thanks to Elon Musk’s Neuralink, it can be done.
This is all because of Telepathy, which is not really telepathy by the way, but the name of Neuralink’s implant. That implant makes it possible to move a cursor via brain signals. So that allowed him to play chess on a computer. Earlier he also played the game Civilization VI that way.
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The system is not working perfectly yet, as Arbaugh is still running into some problems. For example, the gadget’s battery needs to be recharged from time to time. He described moving the cursor as if he could use The Force from Star Wars.
This is how Neuralink’s chip works
Currently, the Telepathy is the size of a coin and is inserted into the skull. Microscopic wires can pick up brain signals that are then sent wirelessly to a receiver.
Neuralink has been allowed to test the chip on humans since 2023, but before that it was doing tests on animals. For example, Elon Musk previously claimed the company could play monkeys a version of Pong.
Neuralink’s goal is to link the human brain to computers. This is to solve complex neurological disorders. Something ideal for people struggling with paralysis, for example.
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This is just the beginning
Besides Elon Musk’s Neuralink, there are other companies trying the same thing. For example, Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale managed to make a paralyzed man walk again. This was done through implants in the brain and spine. This allowed the man to transmit his thoughts to his legs.
This is all possible because the brain generates a small electrical impulse when we do something. Each impulse is transmitted from one neuron to another. In total, there are about 86 billion neurons in the human brain, which shows how complicated it is to decipher this riddle. Nevertheless, the first steps are now being taken.
If it is up to Elon Musk, the technology will soon go much further. He even envisions healthy people using chips to even increase their abilities. But do we really want that?
