Elon Musk’s vision of the future takes another step forward
A pig now has one of his implants in its brain
IN IDLE MOMENTS, people sometimes dream about the future. Of cars that can drive themselves. Of travelling to other planets. Of moving objects by the power of thought. Whichever particular dream you have, though, Elon Musk is probably trying to make it real. Self-driving cars and travel to Mars are the provinces of two of his firms, Tesla and SpaceX respectively. Moving objects by the power of thought is the province of a third, Neuralink. And on August 28th, at a presentation broadcast over the internet, Mr Musk showed off the firm’s progress. The highlight was the appearance of Gertrude, a pig with a chip implanted into her brain.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “And pigs may drive”
From the September 5th 2020 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionDiscover more
Why China is building a Starlink system of its own
When it is finished, Qianfan could number 14,000 satellites
Lots of hunting. Not much gathering. The diet of early Americans
What they ate is given away by the isotopes in their bodies
Stimulating parts of the brain can help the paralysed to walk again
Implanted electrodes allowed one man to climb stairs unaided
Can anyone realistically challenge SpaceX’s launch supremacy?
And if its boss now tries to kill NASA’s own heavy lifter, will that matter?
Dreams of asteroid mining, orbital manufacturing and much more
Ideas for making money in orbit that seemed mad in the 1960s now look sane
Elon Musk is causing problems for the Royal Society
His continued membership has led to a high-profile resignation