ColdFusion - Elon Musk’s Neuralink – Ex-Employees Reveal Company Struggles

Episode Date: July 14, 2026

Limited Edition ColdFusion Merch: INTERNATIONAL: https://store.coldfusioncollective.com/ AUSTRALIA: https://shop.coldfusioncollective.com/ Previous Neuralink Episode (A Deeper Look): https://youtu.be/9uRK8Delzvk --- About ColdFusion --- ColdFusion is an Australian based online media company independently run by Dagogo Altraide since 2009. Topics cover anything in science, technology, history and business in a calm and relaxed environment. If you enjoy my content, please consider subscribing! I'm also on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ColdFusion_TV Bitcoin address: 13SjyCXPB9o3iN4LitYQ2wYKeqYTShPub8 --- New Thinking Book written by Dagogo Altraide --- This book was rated the 9th best technology history book by book authority. In the book you’ll learn the stories of those who invented the things we use everyday and how it all fits together to form our modern world. Get the book on Amazon: http://bit.ly/NewThinkingbook Get the book on Google Play: http://bit.ly/NewThinkingGooglePlay https://newthinkingbook.squarespace.com/about/ --- ColdFusion Social Media --- » Twitter | @ColdFusion_TV » Instagram | coldfusiontv » Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/ColdFusionTV --- ColdFusion Podcast links --- Google Podcasts - http://bit.ly/2xo8doR Apple Podcasts - https://apple.co/2WI2IeU Spotify - https://spoti.fi/2KT1taB Stitcher - http://bit.ly/2WI4f4E //Soundtrack// Kazukii – Milo Instupendo – Boy Kevin MacInnis - Miss the Feeling of Being Missed Andre Sobota - Concluded (Original Mix) Relatvty - Until Then Lemongrass – Heartbreaker Burn Water - Nostalgia Dreams » Music I produce | http://burnwater.bandcamp.com or » http://www.soundcloud.com/burnwater » https://www.patreon.com/ColdFusion_TV » Collection of music used in videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOrJJKW31OA Producer: Dagogo Altraide Why are you still reading? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We'll cover the updates of the Neuralink device working in animals, but we'll also take a deeper look into Neuralink Corporation and what's been happening behind the scenes. According to ex-employees, there's been some conflict within the Neurrelink company walls, so let's get into it. You are watching Tull Fusion TV. So starting with a quick overview and recap, Neuralink is a brain machine interface that will be connected to the brain soft tissue via a thousand tiny wires. These tiny wires are connected and inserted into the brain by a robot that can be likened onto a sewing machine.

According to early animal testing, these implants don't cause any bleeding or noticeable trauma on the soft tissue. Future patients should be up and out of the hospital within a few hours. within a few hours and there's no need for general anesthesia. The medium-term aim of the Neuralink product is to bring to market a device which can help with certain severe brain injuries. The end results will be allowing paraplegics to regain motor function, make the blind sea again, or even help with anxiety. So here's a quick overview of how it works. This device, with the help of algorithms, is able to send voltages to the brain and receive voltage from the brain. In other words, the neural link is able to read and write to the brain.

I've already done an episode explaining how this works and the technical details behind it. It's an absolutely fascinating watch if you've missed it. I'll leave a link below. Recently, the research team took to the stage to give some updates. Overall, the updates covered things like clarifying security concerns and also how they're making animal testing ethical and some other things. But probably the most notable, the most notable, was the demonstration of the long-term use of a neural link in a pig for the past two months and counting. They demonstrated the implant sensing pulses from the brain whenever the pig's snout touch something. They outputted this information in the form of audio beeps.

And this neuralink is implanted in the region of the brain that, where the snout is located, which is actually quite a large part of a pig's brain. There was a particularly interesting showcase beyond this. The team could take readings from neurons and use this information with the help of onboard algorithms to predict how the pig's legs are going to be moving. From there, the research team were able to compare the predicted motion with the measured motion of the pig

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Spider-Man, brand-new day. In theaters, July 31st. ...strates that the Neuralink chip can potentially understand the motion of joints just by reading input signals from the brain. Obviously, this could be very useful in controlling the movement of limbs. This new version of the Neuralink is smaller than version one shown last year and will be inductively charged. According to an employee during the question and answer session, the device shares some hardware components with some other high-volume tech, like smartwatches and smartphones.

This means that the final cost will be within the realm of a few thousand dollars. It was also revealed that the Neural Link Corporation had been granted FDA approval under the Breakthrough Therapy designation. At this point, it should be noted that Neuralink as a concept isn't some far-out wacky idea. As described in the previous episode, it's a decades-old technology in the field of brain-machine interface research. Even as far back as 2006, people with spinal cord paralysis were able to play Pong just by using their mind after receiving a brain implant. Since then, researchers have continued to explore ways to use computers to improve brain function. Neuralink just aims to do this with much higher precision and orders of magnitude better performance.

Behind the scenes, however, things have been a little less smooth. A report by the stat publication has revealed years of internal conflict. There is a clash within the Neuralink Corporation as to how it should be run. On the one hand, it seems like a rapid-paced high-tech company, but on the other hand, it's a scientific research company that really has to wait for the slow nature of scientific discovery. Unsurprisingly, this has caused some friction. Four former employees who wish to remain anonymous told the stat publication of a chaotic internal nature. Since its founding in 2017, Neuralink Corporation has lost most of its founding

original scientists. The number has gone from 8 to 3. These included leading experts and rising stars in brain machine interface research. Some had previously worked with pioneering teams at places such as IBM, MIT and Stanford University. One former employee stated, quote, they are building a medical device and surgical approach to implant that medical device, and they're approaching it with the use of a high-tech company, move fast and break things, end quote. An example of this for NeuralLink happened in 2017.

The company pushed forward with an effort to implant 10,000 electrodes on an array into the brain of a sheep in one single procedure. According to a former employee, instead of first trying steps such as implementing a smaller number of electrodes, they went in full guns blazing and the experiment failed. The company has had its fair share of internal strife. Neuralink's mechanical engineers have sometimes been at odd.

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Jared Bertrell is actually the CEO. Within the company, when certain projects ran into roadblocks, employees were encouraged to abandon them and then move on to starting new ones. According to insiders, such issues arose from the company aiming too broadly and lacking focus on simpler but more targeted applications. Timelines were also rushed, while scientists often stressed that research might take months, there were sometimes only given weeks to complete certain projects. This all gives me flashbacks to my episode on the behind-the-scenes development for the original iPhone.

just the reality of trying to develop a groundbreaking product, but in an environment that was a complete pressure cooker. Despite this, several former employees stressed that they did not want to imply that Neuralink Corporation was underperforming. They actually praised the company for casting a spotlight on the field. They also said, Musk always operates with accelerated timelines and a hefty dose of chaos, a strategy that has enabled him to successfully transform the space industry

and the automobile market, where others have failed. They see the chaotic nature as natural for a company with such ambitious end goals, and credit where credit is due. Outside independent researchers are impressed by some of Neuralink's engineering accomplishments. The sewing machine robot that implants those thousands of tiny electrodes into the brain has been hailed as a great achievement. Neurobiologist Andrew Schwartz of the University of Pittsburgh,

a pioneer in the field, states, quote, overall, the concept is impressive, and so is the progress that they've made, end quote. According to two former Neuralink employees, the robotic implanting device cost between $10 million and $20 million in initial investments. This includes research and development. Subsequent robots cost up to $500,000 to build, and the Neurrelink Corporation has already constructed close to a dozen. Musk has poured $100 million into the project overall, and we have to be able to. continue to pour more into it according to a former employee. So as for NeuralLink, it seems that they did get off to a rough start according to former employees

and founding scientists, and I wouldn't be surprised if these conflicts are still in place today. It's hard to balance the fast pace of tech development with the slow and cautious nature of medical science. Regardless, the company seems to be making progress, even if it's unlikely that they'll meet their deadline of human trials by the end of the year. So the question remains... It's your money calling. It wants a promotion.

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like memory and hearing loss, depression, seizures, strokes and brain damage. Maybe so, but first, they need to keep the internal company structure under control. It's impossible to say from the outside if the company culture has improved, but even if it is perfect today, they're still not out of the woods. Once the internal cultural issue is overcome, the company still needs to push forward of major scientific and medical advances, as there's still so much about the mind that medical science doesn't understand yet. However, if Neuralink can achieve all of this at an affordable price point, it could help

millions. And as Elon has stated, there could be more on the horizon, like telepathy, memory repositories, superhuman vision, and of course, interfacing with artificial intelligence. Though as the saying goes, you must crawl before you run. No matter the outcome, as Matt Angle, CEO of Parodromics, a competitor to Neuralink states, quote, this could be a chance for Neuraling to put on stage some of the things that everyone in the neuroscience community knows as possible, but many people in the general public don't know as possible. If Elon can get more attention for this field and get people really excited, I think the rising tide floats all ships.

So what do you guys think? Are you for a device like the Neuralink? Do you think Musk and his team can pull it off? Or are you more skeptical? Or are you of the view that technology like this shouldn't even exist? I'll leave that for you guys to discuss in the comment section below. Check out the previous episode I did on Neuralink so you can get a full understanding and detailed overview of the technology, how it works and its plans for future uses. A lot of you have been asking for years, so I'm finally doing it.

I'm finally releasing Cold Fusion merch. This is going to be a special first edition limited run. Each shirt and hoodie will have my signature on it. I'll be sending out custom voice messages to as many of you as I can, just as a thank you. You'll also receive two unreleased tracks from my upcoming EP, Nostalgia Dreams. This first edition will last for seven days, and then that's it. So if you do want to support the channel and keep it going, check out the links below. Anyway, if you'd like to see anything on science, technology, business or history,

feel free to subscribe to Cold Fusion. My name is to Go-Go, and you've been watching Cold Fusion. I'll see you again next week for the next episode. Cheers, guys. Have a good one. Fusion. It's me thinking.