Elon Musk's first Neuralink brain chip patient shares Tweet 'just by thinking'

In a short time since sharing that its brain chip had been implanted in a human for the first time ever, Neuralink has been making huge strides.

The Elon Musk-owned company has gone from animal testing to a human trial, and after sharing a video showing the first human recipient of the chip playing online chess, we're now seeing more of what the patient can do.

Of course, it should come as no surprise that his platform of choice is X, another of Elon Musk's pet projects.

Noland Arbaugh, the patient in question, posted late last week with a funny message: "Twitter banned me because they thought I was a bot, @X and @elonmusk reinstated me because I am."

The post elicited a response from Musk himself, who is clearly heavily involved (and invested) in the whole project.

Musk called the post the "first ever post made just by thinking, using the @Neuralnk Telepathy device!"

This suggests that Arbaugh did indeed post the message on X using his brain - and Arbaugh himself doesn't seem to be disputing Musk's version of events.

This is another big PR coup for Neuralink, alongside doubtless important actual research implications on how things are progressing for Arbaugh with the chip.

After an accident left him paralyzed from the shoulders down, Arbaugh has already been able to use the chip to interface with a computer and do things he wasn't capable of before, including playing video games and online chess.

Being able to open up X and post on it might not be everyone's idea of a good time, but it's nonetheless very impressive to hear that Arbaugh is now able to do so.

Unsurprisingly, Musk has big plans for Neuralink, and has talked in recent weeks about how "long-term, it is possible to shunt the signals from the brain motor cortex past the damaged part of the spine to enable people to walk again and use their arms normally".

So actually being able to use paralyzed limbs again is one of the eventual goals of the technology, something that might take longer to get to than being able to use a computer with one's mind. It's a science-fiction concept, but seems to be getting closer to reality.

In due course, fast-forwarding decades, it might be that we look back on this period - when we were looking at using our brains to control computers - as the start of a massive shift in humanity's history.