Elon Musk wants to make even more profit and promises a world without degenerative diseases or wheelchair users

I want to start this text by making it very clear that this, under no circumstances, is a pass on Elon Musk, okay?! The guy is quite controversial, he has already minimized the Covid pandemic, he was accused of offering bad working conditions to employees and he keeps giving opinions that, for many people, can be seen at least as radical.

But, nevertheless, some movements by his companies can be seen as positive in several sectors. The latest promise of the empire that the guy built is to offer hope to those who suffer from degenerative diseases or, for some reason, have become dependent on a wheelchair. And that extremely ambitious promise lives inside Neuralink today.

Many people probably haven’t even heard of this company yet, but it has just received the second authorization in the United States to start testing on human beings. And that should happen soon. For those who don’t know yet, what Neuralink wants is to implant a chip in people’s heads, very much like something out of a fiction movie.

What Elon Musk has been saying is that his company has been working so that this chip can be the definitive solution for diseases that affect the nervous system, like Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, which has a name as horrible as the symptoms it causes. cause in those who have…. Due to its difficult name, this disease became known as ALS.

According to Dr. Dráuzio Varella’s website, we are talking about a disease that weakens and hardens the muscles of those who have been diagnosed, causing the person to lose more and more body movements, having super strong cramps, tremors and so on. . And the worst thing is that ALS still has no cure. But Neuralink believes that ELA may have a solution with this implant, which, if it works as the company promises, would help to recreate the lost pathways between the brain and the patient’s body.

These authorizations have brought hope to many people who are waiting for what until recently could have been considered a miracle. Anyone who has ALS, in fact, can apply for these tests. According to the Virtual Health Library, from our Ministry of Health, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is a rare disease. But estimates show that ALS affects two in every hundred thousand people. In a world of 8 billion thinking heads, we are talking about 160 thousand people with the disease. It is more than the population of cities like Mogi Guaçu or Atibaia, in the state of São Paulo.

This type of news makes me think a lot about something beyond what it means in itself. If the chip really works, that will be very wonderful. But will it be accessible to everyone who needs it? In a case like this, what is the limit between the company’s profit and the possible cure for humanity’s major problems? It sounds like pseudo-philosophical bar table talk, but think with me: Elon Musk is already the richest man in the world and not today. And no one doubts that a possible discovery like this will bring him even more profit. But how far does the rain of money continue to wet someone’s ego?

The convinced critics of the Tesla owner will never believe that he could be wanting to do this for the good of an important portion of humanity and, again, that’s NOT what I’m saying. But, in a world where capitalism is the economic system that won by a landslide in the overwhelming majority of countries, we need to discuss where the desire to just make money ends and the desire to really want to do something good begins.

I warned that this could start to become a bar conversation, but there is already a lot of research that is also putting this on the office table. One of them is, for example, from Carhartt, which is an American corporate clothing brand. This year, they interviewed more than a thousand workers from the most recent generations and the results clearly show this. Almost half (48%) are not sure what they want to do professionally. And a lot of this comes from the fact that 44% say they have a lot of difficulty finding a job that aligns with the values ​​they have.

These numbers are not very new, but when we cross this data with the need that entrepreneurs today have to think about the “purpose” of their own business, we can think about feeling warm in our hearts for a generation that, Maybe it will make companies of the future think more and more about doing something that helps us be better. But we can’t be naive, okay?! The system is still capitalist and the Elon Musks of the world still don’t seem willing to do this without anything in return.

But let’s work on the eventuality of the Neuralink chip really fulfilling everything it promises and being the entry ticket to a world without degenerative diseases or wheelchair users. Will this be available to everyone? If not, Elon Musk wouldn’t be the only villain in this story. The pharmaceutical industry constantly offers new drugs that cure old problems at a cost that severely limits access.

The justification is to recover all the money invested in research. Do you understand the perverse logic that all this can bring? So I ask you… when does purpose prevail over profit? I don’t have that answer and I don’t think you reading this should either.

The suggestion I give, then, is that we be faithful to our principles, to our purposes. Technology has shown that a less sick world is possible, new generations have suggested that they can fight to make this happen, if not for everyone, then for as many people as possible. And you? Have you thought today about what the financial limit of your purpose is?

Source: CNN Brasil

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