Technology

1083 readers

2 users here now

This is the official technology community of Lemmy.ml for all news related to creation and use of technology, and to facilitate civil, meaningful discussion around it.

Ask in DM before posting product reviews or ads. All such posts otherwise are subject to removal.

Rules:

1: All Lemmy rules apply

2: Do not post low effort posts

3: NEVER post naziped*gore stuff

4: Always post article URLs or their archived version URLs as sources, NOT screenshots. Help the blind users.

5: personal rants of Big Tech CEOs like Elon Musk are unwelcome (does not include posts about their companies affecting wide range of people)

6: no advertisement posts unless verified as legitimate and non-exploitative/non-consumerist

7: crypto related posts, unless essential, are disallowed

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

MinutePhrase@lemmy.ml

569

Elon lied about the monkeys — and he shouldn't be trusted to put his Neuralink chips in human brains. (aus.social)

submitted 1 year ago by ajsadauskas@aus.social to c/technology@lemmy.ml

62 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Elon lied about the monkeys — and he shouldn't be trusted to put his Neuralink chips in human brains.

"They are claiming they are going to put a safe device on the market, and that's why you should invest," Ryan Merkley at the Physicians Committee, told Wired. "And we see his lie as a way to whitewash what happened in these exploratory studies."

Really heartbreaking reading what happened to the monkeys.

People quite rightly think of Elizabeth Holmes as a fraud for making false medical claims about what the Theranos machines could do. So why aren't Elon's claims at Neuralink being held to the same level of scrutiny?

https://futurism.com/neoscope/terrible-things-monkeys-neuralink-implants

@technology #Elon #Neuralink #ElonMusk

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Spzi@lemm.ee 32 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Headline:

TERRIBLE THINGS HAPPENED TO MONKEYS AFTER GETTING NEURALINK IMPLANTS, ACCORDING TO VETERINARY RECORDS

What are these terrible things?

Up to a dozen monkeys suffered grisly fates after receiving a Neuralink implant, including brain swelling and partial paralysis.

First is the case of the monkey "Animal 20." In December 2019, an internal part of the brain implant being inserted into the primate "broke off" during surgery. Later that night, the monkey scratched at the implant site, drawing blood, and yanked on the implant, partially dislodging it. Follow-up surgery discovered that the wound was infected, but that the placement of the implant prevented treatment. The monkey was euthanized the next month.

Before that, a female monkey designated "Animal 15" began to press her head against the ground after receiving the brain implant, pick at the site until it bled, and eventually lost coordination, shivering when personnel entered the room. Scientists discovered she had brain bleeding, and in March 2019, she too was euthanized.

The following year, a primate called "Animal 22" was put down in March 2020 after its brain implant became so loose that the screws attaching it to the skull "could easily be lifted out," according to a necropsy report.

"The failure of this implant can be considered purely mechanical and not exacerbated by infection," the necropsy states.

As Wired notes, that statement alone seemingly contradicts Musk's claims that no monkeys directly died from Neuralink brain implants.

And so would the account of an ex-Neuralink employee, who told Wired that Musk's claims that the monkeys were already terminally ill are "ridiculous," even a "straight-up fabrication."

"We had these monkeys for a year or so before any surgery was performed," the ex-employee said.

The testimony of an anonymous scientist conducting research at CNPRC seems to corroborate the ex-employee's allegations.

"These are pretty young monkeys," they told the magazine. "It's hard to imagine these monkeys, who were not adults, were terminal for some reason."

[–] TehPers 1 points 1 year ago

What the hell. I feel bad for reading that, holy crap. That's some nightmare fuel.