According to a post on his Twitter (X) page, Neuralink’s first patient, Nolan Arbaugh, is thriving thanks to the chip that was implanted into his skull seven months ago.
The Neuralink chip, which Arbaugh has nicknamed Eve, is helping him to regain some of the brain and bodily functionality that he lost after a diving accident eight years ago.
Though there have been some challenges with the chip, including a period in which its functionality was declining, Arbaugh has been working daily with Neuralink to calibrate the chip and improve it for future patients – as well, of course, as making his own life better too.
In the Tweet, Arbaugh explains his daily processes with Eve and the Neuralink staff:
“I’m in session with the great staff at Neuralink Monday through Friday for roughly four hours each day. I’m working on using different body parts and movements for left, right, and middle click. I’m also doing lots of work with handwriting. As in, imagining I’m holding a pencil, and writing characters to outputting keystrokes.
I’m also doing lots of experiments on a daily basis to try and make everything better for all those who come after me. Whether that’s improving the user interface, improving the user experience, or just overall performance. And of course, I’m constantly pushing myself to try and break as many records as I can. I’m so close to breaking a couple more!”
The chip, which is incredibly thin, around the size of a coin, works by using electrical signals to transmit neural signals in the brain.
Through its decoding of signals from individual neurons, Neuralink allows patients who are paralyzed to control technology using their thoughts.
It is through this innovative brain chip that Arbaugh has been able to once again partake in his favorite pastimes, as well as devoting much of his time to academic study.
The incredible amount of work Arbaugh is doing on a daily basis is explained in his post:
“Currently, I’m learning French and Japanese for roughly three hours a day using a few different resources. I also decided to relearn my math from the ground up in preparation for hopefully going back to school one day. I spend at least an hour reading each day, and I’ve begun my creative writing again.”
In the post, Arbaugh explains his ultimate ambition to go back to college, either to continue his degree or pick up a new area of study in neuroscience.
But his ambitions go way beyond academia, with Arbaugh citing numerous goals including publishing his creative writing, starting a charity, and building his parents a home.
It is clear that the Neuralink chip has been life changing for Arbaugh, and his commitment to a seriously heavy workload is inspiring. Referring to himself and his chip as ‘P1’, noting that he is the pioneering patient on whom so much of the future of brain chips will be modelled, Arbaugh is nothing but grateful in his post:
“Ultimately, I’m having a blast and my life has improved so much in such a short time. It’s hard to even put into words.”
It really is incredible how much the neuroscientists have achieved so far – and this is only the beginning.
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