The mind reader

In 2016, Noland Arbaugh had an accident that left him paralysed.

- Jenny Kleeman

Then Elon Musk came to the rescue with a brain implant tha gave him the power to control computers with his mind.

Is Neuralink a life-changing innovation that could help millions the start of a dystopia in which a billionaire can access our every thought?

NOLAND ARBAUGH'S LIFE CHANGED in a fraction of a second in June 2016. He was a 22-year-old student, working at a kids' summer camp in upstate New York, when he went swimming in a lake. He can't tell me exactly what happened, but thinks one of his friends must have accidentally struck him very hard in the side of his head as they ran into the water and plunged beneath the surface.

When he woke up face down in the water, unable to move or breathe, Noland immediately knew he was paralysed. But he didn't panic. He felt no fear at all, he says. "You never know what you're going to do in those high-stress situations. I found out that day that it's hard to shake me. I am very, very calm under pressure."

Elon Musk would ultimately turn this quality to his advantage when, after nearly eight years of being quadriplegic, Noland agreed to allow the world's richest man to implant an electronic chip into his brain. In January 2024, Noland became the first human recipient of a brain-computer interface (BCI) developed by Musk's company Neuralink. If it worked, it would allow him to control a computer using only the power of his mind.