The Next Step of Human Evolution

20 years ago, the idea of a self-driving car was only a figment of imagination for scientists, and something one saw in futuristic Sci-Fi movies. 20 years later, it looks like we are in the “future” with Tesla as one of the biggest companies in the electric and autonomous vehicle industry.

Now this begs the question, if 20 years ago people thought self driving cars were a feat of science fiction, what do we consider as “the future“ today? How about the ability to be smarter and faster than any computer, have a seemingly infinite source of knowledge, and be able to communicate with anyone, anywhere in an instant.

These are just some of the ways in which Neuralink will propel human beings into “the future”, and is the next step in human evolution.

In March of 2017, Elon Musk, a self-made millionaire and owner/founder of Tesla, announced he was backing a new brain computer interface venture by a company called Neuralink. Musk, a founding member of Neuralink, explained that the company’s goal is to interface the human brain with the internet and thinks of it as “the next step in human evolution.”

A common misconception surrounding Neuralink is the name of the actual product. Neuralink is just the company’s name; the actual product they are working on is a brain machine interface (

), which they call the neural weave. Essentially, the weave will start off in a needle– then, when implanted, will unfurrow and wrap around the whole brain. From here, the millions of electrodes across the surface of the weave will start to interact with the brain and get synched with its functions. This includes thought processes, feelings and emotions, and even the firing of neurons, according to Cybrink.

After the weave is synched and there is confirmation that everything is working, the possibilities are endless. From instant communication with anyone (and anywhere) to downloading and knowing the entire dictionary in a night, this technology would be the biggest evolution in our species since legs.

While this technology sounds amazing, and is still a ways away, there are already critics around the world advocating against Neuralink and the work they are doing. Some argue that this is not needed whatsoever and that an enhancement like this would not make the individual human anymore, but both of these thoughts are not true.

First, there are millions of computers around the globe, some of which use Artificial Intelligence, and these are the causes of concern that led Elon to start Neuralink. True A.I. is yet to be made, but when it is, it will be infinitely smarter than any human and will be able to calculate at speeds we simply can not match. And in case you’ve never heard of Skynet, it will never be a good idea to let a machine smarter than humans call the shots.

All jokes aside, the concerns surrounding Artificial Intelligence are not conspiracy theories and we are going to need the Neuralink technology if we, as a species, want to stay relevant. Also, when asked about the loss of humanity if someone were to have a Neural weave implanted, Musk talked about the idea of having a hearing-aid shaped device that would sit behind ones’ ear and could be removed and reattached at will to allow the individual easy access and disconnect from the internet. This would allow people to maintain their humanity and addresses the concerns of becoming more machine than human.

This technology is leading edge and is thought of as many to be an item of “the future”, but who knows? Elon brought us autonomous vehicles faster than anyone ever thought possible–who’s to say he won’t make it possible for us to be sending memes with our brains by 2025?