Forget the next iPhone release or newest electric vehicle—this is next-gen stuff right here:
The first clinical trials testing a human brain-computer interface will soon take place in the U.S.
The company developing the interface, Synchron Inc., is a competitor of Elon Musk's Neuralink Corp. Synchron Inc. beginning clinicals puts the company on a path toward mainstreaming controversial technology that could have wider use in helping people overcome disabilities and paralysis.
Bloomberg reported that the company's early feasibility study to determine whether the product is even practical is being funded by the National Institutes of Health. The study is supposed to determine how the device can be integrated with the human brain safely. If all goes according to plan, the clinical trial will be able to assess how people with disabilities or paralysis can control digital devices hands-free.
Yeah "safely" is the key word here. We do not want some sort of neural hookup that zaps our brains and turns us into zombies.
The implications of this tech, meanwhile, are particularly important for disabled people:
It is believed that brain-computer interfaces have the ability to empower millions of disabled people to more easily communicate with other people and engage in modern life. According to data gathered by the CDC, paralysis affects more than five million people in the U.S. Brain-computer interface technologies theoretically could alleviate some of the difficulties in these people's lives.
That sounds rather understated: I would imagine that this technology could have major implications for disabled individuals, and well beyond that of communication. You could easily picture a world in which a brain-computer interface allows paraplegics to walk again, or quadriplegics to regain the use of some or all of their limbs.
The possibilities are endless. Get this stuff tested and rolling out!
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