Okay, so picture this: Gabe Newell, you know, the guy from Valve? Yeah, he’s diving into brain tech now—like, neural chips. It’s called Starfish Neuroscience, and they’re cooking up something wild. Not your average Sunday project, if you ask me.
So, they’re working on this neural chip with imec—some powerhouse in R&D or whatever. And get this: they say it’ll be wireless and battery-free. I can’t help but think, no more spaghetti wires sticking out of your head. I mean, how do you even? Honestly, I never thought I’d be reading specs on a brain chip from Valve’s founder, but here we are. Is this 2023 or what?
Anyway, the chip? Tiny. Like, 2x4mm tiny. I’ve seen bigger M&Ms. And it doesn’t just sit there. It reads and stimulates brain activity across different parts. Sounds like sci-fi, right? But the aim is to help tackle those nasty neurological disorders, which is pretty cool—helping and all that jazz.
But hold on a sec—the current stuff, like Musk’s Neuralink, yeah, they’re a bit bulky and focus on one area of the brain. Gabe’s team wants their chip to be less intrusive, smaller, you know? Spread it across the brain without all the fuss. Or, in other words, they’re making itty-bitty brain bots. Crazy? Probably. Game-changing? Definitely.
And if you’re into the nitty-gritty—32 electrode sites, 16 channels at 18.75kHz. No biggie, just brain magic happening here. Wait—let me backtrack—you can even monitor some stuff on-board. Little genius in a chip, seriously.
But oh, early days, folks. They’re calling in some early-stage collab peeps—specifically in wireless power, implantable devices… all that high-tech stuff. And they’re aiming for an unveiling in late 2025. So, I guess we just chill and wait?
Oh, and Gabe’s all about pushing this beyond medicine. He went on about “the Matrix” is closer than we think. I mean, imagine hooking up to your motor cortex like it’s no big deal. Wild! He said something about how the brain’s got these “good interfaces” for some things. Makes you wonder what they’re cooking up behind closed doors.
And, if you remember Mike Ambinder (principal psychologist from Valve, before he took a different path)—he mentioned during a GDC talk how this tech could change gaming. Imagine getting real-time player feedback. Data galore! Not sure if I’m ready to have my brain played like a fiddle, but hey, future, right?
So, cheers to Brad ‘SadlyItsBradley’ Lynch for spotlighting this gem. I mean, what a ride discovering what tech geniuses are up to these days. I kinda love it.
