Seeing a Neuralink device being implanted into a human brain has been extremely exciting news to hear. The future capabilities of the technology seem expansive and fasinating. After thinking about this more I began to wonder about the development of the technology up to this point. I had remembered hearing about possible unethical treatment of some of the monkeys used for research and development of Neuralink. I decided to dig into this some more and see what I could find out.

The research was done at the University of California. According to CNN, the controversy began when the physicians committee for responsible medicine asked the USDA to look into the treatment of the monkeys believing that they were violating the animal welfare act. The group stated that the monkeys that were being used for Neuralink’s research were being poorly treated and neglected. Elon had stated that some monkeys did die during research, but that there was not animal cruelty. He also emphasized the importance of using animals for testing to prevent harm to humans. The poor treatment that people were upset about involved cutting into the monkey’s brains and inserting electrodes along with other unknown substances. This resulted in some deaths during the procedures and one euthination of the test monkeys. Elon argued that the testing was reviewed and approved by the university and that the monkeys were given adequite vetrinary care. Everyone has different opinions on animal testing and what may or may not be considered cruel, So the question of whether or not they were mistreated is left up to you now that you have the info.