Current Events > Elon Musk's Neuralink allegedly subjected monkeys to 'extreme suffering'

(+) Yeah! (+)

Mostly because then there's no reason to use a nonhuman animal.

Ah yes, we're gonna solve a spinal cord injury with a brain chip. People are still getting conned this easily huh

how dare billionaires push forward space travel

or try to cure paralysis

This is incredibly ignorant coming from someone who claims to be a scientist. Like to the point where I'm skeptical you've ever been involved in science in any way, shape or form besides pet projects.

Tons of animal research is noninvasive. The majority of behavioral research, certainly. What a ridiculous claim to say that they'd just use humans instead, lol. Why study animals at all if you can just watch humans instead, I guess?

Elon watches too many movies and I've seen this one. No one needs this. How will a brain chip help a paralyzed person walk again anyway? It's gonna fix the physical damage that caused the paralysis? "Damn my spinal cord is severed. Drill holes in my brain man, that'll do it".

Why do people still like that evil man Elon at this point?

So if Jeff Bezos is the real world equivalent of Lex Luthor, does this put Elon Musk on the path to becoming The Thinker?

I mean, if you put anything in a monkeys brain you are probably going to euthanize and dissect it later.

I dunno what people thought happened to these animals.

Frankly I was unaware this was legal at all, especially considering this isn't the government or anything.

Frankly I was unaware this was legal at all, especially considering this isn't the government or anything.

the Ghost in the Shell x Planet of the Apes crossover that no one asked for

the Ghost in the Shell x Planet of the Apes crossover that no one asked for

so far on the plate for Musk this year

-Racist work environments

-Animal abuses

-Satellite failures

-Traffic making his tunnel project obsolete nonsense

is there anything else lmao

Animal rights extremists are threatening nonhuman primate research by harassing scientists. We cannot tolerate these tactics, and we must rally individual, institutional and governmental support to protect scientists.
[continued...]

So he wants to move to human trials after all that happened to monkey test subjects? No thanks

The shit he was trying to make was Theranos level fraud it never had any chance of going to human trials. He doesn't know shit about anything he just had money that he gives to engineers to work on random shit that popped into his head.

im not much of a elon fanboy but this is how every major company runs

Yeah, Elon specifically has this false persona of genius tech dudebro when he's actually just some nobody who has formed a cult of personality.
Reusable mass produced rockets at a fraction of the cost --> Normal rockets at normal price
Hyperloop mass fast transit --> Fucking cars in underground tunnels
Extremely efficient underground tunnel digging at a 10th of the cost --> Normal tunnels at normal cost
Super advanced self driving vehicles on the road by 2017 --> Barely functional assisted driving in 2022
Various vehicles that were going to revolutionize driving --> None have actually come out
Some solar town concept --> Vaporware
Could be missing like ten others.

Could be missing like ten others.

In the Thai cave rescue, when they had a very complicated dive like 80% planned out he was like oh hey I'm gonna build a personal submarine before you can pull this off lmao

Sacrifice is the price for progress.

im not much of a elon fanboy but this is how every major company runs

is there some expectation that the ceo is personally researching every new piece of tech?

Okay, Lord Farquaad.

Would you like to just give up on trying to understand the brain?

No need to get defensive. I'm neither here nor there on torturing animals for science. My comment is in regard to his stoic attitude about someone else's sacrifice. It's the same dumb logic about the animals we eat and "their sacrifice." They aren't making a sacrifice. We're exploiting them. Let's not get euphemistic about the reality of what's going on here.

But the point is that monkey research is essential to understanding the brain.

I'm not sure you can rail against his statement unless you think it's an unneccessary sacrifice (or "exploitation" if you prefer).

Every single one of those monkeys is more valuable and worthy of humane treatment than Elon Musk.

But the point is that monkey research is essential to understanding the brain.

I'm not sure you can rail against his statement unless you think it's an unneccessary sacrifice (or "exploitation" if you prefer).

I'm not trying to be defensive. I'm trying to get across the point that despite it seeming awful, there simply is no replacement. This isn't really well understood by everyone.

Just drop the euphemisms and soft talk. Even in your defense, you say "seems awful." It is awful.

We are not trivializing the ethics of animal use in research. In fact, this is an issue of great concern to neuroscientists. It has long been standard practice to minimize the use of nonhuman primates, reserving these animals solely for studying questions that cannot be assessed effectively in other systems. And the oversight for such experiments is rigorous, with clear guidelines for the treatment of animals aimed at minimizing discomfort. Unfortunately, in the skewed picture of animal research often presented to the public, the strictness of these guidelines and the community's overwhelming compliance are not evident. When these guidelines are breached, repercussions should be decisive. But in the vast majority of cases, scientists treat their animals with the utmost care. Educating the public about the protections in place for laboratory animals and the research community's robust support of these guidelines will help counteract the distorted view presented by animal rights activists. But individual researchers cannot endure this alone without support.

The point is that research animals are cared for, and there's an extremely high level of oversight to make sure that happens. What animal activists want you to see, however is a different picture. Which is why I said "seems awful". Because the picture painted for you really is not representative of reality.

From the article I posted above.