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Valve CEO Gabe Newell’s Neuralink competitor is expecting its first brain chip this year
(www.theverge.com)
There’s a Black Mirror episode about this…
this post was submitted on 25 May 2025
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All your going to end up with is a subscription on your own brain and possibly ads
Wait what
I guess it's nice to have competing companies doing this stuff even if it's not for me
I can understand the medical advances this opens, but I hope there can be non implant options for more "casual" options. I've found Gabe's brain interface research fascinating for years- and it feels so sci-fi we're talking about real applications now.
It's highly likely it will be restricted to implants only for quite some time, judging by how difficult it already is that way!
Yes, but honestly the ad-free Real Life+ plan is totally worth the extra $49.95/month just to avoid the ads from interrupting when you’re driving, performing root canals or operating a bandsaw.
No, it's totally free. No ads. It just uses your data to serve ads elsewhere.
Oh, we told you 2 years ago, it would stay that way and you've had irreversible brain surgery now. Well, the servers cost a lot to keep running and so, it was inevitable really. We can't continue to provide the service without charging something. Oh, and there's ads now.
Oh, you've been happily paying. Well, now we have analysed your data and determined you can afford to pay more. Totally a choice. You can cancel anytime. But once the chop is switched off, some people experience a deterioration in executive functioning. And now that it's common, you can't travel or drive without an activated chip. And of course Tesla still hasn't got self driving cars, despite calling their latest package 'its totally self driving now pinky promise'.
One of the new Black Mirror episodes is exactly this. I think episode 1, with Rashida Jones & Chris O'Dowd
He's just doing this so he can run doom.
Something something Half Life 3
But also, fuck no. I would never trust modern software or hardware companies to develop something that is going to be connected to my brain. We can't even trust social media or AI companies not to fuck us up without the physical connection.
It is completely out of the question to trust any modern technology company with something like a brain interface.
Black Mirror comes to life: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_People_(Black_Mirror)
Yup, other episodes tie into this as well
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Christmas_(Black_Mirror)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_Against_Fire
And my personal favorite episode, which probably is more fitting for the Gabe Newell side of things
Might change your tune if you're paraplegic
Why? Then I'd just be a technologically dependent parapalegic who's brain is now subject to malware and EULA changes.
No thanks
Tell that to the blind people with cybernetic eye implants that have been discontinued and are now broken. Or people with implanted insulin pumps from now defunct companies.
These are problems that are already occurring with less serious implanted medical technology.
Bingo. Being handicapped in any way doesn't make you less vulnerable to exploitation or decisions driven by shareholders and money. In a lot of cases, it actually increases the chances from my perspective.
I get where you're coming from, but being paraplegic doesn't make Musk and Newell any less driven by money. Maybe Newell will surprise me and make it open source, which would help me see it as an actual philanthropic venture.
If society was headed towards Star Trek I'd be less apprehensive, but as it is we're in for an even more bleak version of 1984 somehow.
Definitely. People need to understand this tech isn't for the average person, but there are still a lot of people that would definitely benefit from it. If you told someone scientists are researching drilling machines to your bone you'd get similar WTF responses, but that's how modern limb replacement works.
I don't see limb replacements this way at all, but typically limb replacements also do not rely on 3rd party services that might disappear at any time and are almost purely mechanical.
My brother lost his left arm, and what he is getting is controlled entirely by the nub with no outside influence or implanted microchips.
Not anywhere near to the level he would have with direct nerve interaction. Just because you all don't understand this or the need doesn't mean others are as ignorant. Or willing to settle for lessor functionality.
I never said something like direct nerve interaction is terrible or nonexistent. My brother also does not like the idea of having something implanted, and would much rather have a mechanical device that he has a chance to repair himself should anything break. That's not being ignorant to anything, just pragmatic.
What I did say is not to trust a money-making business to do it right and not leave you high and dry if they go belly-up.
ETA: also, under the USA healthcare system, something like you suggest is unaffordable for a good chunk of people and the VA only approved the mechanical device any way.
You essentially said it's pointless or unneeded because your relative can get along fine without it. That's bias and completely ignores others not like your anecdote. No one was talking about cost only functionality. You gonna move the goal posts again.
This is part of what frustrates me so much about these brain chips. They feel far too much like a solution in search of a problem when we have so many other non-invasive options for interface between the body and "cybernetics", even if we're looking for things "at the speed of thought".
It just should be owned by the people, and not multi-billionaire companies who usenit to extort profit from sick and people with disabilities
That's completely fair.
But think of the ads they could play right into your brain!!
Good news! They can already do this!
The only existing direct interfaces I know of are cochlear implants. You’d have to pair them with something that can play an ad, like a phone with Spotify, but they can deliver it directly through the auditory nerve to the cochlear nucleus of the brain stem.
What a time to be alive!
Now with 50% less barbarism!
You mean... With more convenience!
Shit, you're right. I was just using what engineering gave me, but yours tested much better with the focus groups. Let me know if you ever want to transfer from QA to Marketing, you got a real future here 👈😉👈
Sales pitch 101. There's only positives.