• nicerdicer@feddit.de
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    51
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    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?
    • SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      46
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      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.

        • Stoneykins@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          17
          ·
          1 year ago

          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

          • SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            8
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            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.

      • void_wanderer@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        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).

    • eestileib
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      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.