Good afternoon TJR readers!
This week I bring you 3 things I found most interesting last week in 5 minutes:
Tech — Elon Musk or Elon Bust? Neuralink’s Brain Implant Trial Begins 🤐
Social — Lenny’s Strava Art: Running Innovatively 🎽
Personal — Should we be Content with Mediocrity? 🔗
Additionally, I’ve been thinking about doing a spotlight on interesting individuals who I think you’d want to read about — I’ll be interviewing them about their personal journey, education, career, amongst many other things. Please vote on this poll if you want to see this coming into fruition!
1. Neuralink — Digitising Our Thoughts 🧠
Seeking human guinea pigs for Neuralink’s first clinical trial
Implant acts as a smart-device that interprets brain activity
Wireless delivery of analysed information to computer
Initially targeted for quadriplegic assistance
Set up by the man behind Tesla, the brain implant start-up Neuralink is beginning to seek its first human clinical trialists. The procedure will involve the removal of a small portion of the skull, replaced by an implant with microscopic wires and electrodes that are inserted into the brain — slimy! Despite this being an unforeseen procedure in the industry, many have lined up to be Neuralink’s first lab-rat, potentially in efforts to live life as the first human hybrid on Earth 🤖
Specific Criteria & Potential Benefits
The implant is initially targeted for testing in those who are paralysed in all four limbs of their body (quadriplegic), and under 40 years old.
Neuralink’s goal, on the onset, seems to be the alleviation of human communication through the aid of a computer. With the implant wirelessly detecting and analysing our neural activity, there is an unquantifiable scope of the technological benefits if the trials are successful — think uploading and downloading information to and from our brains, saving memories into the cloud, and all the other sci-fi variations you can imagine 👨🔬
[We aim to] create a generalized brain interface to restore autonomy to those with unmet medical needs today and unlock human potential tomorrow.
- Neuralink’s Mission
ONWARD as a Neuralink Alternative
ONWARD has already begun human trials & brain implants, albeit for a different purpose
Mission is to restore movement utilising the groundbreaking ARC-IM Therapy, which stimulates the spinal cord
Short-term goal is to use this tech to enhance movements and restore mobility of the hands, arms, and fingers
Next steps is to recruit up to 6 more people for clinical trials over the next year
What’s next for humankind — do you think the development of such tools will truly be used to benefit those who are physically or mentally impaired? Or are these patients and trialists merely lab-rats, exploited by the rich for their own financial gain or status?
2. Strava Art — Running with Style 🏃♀️
Yeah getting a cyborg implant is cool and all, but have you ever tried to run a route on the map that resembled a phallic shape? (or am I just that immature…)
Lenny Maughan, a self-proclaimed ‘human etch-a-sketch’, has been making headlines for using his run-route as a canvas for his creative and innovative drawings. His trail which is tracked on applications like Strava are utilised as line drawings along the streets of San Francisco — and it seems like he’s making revenue by running in the shapes of the logos of advertisers too!
Here are some amazing examples of his runs below:
3. “To the mediocre, mediocrity is a form of happiness” — Friedrich Nietzsche
In his work The Antichrist, Friedrich Nietzsche explores the criticisms against Christianity and the rejection of its moral values grounded on theological foundations. The text is jarring — scattered with bold assertions and and provocative language, intended to question the reader about their beliefs on Christianity, and to criticise the ways of ‘modern’ thinking in the late 1800s.
Distanced from the sentiments that Nietzsche expresses (which TJR does not promote or shun), I found that the quote in itself was an interesting interpretation on human achievement — also, my guy Nietzsche literally said stop being mid in 1897 🙄
On a more serious note, my thoughts on this quote can be summarised in three key points:
Inherently Negative Societal Perception on Mediocrity — Sometimes, it is easy for us to be critical of our incompetence; whether that may be our inabilities to commit to certain things, or failing to meet a deadline due to our lack of self-control. Society shapes us to think that being average isn’t great, and that we need to aim to be the best and the most productive.
Passive Mediocrity is the True Evil — Knowing that we are mediocre at something is our acknowledgement that improvements can be made. It is the result from our physical & mental trials and errors, teaching us where our strengths / weaknesses truly lie. Being unaware that we are mediocre is an indication of a lack of proactivity — being content without having even attempted to pursue our desires is therefore the true evil. We lose our curiosity to learn. We become content with being unhappy.
Consciously Embracing Mediocrity for the Road to Mastery — Take this as an example: Do we expect ourselves to look like Chris Bumstead after a 2km run and an ab work-out? — No. Should we be content with this spurt of motivation without consistency? — No. Should we embrace that we have made an effort towards a long-term goal? — Yes. Will replications of what seems like a mediocre effort transform into its mastery? — Yes.
Take pride in your achievements and aim high 🏹