--- title: "Neuralink Releases Video of Monkey Playing Pong With Its Mind" description: "Elon Musk's Neuralink has shown off an impressive new feat: a nine year old macaque called Pager playing a game of pong only using the signals in its brain." date: "2021-04-09" modified: "2021-04-09" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/neuralink-video-monkey-playing-pong-mind" categories: - "Health & Medicine" - "Prosthetics and Devices" tags: - "brain computer interface" - "elon musk" - "monkeys" - "neuralink" --- # Neuralink Releases Video of Monkey Playing Pong With Its Mind ![Elon Musk's Neuralink has shown off an impressive new feat: a nine year old macaque called Pager playing a game of pong only using the signals in its brain.]() *\Image: Neuralink\* Elon Musk's brain computer interface company [Neuralink]() has shown off an impressive new demo: a nine-year-old macaque called Pager playing a game of Pong using only the signals in its brain. In a video uploaded to YouTube, the Neuralink team shows the monkey first playing a simple video game using a joystick. A reward, in the form of a swig of banana smoothie, is delivered through a metal straw each time the monkey completes a task in the game. https://youtu.be/rsCul1sp4hQ Later on in the video, the team fully disconnects the joystick. Two Neuralink implants, first implanted six weeks prior in the monkey's brain, allow Pager to fully take control over the video game using only the brain-computer interface. It's an impressive feat, allowing the simian take full control over a paddle on a screen through a computer that decodes the signals being sent its brain to its limbs. If the claims in the video are to be believed, it shows that Neuralink has made significant strides over the last couple years. The news also comes after Neuralink [showed off several live pigs]() with the Neuralink implanted in their skulls back in August 2020, demonstrating that the device is safe. The team is hoping to use similar technology to allow those with paralysis to use a computer or phone "with their brain activity alone," according to the video. "It's not magic," a voiceover says in the video. "The reason Neuralink works is, because it's recording and decoding electrical signals from the brain. Great game, Pager!" That's not an overstatement. Pager is astonishingly good at "MindPong," if the video is to be believed, reacting to minute movements in real time. In fact, according to a [recent tweet]() by founder Elon Musk, the company's first "product will enable someone with paralysis to use a smartphone with their mind faster than someone using thumbs." Still, the results should be taken with the usual grain of salt. This isn't the usual way of releasing scientific data, as [*The Verge* was quick to point out](). The scientists have yet to publish a peer-reviewed paper in a scientific journal, for instance. And Musk himself delivered the news with a characteristic sense of whimsy. "Soon our monkey will be on \[T\]witch and \[D\]iscord," he [tweeted](), adding "haha." ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()