Monkey Deaths via Musk’s Neuralink; Humans Next? By Brian Simpson
I did not see this reported in the lamestream Australian media, but it is worth thinking about. Elon musk, despite lip service being made to the dangers of runaway artificial intelligence and the emerging technocratic dystopia, is part of the process. His Neuralink, aims to put chips inside the human brain, for interfacing, and to eventually result in a transhuman. But, as has been reported by the IT mag, Wired.com, Neuralink has some explaining to do with its primate studies, where primates had their brain chips. As many as a dozen of Neuralink’s primate subjects had to be euthanized. Musk claims that the primates were close to death, but the sources dispute this. It seems the primates did die, or were injured from the brain implants. Yet, it is full speed ahead on this research aiming for human trials soon:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/20/tech/musk-neuralink-human-trials/index.html
I have no problem with a human trial so long as the first human to get the brain chip is Elon Musk himself. You know, for the advancement of science and all that.
https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-pcrm-neuralink-monkey-deaths/
“Public records reviewed by WIRED, and interviews conducted with a former Neuralink employee and a current researcher at the University of California, Davis primate center, paint a wholly different picture of Neuralink’s animal research. The documents include veterinary records, first made public last year, that contain gruesome portrayals of suffering reportedly endured by as many as a dozen of Neuralink’s primate subjects, all of whom needed to be euthanized. These records could serve as the basis for any potential SEC probe into Musk’s comments about Neuralink, which has faced multiple federal investigations as the company moves toward its goal of releasing the first commercially available brain-computer interface for humans.
The letters to the SEC come from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a nonprofit striving to abolish live animal testing. The group claims that Musk’s comments about the primate deaths were misleading, that he knew them “to be false,” and that investors deserve to hear the truth about the safety, “and thus the marketability,” of Neuralink’s speculative product.
“They are claiming they are going to put a safe device on the market, and that’s why you should invest,” Ryan Merkley, who leads the Physicians Committee’s research into animal-testing alternatives, tells WIRED. “And we see his lie as a way to whitewash what happened in these exploratory studies.”
“Earlier this month, Elon Musk claimed on X-formerly-Twitter that the monkeys who died during Neuralink trials were "terminal" cases "close to death already," making it clear that none of them perished as a result of the biotech company's brain implants.
Documents viewed as part of a new investigation by Wired, however, as well as testimony from a former employee, contradict Musk's claims entirely — and the details are as upsetting as they are damning, adding to a mounting case against the safety of Neuralink's devices.
And the timing couldn't be more exigent either, with Neuralink announcing on Wednesday that it's recruiting subjects for human trials.
Here's the harrowing casualty report, per veterinary records obtained by Wired from the California National Primate Research Center (CNPRC) at UC Davis, the site of the Neuralink primate research. Up to a dozen monkeys suffered grisly fates after receiving a Neuralink implant, including brain swelling and partial paralysis.
First is the case of the monkey "Animal 20." In December 2019, an internal part of the brain implant being inserted into the primate "broke off" during surgery. Later that night, the monkey scratched at the implant site, drawing blood, and yanked on the implant, partially dislodging it. Follow-up surgery discovered that the wound was infected, but that the placement of the implant prevented treatment. The monkey was euthanized the next month.
Before that, a female monkey designated "Animal 15" began to press her head against the ground after receiving the brain implant, pick at the site until it bled, and eventually lost coordination, shivering when personnel entered the room. Scientists discovered she had brain bleeding, and in March 2019, she too was euthanized.
The following year, a primate called "Animal 22" was put down in March 2020 after its brain implant became so loose that the screws attaching it to the skull "could easily be lifted out," according to a necropsy report.
"The failure of this implant can be considered purely mechanical and not exacerbated by infection," the necropsy states.
As Wired notes, that statement alone seemingly contradicts Musk's claims that no monkeys directly died from Neuralink brain implants.
And so would the account of an ex-Neuralink employee, who told Wired that Musk's claims that the monkeys were already terminally ill are "ridiculous," even a "straight-up fabrication."
"We had these monkeys for a year or so before any surgery was performed," the ex-employee said.
The testimony of an anonymous scientist conducting research at CNPRC seems to corroborate the ex-employee's allegations.
"These are pretty young monkeys," they told the magazine. "It's hard to imagine these monkeys, who were not adults, were terminal for some reason."
To add to Neuralink's problems, an ethics group known as the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has sent letters to the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), demanding that it investigate Musk's suspect claims.
"They are claiming they are going to put a safe device on the market, and that's why you should invest," Ryan Merkley at the Physicians Committee, told Wired. "And we see his lie as a way to whitewash what happened in these exploratory studies."
The committee's case hinges on the argument that Musk's posts on X count as a source of investor news, which given his follower count north of 150 million on the platform, is arguably reasonable. Musk's tweets have reach — and consequences — whether he's willing to accept them or not.
For now, we'll have to wait and see what the SEC makes of the committee's findings, but we shudder to think of the impact these implants could have in humans, should the trials proceed, given what we've learned.”
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