If you are fond or have at least heard of the anime “Sword Art Online,” you might have probably reacted that it would be awesome if one day we could immerse in video games with just our minds.
Well, it seems like we are closer to achieving something similar what with a patient who has attested his gaming skills have significantly improved after a brain implant from Neuralink.
The patient is Noland Arbaugh, the first human recipient of the computer chip embedded in his brain, by startup company Neuralink. Recalling Arbaugh’s past, the 29-year-old’s limbs were paralyzed after a diving accident eight years back. However, with the chip implanted in his brain, he has now the ability to control a cursor with simply mental willpower.
Arbaugh revealed this during his media appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience where he not only admitted he was the first person to receive the implant, but that it also gave him unbelievable gaming skills.
To illustrate, Arbaugh compares his mad video game skills to that of how players who cheat seem to have this invisibility and supremacy than those who plays it normally. He further shares that game developers or those handling competitions would probably have different leagues separating gamers like Arbaugh who might one day also obtain the implant, “It’s not just fair.” he says.
Pro Gamers don’t have to worry about it just yet because Neuralink has not gone as far as the fast-paced action titles like “Call of Duty” has to offer. For now, their patient has only been playing Mario Kart and Civilization VI.
However, the implant is not yet smooth as the patient cannot control the cursor at times. Neuralink offers an explanation that some of the threads placed into his motor cortex retracted as time passes. This happens most likely because of air trapped in the skull post-surgery.
With this observation, Neuralink is now working on thinner lines which can traverse deeper into the human brain to avoid the aforementioned concern.
Finally, the patient did share some other possible issues when it comes to this kind of mental technology: the fact that people could hack the system, take control of his cursor, and force him to look at unpleasant things. For now, Aurbaugh is not very worried as the technology is fairly new.
The future can only tell if this computer chip brain implant will soon allow us to live our Sword Art Online dreams, or a Black Mirror nightmare-fueled adventure. What do you think will happen once it is released in public? As always, let us know your opinions.