Science fictions movies, while often fiction, depict a world we wouldn’t want to see. They’re a message on what not to do, on where science should stop, because often consequences of that science may be devastating. Elon Musk may have missed that message.
Tesla CEO and SpaceX boss and currently world’s richest man, Elon Musk recently claimed that one of his startups has wired a monkey to play video games. The monkey has wires going into its brain which enables it the animal to play video games, Tesla boss Musk has said, adding that the monkey is happy.
Musk also said that the videos of the wired monkey will be released in a month or so. He made the revelations while speaking on Clubhouse, a private social app where users host informal conversations.
“We have a monkey with a wireless implant in their skull with tiny wires who can play video games with his mind,” he was quoted as saying by the Bloomberg. “You can’t see where the implant is and he’s a happy monkey. We have the nicest monkey facilities in the world. We want them to play mind-Pong with each other,” he said in a Clubhouse chat. “He’s a happy monkey.”
He explained that the “idea with neural link is addressing brain and spinal injuries” and making up people’s lost capacity with an implanted chip.
“There are primitive versions of this device with wires sticking out of your head, but it’s like a Fitbit in your skull with tiny wires that go into your brain,” he said. “He’s a happy monkey,” added Musk.
The news, however, didn’t go down very well on Twitter, where everyone else, with the exception of Elon Musk, thought of the same scenario: Planet of the Apes.
A quick sum-up of the Planet of Apes (trilogy) involves finding a cure for Alzheimer and testing it on monkeys. A new-born monkey is adopted by the scientist after the project is terminated. The monkey becomes super-intelligent, and is at first harmless — and then well, all hell breaks loose and he manages to free his fellow primates, and result in a clash with law enforcement on the Golden Gate Bridge in an attempt to escape into the forest: but not before causing significant damage to humans.
Seems eerily like the start of Musk’s project?
Elon Musk is not cool with everyone developing robots but it’s cool to rise of the planet of apes? Talk about play with fire
— Sir Sephy (@SirSephy) February 1, 2021
This is exactly how “Planet of The Terminator Apes” starts.
— Brussel Sprouts and Bacon (@TARDIStourguide) February 2, 2021
What a surprise, I watched 3 movies today on The Planet of The Apes.
— Scripw (@scriptedwin) February 2, 2021
This is a perfect time to remind everyone that the Planet of the Apes trilogy is the single best blockbuster trilogy since LoTR. The only trilogy in recent memory that distinctly, impactfully and successfully builds upon it’s preceeding film and surpasses it. https://t.co/dxRXFTgYmi
— Foghorn leghorny for socialism (@_alexpowell_) February 2, 2021
Absolutely not if I saw mobile game ads but they were in my head I’d kill myself
— Safwat Waleed (@Safwatric420) February 1, 2021
Musk has also hinted that human trials may be starting very soon.
Neuralink is working super hard to ensure implant safety & is in close communication with the FDA. If things go well, we might be able to do initial human trials later this year.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 1, 2021
Animal welfare within the realm of science is, naturally, a concern for many groups, but Musk claimed that an inspector from the US Department of Agriculture said that the Neuralink laboratory was “the nicest monkey facility” they had examined.