Elon Musk began making all the necessary arrangements to be able to clinically test his brain chips in humans in 2022. In May of this year it received approval to begin its research, after an initial refusal by the health business that had to review it last year.
FDA considered Elon Musk’s request to test his human brain chips
The company that has allegedly allowed it to begin testing in people has been the FDA, also known as theFood and Drug Administration. Basically, it is a pharmaceutical regulator, which has the power to oversee any surgical procedure performed in the United States, as well as any commercial drug launch.
Neuralink published in May that the process to access clinical trials and test the brain chips had not yet been opened, and it is still a mystery how they will progress.
What does Elon Musk intend to achieve with his brain chips?
The alleged plan of the Neuralink company’s scientists would be to implant the chip in the brain in order to be able to connect this organ to a computer. This chip would be used to bring improvements to all human abilities and skills and to help people with neurological diseases.
For example, the company reported that the brain chips would supposedly help people with disabilities by restoring functions they may have lost due to illness or injury.
The problem with brain chips is that it is not yet known how they will work. The FDA, for example, had its doubts about whether the lithium battery could damage the brain as well as the existing nerves in it, wondering whether hypothetically the chip would be able to shatter brain tissues.
Elon Musk finally performed first tests of brain chips in primates
As Elon Musk seeks human volunteers for his brain chip experiment, the company has begun its first tests on primates. Something that seems not to have gone quite right, as the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine denounced Musk for allegedly causing the agonizing death of twelve monkeys that had been implanted with the implant.
Elon Musk defended himself, confessing that no monkeys had died from causes related to the implant, clarifying that they were experimenting with animals that were already “on the verge of death”.
However, the Physicians Committee accessed several public documents describing the situation, discussing the culling of several healthy seven-year-old primates that suffered complications after being fitted with brain chips, resulting in partial paralysis, cerebral edema and bloody diarrhea.
Some of the monkeys were able to play video games with their own minds, without touching the screen, only with their neuronal activity, something that the company of Neuralinkhe even shared in a YouTube video, showing Pagera primate that had been wearing the implant for approximately six months.
