The Future of Mind Games

In one of the biggest milestones, Elon Musk had announced the success of his Neuralink chip being implanted into a patient for the first time at the start of the year. Now, some of its interesting features and abilities are being put to the test.

The patient to receive the chip, 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh, lives paralyzed from the neck down and volunteered to experiment with the Neuralink. What can he do with it? One task is his ability to telepathically play chess with a computer.

The Neuralink chip has granted him the ability to move the computer cursor purely by the inner will of his mind. 

Civilization VI is another, more intricate and complicated game he can also play.

"One of the first times you gave me complete control over this, I actually stayed up until 6 a.m. playing Civilization VI…” Said Arbaugh to the developers. “It was awesome. I basically had given up playing that game and y'all gave me the ability to do that again.”

Mind Over Matter

In a video of him shared by X, Arbaugh can be seen amazingly playing chess on his computer without touching any sort of instruments.

“I love playing chess, and that’s one of the things y’all have enabled me to do–something I wasn’t really able to do the last few years, especially not like this.”

Controversy exists on the ethics and morals of merging the brain with electronics, but Arbaugh is thankful for it and commented that the procedure was easy and painless, leaving no secondary cognitive impairment.

The 2020s Through A Different Lens

One may conjecture what is stopping virtual reality from taking off. VR headsets are, indeed, both impressive and immersive, but come with flaws.

Headsets are bulky, expensive and, most importantly, the user cannot see the real world at the same time.

What is an alternative option? One, which has been the dream of sci-fi writers and directors, is an invisible camera lens able to be placed over the eye(s).

Science fiction? Not to Gabriel Mercier.

Seeing Into the Future

Mercier and his peers at the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology have developed near-invisible photodetectors that can potentially be placed on any object–including the eyes. In other words, an invisible camera contact lens.

“The operation and appearance of transparent image sensors present a fundamental shift in how we think about cameras and imaging, as these devices can be concealed in plain sight,” said the team.

The lenses (which are not solely bound to eye-tracking), utilize graphene-based quantum dots. These dots are arranged in a sort of grid and, when light passes through, most of the photons slip through the graphene–thus making the lens unseeable.

“One particular application where the impact of image sensors has grown significantly is eye-tracking,” reads their dissertation. “[As] they offer a less invasive experience compared to specialized contact lenses, while providing better accuracy than electronic potential measurements.”

Potential Applications

Mercier explains that eye-tracking provides a host of functionalities and uses, such as comprehending texts, understanding memory, identifying schizophrenia, analyzing driving experiences and many more.

Indeed, an invisible eye camera would complement another interface, such as Neuralink in the brain, possibly allowing for far greater abilities for humans.

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