Will cell phones exist in the future? If you trust Elon Musk, founder of the brain implant company Neuralink, you might be inclined to think this technology will become obsolete.
Just when we thought 2024 couldn’t get weirder, in a recent post on X, Musk suggested and responded to an X follower, stating, “In the future, there will be no phones, just Neuralinks.”
In the future, there will be no phones, just Neuralinks
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 17, 2024
Above: Elon Musk responds to X user “Not Elon Musk” (@iamnot_elon) on the prospect of whether brain chips may one day replace mobile phones.
Conversations and press conferences about how brain interface technology will advance have evolved over the past eight years. In 2018, Elon Musk joined Joe Rogan on his podcast to discuss Neuralink’s futuristic possibilities, at which time Musk suggested that Neuralink would allow people to communicate without using words and potentially create interdependent relationships with AI.
But the weirdness didn’t begin there. On August 20, 2020, Musk introduced Gertrude, the first pig implanted with a Neuralink chip, during a live-streamed press conference.
“It’s similar to a Fitbit for your skull with tiny wires,” Musk explained. When asked about the future of Neuralink and human memories, he said people would eventually be able to “save and replay” and “store and back up memories.” He also noted that Neuralink users could “ultimately upload them into a new body or robot body.”
How Weird Could the Future End Up Being?
Neuralink’s sci-fi-like technological advancements have rapidly progressed since the first brain chip was implanted in a monkey in 2021, enabling it to play Pong. Unfortunately, the monkey later died due to complications, though Elon Musk has denied any claims of animal cruelty.
Since then, Musk has progressed to human trials, where Neuralink achieved a significant milestone by implanting its brain chip in its first human patient, Noland Arbaugh, a 30-year-old quadriplegic who volunteered for the procedure. Arbaugh has since demonstrated the ability to play video games and chess using his mind, thanks to the technology known as “The Link.”
What’s next for inventor and businessman Elon Musk and his futuristic predictions? Only time will tell, but if Musk were to be believed, we can expect things to get pretty strange.
“The future is going to be weird,” Musk joked in 2021. So far, that’s more or less accurate.
Chrissy Newton is a PR professional and founder of VOCAB Communications. She hosts the Rebelliously Curious podcast, which can be found on The Debrief’s YouTube Channel. Follow her on X: @ChrissyNewton and at chrissynewton.com.