Neuralink's Telepathy Receives FDA 'Breakthrough' Tag
Facts
- Neuralink — billionaire Elon Musk's brain-chip startup — announced Tuesday that its experimental implant for restoring vision in patients, titled Telepathy, had received the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) 'breakthrough device' designation.[1]
- The FDA distributes the designation to medical devices that diagnose or target life-threatening conditions, so as to speed up the development and review process for such technologies.[2][3]
- This designation is different from the FDA approving the device for general sale. It does however mean that Neuralink's creators and developers can now interact with FDA experts during its 'premarket review phase.'[4]
- Musk has stated via X that '[p]rovided the visual cortex is intact,' Blindsight will make it possible for those born blind to see. While he said initially the vision would be 'low resolution,' he claimed further development could lead to it being 'better than natural vision.'[5]
- This comes as Neuralink's Telepathy — an implant meant to enable patients with spinal cord injuries to control computers with their thoughts — has been implanted in two human patients as of August.[6]
Sources: [1]Firstpost, [2]Reuters.com, [3]Punch Newspapers, [4]Inc, [5]X.com and [6]Engadget.
Narratives
- Narrative A, as provided by X.com and Mint. Just when we thought Musk’s contributions were limited to Tesla and SpaceX, he surprises us with something as groundbreaking as Blindsight. This new medical development could be the X owner's great gift to society.
- Narrative B, as provided by TechCrunch and PsyPost. There are numerous biological obstacles related to the eyes — both in people who've lost their sight and those who have been blind since birth — that must be overcome before there's even the slightest hope of a breakthrough with this device. A cure for blindness is a long way off, and we should not be jumping to give Musk credit before any hard evidence of progress is provided.