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AbacusCulture

Elon Musk’s Neuralink is exciting and terrifying to people in China

The brain-machine interface reminds netizens of The Three-Body Problem and Communist Party thought control

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The threads are thinner than a human hair. (Picture: Neuralink)
Xinmei Shen
This article originally appeared on ABACUS
Two years after the world learned about Elon Musk’s venture into merging computers with human brains, the entrepreneur finally showed off what his company Neuralink has been working on. In China, where most brain-machine interface companies focus on non-invasive systems (those that don’t open up your skull), netizens say they’re both excited and scared.

Neuralink aims to allow people to control machines, such as smartphones and computers, with only their thoughts. It works by drilling holes in the skull to implant ultra thin “threads” that can detect brain activities. Musk said the company has successfully enabled a monkey to control a computer with its brain, and he hopes to start testing it on humans next year.

The company’s head surgeon, Matthew McDougall, said that it’s only intended for “patients with serious unmet medical diseases.” The technology targets people with paralysis due to spinal cord injury. But it appears that Elon Musk’s imagination doesn’t stop there. He said that the goal is to “achieve a symbiosis with artificial intelligence” so humans won’t be “left behind” by AI.

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The threads are thinner than a human hair. (Picture: Neuralink)
The threads are thinner than a human hair. (Picture: Neuralink)
“I feel like it’s a little scary… to be accurate, very scary,” said Luo Yonghao, founder of struggling smartphone startup Smartisan, in a Weibo post. “But I’m very much looking forward to the future.”
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Luo’s view is shared among many other social media users who appeared not entirely sure what to make of the new technology.

“This is so cool, but it’s terrifying when you think about it,” said one WeChat user commenting on an article about Neuralink.
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