this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2023
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Privacy

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[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I'm sure these implants will give much needed ease to patients who suffer frem tremors like parkinson and other neurological diseases. But the things I'm mostly concerned about are:

  • Will health insurance pay for the implant in a one-time-payment? Will it be a subscription model? What happens when you can't pay your subscription? Will it be shut off?
  • Will the implant be operated through firmware (like a pacemaker) or software, which reqires frequent updates? If so, will there be - like computer software - "new features" implemented ("With version 2.0 you will be able to share your Neuralink experience with other Neuralink users. Your data may not be leaked, pinky promise."
  • What if a certain mentally unstable CEO throws a tantrum that will affect the performance of the Neuralink implant negatively? Will there be any legal protection from such thing?
[–] [email protected] 47 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The thought that frightens me even more (although I am not a neurologist) is that if this is installed in children, and the neural pathways for the child's basic functions are formed to pass through that implant, removing the implant will render the child unable to think.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh god, new horrors just dropped

[–] Stoneykins 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Positive thought: maybe thats the first step to become a godlike computer brain species

Negative thought: if that is how it works I doubt it is just kids that it would do that to. If that happens I would guess it could happen to anyone who has one "installed" long enough

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

I think you lose a lot of neuroplasticity once you become an adult though, which you would need to reroute the neural pathways. Although I guess that there have been cases of adults who lost half their brain matter in accidents and were able to develop normal cognitive functions again. Actually, even babies must already have the visual cortex all connected up if they can see so maybe some things just develop too soon.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I accidentally uninstalled the visual cortex drivers and now I can't use my eyes to reinstall, any help is appreciated

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

gonna have to reboot yourself and try again in the next life.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Thank you, trying that now

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Laughs in windows helpdesk support

[–] SpaceNoodle 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Firmware is just software that we try to update less often.

[–] void_wanderer 4 points 1 year ago

Trivia: I just learned two weeks ago that "firm"ware is in between "hard"ware and "soft"ware. It has nothing to do with a firm (a company).

[–] CurlyMoustache 5 points 1 year ago

Laughs in nordic

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I have a (peripheral) nerve stimulator implanted.

Insurance paid for the trial implant, then the permanent one. They also paid for a couple of meetings with a rep from the mfgr who showed me how to use it best.

I have the device, the control, and a transdermal charger. No subscriptions, no remote access, I don't think it keeps logging data.