Neuralink plans to show off the device on a livestream |
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Welcome to Decrypted, Digital Trends' new daily newsletter guiding you through the latest news in the world of tech, with insights from our senior writers. |
Elon Musk's Neuralink to give live demo today |
By Will Nicol, Senior Writer
The world lurches closer to a cyberpunk future today as Elon Musk's brain-hacking company Neuralink will show off the fruits of its research on a livestream at 3 p.m. PT. One of Musk's more enigmatic projects, Neuralink aims to create a "high-bandwidth" brain-machine interface that would allow humans to interact with computers via their mind alone.
According to a white paper written in 2019, Neuralink's approach involves inserting ultrafine threads of electrodes into the brain. Due to the difficulty involved, the surgery would be done by a specialized robot. The most immediate uses for such a device would be clinical: Brain-controlled prosthetics already exist, but according to Neuralink, previous attempts have "been critically limited by the inability to record from large numbers of neurons." Neuralink's approach could offer significantly finer control over prosthetics, treat neurological disorders, and even regulate hormones.
It's an exciting concept, although we have some concerns. If you install a Neuralink device into your brain, are you giving the corporation access to your mental data? Would these devices be vulnerable to hackers? Hopefully, we'll have a better sense of what this machine can and can't do after the stream. |
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Why we're not reviewing Tenet |
By Rick Marshall, Contributor
Indoor movie theaters are beginning to reopen around the U.S., but in some regions, movie fans and film critics are being forced to make a decision with life-threatening implications: Either follow the coronavirus safety recommendations of the CDC and health experts or see Christopher Nolan's new film, Tenet.
There's plenty of evidence that spending three hours in an indoor theater with a crowd of strangers poses a danger, so is the much-anticipated film worth the risk of contributing to a new flare-up of the COVID-19 coronavirus? In his latest article, DT's film reviewer Rick Marshall explains why decisions made by Nolan, movie theater chains, and Tenet studio Warner Bros. Pictures have led us to decide not to review the film.
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From the writer of The Meg comes a virtual sea monster aquarium |
By Drew Prindle, Features Editor
Remember The Meg? That 2018 movie where Jason Statham goes head-to-head with a giant prehistoric shark? Well, as it turns out, that movie was based on a series of books by a guy named Steve Alten, and he hasn't just been resting on his laurels after he got that movie deal. In fact, his most recent project just launched today, and it makes The Meg seem like a tadpole.
The project in question is The Sea Monster Cove: a five-star aquarium-themed resort located on Maug, a remote island in the Western Pacific. At the resort, guests can get an up-close view of giant primordial sea monsters swimming freely in enormous underwater enclosures. It's basically like an aquatic version of Jurassic Park.
Of course, The Sea Monster Cove isn't a real place. At least, it's not real in the sense that it's someplace you can actually go visit in person. Instead, it is a virtual vacation spot you can visit through a virtual reality headset.
"I've invested a lot of money into this project, probably a lot more than I could afford," Alten told Digital Trends in an exclusive interview. "I'm way out on a limb on this one, but that's where the fruit grows. There's no reward without risk."
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What we're reading this week |
- In Haruki Murakami's short story The Kingdom That Failed, a man stumbles across an old acquaintance in the middle of an argument.
- In a critique of the comedy series Ramy, Rafia Zakaria explores the show's value as an act of Muslim representation, but also its deficiencies.
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What we're watching: After Life on Netflix |
By Rob Oster, Copy Chief Ricky Gervais' razor-tongued brand of put-down humor has always been a little off-putting to me -- with the exception of his stints as an awards show emcee. It's always fun to see celebrities get roasted -- especially when they really deserve it -- and the comedian's take-no-prisoners approach is well-suited to the task. But it's surprising to me how much I enjoyed After Life, where his grieving main character absolutely eviscerates a charming cast of quirky characters that I grew to love. That's mainly because Gervais' character, Tony, has some right to be angry at the world. A reporter at a free newspaper in a small English town, Tony is deeply mired in heartbreak over the death of his wife, Lisa, to cancer. The only thing that seems to be keeping him from ending it all himself and joining her is his promise to look after their dog. He spends his days saying whatever he likes to whomever he likes, no matter how hurtful it may be, and his nights crying along to videos of his dearly departed spouse. Sounds like a laugh a minute, right? Astonishingly, it is. While Gervais' cutting remarks can be cringe-inducing, they're also usually hilarious and on the mark. The sharpness of the barbs is blunted by the characters' general good nature and their understanding of what Tony is going through. Speaking of characters, the show is packed with great ones, from a slacker mailman, to the local sex worker (don't call her a prostitute) with a heart of gold, to Tony's wishy-washy boss/brother-in-law. The performances are aces across the board, with the wonderful Penelope Wilton a real standout as a widow Tony meets at the cemetery. The first two six-episode season are on Netflix, and a third season is in the works.
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