# A paralysed man is walking thanks to brain implants **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 25, 2023, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paralysed-man-is-walking-thanks-to-brain-implants/984581 "2023-05-25T11:47:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2023, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paralysed-man-is-walking-thanks-to-brain-implants/984581/1 "2023-05-25T11:47:25Z")
[Article here](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/25/paralysed-man-walks-with-device-that-connects-brain-spinal-cord). I’m happy for him, and it sounds very cool. Hopefully the technology becomes cheap and effective enough that more people get a chance to use it. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2023, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paralysed-man-is-walking-thanks-to-brain-implants/984581/2 "2023-05-25T13:42:34Z")
The tech is improving and getting more portable. I remember one of the news shows 20/20 or Dateline? covered the research. It was very cumbersome equipment then. 2022 article > **[New spinal implant gets paralyzed people up and walking](https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/02/new-spinal-implant-gets-paralyzed-people-up-and-walking/)** > > Software modeling and feedback key to a computer-controlled stride. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2023, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paralysed-man-is-walking-thanks-to-brain-implants/984581/3 "2023-05-25T14:17:40Z")
I have a couple of friends who have pinned hopes on this technology. For one of them, it might even be affordable as his employer isn’t blind to his abilities due to the wheelchair. The other, though, eventually gave up looking for work. Only one employer took a chance on him being able to change his skill set and it didn’t work out. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2023, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paralysed-man-is-walking-thanks-to-brain-implants/984581/4 "2023-05-25T19:26:15Z")
I saw a clip on the news. Amazing. The scientists also credited AI with the breakthrough. A powerful reminder that banning AI just because it can write an essay is extremely short-sighted. AI has become the new GMO, a set of letters that frightens people but has possibilities of making a desperate world better and more livable. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2023, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paralysed-man-is-walking-thanks-to-brain-implants/984581/5 "2023-05-25T22:20:33Z")
I read the story in the Times. It looks like a wonderful technology that can only get better. Maybe they won’t need actual brain implants, maybe training will become easier. Possible improvements are wondrous. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paralysed-man-is-walking-thanks-to-brain-implants/984581/6 "2023-05-26T01:40:53Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Hopefully the technology becomes cheap and effective enough that more people get a chance to use it. Good luck with that. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paralysed-man-is-walking-thanks-to-brain-implants/984581/7 "2023-05-26T15:39:54Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The scientists also credited AI with the breakthrough. A powerful reminder that banning AI just because it can write an essay is extremely short-sighted. Pshaw. It isn’t really walking. The AI is just mimmicking walking by pasting together steps it was trained on. Only a hunan can truly walk. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paralysed-man-is-walking-thanks-to-brain-implants/984581/8 "2023-05-26T16:18:15Z")
For the record, what is being called AI in this thread is very different from the AI being discussed elsewhere. This is not a Large Language Model like ChatGPT, but software specifically designed for this purpose, doing exactly what it is programmed to do. The debates over LLMs involve claimed abilities beyond what they have been programmed to do, as well as the nature of consciousness. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paralysed-man-is-walking-thanks-to-brain-implants/984581/9 "2023-05-26T22:29:07Z")
“Teddy Pendergrass… will **walk**!.. Superman… will **fly**!” (A song, who did it I forget, in the 90s. Superman = Christopher Reeve) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paralysed-man-is-walking-thanks-to-brain-implants/984581/10 "2023-05-26T22:47:08Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > I have a couple of friends who have pinned hopes on this technology. A friend of mine is a quadriplegic, due to a neck injury she suffered while practicing gymnastics as a high schooler. She’s in her 40s now, with a husband and three kids, and she and her husband have been closely watching these developments for years, hoping that they become more widely available.