Neuralink has finally brought forth the first human being to get a chip implant. 29-year-old Nolan Arbaugh had a severe accident when he was 21 years old. After the accident he was unable to use his limbs. “So I’m paralyzed from below the shoulders,” he said while sitting in a wheelchair. “I have no sensation or movement below my injury.” However Nolan now says that Neuralink has changed his life for the better.
It used to be a struggle for Nolan to use a computer earlier, however, now it is not that big an issue. He uses his Neuralink chip to play chess on his laptop. The implant uses brain signal and translates them into bluetooth signals which are then used to control electronic devices. “From there, it just became intuitive for me to start imagining the cursor moving. Basically, it was like using the Force on a cursor and I could get it to move wherever I wanted,” he explained, referencing Star Wars.
“It’s crazy. It really is. It’s so cool. I’m so freaking lucky to be a part of this,” he added during the nine-minute live stream. “Everyday, it seems like we’re learning new stuff.”
Another huge positive for Nolan is the fact that he was able to play his favorite PC game Civilization VI for a staggering 8 hours. Previously it was unthinkable for Nolan to play for that long. The only thing halted play for him was the fact the chip had to e charged wirelessly.
“It was awesome. I had basically given up on playing that game,” he said, citing the physical toll of playing the strategy title before the implant. “I have to worry about a lot of things, like getting pressure sores. Things like that…Now I can just literally lie in my bed and play to my heart’s content.”
Neuralink held the live stream as the company continues to recruit human patients to participate in the trials for the implant.