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Valve CEO Gabe Newell’s Neuralink competitor is expecting its first brain chip this year
(www.theverge.com)
this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2025
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Technology
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Why is everyone shitting on these guys trying to improve life for people with debilitating diseases or curing brain cancer?
From OP article:
Starfish site talking about therapies being researched https://starfishneuroscience.com/research/
People are tired of hearing billionaire lies. By default the behavior that allowed them to gain such wealth is lack of empathy and greed, which directly conflict with the PR driven news articles commonly linked to them.
That is certainly not the case with Gaben
You have know idea if it is or isn't. None of us do. You can trust him if you want, but a long history of rich assholes screwing over everyone else for their own gain says that's a mistake. Gabe might be the least untrustworthy billionaire, but that's not saying a whole lot.
What is there that we currently need to trust?
Is that what it is for? Or is it another tool to steal our privacy and shove adds directly into our brain? These billionaires always claim they're trying to save the world.
There are many many good reasons for developing the technology. It's so bleeding edge though only some people will try it. Billionaires who don't need to ask anyone else are some of the most likely people to be doing this.
But there have already been incredible strides made with some of the projects that have had human trials.
Where I think we all need to really put them under the spotlight is what do they do for the people who got these when the companies shit the bed? Whomever gets this tech needs to be taken care of. This isn't something they should be allowed to walk away from if they don't like the direction the research takes or if they just decide they no longer want to develop it. And think that line of responsibility is exactly at human trials .
If they start, they shouldn't be allowed to stop.
Some readings for those interested in it
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Harbisson?wprov=sfla1
https://futurism.com/health-medicine/paralyzed-first-person-shooter-brain-implant
https://spectrum.ieee.org/bionic-eye-obsolete
https://www.vox.com/unexplainable/411102/neuroscience-technology-consumer-products-safety-maintenance
Because "brain chip that reads your mind to help with depression/bipolar disorder" is barely a hop, skip and a jump from all sorts of fun dystopian nightmares. On the tame end, something that already happens, is the makers of implantable devices going out of business; and then you have unsupported, degrading medical hardware implanted inside you that, if it malfunctions or breaks, you're just stuck with and can't get it fixed. Bad enough when that malfunction is with a vision- or hearing-related implant, but a brain chip could fuck up all sorts of things if it goes wrong.
On the more fanciful, yet-to-be-realized end of possible terrifying outcomes, the sky's the limit -- mind-reading, malware, rudimentary mind-control, the list goes on. I realize that sounds very sci-fi and like I'm a paranoid crackpot, but this is actually far more viable than you might believe at first. If they're actively already trying to make them effective at treating mental disorders, if they are indeed effective, then that doesn't require much further tweaking to go from treating them to causing them.
Truthfully, BCIs have the potential to be so dangerous that they either should not be developed or should only be developed with open standards and user control in mind. And absolutely not developed by for-profit entertainment companies.