Silicon Valley icon launches new company

Silicon Valley entrepreneur Elon Musk has launched a company which will research ways to link computers directly with the human brain. According to the Wall Street Journal, the billionaire co-founder of PayPal, and the boss of Tesla and SpaceX, has started a new company called Neuralink which will explore “neural lace” technology – a fine wire and plastic mesh which integrates into brain tissue and “eavesdrops” on neural chatter.

Musk believes that artificial intelligence will become so powerful that it will eventually make human beings obsolete. The only way that humans can avoid becoming house pets to computers is to integrate human intelligence and artificial intelligence – in other words, to become cyborgs.

Not everyone is convinced that such a project is necessary or possible. “The idea that digital machines no matter how hyper-connected, how powerful, will one day surpass human capacity is total baloney,” Miguel Nicolelis, a Brazilian expert in brain-controlled exoskeletons, told the Guardian.

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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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