About The Episode:
Brain-Machine-Interface, also known more generally as Neurotech. Popularized by Elon Musk’s Neuralink, and one of the most influential technologies that led to the podcast’s rebranding and re-focus on a more general set of emerging and future technologies is what we’ll be looking at today. What is it, what can it do, and what are it’s applications and impacts? Both current and future.
About The Guest:
My guest David Moses is a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California San Francisco, as part of the Edward Chang Lab. He has numerous publications that deal with how machine learning is able to decode speech from brain activity, and has been overseeing a lot of the research connected to one of the more high-profile studies that deal with an implanted Brain Computer Interface device in a living human patient.
Time Codes:
03:38 – General Summary of Neurotechnology
05:25 – Why AI is important for Neurotechnology
06:50 – Intro to David Moses
07:40 – Interview Begins
10:50 – David’s Research on how to help a paralyzed patient ‘speak’ again using BCI tech.
16:25 – How BCI tech can improve
19:30 – Current Successful benefit of BCI tech for patients
21:00 – Invasive vs Non-invasive tech and will invasive tech still be relevant in 10 years
23:30 – What is exciting about BCI tech for the future?
26:40 – Will we be able to link to our digital technology and control it with our ‘minds’?
Links and Sources:
UCSF Profile and publications: https://profiles.ucsf.edu/david.moses
Edward Chang Lab: https://changlab.ucsf.edu/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-moses-945a3894/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AtDavidMoses
NPR article on David’s research: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/07/14/1016028911/experimental-brain-implant-lets-man-with-paralysis-turn-his-thoughts-into-words