Earlier this year, the US Food and Drug Administration gave Neuralink, which Musk cofounded in 2016, approval to launch human trials of its device that Musk has described as a “Fitbit in your skull.” The FDA had previously rejected Neuralink’s bid for human testing in March over safety concerns, Reuters reported, including that the wires connected to the brain chip could move within a subject’s head or that the chip could overheat.

    • snorkbubs@fedia.io
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      Neuralink said in a blog post that it was looking for people who had paralysis in all four limbs because of a spinal-cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

      Not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, these people are willing to take a risk in order to overcome difficult conditions, and that should be allowed. On the other hand, it feels like Neuralink is preying on those hopes.

      If the company figurehead wasn’t a libertarian billionaire edgelord, I might look past that second hand. No chance of that, though. He’s going to kill people, and then he’s going to retweet memes about it.

      • Caradoc879@lemmy.world
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        Wasn’t there a report about dozens of dead monkeys from animal trials a few months ago?

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        On the other hand, it feels like Neuralink is preying on their hopes.

        It’s not different than any other experimental treatment.

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          The sentence after the one you quoted explains how this is different from other treatments (it’s Musk). With any other company, the question wouldn’t have even entered my mind.

          • gazter
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            The vitriol against anything vaguely Musky on lemmy is so perplexing to me.

            It’s nuts that people will froth at the mouth at the merest suggestion they consider buying a Tesla, and then drive off in their Volkswagen.

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              It’s not just Lemmy, it’s all of the communities and people that he constantly trolls and shits on. The only people he hasn’t tried to piss off are neo-fascists and Russians. If someone doesn’t see that, they must not be paying attention. Which, well… that’s not a bad idea, to be honest.

              Regardless, it’s nice that everyone is finally waking up to the fact that he’s just a grifter who likes to call non-grifters pedos.

              Also, I caught the comment you made next to this one; what client are you using that shows downvotes? If they’re actually downvoted (shows +1 to me), it’s likely because the sentence, right after the one they quoted, answered their question. So, the comment as-is didn’t really add anything to the conversation.

        • gazter
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          I don’t know why you’re being downvoted- Your point is accurate and adds to the conversation. Welcome to reddit, I guess.

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      I admit, under the right circumstances, cybernetic enhancements could be cool.

      Anything connected in any way with Elon Musk is emphatically not the right circumstances, of course.

      • HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world
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        What I wouldn’t give for a cybernetic gastrointestinal tract. Maybe one where it combines a trash compactor with the butt, so I could literally shit bricks.

    • Rottcodd@lemmy.ninja
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      We’re dumb animals, not much different from other dumb animals.

      If squirrels had news media, they could have a story that says, “Thousands of squirrels are lining up to try to cross busy streets in front of cars.”

      And some number of squirrels would read that and think, “What the hell is wrong with them?”

    • Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      I mean, if I couldn’t communicate with the outside world or have use of my limbs I would take any risk to regain that functionality. This could have a real shot of giving people with terrible conditions a better quality of life.