In the True of False junior this week, 3rd grade students from Nicolas Flamel college, in Pontoise in the Oise, wonder about the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk, which is far from done. They also wonder about electronic chips implanted in the brain to control computers remotely and about the reality of artificial wombs that would have been created in China.
To answer their questions, we asked Olivier Lascar, journalist and editor-in-chief of the digital division of Science et Avenir. It publishes on June 9 Investigation of Elon Musk, the man who defies science (Alisio Sciences).
Is Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter pending?
Aimé Jean wonders if it is true that Elon Musk has decided to “suspend the takeover of Twitter and why?“
Olivier Lascar confirms that Elon Musk has decided to condition the takeover of Twitter on certain new conditions. “In question, explains the journalist, the number of fake accounts on Twitter estimated at 5% by the social network, while Elon Musk considers that there would be up to 20%.” Olivier Lascar explains that the multi-billionaire demands that the leaders of Twitter ” put their own data on the table to validate the percentage of fake accounts on the platform, except that Twitter does not currently do so and Elon Musk has therefore decided to freeze the operation.“
However, Olivier Lascar specifies that “that does not mean that Elon Musk will not buy Twitter because all this could very well be a maneuver on his part to, for example, lower the value of Twitter on the stock market and thus buy the social network at a lower cost.“
Is Elon Musk developing a brain chip to control computers by thought?
Rougario wonders if it’s true”that Elon Musk is developing a chip implanted in the brain to control objects by thought“?
“It’s true” replies Olivier Lascar. “Elon Musk is developing a brain chip, that is to say a very small device, which is the size of a coin and which will be placed in the brain to make a kind of interface between our thoughts and computers, machines and why not objects.“
He does this through a company called Neuralink. The first tests were carried out on animals. In videos we see for example “a monkey controlling by thought certain elements of a video game thanks to an electronic chip implanted in its brain“, explains Olivier Lascar. The specialized journalist specifies that “the philosophy of these chips is to later allow things to be moved by thought, such as objects, for example a wheelchair, which could be very useful for disabled people“.
However, before getting there, Neuralink is also at the heart ofœur of certain controversies in relation to experiments carried out on animals. Olivier Lascar explains “that some monkeys, which were the subject of the experiments, died in terrible suffering, as revealed by an association of doctors in the United States.”
Did China create an artificial womb?
Alexander heard that China “would have created an artificial uterus” and he wonders if it’s true.
Olivier Lascar answers him “we can’t say that, but what is true is that the Chinese media recently reported on an artificial intelligence program that would be able to automatically set different factors (oxygen level, sugar level, pressure) which are exerted on a small evolving organism inside what can be called an artificial uterus.“
Olivier Lascar explains that it is indeed a subject “on which scientists are currently working: building devices that are artificial wombs, that is to say places where conditions are reproduced that are comparable to those of the mother’s womb, with a liquid which resembles amniotic fluid in which we find the nutrients that are necessary for the fetus to develop.“
Finally, Olivier Lascar recalls that this scientific research raises certain ethical questions: “Do we have the right to do that? Aren’t we going a bit too far?” And he specifies “that in science, there is always the question of the red line, the one that should not be crossed and in these subjects, we can ask ourselves the question are we not in the process of going a bit too far?“