For the first time ever, a chip implanted in the brain allows a paralyzed man to tweet

The first deployment of a man paraplegic "tweet intellectual directly" after his implant a computer chip in his brain, according to a newspaper " The Independent " (The Independent) British.

Philip O'Keefe, a 62-year-old Australian with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), composed and posted the tweet using only his ideas, via a brain-computer interface developed by neurotechnology startup Synchron.

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O'Keefe explained - commenting on what he had done - that "there is no need to use computer keys or pronounce words, this tweet was made by me just by thinking about it," according to what was stated in the tweet that was published on Twitter on the account of the CEO of the company. Thomas Oaksley.

After sharing the first tweet, O'Keefe posted 7 more tweets, in response to questions from Twitter users.

The Stentrode was first implanted in April 2020 after O'Keefe's condition had deteriorated to the point where he was no longer able to engage in work or other independent activities.

The device was inserted through the jugular vein to avoid invasive brain surgery, and since then O'Keefe has been able to reconnect with loved ones and colleagues via email, as well as play simple computer-based games like Solitaire.

"When I first heard about this technology, I knew how much independence it could bring me back," O'Keefe said after posting his tweet, according to a press release from Synchron. "It's an amazing system, like learning to ride a bike, it takes practice, but once you get used to it." Then, it becomes normal."

"Now, I just think about where I want to click on my computer, I can email, I bank, I shop, and now I can send messages to the world on Twitter."

According to the British newspaper, the Stentrode synchronization device allows direct communication between the human brain and a computer without the need to write or speak. 

It took 4 hours after the device was implanted to be able to use it to enter text on a computer.

"These fun holiday tweets are actually an important moment in the field of implantable brain computer interfaces," said Thomas Oxley.

The first human study of Synchron's brain-computer interface is scheduled to take place in the United States next year.

They will deny one of several neurotech start-ups making major advances in brain-computer interface technologies called BCI, as billionaire Elon Musk's company Neuralink also plans to begin human trials. on these technologies in 2022.

Previously, Musk stated that Neuralink devices would be able to do everything from fully restore body functions to quadriplegics, to broadcasting music directly to the brain.

Experiments have already been conducted in pigs and monkeys, using an electrode transmitter that allowed a 9-year-old macaque called a Bigger to play video games using only his brain.

Musk says the ultimate goal of this technology is to enable humans to compete with advanced AI.

Technology Slavery

The American "Apple" group deliberately chooses poor areas to launch its factories, because of the cheap labor, and the technology giant is facing criticism against the deadly working conditions faced by workers in its factories, and the subsequent poisoning, demonstrations and waves of suicide for its workers.

The American “Apple” group, which is based in Southeast Asian countries with the headquarters of many of its factories, is subjected to widespread criticism from human rights groups about the rights of its workers and the deadly working conditions they face, in exchange for low salaries that are not commensurate with the profits of the American technology giant, which is classified according to many The statistics are the highest in the world.

The American group deliberately chooses poor areas to launch its factories because of the cheap labor, which allows the company to double its profits, but this often comes at the expense of workers who lack the simplest safety rules and primary rights in the course of performing their work.

The company, which is headquartered in California on the east coast of the United States of America, is accused of avoiding the establishment of its industrial facilities in developed countries, due to the strict security, safety and occupational rules imposed by those countries with regard to workers.

Hundreds of workers were poisoned

This December, about 250 women working in a factory that manufactures iPhone phones for the American company "Apple" were infected with food poisoning, which necessitated the hospitalization of 159 of them, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

And the “Apple” group announced , on Wednesday, that it had placed the factory in a trial phase to adopt a rapid “chain of corrective measures”, following a series of food poisoning cases, and the subsequent demonstrations denouncing the working conditions on the site, and the living conditions in the residences of the factory, which has been closed since December 18th this year.

The factory employs more than 17,000 people, while Apple's contractor, Foxconn, pledged that it would take "immediate measures to improve facilities and services" in its dormitories, and that employees would continue to receive their salaries until these improvements were completed.

Child labor

Reports revealed that the shortage of workers in companies contracting with "Apple" such as "Foxconn", "Pegatron" and "Swin", led to these companies violating the rules of work by hiring children to ensure the presence of a sufficient number of workers, as it was proven that workers aged no more than 14 are employed. year in the factories of those companies.

The companies carried out these violations, relying on agents who deal with the utmost cruelty through methods such as seizing workers’ salaries and sometimes their identity cards to prevent them from leaving the factories, amid the blindness and slowness of Apple’s management in dealing with these reports.

Observers said that the American technology giant intervenes in such cases when it is exclusively related to improving the workflow and not losing any part of its profits, for example, instead of canceling the contract with the “Swin” company immediately after violating its ethical policies in the supply chain, which prohibits child labor, Apple has been relying on the company for more than three years, according to the same reports.

Suicide waves

The horrific working conditions that force the Apple products factories to work under them prompted dozens of workers to commit suicide in an escalating and continuous series of similar accidents in 2010, as one of the workers threw himself from the top of a building inside those factories, with little intervention from the management .

Workers' rights groups conducted an independent investigation into deaths and labor practices in those factories, and reported that workers were paid only the equivalent of $32 for 40 hours of work per week, forcing them to strive to work long hours of overtime to earn a paycheck.

The investigation stated that "the production line system of these companies is designed in such a way that no worker can rest even for a second while at work." This was confirmed by Li Qiang, CEO of New York-based China Labor Watch, who said that those in charge of those factories "make sure you're always busy every second."

On the other hand, Jing Jun, a professor of sociology at Tsinghua University in the Chinese capital, Beijing, rejected the idea that the work practices of these companies are responsible for the waves of suicide, pointing out that the victims are young people aged between 18 and 24 years, and most of them have recently moved from rural areas. To work in those factories, which put them in front of personal problems and the challenges of adapting to life in the industrial cities, which led them to commit suicide.