I think it’s less Musk hate/taking advantage of disabled people and more the abuse and misconduct when it came to these animals, and putting the fear into people that would ever be interested in this procedure that Neuralink would be extremely negligent when it came to installing and maintaining these devices.
Musk has said that these animals were extremely unwell/close to death when they were initially inducted into the study, but multiple anonymous employees have come forward stating that this isn’t true, and Neuralink had extensive evaluation and training to ready them for the process.
Regardless of the state of their health or amount of training, multiple test subjects had bleeding of the brain, infections, and damaged caused by them picking/pulling at the devices installed onto them as a result of the negligence of the ones who conducted these experiments. Is it not common sense to assume an animal who has no idea of what is happening to them to understand that they need to leave the device alone? There should have been measures taken to prevent them from prodding at these devices so as not to cause damage to them and subsequent injury and infection. These animals are living, breathing, conscious beings that have thoughts and fears, and being a part of this experiment would be an absolute nightmare for any living being capable of thought.
As for installing these devices on people who suffer from paralysis, if the people involved in the trials are not challenged mentally and can make the fully conscious decision to give Neuralink their consent, then nobody can argue with that regardless of the possible dangers of doing so. The science and technology of brain computer interfaces is not something to be ignored. It can be extremely valuable and could quite literally change the world, but it has to be done correctly and with extreme caution.
TheMusicalFruit@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I assume those of you downvoting this comment think I’m a Musk fanboy. I’m not. Or you assume I don’t care about the animals. You’re partially correct. It sucks they died. But, it’s the best way to test this kind of technology before human trials, there are no better substitutes. I’m ok with sacrificing animal lives to save human ones. Downvote away.
GyozaPower@discuss.tchncs.de 1 year ago
Not necessarily a fanboy, but still incredibly naive to think that Elon has an actual plan to help people with these things rather than doing good ol’ Elon stuff which is experimenting with shit he does not understand just because it looks cool and makes him look like the Iron Man of real life.
TheMusicalFruit@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Here is an interview from Wired with a scientist in this field of study discussing what Neuralink is doing as well as it’s similarities and differences to other brain implants. It might make you a bit less cynical. youtu.be/Gv_XB6Hf6gM?si=DJDw-ljuP8D1Frj8
GyozaPower@discuss.tchncs.de 1 year ago
Sorry man, but when it comes down to Elon Musk getting his filthy, greedy and insanely narcissistic hands on anything, there’s no way I am not going to be cynical about it. For what is worth, Jesuschrist himself could come and sing praises about him and I would still not believe anything good is coming from that man and brain chips.
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