Musk claims to have his brain on the cloud. Is this science or a hoax?

Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s simple comment on the other side of the ocean once again triggered an unprecedented discussion on “brain-computer interface” in the domestic technology industry.

Recently, Dogecoin co-founder Billy Marcus asked on Twitter, “If you uploaded your brain to the cloud and talked to a virtual version of yourself. Does that mean Have you been rebuilt?" In response to this question, Musk commented, "Already did it."

After Musk's comment was issued, It soon triggered a discussion in the domestic technology circle on "how to upload the brain to the cloud." Zhou Hongyi, founder and CEO of 360 Company, posted two consecutive Weibo posts to express his views, believing that brain-computer interfaces can be used in clinical medicine. To treat and help some disabled people, patients with mental illness, etc., but using brain-computer interfaces in the widespread human world is "a scary thing."

The digitization of human society, the digitization of the entire society, and even the digitization of people will be an irreversible trend. Zhou Hongyi stated that he actively embraces digitalization, but he has reservations about brain-computer interface technology. "Once the brain-computer interface connects people to the Internet, it is like opening a 'Pandora's Box'. It is very likely that some people will develop and use network attack techniques to invade your brain. At that time, do we still need to study The human brain’s firewall and the human brain’s anti-virus software? We still have to use our human brain security guards to check and kill him,” Zhou Hongyi said. In his view, "Brain-computer interface technology will be a huge challenge to global digital security. Especially once the human brain starts to be connected to the Internet, the security of brain data will also become a new proposition."

There are many people who hold the same views as Zhou Hongyi. On Weibo, people including Chinese communications industry observer Xiang Ligang have reservations about Musk’s “brain uploading to the cloud”, and even Considered "cheating". One side is enthusiastically applauding, while the other side is restrained in criticizing. Behind the almost diametrically opposed attitudes of Musk, Zhou Hongyi and others towards the implementation and application of "cloud brain" technology, what is the real current status of the brain-computer interface industry?

Uploading your brain to the cloud is science or fraud?

Shortly after Musk made the comment "Already did it", a message "Musk said he had uploaded his brain to the cloud" quickly appeared on Weibo's hot search. Among the many voices of discussion, criticism and doubts account for the majority.

In the comment area, netizens said, "It's a big scam, just like Dogecoin", "To be honest, I don't believe it, even he can't do this", "He just wants to attract investment." . In the view of some netizens, if AI and biotechnology are developed without restraint, it is tantamount to playing with fire and will "bring disaster to mankind sooner or later."

China communications industry observer Xiang Ligang also spoke directly, saying, “I support brain-computer interface, by decoding the operating mechanism of the human brain, and then comparing it with the current Combining information technology means to understand the basic laws of human brain operation. This is very valuable and meaningful in the development of medical and human information technology. But I think today all claims to have achieved human-brain interaction, including virtual humans, This is all a scam. This is the same trick as the one-drop blood test for all diseases that once appeared in the United States."

Xiang Ligang said bluntly that people's perception of the world is through our sensory organs. The eyes, ears, nose, tongue, mouth, and skin collect information, convert the collected information into bioelectricity, and transmit it to the brain for calculation and storage. The brain then converts the calculation results into bioelectricity and transmits them to various organs of the human body to control the organs. One very important thing here is encoding and decoding information. "The information that bioelectricity must carry must be encoded and then decoded. Musk has never said anything about encoding and decoding. He has always used some short and specious language to describe the results. To put it bluntly, this is To attract attention and trick everyone into paying attention."

In his view, projects such as human brain-computer interface are still very superficial, superficial and basic, far from being able to truly understand the operation of the brain. mechanism. "What is Musk's own brain? Even he himself doesn't know how it works, let alone encoding and transmitting information."

Of course, while some people objected, there were also a few voices that said, "Everyone may have over-interpreted the information. Musk himself has never directly said or clearly affirmed that he has uploaded his brain to the cloud and I talked with the virtual version of myself." When communicating with Sina Technology, Han Bicheng, founder and CEO of BrainCo, said, "From beginning to end, Musk just said 'Already did it' when replying to others."

According to Han Bicheng, in fact, through brain-computer interface technology, a part of the electrical signal data that appears in the brain when a person is exercising or communicating is uploaded to the cloud, and then the data is decoded with the help of brain-computer interface technology. When the machine understands what the data wants After expressing the intention, these signals are then converted into control instructions to control external devices. This technology can already be realized through non-invasive technology. However, it is still far from reaching the level where communication and interaction can be carried out.

“I think Musk’s ‘Already did it’ should be a joke.” Han Bicheng said.

In fields such as medical and general health, has brain-computer interface begun to be implemented?

Last April, Neuralink, a brain-computer interface company founded by Musk, released a 3 minute and 28 second video showing a 9-year-old monkey playing an electronic table tennis game with his mind. According to reports, a rechargeable chip is implanted in the monkey's skull to control the game remotely. The monkey only needs to imagine how to move the joystick in its brain, and it can play the ping pong game entirely with its thoughts.

At that time, Musk sent 6 tweets in a row to introduce this technological achievement, and also praised Neuralink, the brain-computer interface company he invested in. . This video of a monkey playing table tennis has also received widespread attention on platforms such as YouTube.

Now, with the fermentation of the "brain uploading to the cloud" incident, the outside world's attention to brain-computer interfaces has once again increased. Although this incident caused a lot of controversy, it also reflected the outside world's strong interest in brain-computer interface technology and its development. "The brain is the last frontier of science, and the general public has always paid very high attention to its research progress and attention."

In Han Bicheng's view, although we currently want to truly realize the human brain and even " The cloud upload of "consciousness" still needs to wait for the next major scientific research paradigm breakthrough, but this does not affect the current development of brain-computer interface technology.

In fields such as medical rehabilitation and general health, brain-computer interface technology is currently recognized as having the broadest application scenarios and ideal implementation effects. Take the smart bionic hand developed by Qiangnao Technology as an example. According to reports, "Currently, the wearer only needs about two minutes of familiarity and adaptation after wearing it, and then he can naturally control the prosthetic hand through his thoughts and arm muscle movements, making some comparisons." Refined movements." In addition, in fields such as autism intervention, Alzheimer's management, sleep therapy, and children's concentration improvement, brain-computer interface-related technologies are also being widely used.

Wang Haochong, General Manager of Zhentai Intelligent Technology, revealed to Sina Technology, "Through brain-computer interface technology, in some fields of arm movement control, the industry's technology has been able to achieve an accuracy of more than 90%." In his view, all human activities, language and thoughts originate from the brain, and the essence of brain activity is neuron discharge and electrical signal transmission. The brain-computer interface is to artificially build pathways between these electrical signals and external devices to realize the exchange of information. Direct exchange. It is a valuable thing to allow patients to establish the ability to communicate with external devices such as computers and robotic arms through brain-computer interface technology.

There are still problems that need to be solved urgently, and more results will be implemented in the next 3-5 years

Although it is still questioned and may also face problems in scientific ethics, technical safety and other aspects, but Technologies related to brain-computer interfaces are also taking root in specific fields such as medical care, and are beginning to enter the lives of some special groups.

"Science and technology have always been neutral. The key is to see where it is used and who uses it. This is very important." Yang Jinchen, a senior scientist at Naoqiang Technology, believes that any technology In the process of development, we will face phenomena that are unethical and not accepted by the public. The solution is to establish an open and transparent communication mechanism to reduce the public's cognitive barriers to this matter and allow everyone to participate together. Come in to discuss and supervise together, discover and solve problems together.

"I predict that in the next 3-5 years, there will be some more specific products and commercialization results in this industry." Wang Haochong said. Yang Jinchen further said, “There may be a cross-generation product similar to the ‘iPhone4’ in the mobile era.”

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