In what feels like something directly out of an episode of Black Mirror, Elon Musk took to YouTube on Friday night to reveal that he successfully wired a living pig's brain with his Neuralink technology that is eventually meant to allow people to link their minds with computers. Yeah, we had to read that one again too.
During the live event, Musk explained the advances he has made with Neuralink, and revealed that Gertrude the pig was one of the tech's first successful living subjects who had been living with the device in it's brain for two months now. Described as being the size of a coin, Musk said a Neuralink is like "a Fitbit in your skull, with tiny wires."
"I could have a Neuralink right now and you wouldn't know," Musk said jokingly. "Maybe I do." According to Mashable, Musk describes Neuralink's primary function to combat common brain ailments like memory loss, hearing loss, blindness, paralysis, depression, insomnia, extreme pain, seizures, anxiety, addiction, strokes, and brain damage.
Musk also said that a robot that is still in development would eventually be able to implant the chips into humans in the far off future. And as for where the Neuralink tech is in development, Musk is still looking for experienced people to join the team.
"If you've, like, shipped a smartwatch or a phone, or any kind of complex electronics or complex device, or advanced medical devices, we'd love for you to contact us and consider working here," Musk said. "So, a very important point to emphasize is that you do not need to have prior experience on brains."
If you missed the livestream, you can re-watch it below.
