YC alum Max Hodak is the co-founder of Neuralink and founder of Science, a company building brain-computer interfaces that can restore sight.
Science has developed a tiny retinal implant that stimulates cells in the eye to help blind patients see again. More than 40 patients have already received the treatment in clinical trials, including one who recently read a full novel for the first time in over a decade.
In this episode of How to Build the Future, Max joined Garry to discuss how BCIs work, what it takes to engineer the brain, and why brain-computer interfaces may become one of the most important technologies of the next decade.
Chapters:
00:26 — The retinal chip helping blind patients see
01:51 — What brain-computer interfaces really are
03:37 — Could BCIs enhance intelligence?
05:44 — The brain’s incredible plasticity
09:23 — What it feels like to see with an implant
13:01 — Can we restore full human vision?
17:55 — Is the brain basically a computer?
24:59 — Max Hodak’s path into brain tech
28:57 — How Neuralink actually started
33:10 — How the brain represents information
39:47 — Bio-hybrid brain interfaces
44:32 — Building the company Science
51:27 — The future of BCIs and human longevity
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