Science and money—especially money—make it possible to do things until now considered impossible. Last Wednesday, Neuralink — a neurotechnology corporation that magnate Elon Musk founded without fanfare in 2016 along with a team of scientists and engineers — broadcast its latest milestone live through its social network X (Twitter): Noland Arbaugh, A man who was paralyzed from the shoulders down due to a freak diving accident 8 years ago appeared live playing chess and a video game using only his brain.
This milestone, however, has not been able to be verified: large US media outlets such as The Washington Post point out that "the claims made in the video could not be independently verified", and they add, "Neuralink did not respond to a request for information."
In Wednesday's video, which aired on Musk's X social platform, the patient, Noland Arbaugh, was able to use his computer to play chess and the game Civilization VI. "He had given up playing that game," he said. "It's already changed my life," Arbaugh said. "The surgery was super easy."
Arbaugh, 29, said he suffered a spinal cord injury when he broke his C4 and C5 vertebrae in a “freak diving accident” eight years ago. He also said that he was discharged from the hospital a day after the Neuralink procedure in January, which went uneventfully. He added that “there is still work to be done” to perfect the technology.
As stated on a Facebook page supposedly created by people close to him after the accident and subsequent operations to cover the costs of the injury and interventions, Arbaugh suffered a diving accident that left him paralyzed at a children's camp in June 2016. At that time he was 22 years old, he defined himself as a "Christian athlete" and was a member of the Texas Cadet Corps. As of today, Noland does not have social media under his name.
In a profile attributed to Arbaugh on the CaringBridge portal, created so that sick and convalescent patients could share their thoughts, feelings and progress with their families, Arbaugh recounted his progress since his accident. From the first entry, on July 20, 2016, Noland narrates his experience during the visits of his friends and relatives. The entries, written by family members, reminded all those who access to pray for him
After being implanted with the Neuralink chip, Arbaugh was unable to move the cursor on an untrained computer. He was discharged a day after surgery, but made no progress without first training. “I have no sensation or movement below my level of injury,” the patient said in the video broadcast from his house. “It was like using force on the cursor,” details the patient, who can now use his computer more freely.
Neuralink is not the only company working on brain devices that connect to computers. Modern demonstrations of cursor control using thoughts have been carried out on other humans with various types of implants, such as those implemented by the Braingate consortium of research institutions and hospitals.
However, the Neuralink device contains more electrodes than other devices, suggesting it may have more potential applications in the future. The Neuralink device works without the need for a wired connection to external devices.
