“Technology is not just a tool. It can give learners a voice that they may not have had before”
-George Couros
Elon Musk has planned to introduce a revolutionary computer chip to start off in 2020. He claims “the technology will help “solve brain disorders of all kinds” and allow humans to merge with artificial intelligence.” “This will help people not only with a brain disorder but also with paralysis. It will help them access their phones and other technologies. “These devices allow links to be made between the nervous system and the peripheral world by decoding neural signals from the brain and effectively translating them into limb movements.” This brain implant may change the world. It is not only making advancements in the medical field, but also in the IT world.
This chip measures 4X4 millimeters. It will connect to a thousand microscopic threads that enter the brain through four holes drilled in the skull. Electrodes on this thread would be able to monitor “neural spikes” (electrical signals recorded from individual neurons.) This chip would be able to read those signals, influence behavior and feed the information onto a smartphone app.
“Advanced versions of the chip will allow brains to link with computers, increasing their intelligence and allowing them to compete with superhuman artificial intelligence.” Scientists have never been completely able to make robots compete with human intelligence. I believe that it is because humans have never been able to truly understand the power of their minds. If we are not able to understand our power, we can’t teach other things. The average human uses only 10% of their brains. We have accomplished so much already in the past years, if we can access the other 90%, maybe we can go much further.
There is a lot of debate in this world about whether or not AI will take over the world. I don’t mean globalization. Robots taking over the world has been an idea in our generation for quite a while. Robots are programmed to be better, smarter, faster and more efficient than us. There are robot-building robots in this world. Eventually, robots won’t need us to do their work. With Mr. Musk’s microchip, he has found a solution. It is inevitable that AI will become stronger than us, but with this chip, it is possible for us to compete with them. We have the option of merging with AI.
It is no joke that this computer chip will give us superhuman intelligence. It will access parts of the brain, that we don’t have the ability to. It seems both exciting and scary that such an invention exists. There are so many things that this chip can make possible, but like most things in this world, this invention has a dark side. This power given to bad people can destroy good things. Elon Musk claims that this chip can be inserted into a person’s brain when they are just born. By the time they are adults, the chip will contain all the information in their brains and choose to have their brains removed. An article from Observer contains evidence on how that could end a person’s life. Humans cannot function without their brains, and I am yet to be convinced about how a chip can do the work of the most powerful thing on the planet.
Suspicions aside, the computer chip is a revolutionary invention. It can and will change the way we live. A good way or bad way? That’s up to us to decide.
By – Sarah Masih
Bibliography:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2019/07/17/neuralink-elon-musk-unveils-brain-microchip-treat-diseases-let/
Elon Musk’s ‘Brain Chip’ Could Be Suicide of the Mind, Says Scientist