---
title: "Elon Musk Compares Neuralink to “a ‘Black Mirror’ Episode”"
description: "Black Mirror During Elon Musk’s live event about his secretive startup Neuralink on Friday night, the eccentric billionaire made a surprising comparison — invoking the dystopian science fiction show “Black Mirror.” The remark came when he was replying to an audience question about whether the technology could eventually allow users to save and replay memories. […]"
date: "2020-08-28"
modified: "2020-09-02"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-neuralink-black-mirror"
categories:
  - "Elon Musk"
  - "Future Society"
  - "The Industrialists"
tags:
  - "black mirror"
  - "elon musk"
  - "neuralink"
  - "the digest"
---

# Elon Musk Compares Neuralink to “a ‘Black Mirror’ Episode”

![Elon Musk just compared his secretive brain-computer interface startup Neuralink to the dystopian science fiction show "Black Mirror."](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/neural4.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Neuralink\</em\>*

## Black Mirror

During Elon Musk's [live event about his secretive startup Neuralink](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/elon-musk-neuralink-live-pigs>) on Friday night, the eccentric billionaire made a surprising comparison — invoking the dystopian science fiction show "Black Mirror."

The remark came when he was replying to an audience question about whether the technology could eventually allow users to save and replay memories.

"Yes, I think in the future you'll be able to save and replay memories," he said. "I mean, this is obviously sounding increasingly like a 'Black Mirror' episode. But I guess they're pretty good at predicting."

## Entire History

The question did bring to mind the "Black Mirror" episode "The Entire History of You," which features characters who are able to record and review all their memories — with disastrous consequences.

After his meditation about "Black Mirror," Musk went on to speculate that the technology could eventually be used for mind transfer.

"You could upload, you could basically store your memories as a backup, and restore the memories, and ultimately you could potentially download them into a new body or a robot body," Musk said. "The future's going to be weird."

**More on Neuralink:** [*Elon Musk: We’ve Already Implanted Neuralink in Live Pigs*](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/elon-musk-neuralink-live-pigs>)

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)