Elon Musk has announced that his company Neuralink has started experimenting with chips for human brains to connect the Brain with technology. The company has already planted the Chip in a human test subject. This news brought mixed reactions from the public and to see what people think of it, YouGov conducted a poll in February 2024. A total of 1,000 people responded to the poll and it was found that only 8% of the respondents would get a chip in their brain if it's sold publicly.
82% of the respondents responded with a firm no when asked if they would want to have a chip implanted in their brain. 10% of the respondents were indecisive so they marked undecided. 2% of the people in the poll were ready to volunteer as a human test subject to get a chip implanted in their brain within the next year. Overall, 5% of the respondents said that they would like to get the chip in their brain within the next year.
Men (13%) were ready for chips to be available commercially as compared to 4% of women. Democrats and independents (10%) were also more comfortable with this piece of technology in the markets as compared to Republicans.
We often see the idea of human chips for altering brain functions or giving more mental capabilities in many science fiction novels and movies. The respondents who agreed with the idea of having brain chips are probably those who have these sci-fi novels and movies in their minds. Neuralink is playing with the minds of people who have read Dune and Ender’s Game. 19% of the respondents who are ready to buy the chip have read Dune and 11% who have read the novel are ready to get the chip this year.
However, there is also a book called Flowers of Algernon, a short story about the disastrous effects of chips on the human brain. 13% of the respondents who have read this short story are also excited about the chip, despite knowing some of its effects from the story.
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