Elon Musk’s Neuralink isn’t sci-fi: Check out the crazy things you can already control with your mind and what’s next
You might have heard the news that Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is now launching Neuralink, a company focused on a brain computer interface.
First reported in The Wall Street Journal, Musk confirmed via Twitter.
(In case you’re wondering, Wait Buy Why is a stick-figure-illustrated blog.)
Musk’s venture will create a “neural lace,” described as a type of implant, that will allow us to augment our brains and interact with devices. (All speculation now, but this article explains what it might actually be.)
Sounds like crazy sauce right? Or pure sci-fi. But nope brain-computer interfaces, known as BCI, aren’t anything new. Research began in the ’70s and by the ’90s we were already seeing major developments.
In fact you can already buy your own BCI gadgets today for not that much, under $20. They range from practical (like controlling your computer with you mind) to just down right fun (like cat ears and a tail that reflect your mood).
In the testing are medical devices, to help the blind to see and help the disabled to be mobile. But even crazier things are being studied. Research is already proving we can read your mind and could even be telepathic with computer enhancement.
First up, let’s explore Neurolink’s proposed first step, a BCI to improve your mood. And yeah, that already exists.
You can zone out with devices that read your brain activity
Implants are still in the works, but you can buy devices to hack your brain into a better mood today.
For $249.99 you can buy the Muse headband on Amazon. Right now it’s more a less a meditation device providing audio stimulus based on how active or calm your brain is, but there’s research to expand it’s applications.
The audio for Muse is limited to nature sounds, but if music is what gets you in the zone check out the Neuro Turntable. It reads your neural waves and plays music only when the your concentrated and automatically stops when you’re talking to somebody or think about something else.
Audio not enough? What about shocking your brain into submission?
You can buy brain-zapping devices that supposedly improve your mood, your sleep and even your sports performance
For $149, you can try Thync which “acts on your own natural ability to relax or energize by stimulating nerves” on your head and neck. It supposedly helps you sleep better, release stress and motivate yourself.
Looking for more than a better mood? There’s also devices to improve your sports performance.
The Halo ($749) was tested by U.S. Olympic ski jumpers. It improved their jump and propulsion, the company says. It works by stimulating neurons in your motor cortex to induce a temporary state “hyperplasticity,” which makes your brain more receptive to practice.
Foc.us also sells similar sports-enhancing products. But that’s not all, they actually have a range of devices that are aimed at improving everything from your dreaming to your gaming.
As you might guess, what on the surface seems like do-it-yourself electroshock therapy is controversial. There’s an ongoing effort to have further regulation, including have the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) set rules for these devices.
You can control virtual objects and physical electronics with your thoughts
Not even going to try to explain as this. Tan Le does an awesome job in the TED talk above.
You can control drones with your brain
What could make drones even cooler? Controlling them with your mind.
Last year, in 2016, the University of Florida held a BCI drone race. Video above.
Even TechCrunch thought this was totally new, but nope.
The University of Texas at San Antonio Unmanned Systems Laboratory was awarded a $300,000 contract from the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 2014 to study mind-controlled drones for military purposes.
It’s not just research though. For $179 plus shipping you can buy the PuzzleBox Orbit. Too much? Check out the much more reasonably priced Mind Drone at $14.95.
And you can play with some other mind-controlled games and toys
Not quite ready to give your kid a mind-controlled drone?
There’s a number of mind-controlled games and toys ranging in price from around $22 to $150. For example, there’s the Mindflex Game (and duel version), the Stars Wars Science — Force Trainer (and the hologram version) and the NeuroSky MindWave Mobile BrainWave Starter Kit, including brain-training games.
Can’t speak for the MindWave or hologram trainer, but I can attest that some of these are totally lame. It could just be I failed at it, but just moving a ball around (like the original Star Wars trainer and the Mindflex game) just doesn’t seem worth the effort.
But the good news …
Not happy with what’s offered right now? You can hack it.
As more brain-controlled devices have enter the market, it’s now affordable for those with tech skills to start tinkering and experimenting with BCI.
For those with hardware skills, there’s instructions to use existing devices to control radio-controlled helicopters, your computer or just about any gadget.
For those software skills, there are developer kits to help you get started. For example, the Muse headband provides an iOS and Android SDK to build your own brain-controlled apps.
Muse even offers research tools for those without any development knowledge.
Right now, the BCI gadgets on the market are primarily novelty, but Muse’s tools and SDK and similar applications are are opening up BCI to a wider audience for research and real world applications, from tracking pain to virtual reality.
But with good purposes come bad. Experts are starting to worry that hackers could use these tools monitor or even control neural signals.
But back to novelty…
You could control your TV with your brain
One of the coolest real world applications is being able to control your TV with you mind. The BBC is already experimenting with the idea.
And you can find instructions for building your own BCI TV remote here.
You can buy adorable brain-controlled ears and a tail
For a mere $39.99 you can buy these cute ears by Necomimi. They perk up when your focused, wiggle when your in the zone and droop when you’re relaxed.
And you can get a tail too from Shippo that wags when you’re exited. It also has a mobile phone component that tracks your emotions and GPS, allowing others to track wag-worthy areas.
Monkeys can control robotic arms and even paralyzed limbs with their brains
Since the 1970s, universities and institutions have been doing brain-controlled device research with primates.
In 2008, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University were able to prove that monkeys could control robotic arms just with their mind. Video above and more info here.
Research has progressed since then and now scientists have developed a wireless implant that gave paralyzed monkeys the ability to walk again.
The methods might seem brutal to some. The monkeys head is hidden for a reason in the video.
But, what this technology could do for the paralyzed is mind-blowing.
Early clinical research is already testing what brain-controlled interfaces can do for the disabled
Since then, there’s been a lot more research using the tech for the disabled.
For example, researchers at Case Western Reserve University are experimenting with neuroprosthetics, which work by first decoding the patient’s brain signals and then transmitting them to sensors in limbs. Check out more here.
One of the organizations to follow is BrainGate, which includes neurologists, neuroscientists, engineers, computer scientists, neurosurgeons, mathematicians and other researchers focused on BCI tech to restore the communication, mobility and independence of people with neurologic disease, injury or limb loss.
Another interesting example, researchers at Switzerland’s Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering are studying how to decipher the thoughts of patients who are totally paralyzed and unable to talk.
Researchers can read your mind and see what you see
As early as 1999, researchers at University of California, Berkeley, led by Yang Dan, recorded signals from deep in the brain of a cat to capture movies of how it views the world around it.
Now researchers at the University of Memphis and IBM Watson Research Center can analyze brainwave signals from Muse to determine the type of of video content a person sees. Right now, the division is just emotional or educational. More info here.
But this is getting even more advanced.
The below video explains how researchers can decode what someone is thinking from subtle MRI patterns. These can be used for crude reconstructions to see what a subject sees or views. Some suggest it could be used for criminal investigations.
You could be telepathic
The University of Washington is exploring how we can communicate telepathically.
They created a question-and-answer game played by two people who are not in the same place and not talking to each other. One player asks a series of questions and the other, purely mentally, sends the response.
For more info, check out the video above and this article.
So what does this all mean?
There’s super exciting research about what we can communicate purely with our minds and how we can interpret, understand and augment it with technology.
But here’s the rub. Our minds are complicated. Our knowledge is limited to what is actually happening in our brains and what technological advancement might mean.
Although we can round down the regions in our brain as to what does what what and read patterns based on stimulus, even identical twins with the same DNA have differences in how exactly this is all physically translated in the brain.
What could that mean in real terms?
Say we’re trying to cure a disease, a shock in one place may cure someone but for another it could be disabling.
BCI has an incredible value for crime-solving. Possibly we could read deception more accurately, even see what someone sees. But can we interrupt these correctly? What seems like lies could be unrelated.
We’re worried about identity theft , but what about neural identity theft? Each of us has an unique neural identity. Someone could target us solely based on their thoughts. Initially it may just be a person controlling a deadly drone, but couldn’t the same technology be used for someone for just thinking a more innocent?
This is conjecture. But it gives you a context of what’s to come.
Musk’ vision is in the future.
In the mean time, you can play with the BCI that is already here.
Maybe you’ll experiment with ground breaking possibilities.
But, at least you can mess with your friends and families with your mind blowing abilities. Just sayin. Enjoy.
