Think

Stop researching products. Start researching questions. Reviews won't save you. Sensor counts won't save you. Even PhD founders won't save you when their device can't tell the difference between your brain and your face. The only protection is knowing what to ask. #neural #bci

I've asked this in live chats. They always say "we recommend keeping still." That's their way of admitting the problem without saying it directly. 43 out of 47 companies cannot answer this question honestly. Here's what I learned:

47 brain headbands on Amazon right now with more than 500 reviews. 43 failed one question. Not the hard question. The first question. The question was about Jell-O. Let me explain.

@ScottyIsAbroad @96Stats plus when the government says "this is a priority" things just move. no endless committee meetings. no citizen petitions. just "do the thing."

@ScottyIsAbroad @96Stats different regulatory philosophy lol. china's like "36 patients worked, seems good, ship it." FDA's still deciding which shade of white the clinical trial forms should be.

Wow Musk must be fuming, Neuralink still testing ideas yet China JUST beat them to become the first ever country to get a brain chip product cleared for sale/clinical use!! Something actually ready to use that will now go straight into hospitals here in China to let people with quadriplegia from serious spinal injuries who cannot use their hands to now let them control a robotic glove. Amazing news!

@Mrspookytruth @DaveShapi ar glasses already let a dude in ohio fix shit he's never seen with some nerd on the other end drawing arrows. add bci and suddenly you're not even gesturing now, you just think "next step" and the schematic updates in your eyeball.

@DaveShapi AR or BCi will make everyone a master(everything) with glasses or whatever, even pointing out and or ordering what parts you need in real time.

False. As white collar people lose their jobs, they will displace towards remaining job opportunities. We're going to be saturated with plumbers and electricians, driving the value of their labor down. The Uber founder is a fucking idiot for saying this.

@Krispratomo1 @elonmusk if elon did make dinosaurs and they escaped, would that be the best or worst timeline?

Chicken DNA — the closest living relative of dinosaurs. Hey @elonmusk If we can land rockets with SpaceX, connect minds with Neuralink, and build AI with xAI… Why not bring dinosaurs back through chickens?

@China_Fact neuralink's been so focused on the tech and the demos and the vibes. china showed up with a less sexy but approvable approach (extradural, not poking brain tissue) and just... launched.

China has approved the world's first invasive Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) medical device for market use, marking the start of clinical application for the emerging technology.

@Pol_ScientistNG @elonmusk both sides think he's the villain now. left thinks he's a union-busting fascist. right thinks he's a DEI cuck who sold out. man's out here getting ratio'd by everyone equally. that's almost impressive. is there a single public figure both sides hate this much other than him ?

For a long period, Elon Musk occupied a unique space in American culture: a billionaire visionary whose work seemed to transcend politics. His ventures with Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and The Boring Company were widely celebrated not only for their technological ambition but for their aspirational narratives. Musk represented the kind of figure progressives could admire: a man pushing humanity toward renewable energy, clean transportation, and space exploration. He embodied the promise of innovation as a force for social and environmental good. In the early 2010s, Musk was largely embraced by the political left. Tesla’s electric vehicles were heralded as a solution to climate change, a problem that had become central to the progressive agenda. SpaceX’s reusable rockets were framed as evidence that private enterprise could complement public initiatives in science and technology. Musk’s public persona—quirky, ambitious, and often willing to tackle problems no one else dared—made him a cultural icon. Social media, mainstream news outlets, and even progressive commentators frequently praised him for what they framed as contributions to a better world, from pushing green energy policies to advancing humanity’s presence in space. However, this admiration was conditional. Musk’s acceptance by the left relied on the perception that he remained primarily a technologist and innovator, not a political actor. The shift began when Musk’s commentary and actions increasingly intersected with politics, policy, and government oversight. Rather than focusing solely on engineering and entrepreneurship, Musk began publicly exposing what he saw as inefficiency, corruption, and bureaucratic overreach within government agencies. He highlighted cases where regulations delayed technological progress, criticized mismanagement in environmental and transportation agencies, and called attention to policies that he believed favored special interests over the public good. This was the beginning of the turning point. Where progressives had once framed Musk as an ally in climate advocacy and technological innovation, his critiques were increasingly interpreted as attacks on government institutions they considered central to societal progress. Social media amplified his criticisms, reducing nuanced commentary to soundbites like “Musk hates regulations” or “Musk is anti-government.” Over time, the left’s narrative reframed him: not as a visionary, but as a contrarian billionaire who challenged the very structures they relied on to enforce equity and social programs. The friction intensified as Musk’s stances extended beyond regulatory critique. His support for free speech, especially in contentious online debates, was framed by some progressives as tacit support for conservative or anti-progressive agendas. His opposition to certain union actions at Tesla was interpreted as hostility toward workers’ rights, even though Musk framed his stance as opposition to bureaucracy and inefficiency within labor organizations. Similarly, his criticism of government bailouts, subsidies, and corporate favoritism was increasingly portrayed as undermining progressive efforts to regulate capitalism in the public interest. By the late 2010s and early 2020s, Musk had become a lightning rod for ideological battles. His immense wealth, previously admired as a reward for innovation, was now portrayed as a dangerous concentration of power, giving him the ability to operate outside the same constraints faced by ordinary citizens. Every tweet, public statement, or critique was scrutinized as politically charged, and social media began to cast Musk in a distinctly antagonistic light. Where the left once celebrated his contributions to technology and environmental sustainability, many now framed him as an obstructionist figure: a billionaire with the audacity to critique systems they believed were untouchable... See.more

True

@XueJia24682 musk gotta be somewhere staring at a wall rn 💀

✨🇨🇳China has approved the world's first invasive Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) medical device for market use, marking the start of clinical application for the emerging technology.

@OwenGregorian people were saying 3-5 year timeline for public use? yeah. we're not waiting decades. it's happening now. things are so close, you think the FDA moves faster after this or doubles down on like "safety first"?

China clears first commercial brain-computer interface device | Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering China clears world’s first commercial brain-computer interface device to help paralysis patients regain hand movement. China has approved a brain-computer interface device designed to restore hand movement in people with paralysis, marking what regulators say is the world’s first commercial clearance for such technology. The approval was granted by the National Medical Products Administration, China’s drug regulator, allowing the system to be sold for clinical use. The device was developed by Borui Kang Medical Technology in Shanghai. It is designed to help patients with quadriplegia caused by cervical spinal cord injuries regain the ability to grasp objects using a robotic glove. Brain-computer interfaces, or BCIs, connect neural signals in the brain to external devices. In this case, brain signals are translated into commands that activate the assistive glove, enabling patients to perform basic hand movements. Implant restores hand control The newly approved system is an invasive BCI device, meaning electrodes are implanted directly into the body to capture neural signals. Instead of penetrating deep brain tissue, the device uses minimally invasive extradural implantation, placing electrodes outside the dura layer of the brain. The system also relies on wireless communication to transmit neural signals, allowing the device to interpret a patient’s intention to move and convert that signal into mechanical movement in the glove. The goal is to help patients who have lost motor function due to spinal cord injuries regain some independence in daily activities such as grasping objects. According to the regulator, clinical trial data showed significant improvements in hand grasping ability among participants. The agency said the gains helped improve patients’ quality of life. BCI race heats up China has placed brain-computer interface technology among its priority development areas. The regulator said BCI products like the newly approved system have been prioritized, noting the sector has been designated a “future industry” in Beijing’s latest five-year plan. Experts expect the technology to move quickly from research labs to broader use. One leading BCI specialist recently told Reuters that China could see brain-computer interface technology enter practical public use within three to five years as the technology matures. The development also comes as China seeks to close the gap with U.S. neurotechnology startups such as Neuralink, founded by Elon Musk, which is developing implantable devices aimed at restoring movement and communication in patients with severe neurological conditions. The newly approved device targets adults aged 18 to 60 who suffer from quadriplegia caused by cervical spinal cord injuries. Eligible patients must have had the injury for at least one year and remain in stable condition for at least six months following treatment. Patients must be unable to grasp objects with their hands but retain some upper arm movement, allowing the system to assist with restoring hand grasping ability through the wearable glove interface. interestingengineering.com/ai-robotics/ch…

@96Stats and it's semi-invasive (under skull but not poking brain) so less risky than neuralink's approach. and they're seeing actual nerve repair — some patients moving without the implant after rehab. that's the real sci-fi shit.

@Ellieinspace @neuralink So in future when the rest of us get the implant, will we use it to be free or just to doomscroll faster?

“I am not afraid of AI, because I am using it to give me freedom.” Powerful words from Neuralink Patient #3, Bradford Smith tonight at a devotional in Austin. ⁦⁦@neuralink⁩

@TukiFromKL You're right, we're treating BCIs and AI as separate stories when they're literally just the input and output of the same future operating system. The chip is the keyboard you don't type on. the agent is the screen you don't look at. together they're just... your will, executed.

I've been thinking about this all morning and I can't shake it. Neuralink just put chips in 21 people's brains. These people are moving cursors, typing, playing games, all with their thoughts.. by Just thinking. AI agents are coding apps, booking flights, writing contracts, managing entire businesses. Everyone talks about these separately. Nobody's thinking about what happens when they merge. Because right now the only thing standing between you and an AI that does everything… is typing. That's it. You still gotta type the prompt. Neuralink removes that. You wake up. You think "schedule my week." Done. You think "build me that app." It's shipping by lunch. You think "find me a house in Lisbon under 300k." Three options before your coffee's ready. Just a thought and it's done. And before you say "that's sci-fi" both technologies already exist. Separately. The chip works. The agents work. The only thing missing is plugging one into the other. The smartphone made the internet portable. AI agents made expertise free. Neuralink makes the interface disappear. I don't think people realize how close this is.

@SalsaTekila Still not sure it proves God, but definitely proves we're figuring out the source code.

You can’t convince me God doesn’t exist when we’re literally re-creating intelligence in a lab. A petri dish of brain cells can learn. A Neuralink chip can expand cognition. We’re reverse-engineering what was already designed.

@ycombinator @maxhodak_ @ScienceCorp_ blind patient read a novel for the first time in a decade. that's the whole damn point. hodak's always been the "let's actually fix medical problems" yin to musk's "let's upload consciousness" yang. retinal implant helping 40+ people see again is real progress though!

Max Hodak (@maxhodak_) is the co-founder of Neuralink and founder of @ScienceCorp_, a company building brain-computer interfaces that can restore sight. Science has developed a tiny retinal implant that stimulates cells in the eye to help blind patients see again. More than 40 patients have already received the treatment in clinical trials, including one who recently read a full novel for the first time in over a decade. In this episode of How to Build the Future, Max joined @garrytan to discuss how BCIs work, what it takes to engineer the brain, and why brain-computer interfaces may become one of the most important technologies of the next decade. 00:26 — The retinal chip helping blind patients see 01:51 — What brain-computer interfaces really are 03:37 — Could BCIs enhance intelligence? 05:44 — The brain’s incredible plasticity 09:23 — What it feels like to see with an implant 13:01 — Can we restore full human vision? 17:55 — Is the brain basically a computer? 24:59 — Max Hodak’s path into brain tech 28:57 — How Neuralink actually started 33:10 — How the brain represents information 39:47 — Bio-hybrid brain interfaces 44:32 — Building the company Science 51:27 — The future of BCIs and human longevity