A midday call from a drunk friend has changed a man’s life forever.
Noland Arbaugh, 29, rose to fame after being revealed as the first Neuralink patient to receive his brain chip, but it all started when his friend slurred his call in September.
Arbaugh was paralyzed eight years ago during a diving accident.
Friend He called Arbaugh to tell him that Elon Musk was opening human trials and urged him to apply and even helped him fill out the form.
Just five months after he was approved for the Neuralink trial, Arbaugh had a cutting-edge brain chip embedded in his skull.
Noland Arbaugh became the first person to receive a Neuralink brain chip implant when he introduced it in September.
Arbaugh was paralyzed from the neck down during a diving accident eight years ago.
Since undergoing brain chip implant surgery, Arbaugh has made waves by playing an online game of chess using only his mind and spending all night playing video games for the first time since he was paralyzed from the neck down during an accident. diving eight years ago. years ago.
In an hour video Posted on X, Arbaugh shared that he had never heard of Neuralink until six months ago, when he received the now-infamous drunk call from his friend.
He said his friend was a biology student working in a neuroscience lab and called him to tell him that Neuralink had just received FDA approval and had opened applications for clinical trials and that Arbaugh should apply.
“I thought, ‘What the hell is Neuralink?'” Arbaugh said, adding, “The best part of the story is that he was lost when he did it. He was drunk and called me at noon.
Neuralink brain chips transmit signals to the body’s nerves that translate into motor controls
Arbaugh said his friend helped him fill out the online application form, and even though his friend had misspelled his name, he was still offered an interview.
When interview slots opened up, Arbaugh chose the first one each time, hoping it would give him the advantage of being selected to receive the brain chip.
He took some time to consider whether receiving the brain chip was something he wanted and had to weigh the pros and cons and what this would mean for his family.
“I definitely took the time to step back and evaluate all the disadvantages it could bring to my family,” she said.
“Not just the health problems, things that might have happened during surgery or after, but everything that comes with it, like any notoriety.”
But once she decided to proceed with the procedure, Arbaugh said, “It was really crazy how quickly it all happened.”
Arbaugh was able to play an online chess game using only his mind and stayed up all night to play the video game Civilization IV.
A friend of Arbaugh’s called him while he was drunk in the middle of the day to tell him he should sign up for the Neuralink brain chip implant trial.
Arbaugh can move a cursor across the screen using the remote brain chip in his head
In the weeks and months that followed, Arbaugh had to adjust to the brain chip implant and said they were still working out the problems, although she did not specify what they were.
During her Neuralink interview, videos surfaced of Arbaugh playing chess online using only her mind and playing a Mario Kart video game with her father, and when she tried to explain how she felt, she didn’t have the words.
“I can feel myself moving my index finger,” Arbaugh said. ‘It’s not moving, but I can feel it.
‘…It’s such a wild feeling. … It’s very difficult to explain,” she stated.
Neuralink kept Arbaugh’s identity confidential until last week, when it livestreamed him playing chess online by moving the cursor on the screen using the chip implant.
When Arbaugh was finally able to play Civilization IV, a game he hadn’t been able to play since before his accident, he spent the entire night playing it for eight hours straight.
‘I’m very lucky, everything aligned like the stars.
“It was September 19th… and five months later, I was having brain surgery,” Arbaugh continued.
“It all happened so quickly,” he said, “and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Although Arbaugh has expressed delight and excitement at being Neuralink’s first test subject, her interviews come as the company faced intense scrutiny over how it handled the initial round of animal testing.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) wrote a letter to the FDA earlier this week, criticizing the agency for failing to inspect the long list of animal abuse allegations.
Former employees claimed that Neuralink testing had caused unnecessary suffering and the deaths of more than 1,500 animals.
The company denied the claims and said at the time: ‘Currently, all novel medical devices and treatments must be tested on animals before they can be ethically tested on humans.
“Neuralink is not alone in this regard,” he added. “At Neuralink we are absolutely committed to working with animals in the most humane and ethical way possible.”
Meanwhile, Musk posted on X on March 21 proclaiming that “no monkeys have been killed or seriously injured by a Neuralink device.”