Mark Zuckerberg thinks ‘normal people’ won’t want Neuralink chips in their brains anytime soon
In an interview with podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg described the company’s approach to neural interface technology, which allows you to operate electronics with your mind.
As part of its foray into the metaverse, Zuckerberg claimed that Meta is investigating neural interface technology.
He claimed that the company’s main area of interest is technology that can pick up brain signals but does not transmit any data back to the brain.
The most difficult element of this will be having a computer feed information directly into your brain, and that’s not something we’re working on, according to Zuckerberg.
He compared it to Neuralink, a firm founded by Elon Musk that is working on a device that will eventually be implanted into people’s skulls and contain electrodes that can both record and stimulate brain activity.
“Some people, such as Elon with Neuralink and those businesses, are simply treating this as being really far off. Maybe it won’t be ready for a few decades, “added Zuckerberg.
No one will want to adopt Neuralink early, he joked with host Joe Rogan.
In the upcoming 10 to 15 years, “normal people,” according to Zuckerberg, “probably won’t want to get anything just placed in their brain for fun.”
You don’t want a brain implant that needs to be changed every year since the technology will get significantly better the following year, he said.
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Musk has made ludicrous promises about Neuralink’s capabilities, comparing it to a “Fitbit in your head” and asserting that it will enable a symbiotic relationship between human consciousness and AI.
While competitor biotech company Synchron began testing on human volunteers in July, Neuralink has not yet begun human studies.
In the near future, “people with injuries” will be able to use technology like Neuralink, according to Zuckerberg.
In July 2021, Neuralink said that it was working toward a first application for their chip that would let quadriplegic patients steer a cursor on a screen using their minds.
Twitching your wrist when texting your wife
Zuckerberg continued by outlining how he sees brain interface technology fitting into the metaverse, for instance by being combined with a pair of augmented reality glasses.
Instead than implanting chips in people’s brains, Zuckerberg is interested in employing wearable technology to monitor brain signals from other regions of the body.
According to Zuckerberg, “The path that we have is based on the fact that we have all these extra motor neurones in our body.” The brain cells known as motor neurones are responsible for transmitting instructions from the brain to your body’s muscles.
According to him, people may send brain signals to gadgets by making tiny motions in other body areas.
The wristband can sort of pick up those signals and translate them into completely different things, like having a virtual hand move in front of you while your physical hand is sitting there at your side, Zuckerberg said. “It turns out you can have a device on your wrist that basically your brain can communicate with your hand, tell your hand to move in a pattern it isn’t used to, and then the wristband can sort of pick up those signals,” he said.
The potential applications of this, according to Zuckerberg, were described.
If your wife texts you while you’re in a conference and it appears in the corner of your glasses, you’ll be able to answer, but you won’t want to pull out your phone because it would be impolite, he predicted.
According to Zuckerberg, neural interface technology allows you to send messages by “twitching your wrist a little bit like some extremely subtle gesture that no one even knows you’re doing.”
He omitted to specify a timeframe for when such technology might be put to use.
