Neuralink Claims First Human Patient Is Playing Runescape, Slay The Spire In His Head
After becoming the first human to receive Neuralink’s N1 implant back in January, 29-year-old quadriplegic Noland Arbaugh is reportedly playing Old School Runescape, Slay The Spire, and a number of other popular games using the implant and signals from his brain.
“I’m beating my friends in games that, as a quadriplegic, I should not be beating them in,” Arbaugh said in a recent Neuralink blog post, adding, “Y’all are giving me too much, it’s like a luxury overload. I haven’t been able to do these things in 8 years, and now I don’t know where to even start allocating my attention.”
Arbaugh, who was left paralyzed from the shoulders down after a 2016 car accident, previously depended on an assistive device known as a mouth stick–a tool that allows users to operate a touchscreen when placed in the mouth, but wasn’t satisfied with the device, as he needed a caregiver nearby if he wanted to use it, and using the mouth stick also carried the risk of developing side-effects like pressure sores and muscle spasms. Additionally, he couldn’t speak while using the device.