"Elon Musk says his Neuralink startup has implanted a chip in its first human brain" - is it really the first one?

ANA MARIA MIHALCEA, MD, PHD
JAN 30, 2024
Elon Musk’s controversial startup Neuralink has implanted a chip in a human brain for the first time, the billionaire said in a post on his X platform late Monday.

In this day and age, we still have people denying nanotechnology and microchip implants. They need to do some more research. I remember how people reacted when we warned them of the self assembly nanotechnology and microchips in the shots. Or the MAC address phenomenon, or WBAN. It was all conspiracy!

This week the first official neuralink brain chip from Elon Musk was implanted into a human and most people are cheering for the benefit of mankind. Yes, it is wonderful to have solutions for quadriplegic patients, but concerns are also worth looking at. There exists much evidence that this is not the first time someone has been implanted. In fact we know it is not the first time. Here is the article:

The operation took place on Sunday and the patient was recovering well, he added. Musk’s announcement could mark an important milestone for Neuralink’s efforts to usher potentially life-transforming technology out of the lab and into the real world. But he offered few details, and it’s unclear from Musk’s post how significant of a scientific advancement the implantation represents. The company had received approval to study the safety and functionality of its chip implant and surgical tools. “Initial results show promising neuron spike detection,” the world’s richest man and Neuralink founder said on X, the social media platform he owns.

Neuralink’s first product would be called Telepathy, he said in another post, adding that its initial users will be people who have lost the use of their limbs. “Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist or auctioneer. That is the goal,” he wrote. Neuralink has been working toward using implants to connect the human brain to a computer for half a decade, but the company faced scrutiny after a monkey died in 2022 during an attempt to get the animal to play Pong, one of the first video games. In December 2022, employees told Reuters that the company was rushing to market, resulting in careless animal deaths and a federal investigation. In May last year, Neuralink received FDA clearance for human clinical trials, and a few months later, the startup began recruiting patients with quadriplegia caused by cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The trial is part of what Neuralink is calling its “PRIME Study,” short for “Precise Robotically Implanted Brain-Computer Interface,” which aims to study the safety of its implant and surgical robot, and to test the functionality of its device, the company said in a September blog post about recruiting trial participants. Trial patients will have a chip surgically placed in the part of the brain that controls the intention to move. The chip, installed by a robot, will then record and send brain signals to an app, with the initial goal being “to grant people the ability to control a computer cursor or keyboard using their thoughts alone,” the company wrote in September. Neuralink did not respond to CNN’s request for further details. Before Neuralink’s brain implants hit the broader market, they’ll need regulatory approval. The FDA put out a paper in 2021 mapping out the agency’s initial thoughts on brain-computer interface devices, noting the field is “progressing rapidly.”

More at the link:
https://anamihalceamdphd.substack.com/p/elon-musk-says-his-neuralink-startup?

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Many Blessings,
CrystalRiver