David Bridges
Meta Platforms, Inc META CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared on Joe Rogan’s “The Joe Rogan Experience” Aug. 25 to discuss the big tech company’s research and product development plans as it continues a launch into the Metaverse.
After discussing Meta’s investment plans to spend over $10 billion on various research streams into different technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality devices and computational platforms, Zuckerberg was excited to talk about neural interfaces.
“We should definitely spend some time on that,” he said to Rogan.
What Happened: “There’s feedback that you’re giving to the computer and then there’s information that the computer gives to you and you can separate those two things out,” the Meta CEO began, explaining the two different ways neural interfaces work.
Of the latter technology, Zuckerberg said: “that’s not a thing that we’re working on.
“Some people, like Elon with Neuralink and those companies, I think that’s just taking this super far off, maybe it will be ready in like a couple decades,” Zuckerberg said.
“Normal people in the next 10 or 15 years are probably not going to want to get something installed in their brain for fun,” he continued.
“You want the mature version of that, not the one where it’s going to get a lot better next year and you need to get your brain implant upgraded every year.”
Instead, Zuckerberg said he’s spending time thinking about less invasive technology that simplifies human-to-human interaction by providing ways for humans to control a device by sending signals through “super discrete motions.”
Zuckerberg explained one of the ways a device could receive information from the human brain would be through slight movements in the arm.
As an example, Zuckerberg explained the technology could make it possible to text your wife during a work meeting without anyone catching on: You would view the message through AR glasses and to respond, “you just kinda like twitch your wrist a little bit,” he said.
Rogan’s Response: Rogan addressed a possible negative social impact of this new type of technology.
“That seems like a massive distraction,” Rogan said.
Today’s technology allows someone to understand when another person is distracted on their phone because you can physically see them using the device, the podcast host said.
If a person were reading messages through AR glasses and responding with small muscle movements, he said, “you won’t even know that they’re distracted. They’re just gonna be not connecting with you.”
The Benzinga Take: The idea of the metaverse and the potential that VR and AR become a big part of our daily lives may seem unfathomable for many, especially because the technology appears to make it unnecessary to experience real person-to-person interaction in order to live and work.
Zuckerberg’s prediction that humans are at least a decade away from widely adopting Musk’s Neuralink technology is likely welcomed by many.
As for Meta Platform’s brain-to-computer devices, while he was undeniably less evasive, Zuckerberg provided no timeline as to when the type of technology could become available.
Troy Sanders
