• fades
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      311 months ago

      Wow that made me so fucking uncomfortable, from the serious adverse affects requiring surgical intervention, the company trying to shout down negativity and just leaving these poor people to continue suffering….

      It’s all so horrid, I can’t imagine the stress and impact

    • Archmage Azor
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      311 months ago

      This was the original cyberpunk-transhumanist message. Not “cybernetics will destroy your soul” but “corporations own your body, or worse parts of your body”

    • @QuazarOmega@lemmy.world
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      211 months ago

      Well that’s fucking bleak, at least I got a good chuckle out of this

      NPM’s novel implant for drug delivery.

      So that’s how they keep JavaScript devs hooked!

      • –Phase–
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        11 months ago

        No, they’re far too busy using taxpayer money to bail out banks and businesses that are “too big to fail”.

    • @ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
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      11 months ago

      3 years later they’ll end the support

      I don’t think that’s a fair characterization - it sounds like they ran out of money and the company that bought all their assets didn’t maintain support. In that company’s defense, it’s really hard to maintain support for something when you’ve bought the IP but you don’t have any of the institutional knowledge.

      • @sciawp@lemm.ee
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        311 months ago

        Maybe it’s a hot take but if you are giving life-altering treatments, and your company goes under, you should open-source everything

        • @ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
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          11 months ago

          Would that even be legal? The company has obligations to its creditors and shareholders; simply giving away potentially valuable intellectual property right before going under seems to violate those obligations. And it's the sort of violation for which someone might be personally held liable.

          I'm not claiming that a company can never open-source anything, but rather than they have to have a plausible business case for doing so. And I don't see a plausible business (as opposed to humanitarian) case here… But I'm not a corporate lawyer, just someone interested in this sort of thing.

          Edit: there's also the FDA to consider. If you make medical devices and you want to release the source code, you probably need to demonstrate that it's safe for users to reprogram their devices (and it's not safe).

  • FIST_FILLET
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    1111 months ago

    imagine physically embedding the fucking musk into your brain, VOLUNTARILY. i can’t imagine anything worse in the world

    • @const_void@lemmy.ml
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      311 months ago

      People are still driving Teslas right now. Pretty much the same in my book. You’re trusting your life to a proven moron.

      • @Nalivai@discuss.tchncs.de
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        411 months ago

        Elongated Muskrat has very little to do with the inner works of the company now. Even in the heights of his involvement, by his own account, his input was tangential at best, like “we make expensive car now, use this money to make cheaper car” and “we call it x because x is the best name ever”

        • @Perfide@reddthat.com
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          111 months ago

          Don’t forget “The Tesla Model series will spell out SEXY” and “Oh, Ford already claimed Model E? Model 3 it is, 1337!”

        • @oddsbodkins@midwest.social
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          11 months ago

          The ongoing litigation against the company begs to differ. Also didn’t Musk step down as CEO of Twitter a while back? It seems his tangential bullshit has quite an impact. I’ll be honest I think the people actually working at Tesla do their best to try to moderate his unadulterated fuck ups. But they’re not safe from it and neither is anyone else who does business with them.

      • @Hazzia@discuss.tchncs.de
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        11 months ago

        Slightly off topic but I live in the DMV area and whenever I notice someone with the specific combination of both driving like someone who is not at all paying attention to what’s going on around them and having 0 respect for other people on the road, 90% of the time it’s a fucking Tesla.

    • @Zetta@mander.xyz
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      011 months ago

      Well the disabled people getting this implant probably don’t care about musk, it’s legitimately a cool technology and good competition for the medical space.

      Musk is a cuck still, and I’m sure we’ll have to wait a couple generations before we get the dystopian stuff in Neurallink

      • @Zron@lemmy.world
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        111 months ago

        I still don’t get how it’s at all safe or practical to have what amounts to a smart watch embedded into your brain.

        The surgery they want to do literally involves removing a piece of your skull. Falling and hitting your head without a piece of your skull removed is bad enough, this is going to seriously compromise the strength of people skulls. Which is especially bad when you consider it’s meant to solve problems like paralysis. I have a feeling that people who are just learning to walk again may be at a high risk of falling. Now they’re at a high risk of falling and cracking their skull open like an egg.

        It’s also charged with a wireless charger, which would need to placed on the device every night when you sleep. How many people remain completely still the entire night and don’t move their heads at all?

        This is a cool and valuable first step for brain augmentations that can probably help thousands of patients, but the implementation has so many glaring problems that it makes me wonder how well the actual product even functions.

        • @eestileib@sh.itjust.works
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          111 months ago

          How many people remain completely still the entire night and don’t move their heads at all?

          Anybody with sleep apnea who has a CPAP has solved a harder version of this problem. It sucks and takes a while to get used to but it’s way better than waking up with a headache every day.

          I assume that if the implant is helpful the overnight charging will be readily accepted by users.

          (I’ve got a peripheral nerve implant myself so I am quite familiar with what lengths people will go to to relieve pain)

      • at_an_angle
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        -111 months ago

        Yup. Gotta sell it as a medical miracle before you can sell it as a commercial product.

    • @masquenox@lemmy.ml
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      011 months ago

      i can’t imagine anything worse in the world

      I can… there are literally people who are willing to participate in Musk’s Mars colonization fantasies. They stand about as much chance of success (or survival) as those people who got imploded in that Titanic sub - except their deaths won’t be as quick and merciful.

  • SokathHisEyesOpen
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    711 months ago

    I want to thank Facebook for making it blatantly obvious to us that we should never get any brain implants. They’ll definitely use them to read your thoughts and push ads straight into your consciousness. Oh, and you’ll probably have to pay a subscription.

  • @crow@beehaw.org
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    611 months ago

    I’m not putting anything in me that’s not foss. I worry for the tech illiterate though when they eventually adopt this idea.

    • @abraxas@lemmy.ml
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      311 months ago

      I agree, I love the idea of a brain chip, but not if someone can change licensing terms on something that’s INSTALLED in me.

    • @Blackmist@feddit.uk
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      211 months ago

      Are you going to be that picky when they’re fitting you with a pacemaker?

      I agree if it’s just something for fun though, although personally I’d err on the side of not putting anything in me at all thanks very much. I’m quite happy with my tech on the outside where it belongs.

    • @worfamerryman@beehaw.org
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      011 months ago

      Dude, look at the current support for audio drivers. Do you really want to deal with that for your ears?

      Just kidding I don’t know anything about audio drivers 😂

      • Spiracle
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        111 months ago

        I remember having to figure out why audio was not working on a new installation. That was once, probably ~5 years ago and was fixed quickly once I found a solution online.

        I’d vastly prefer my ears to stop working intermittently due to a FOSS driver issue over a corporate overlord installing bloat, spyware, demanding regular payment for the privilege of them not deleting my driver, just to drop support for them some years later anyway.

        • Programmer Belch
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          111 months ago

          If the audio doesn’t work, I want to be sure it is because of me, not some tech-suit trying to make me pay more for their rubbish services

  • @astral_avocado@programming.dev
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    11 months ago

    Neuralink is an excellent advancement for brain science and it is greatly going to help disabled people and those with little function left over their bodies. It’s okay to celebrate this technology while also hating musk.

    Like SpaceX, they’ve both been excellent ventures that he so far hasn’t ruined (probably thanks to the people he delegates to). Just because it’s fashionable to hate him for how he’s absolutely fucked over Twitter (which i’ll remind everyone we’ve always hated and agreed is bad, use Mastodon instead) doesn’t mean his other companies largely spearheaded by others, and their results, are also bad.

    That’s not even to mention that the kind of dystopian technology people are imagining isn’t anywhere close to what the Neuralink device is actually capable of. What everyones fearmongering over is still just science fiction. It’s just barely able to interpret brain signals, it’s not as powerful as everyone makes it out to be.

    2nd edit: forgot what instance I’m on, this comment probably ain’t going to do well lol

    • @Blackmist@feddit.uk
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      111 months ago

      Does it work though?

      I only ask this because Musk has been promising full self driving in Teslas “next year” for about a decade now, so any claims made should be taken with an enormous pinch of salt.

      • @astral_avocado@programming.dev
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        011 months ago

        By all appearances yes, it’s an appreciable jump in the technology compared to current brain interfaces that are used for the immobile. They did a whole live tech demo with pigs as well as the people he’s hired to work on it there. He has top level surgeons and neuroscientists all working on it who choose to be there. Oh and also it just passed FDA approval for testing in humans.

        It would be hard to bullshit this passed all the people involved. I have the belief it’s quite a different situation compared to the continuing failure of FSD.

        • @KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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          111 months ago

          It would be hard to bullshit this passed all the people involved.

          Do you not understand people? It’s easier to BS 10 people than 1. You just BS 100 and the 10 weakest people tell you who they are. People who want to work on brain interfaces want it to work. Whether it actually works or not depends on the real world, not the number of people involved.

    • @ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      011 months ago

      That's not even to mention that the kind of dystopian technology people are imagining isn't anywhere close to what the Neuralink device is actually capable of.

      Yet. They'll get to work on that just as soon as they can, don't you worry!

      • @astral_avocado@programming.dev
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        111 months ago

        The brain science and neurology advancements that would be required to get to such a point would be absolute mind-blowing breakthroughs in medical science and would completely change the world as we know it. The mental/personality disorders we could now understand and solve would make me so hopeful for humanity and the upbringing of welfare for everyone. This would without question be a good thing.

    • @derpgon@programming.dev
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      011 months ago

      I kind of agree. While I think they are not that bad as far as advancements go, most of it is shitstained by Musk, who has to be seen at all cost and have to be seen as the ultimate inventor of everything.

      He wants to be seen, stay relevant, and be the boss of everything, that he usually makes dumb decisions, which is a stain on a company mostly relying on a foundation of very intelligent people.

      • @astral_avocado@programming.dev
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        11 months ago

        I agree with your assessment except saying that SpaceX’s advancements are “not that bad” is a massive understatement. They’ve completely disrupted and forever changed the space launch industry, with the help of government subsidies.

        Everyone also forgets how Starlink is serving remote indigenous communities and scared the pants off shitty dominant ISPs that have been screwing rural communities over since forever.

        I’ll re-emphasize my point that I think the results of some large companies, which comprises the efforts of many many smart people, can have facets of it be considered overwhelmingly good.

        Edit: some more words

        • @masquenox@lemmy.ml
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          011 months ago

          Whenever I hear someone unironically use the term “disrupted” I just know I’m going to be hearing some capitalist parasite being glorified for doing something expensive that a government did much cheaper half a century ago.

          • @astral_avocado@programming.dev
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            -111 months ago

            Space launches were “much cheaper” a half a century ago? You don’t really follow any space news whatsoever do you? That’s patently false.

            • @masquenox@lemmy.ml
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              111 months ago

              No, the entire space exploration attempt was much cheaper half a century ago - neither the US nor Soviet space programs wasted labor or resources enriching billionaire parasites. There is absolutely nothing that can be performed by parasites such as Musk or Bezos that cannot be done far better, more efficiently and more effectively through public means.

              • @astral_avocado@programming.dev
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                111 months ago

                Can you provide a source showing space exploration was “much cheaper” half a century ago than SpaceX’s current costs to getting payloads into orbit? It sounds like you’re just assuming it would be cheaper from your idealogical leanings than that actually being the case.

                A half a century ago the US and USSR were devoting a significant fraction of their entre GDP in the space race to blast people into space on some of the largest rockets ever built, mostly for national security and military concerns And that’s not even to speak of the “safety standards” they had and ignored in order to win.

                The later shuttle program itself was a massive MASSIVE expenditure and no one in their right mind would EVER say it was an efficient and cheaper per kg in LEO.

                You’re just straight up wrong.

                • @masquenox@lemmy.ml
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                  111 months ago

                  Yeah, hold on… let me compare the costs of enriching a billionaire parasite piggybacking off publicly-funded programs that developed all the technology said billionaire parasite is piggybacking off with said publicly-funded programs.

                  No, Clyde, it was cheaper - because we actually got results other than merely enriching a billionaire parasite.

                  Your brain has been so addled with “free market” fairy tales that you might just as well believe a glass slipper will magically turn you into royalty. There is absolutely nothing parasites like Musk can do that we couldn’t do far, far better, much more efficiently and far cheaper through public means - and that’s it.

  • Monkey With A Shell
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    211 months ago

    There’e not enough knowledge and connectivity in the entire internet that could convince me to ever put a connection directly to my mind online.

  • @HippieSplash@lemm.ee
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    111 months ago

    As someone who suffers daily from a traumatic brain injury 5 years ago that’s caused me to become physically disabled and cognitively declined, I’m super excited about this.

  • @ScrollinMyDayAway@lemm.ee
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    111 months ago

    Fox Viewers: ‘Don’t get vaccinated because there are brain controlling microchips hidden in the jab.’ Also Fox Viewers: ‘I can’t wait to get one of Elon’s brain chips to own the libs!’

  • katy ✨
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    111 months ago

    All the Elon stans can get brain chips implanted in their head while buying Twitter X merchandise.

  • platysalty
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    111 months ago

    In my teens I thought I’d be like the Major or Batou in the cyberpunk future.

    Nope, Togusa. CYBER BRAIN BAD

  • @nicerdicer@feddit.de
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    011 months ago

    I’m sure these implants will give much needed ease to patients who suffer frem tremors like parkinson and other neurological diseases. But the things I’m mostly concerned about are:

    • Will health insurance pay for the implant in a one-time-payment? Will it be a subscription model? What happens when you can’t pay your subscription? Will it be shut off?
    • Will the implant be operated through firmware (like a pacemaker) or software, which reqires frequent updates? If so, will there be - like computer software - “new features” implemented (“With version 2.0 you will be able to share your Neuralink experience with other Neuralink users. Your data may not be leaked, pinky promise.”
    • What if a certain mentally unstable CEO throws a tantrum that will affect the performance of the Neuralink implant negatively? Will there be any legal protection from such thing?
    • @SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml
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      411 months ago

      The thought that frightens me even more (although I am not a neurologist) is that if this is installed in children, and the neural pathways for the child’s basic functions are formed to pass through that implant, removing the implant will render the child unable to think.

    • @ngwoo@beehaw.org
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      111 months ago

      Far be it from me to suggest that tech bros won’t ruin a good thing, I really don’t think these will have a subscription model because they probably won’t have any kind of internet connectivity. They’ll be like pacemakers, purpose built for a specific function (prevent tremors, reverse paralysis, etc) and designed to only do that function for as long as possible.

      I’m sure there will be upgradable firmware at some point in the future but having your brain be connected to any kind of cloud service is the worst idea I’ve ever heard of.

      • @nicerdicer@feddit.de
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        011 months ago

        Of course many comments in this threas are exaggerated; there won’t be played any ads into your brain.

        But there are some implications for the usage of Neuralink that are worth thinking about it - especially when it comes to privacy:

        Given that it “just” runs with firmware, so that the implant can function in a way most stable and reliably, and also given that there will be no subscription model involved into all of that, will the user (patient) be able to control the functionality of the implant (e.g. controlling the intensity of the eletric signal sent out from the implant to counteract the intensity of a tremor)?

        And how will that happen? One thing I could think of is to control the implant with a smartphone app. How good will that smartphone app be? Will it be programmed sloppily like these apps we know from Internet-Of-Things-Apps and have a ton of bugs? Are those (medicinal!) apps secure in terms of privacy? What is with the product support? Will the implant be discontinued after a few years (and also the app)? What if your smartphone fails (no power or hardware failure, or after an update it doesn’t work)?

        A friend of mine has an app to monitor her blood sugar. She is not qute satified with the app. Luckily the provider of those diabetes sensors provided a separate device, so that the app is just an addition for measuring when you are travelling, for example. But in their last iteration they tried to omit the separate device, probably in order to save costs. My friend had to explicitly ask for it.

        With that in mind I’m not keen on having control on such medicinal devices with a smartphone only. If the smartphone fails, there would be no backup. Will such similar things be the case regarding Neuralink?

        • Venia Silente
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          111 months ago

          and also given that there will be no subscription model involved into all of that,

          oh you sweet, sweet summer child.