Valve’s big boss Gabe Newell’s diving headfirst into the brain tech pool with Starfish Neuroscience. They’re whipping up a neural chip — kinda like a mini mind reader or brain writer. Crazy, right? And, weirdly enough, it might be out sooner than you’d expect.
So here’s the gist: Starfish dropped a little something on their blog. They’re doing this thing with imec, a big name in R&D. Together, they’re cooking up a super teeny, ultra-low power neural chip. It’s all for future brain implants that’ll wirelessly tap into your noggin without needing a battery. Imagine your brain whispering to itself, fixing all those pesky neural issues at once. Yeah, that’s what they’re aiming for.
Now, I guess you know how current implants are a bit bulky and kinda power-hungry. Not fun to wear, I’d imagine. Starfish wants to change that — miniaturization magic, they say. Elon Musk’s Neuralink is all about sticking to one spot in your brain, but Starfish? They’re talking multiple sites, like patching up the whole network.
So, this chip’s just 2x4mm — smaller than a pinky nail! Who’d have thought we’d be ogling at brain chip specs from Gabe Newell’s crew? A quick rundown: low power munch (1.1 mW), physically small, does both ‘listening’ and nudging those neurons, and comes with 32 electrode sites. Oh, and it’s got some fancy digital processing to keep it running smooth on low bandwidth. All this from a little thing punched out at TSMC’s 55nm process.
But hey! Slow down. It’s early days still. They’re out there hunting for collaborators, especially those brainy folks in wireless tech and implants. They’re gearing up, aiming for late 2025. In typical Newell fashion, he’s hinting at Matrix-like potentials. Like, for real. Back in ’23, he was talking about connecting to motor and visual cortexes like it’s a walk in the park. Tinkering with the human brain’s like science fiction but maybe easier than we reckon. Makes you think, doesn’t it?
And let’s not forget Mike Ambinder, Valve’s ex-psychologist dude. He was pretty jazzed at a GDC talk in 2019 about how this tech could change gaming. Reading players’ brains to know what’s ticking. Imagine that in the games we play. A bit out there, a bit exciting, and definitely in that ‘could be fun’ category.
Shoutout to Brad ‘SadlyItsBradley’ Lynch for dropping the knowledge on us. Brain tech, man, it’s wild.
