The Future Of Brain-Computer Interfaces

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 Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs