Elon Musk’s Neuralink Shows First Patient Using Its Brain Implant


马斯克麾下Neuralink向外界介绍了首位接受该公司脑机接口设备移植的患者，这位29岁的潜水事故受害者在一次直播中展示了他现在可以借助该设备移动计算机光标。


Neuralink与接受移植患者Noland Arbaugh进行的直播。

马斯克(Elon Musk)麾下Neuralink向外界介绍了首位接受该公司脑机接口设备移植的患者，这位29岁的潜水事故受害者在一次直播中展示了他现在可以借助该设备移动计算机光标。 6park.com
Elon Musk’s Neuralink introduced the first patient to receive its brain-computer implant, a 29-year-old diving-accident victim who showed during a livestream that he can now move a computer cursor using the device. 6park.com
   
周三，Neuralink在马斯克的X平台上进行了九分钟的演示，展现了Noland Arbaugh如何指挥光标在屏幕上移动，玩国际象棋游戏。Arbaugh提到了《星球大战》(Star Wars)等电影中的一个概念，说这感觉就像“在光标上使用原力”。他说手术很顺利，他一天后就出院了。 6park.com
In a nine-minute presentation streamed on Musk’s X platform Wednesday, Neuralink showed Noland Arbaugh directing the cursor around a screen to play a game of chess. Arbaugh said it feels like “using the force on a cursor,” referring to a concept from movies such as “Star Wars.” He said his surgery went well and he left the hospital after one day. 6park.com
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就脑机接口而言，移动电脑光标算不上大的技术飞跃。一种于2004年首次被植入人体的老式脑芯片，也曾帮助瘫痪者仅凭意念移动光标。但这种老式芯片必须连接到大脑外部的一个装置上才能传输数据，需要让线缆穿过皮肤。 6park.com
Moving a computer cursor isn’t a big technical leap for brain-computer interfaces. An older brain chip first implanted in a human in 2004 also helped a paralyzed person move a cursor with only their thoughts. But the older chip must be attached to a device on the outside of the brain to transmit data, requiring wires protruding through the skin. 6park.com
    
Neuralink的设备可以无线传输数据，而且可以脱离实验室环境居家使用。 6park.com
Neuralink’s device transmits data wirelessly, and it can be used at home, outside of a laboratory setting. 6park.com
   
Neuralink的演示还有一个值得注意的特点，即Arbaugh是同时处理多个任务：一边玩国际象棋，一边讲述自己植入该设备的经历。以往的脑机接口相关展示则需要专注于一项特定的任务。 6park.com
Another notable feature of Neuralink’s presentation was that Arbaugh was multitasking: playing chess while speaking about his experience getting the implant. Prior demonstrations of brain-computer interfaces have required dedicated attention to a particular task. 6park.com
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Arbaugh说，遭遇潜水事故后，他肩部以下完全失去了活动能力。一个寻求慈善捐款的网页称，此次事故发生在2016年6月。 6park.com
Arbaugh lost all movement beneath his shoulders after his accident, he said. A webpage seeking charitable donations said the accident occurred in June 2016. 6park.com
    
亚利桑那州尤马石脊教堂(Stone Ridge Church)的牧师Tom Burks说，他认识Arbaugh的家人已经有大约20年了。他说，他们一家把手术的消息告诉了教会的一些人，并请他们为手术的顺利进行祈祷。 6park.com
Tom Burks, a pastor at Stone Ridge Church in Yuma, Ariz., said he has known Arbaugh’s family for about two decades. He said the family had told a few people at the church about the surgery and had asked them to pray for it to go well. 6park.com
    
Burks说：“我一直为他们感到激动。”Burks说，在本周三Arbaugh参与Neuralink的消息公开之前，他一直对此保密。 6park.com
“I’ve been excited for them,” Burks said, adding he had been keeping Arbaugh’s involvement with Neuralink private before it became public Wednesday. 6park.com
    
马斯克今年1月在推特上发布消息称，第一位患者接受了植入手术，但只表示这位患者恢复良好。从那时起，Arbaugh一直在学着使用植入的设备。他描述了训练这个设备理解他的想法如何转化为移动光标的过程。他说，渐渐地，这件事变得容易多了，现在他只需看着屏幕，光标就能做出反应。 6park.com
Musk tweeted in January that the first patient received the implant, specifying only that the person was recovering well. Since then, Arbaugh has been learning to use the implant. He described a process of training it to understand how his thoughts translate to moving the cursor. It has become much easier with time and now he can simply look at the screen and the cursor responds, he said. 6park.com
    
Arbaugh说：“它并不完美，我们遇到了一些问题，”但没有详细说。但他表示，这个设备已经改变了他的生活。 6park.com
“It’s not perfect, we have run into some issues,” said Arbaugh, without detailing them. But he added that the device has already changed his life. 6park.com
    
Arbaugh描述，他整晚都在玩另一款电子游戏。他说，八小时后，Neuralink的电池没电了，必须充电后才能继续玩。 6park.com
Arbaugh described playing another videogame straight through the night. He said that after eight hours, the Neuralink’s battery ran out and had to be recharged before he could continue playing. 6park.com
     
Neuralink利用无线充电为其设备供电，这个设备将植入头骨的一个25美分硬币大小的芯片与插入大脑的毛发状电极结合在一起。该公司展示了猴子如何站在充电线圈下方为植入设备充电。给植入头部的电池充电的一个挑战是要确保温度不会大幅升高。 6park.com
Neuralink uses wireless charging to power its device, which combines a quarter-sized chip implanted in the skull with hairlike electrodes inserted into the brain. The company has shown how a monkey charged its implant by standing beneath a charging coil. One challenge of charging a battery inside the head is ensuring the temperature doesn’t rise significantly. 


Neuralink的设备可以无线传输数据，而且可以脱离实验室环境居家使用。

包括Paradromics和Precision Neuroscience在内的其他公司正在开发可以提供与Neuralink类似的功能的脑机植入体。这两家公司都还没有将其植入物永久植入人体。 6park.com
Other companies including Paradromics and Precision Neuroscience are developing brain-computer implants that could offer similar functionality to Neuralink. Neither has placed their implant permanently in a human yet. 6park.com
    
第四家公司Synchron已经做到了这一点。该公司开发了一种支架，可以植入大脑之外的血管，从而读取神经信号。与Neuralink的产品相比，该产品所需的手术创伤较小，但由于它被植入大脑之外，因此可能无法捕捉到那么多的神经数据。 6park.com
A fourth company, Synchron, has already done so. It has developed a stent that goes into a blood vessel on top of the brain that can read neural signals. That requires a less invasive surgery than Neuralink’s, but because it is implanted just outside the brain, it may not be able to capture as much neural data. 6park.com
   
马斯克的公司目标远大，SpaceX公司就是以火星为目标。在Neuralink，马斯克曾说过，目标是有朝一日通过其脑机植入来使完全健康的人能力更强，这样人类就能跟上人工智能的步伐。Neuralink必须在远早于这一目标实现之前证明其植入的脑机对像Arbaugh这样身体不好的人是安全有效的。 6park.com
Musk companies shoot for the moon, or in SpaceX’s case Mars. And at Neuralink, Musk has said the aim is one day to augment perfectly healthy people with its brain implant so the human race can keep up with artificial intelligence. Long before that can happen, Neuralink must show that its implant is safe and effective for people like Arbaugh suffering from debilitating conditions.