The first recipient of Elon Musk-led Neuralink's BCI implant has shared his experiences after receiving the implant.
Everything Shifted After The Implant
Norland Arbaugh, the first-ever patient of the implant, shared his thoughts in a post on X on Thursday, outlining that he had no goals or plans as nothing in his life was "worth waking up for." "Then I got my Neuralink implant and everything shifted," Arbaugh said.
He said he felt like his life had purpose again. "Neuralink didn't just change what I can do. It changed what I believe I'm capable of," he said, adding that he had started a business, gotten back in school, as well as traveling.
Arbaugh is also looking at a second Neuralink implant below the injury, which he sustained in a diving accident in 2016, in his neck vertebrae. The accident resulted in him becoming quadriplegic.
The implant will reportedly help Arbaugh with leg movements. "I can't overstate how fired up I am about the Neuralink dual implant," Arbuagh said, saying that the potential for the technology was "unreal."
Humans Could Live Forever
Recently, Musk outlined the possibility of humans being able to live forever by uploading snapshots of their minds into Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) Optimus robots, with Neuralink chips also playing a role. "I think that at some point, that technology becomes possible, and it’s probably less than 20 years," Musk said.
Blindsight, $9 Billion Valuation
Meanwhile, Musk had recently touted the Neuralink chip as possibly being able to restore sight in completely blind people with the Blindsight implant. Neuralink plans to conduct trials of its vision-restoring implant in the UAE by 2026.
The company also secured over $600 million in Series E funding, taking its valuation to over $9 billion. The developments outline the BCI enterprise's influence in the neurotechnology sector, slotting it nicely within Musk's expansive business portfolio.
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