E5: First Human Brain in History Gets an AI Implant + Other News

Imagine a world where people can control a computer cursor or keyboard using their thoughts alone. In breaking news, the first human has received a neural implant from the controversial brain chip startup Neuralink, with Musk tweeting on Sunday: "The first human received an implant from Neuralink yesterday and is recovering well. Initial results show promising neuron spike detection.”    Musk announced Monday, January 29, 2024 that the first Neuralink product is called Telepathy and initially used by people who have lost the ability to use their limbs. To integrate Musk's chip, a human surgeon is tasked with cutting a small hole into the patient’s skull, after which a 7-foot-tall robot named “R1" is responsible for carrying out the “ultra delicate” procedure of suturing the electrified wires of the company’s implant directly into the person’s brain. Musk initially wants to focus on addressing mental and physical maladies and quadriplegics, and eventually, pivot to creating new forms of cybernetic “enhancements” for everyday people—what Musk has referred to as transhumanist “brain hacking.”   Competitors are already popping on the scene for brain implants with AI (China has set 2025 as its timeline to develop its own “brain-computer interface”).    What's the moral dilemma behind "transhumanism" and other forms of body modification with AI? Julia and Jeff go there in this episode. Where we will be be in just a few more years? With AI racing ahead unlike technology has ever done, there's no telling what's going to be possible soon.   We also cover how Barcelona is trying to create its digital twin with AI through MareNostrum 5, its supercomputer unveiled in December that has the ability to perform 314 million billion calculations per second housed inside of a chapel.     Jeff and Julia, co-hosts of Future Tense, dissect groundbreaking AI revolution and how artificial intelligence will impact everything as we know it. Subscribe to catch all future episodes. For show notes, visit https://contentatscale.ai/podcast.