If you have ever struggled to wrap your mind around the biblical doctrine of election (predestination), you are not alone. In fact, it is perhaps the most misunderstood and neglected doctrine in the entire Bible.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the saints in Ephesus, "In Christ we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will" (Ephesians 1:11).

And when addressing "all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints," (Romans 1:7) Paul wrote, "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son ... those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified" (Romans 8:28-30).

The key to accepting and appreciating the doctrine of election, or predestination, is to rely completely upon Scripture, rather than allowing our human reason to dictate the terms of this biblical doctrine.

It is natural to assume that predestination applies to believers and unbelievers alike, when it doesn't. After all, human reason suggests that if some people are predestined to go to Heaven, then everyone else is predestined to go to Hell, right? Wrong. Scripture makes it abundantly clear that if someone goes to Heaven, God deserves all the credit. But if someone goes to Hell, the individual is to blame. 

Thankfully, God does not predestine people to eternal punishment in Hell. You see, "God wants everyone to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4). The Apostle Peter wrote, "God is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).

Christians often struggle to understand why so many people harden their hearts toward the Messiah and refuse to come to Jesus to be forgiven of their sins. It reminds me of what happened one time "when the Jews saw the crowds and were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying. Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: "We had to speak the Word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles" (Acts 13:45-46).

What about you, my friend? Do you consider yourself worthy of eternal life? Paul was not suggesting that any of us are actually worthy of everlasting life in Heaven, but He was trying to shake some sense into his fellow Jews who were rejecting the Messiah. Steeped in their religious traditions, they were seemingly unable to grasp the good news of the Gospel.

The Bible reveals that the doctrine of election applies only to believers. And it is a message of comfort and assurance. If a follower of Christ begins to have doubts about his salvation, the doctrine of election can assure him that he belongs to the Lord forever.

Meanwhile, Scripture offers no solace to unrepentant sinners, but only warnings of wrath and eternal punishment. The Law speaks not a word of consolation to anyone who refuses to bow his knee to his Creator in repentance and faith. Jesus preached, "But unless you repent, you too will all perish" (Luke 13:3), and "Repent and believe the good news" (Mark 1:15).

The doctrine of election teaches believers that we cannot take an ounce of credit for having been graciously welcomed into God's eternal family. Mark Webb wrote, "God intentionally designed salvation so that no man can boast of it. He didn't merely arrange it so that boasting would be discouraged or kept to a minimum. He planned it so that boasting would be absolutely excluded. Election does precisely that."

Jesus told His disciples: "You did not choose me, but I chose you to go and bear fruit — fruit that will last" (John 15:16). And Peter addressed "God's elect, strangers in the world ... who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood" (1 Peter 1:1-2). Later in that same chapter, Peter declared that believers have been "redeemed ... with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect" (vv. 18-19). 

The only way to belong to God forever is to have your sins washed away by the blood that Jesus shed on the cross 2000 years ago. If you do not want to be forgiven and brought into the family of God through faith in Christ, then you have no one to blame but yourself. God loves you dearly, but He will not force you to receive Jesus as Savior (see John 1:12) if your heart is apathetic or hostile toward Christ and His Gospel. If, on the other hand, you recognize your sinfulness and long to be forgiven, then the Holy Spirit is working to bring you into the light. Those who want nothing to do with the Gospel are choosing to resist the Holy Spirit and remain on the highway to Hell.

The doctrine of election offers tremendous comfort and assurance to believers, but not a drop of consolation to unbelievers. Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) served as a pastor in London for 38 years and was known as the "Prince of Preachers." Spurgeon wrote, "Whatever may be said about the doctrine of election, it is written in the Word of God as with an iron pen, and there is no getting rid of it. To me, it is one of the sweetest and most blessed truths in the whole of revelation, and those who are afraid of it are so because they do not understand it. If they could but know that the Lord had chosen them it would make their hearts dance with joy."

So, has God chosen you to be in His family forever, or are you choosing to say "no" to Jesus, and thereby rejecting God's only plan of salvation?

** Dan Delzell is the pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Papillion, Nebraska, USA

Christian Post

Jeney Kleeman

Noland Arbaugh’s life changed in a fraction of a second in June 2016. He was a 22-year-old student, working at a kids’ summer camp in upstate New York, when he went swimming in a lake. He can’t tell me exactly what happened, but thinks one of his friends must have accidentally struck him very hard in the side of his head as they ran into the water and plunged beneath the surface.

When he woke up face down in the water, unable to move or breathe, Noland immediately knew he was paralysed. But he didn’t panic. He felt no fear at all, he says. “You never know what you’re going to do in those high-stress situations. I found out that day that it’s hard to shake me. I am very, very calm under pressure.”

Elon Musk would ultimately turn this quality to his advantage when, after nearly eight years of being quadriplegic, Noland agreed to allow the world’s richest man to implant an electronic chip into his brain. In January 2024, Noland became the first human recipient of a brain-computer interface (BCI) developed by Musk’s company, Neuralink. If it worked, it would allow him to control a computer using only the power of his mind.

Only four months after he first heard about Neuralink, Noland was on an operating table, with a purpose-built robot poised to insert the N1 chip into his motor cortex. The stakes could not have been higher for him: he was risking infection, haemorrhage and brain damage. “My brain is the last part of myself that I really feel I have control over,” he tells me from his wheelchair at his kitchen table in Yuma, Arizona. But the stakes for humankind, too, were very great: if Neuralink succeeds, the world’s most powerful billionaire will have fulfilled his science-fiction-fuelled dreams of melding minds with machines.

What kind of person chooses to be Elon Musk’s guinea pig? And, once the experiment is over, what happens next – for Noland, and for the rest of us?

Noland’s world is in a different universe to Musk’s. Now 30, he lives in the same simple, single-storey house in the dusty military town in the Sonoran desert where he grew up. He left for an international studies degree at Texas A&M University, only to move back after his accident so that his mother, Mia, stepfather and half-brother could take care of him. The words “Be grateful for small things, big things and everything in between” are stencilled on the kitchen wall. Goats, chickens and a plump turkey named Hope roam the back yard. Two golden retrievers and an enormous goldendoodle pad around the kitchen, occasionally pushing their noses into my lap.

Noland has an electric wheelchair that he can operate using a mouthpiece; his forearms lie still on the brightly upholstered armrests. Every so often, Mia reaches forward to uncurl his fingers, or offer him a sip of coffee from a straw in a Big Gulp cup, or swat away the flies that buzz around his face in the merciless Arizona heat. He asks her to roll up his shirt to show me a sleeve of tattoos on his arm. “I got it done after my accident because it didn’t hurt,” he grins. Two bracelets are inked on to his wrist; a permanent rendering of ones given to him by the girls who pulled him out of the water in 2016.

Before his accident, Noland was outdoorsy and athletic, playing football, American football, basketball, rugby and golf. He liked to go hunting and shooting deer with his family. He was musical, too, playing bass in a rock band, and he performed in high school theatre productions. He loved Xbox and PlayStation, but was never really into tech. A shelf next to us is still crammed with the board games he used to play: Settlers of Catan; The Game of Life.

Mia worked at their church, and Noland was a student leader there. His faith was a huge part of his life, growing up. “I always wanted to make it through college as a Christian,” he says. “That lasted about a week. I was sleeping around, I was doing drugs, I was drinking a lot.” He sees his accident as divine intervention. “It was God pulling me back. I really do think that it was the best thing that could have happened to me.”

The blow to Noland’s head didn’t break his neck – it dislocated it, and his vertebra went back into place immediately – but it left his spinal cord severely damaged. The higher up a serious spinal cord injury is, the more extensive the paralysis. Superman actor Christopher Reeve shattered his first and second vertebra, and could not hold up his head without assistance. Noland’s injury was around his fourth and fifth vertebrae, so he can move his head and shoulders, and express himself with nods and shrugs, which he often does. He uses the word “luck” a lot. “I was really lucky that I wasn’t ventilated for my entire life,” he says. “I was really lucky that I didn’t have a traumatic brain injury.”

At first, there were “a lot of promising signs” that his condition might improve, but he ultimately never recovered much movement. At the beginning of his adult life, he was facing a lifetime of dependency.

“I have to rely on my family for everything: to give me a shower, to help with bowel movements and urination.” Noland was a smoker, and if he wanted a cigarette he would have to ask someone to take him outside, put one in his mouth, light it and get rid of the ash for him. He liked to smoke weed, too (it’s legal in Arizona).

“I didn’t like him smoking, but he’s an adult. It was hard,” Mia tells me. She looks over to him. “I’m your mom. Of course, I’m going to give my two cents.”

“I’m a grown man,” Noland says. “To have to rely on other people to do it – it really, reallysucked.” He reluctantly gave up a couple of years ago, unable to bear the guilt of exposing his carers to secondhand smoke.

“Another thing people take for granted, just being able to text someone privately, is not easy as a quadriplegic. If I want to dictate something, it’s like yelling out to the world what I’m saying …”

“‘I love you!’” shouts Mia.

“… I just didn’t have a way to build my life privately.”

There was an iPad Noland could use. “I’d have a stick that I would hold in my mouth, with a little piece of conductive fabric on the end of it, and I would touch my iPad and use it in that way. I did that for years.” But it was frustrating. He had to be put into the right position by other people. Texting with the mouth stick was very slow, and if Noland wanted to use dictation he had to speak with the stick in his mouth. If it fell out, he’d have to call for help. “It’s not very easy. And then there wasn’t a whole lot I could do on it. I mean – it’s an iPad. You can’t do all the same things you can do on a computer.”

He asks Mia to open his laptop in front of him on the kitchen table. He turns towards the screen.

“Implant connect,” he says.

And he begins to play chess, moving pieces across the board with swift, deft cursor movements, while his hands remain motionless on the armrests of his wheelchair. He’s been playing against some of the Neuralink engineers for a few months, he tells me as he takes someone’s pawn. “None of them are very good, so it’s not too hard.”

Next, he’s browsing the internet, opening X, checking his DMs, composing a message by directing his cursor across a virtual keyboard. Now he’s slaying baddies, darting back and forth with a reaper’s scythe in a game called Vampire Survivors. “I love this game,” he says, looking over to me while keeping control of the cursor. He completes a level and digital confetti rains down the screen.

It’s extraordinary, but also totally unremarkable: Noland is using a computer like anyone else does; he’s just not moving his body at all. “Sometimes I forget how impressive it is, because it’s so natural to me,” he says, shrugging again.

In some respects, Noland is better at using a computer than the rest of us. When he first received the Neuralink implant, he tells me, all he wanted to do was play video games. He challenged his friends to a multiplayer version of Civilization VI, called Red Death. “It is absolutely a game of speed, a test of speed. Whoever’s quickest to the draw wins. And I was beating them.” His eyes are wide. “It blew my mind. Just that one little taste made me realise that this technology is going to change the world.”

There’s nothing new about BCIs. The first experiments involving chips and animal brains began in the late 1960s. The gold standard in human BCI design, the Utah Array – a square matrix of needles inserted 1.5mm into the brain – was developed in 1992. Two decades before Noland’s surgery, in 2004, a quadriplegic man called Matthew Nagle became the first person to have a chip implanted inside his skull. While no regulator has yet allowed BCIs to be used outside an experimental setting, enough people have them for an online forum, BCI Pioneers, to exist for the community.

But Noland is the first to try out the chip produced by an entrepreneur whose explicit aim is to find a way to feed information into the brain, as well as receiving from it – a man who has proved to be all too willing to tip the scales of social media to beam his thoughts into millions of people’s phones with real-world consequences, promoting far-right figures in the UK and Germany, and fuelling riots across England last summer.

The theory behind BCIs is relatively simple: they read the electrical signals produced by neurons and turn them into computer commands. (The brain cells of a quadriplegic person are still firing, after all, but the signals are prevented from travelling down the spinal cord.) BCIs can connect to the brain either through a wearable device, such as a cap, or by being surgically attached to brain tissue. The closer the device is to the brain cells, the more accurately it can translate the signals.

Neuralink’s N1 chip is wireless and aimed to be smaller and more powerful than any that had gone before. (It’s about the size of a 50p coin.) While the Utah Array had 100 electrodes reading signals from targeted neurons, the brochure used to recruit Noland – which resembles an ad for an Apple product – boasts of “1,024 electrodes distributed across 64 threads, each thinner than a human hair”. Those 64 threads are inserted “reliably and efficiently” 3.5mm into the cortex of the brain by Neuralink’s R1 surgical robot.

In his authorised biography of Musk, Walter Isaacson describes how the billionaire first began thinking about implanting chips in brains in 2016, when he was travelling in a car with his chief of staff, Sam Teller, and became frustrated by how long it took for him to type a message on his iPhone. “Imagine if you could think into the machine,” Musk said, “like a high-speed connection directly between your mind and your machine.” Musk immediately asked Teller to find him a neuroscientist who could help him understand BCIs.

Many of Musk’s ventures have been influenced by his love of science fiction, from reusable rocket ships (SpaceX), electric cars and humanoid robots (Tesla) to hyperloops for mass transit in autonomous pods (The Boring Company). Neuralink is inspired by the Culture series of novels by Iain M Banks, which Musk has singled out for praise. Banks describes a brain implant called a “neural lace” that is implanted in childhood, and can read and store every thought and sensation a person experiences. “When I first read Banks, it struck me that this idea had a chance of protecting us on the artificial intelligence front,” Musk told Isaacson.

“Everything that you’ve ever experienced in your whole life – smell, emotions – all of those are electrical signals,” he told podcaster Lex Fridman in August. “If you trigger the right neuron, you could trigger a particular scent. You could certainly make things glow. You can think of the brain as a biological computer.” As such, the brain could be harnessed – or hacked.

Musk hopes the enhanced human brain will be able to keep one step ahead of – or at least keep up with – computers. “If we can find good commercial uses to fund Neuralink, then in a few decades, we will get to our ultimate goal of protecting us against evil AI by tightly coupling the human world to our digital machinery,” he told Isaacson. His first commercial target was augmenting people with quadriplegia.

Of the eight-strong team of neuroscientists and engineers who co-founded Neuralink in 2016, only one remains. Former employees have complained of being under pressure to produce results within rushed timelines. But those who stayed with the company were able to create the kind of eye-catching stunts Musk was looking for.

In an event livestreamed on YouTube in August 2020, Musk unveiled Gertrude the pig, who had been living with a Neuralink chip nestled under her skull for two months. He showed how Gertrude’s movements were being read by the chip and wirelessly transmitted to a computer. “I could have a Neuralink right now and you wouldn’t know,” Musk said. “Maybe I do.” (In response to the demo, MIT Technology Review said Neuralink was simply “neuroscience theater”.) Eight months later, Neuralink released a video of a macaque named Pager playing the video game Pong using only the power of his mind. When he scored well, he was rewarded with a sip of banana smoothie.

The company was swiftly dogged with allegations of animal cruelty, with a Wired investigation detailing vet records containing “gruesome portrayals of suffering endured by as many as a dozen of Neuralink’s primate subjects”. (The US Department of Agriculture ultimately reported that it could not find any violations of animal research rules when it inspected the facilities in 2023.)

In September 2023, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave Neuralink an investigational device exemption that allowed them to recruit participants for the first ever human trials. Neuralink’s Prime study aimed to demonstrate that the NI implant was “safe and useful in daily life”. All they needed was the right human being.

In the years after his accident, Noland did whatever he could to increase his chances of regaining some of what he had lost. He added his name to the largest database for spinal cord injury studies in North America, but was never chosen to take part. He thinks it was because he was honest about being a smoker on the questionnaire. He was told that if he tried to move as much as possible – wiggling his fingers, rotating his wrists – his brain might create new neural pathways. Night after night, he’d lie in bed with his eyes closed, focusing on trying to move. “You think: ‘Oh, I’m finally moving – I can feel myself moving!’ You open your eyes and look, and nothing is happening. It’s really frustrating.”

Then, on 19 September 2023, a friend rang him. “He’s a big Elon Musk fan. He knew all about Neuralink. And when he saw that the human trials had opened up, the first thing he did was give me a call.”

At that time, Noland says he only knew “what the average person knows” about Musk: “Tesla owner, SpaceX, Starlink, richest man in the world sort of thing. Darling of the left for years, spoke out about a couple of things, the left basically turned against him, and then he started making his way towards the right.” He knew nothing about Neuralink, but his view on Musk was clear: “He is one of the most impressive men that have lived in my lifetime. People can not like him for a lot of different reasons, but what he’s doing – pushing the boundaries of space travel, the cars, the internet – it’s incredible.”

His friend helped him fill out the online application on the day the trial opened. His first interview was just three days later, on a Friday. The following Monday, he had his second interview.

Determined to stand out, Noland chose the first available slot for every interview, but he didn’t hold out much hope of being chosen. “Other quadriplegics go out and do things with their lives; I came home after my accident and lived with my parents. I thought they’d probably want someone more impressive.”

It’s obvious to me that he is the perfect candidate: a warm, likable, earnest person whose future was taken from him by a twist of fate at the start of his adult life. From a PR perspective, he’d clearly be a fantastic choice. But Noland really doesn’t see it.

There were several rounds of interviews and assessments. Noland was sent to the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, for eight hours of scans, blood tests, urine tests, memory tests and psychological evaluations. The Neuralink team spoke to Mia, too. “They asked if we had any concerns, questions, doubts or anything,” she says. “Noly used to send me stuff to read. I didn’t want to know every detail. I just wanted to be as supportive as I could.”

Noland agreed to be part of Neuralink’s Prime study for six years; he had to sign a 35-page consent form, which included what he describes as a “laundry list” of risks. In early January 2024, he got the call telling him he had officially been selected to be the first person to have a Neuralink chip. His surgery would be in two weeks.

Even though it all happened so fast, Noland said he was ready for anything. “I’m good at lying there and thinking through every possible scenario. I told my parents: ‘If I have any sort of brain injury, then I don’t want to live with you any more – I want you to put me in a home.’ I did everything I needed to do. I was so at peace.”

“I got a little bit worried and nervous, because he’s already been through so much,” Mia tells me, making a twisting motion with her fists over her stomach. “But you just look at Noland and you think: ‘He’s got this; he’s excited.’ That helped a lot.”

Musk was supposed to be at the Barrow Neurological Institute on the morning of Noland’s surgery, on 29 January 2024. “I guess something happened with his plane – a malfunction or something – so he couldn’t make it,” Noland says. They FaceTimed just before he went into theatre. “It lasted maybe a minute. ‘Hey, I’m really excited. Thank you. This is such a cool thing, what you’re doing, it’s awesome.’ That’s what I was saying to him,” he says, smiling. “He was like: ‘You’re gonna be making history,’ things like that.” Noland was unfazed to be speaking to the world’s richest man. “He’s a regular guy – just much more impressive and a little bit more eccentric.”

The surgery took less than two hours. He shows me a picture on his phone of the large L-shaped incision on his shaved head. There’s nothing to see now: shaggy dark hair covers the scar. “They took out a piece of my skull and then replaced my skull with the chip. My skin is over the top,” he says, letting me feel the spongy place on his scalp where there is no longer any bone.

Musk arrived with his entourage when Noland was still groggy from the anaesthetic. He thanked Noland, and told him the surgery had been a success. A little later, a 10-strong Neuralink team came in to wake up the implant. When they switched it on and could see it had connected with a tablet that was receiving real-time information from Noland’s brain cells, some of them burst into tears. “I was trying to move my finger, like I’d done a million times, and I saw a big yellow spike [on the screen].” The whole room erupted with applause.

Next, Noland and the chip had to learn how to work together: the human learning how to create the best signals with his mind, the computer how to correctly decode them. Noland still does four hours a day of what he calls “session” work for Neuralink, performing exercises such as clicking targets on a screen to fine-tune the cursor control.

But it quickly became second nature to him. At first, he used what he calls “attempted” movements: he would try to move his hand and the cursor would move where he was trying to get his hand to go. But then he became able to direct it with “imagined” movements: he was no longer trying to move anything apart from the cursor itself.

“You’re not thinking about doing it – you’re just willing the cursor to go wherever you want.” His eyes are wide. “When I first moved it with imagined movement, it blew my mind. It was crazy. That was two weeks in, and I was giddy all day. That was when it all became real to me.”

It sounds like telekinesis, I say. Noland shrugs. “I called it telekinesis – you’re moving something with your mind – but Elon Musk called it telepathy, because I’m communicating with a computer through my mind.”

Musk’s goal is not to allow quadriplegics to move things, after all – it’s for minds to have seamless interfaces with computers.

But it has been far from seamless for Noland. At first, he was frustrated that he had to stop using the implant every five or six hours so he could charge it. But the Neuralink team managed to find a fix, and now he can use the N1 continuously, wearing a baseball cap fitted with a coil that has been charged from the mains whenever the battery is low.

Then, a month after his surgery, the worst happened: the implant began to stop working. He started to lose control of the cursor. It came to a head when he travelled to Fremont to visit Neuralink’s California facility and demonstrate his new skills. Noland assumed the team must have tinkered with the software. “I was like: ‘You guys need to fix this. I’m here to play Mario Kart with Neuralink. I can’t have you guys messing around with things right before I do that.’”

Just before he arrived, the team informed him that when they’d performed the surgery they hadn’t factored in how much his brain moves, pulsing with each heartbeat. The threads had started retracting as soon as they had been implanted; now 85% of them were out of place, their electrodes picking up nothing at all.

“It was really bad. I was getting it all taken away from me. That was really, really hard,” says Noland.

“He cried,” says Mia. “We gave him time. He didn’t want us around him.”

Noland nods. “I cried in my van right before we went over to Neuralink.”

He asked the team to “do whatever they needed to do to fix it. Go in and do another surgery.” But the neurosurgeon was reluctant to operate on him again, he says. Instead, Neuralink engineers tweaked the software, so that the remaining 15% of the threads read groups of neuron signals, instead of signals from individual cells. So far, it works.

Noland’s main frustration now is how he types – by moving his cursor to click individual letters on a keyboard. It’s nowhere near the kind of mind-to-screen text output that Musk dreamed of when he founded Neuralink. “We have gotten up to almost 25 words a minute, but dictation is still better. We’ll see how that goes over time.”

He knows that his Neuralink chip will always be the worst. In August 2024, the company announced that a second trial participant – an anonymous quadriplegic man who has chosen not to meet or speak to Noland – had received an implant. With his superior chip, “Alex” is able to design three-dimensional objects using the power of his mind. None of his threads have retracted. Last month, Musk revealed that a third – also unnamed – person had now received a Neuralink chip.

Is Noland envious of those who will come after him? “A little bit,” he concedes. “I’m really excited for them though.”

Although relentlessly positive, Noland recognises the dark possibilities of the technology lodged in his brain. Neuralink says it doesn’t monitor his brain or track what he does online, but warned him that someone might be able to “reverse engineer” the data produced by his neurons to work out what he’s been looking at. “With that in mind, I keep it very PG,” he tells me.

On the day of the US presidential election, Noland tweeted a headline from the satirical website the Onion: “Neuralink Patient Unable To Stop Hand From Voting For Trump.” “So true,” he joked. (He voted for Trump of his own free will.) Five days later, he asked his followers what the “biggest moral and ethical concerns” of a Neuralink implant could be.

“Kids might use it to cheat in school,” one responded.

“Hacking them and taking over a user,” said another.

“The ability for others to read your mind … and interfere with it,” said a third.

Why ask the question? “It’s something I get asked constantly, and I don’t have good answers.” But he’s clearly thought about it. When I ask him what a bad use of a BCI might be, he reels off a list. “Mind control, body control. At this point, it’s only reading my signals, but it will be able to write at some point, and sending signals into the brain can be scary. You could make people see anything, experience different feelings, emotions, hallucinations …”

Musk is excited about a future where Neuralink sends signals to the brain. He explored the possibilities with Isaacson. “Want to see infrared, ultraviolet? How about radio waves or radar?” In a presentation in 2022, Musk described how the ability for Neuralink to write on the brain would allow someone born blind to see. He also said he was “confident that it is possible to restore full body functionality to somebody who has a severed spinal cord” using chips implanted below the site of injury.

The billionaire’s extraordinary ambitions have so far been able to go almost unchecked. Neuralink hasn’t registered its human trials at the publicly accessible database ClinicalTrials.gov, and has made very few details about its research public. This avoidance of external scrutiny has led medical ethicists to describe Neuralink as “science by press release”. Musk’s impatience for eye-catching results is likely to increase now that Neuralink has serious competition from other startups, both in the US and in China, where companies are focusing on non-therapeutic BCIs that could enhance cognition among the general population.

In August, Musk said that hundreds of millions of people will have a Neuralink implant within the next two decades. “If it’s extremely safe, and you can have superhuman abilities – let’s say you can upload your memories, so you wouldn’t lose memories – then I think probably a lot of people would choose to have it,” he added. This is either the ultimate in wearable tech or Black Mirror dystopia, depending on your point of view. “I might get it …” Joe Rogan, the US podcaster, remarked last year. “I don’t want to be the only person who can’t read minds.”

It might all be hype and bluster. But it’s possible to imagine a future where the sum total of all human knowledge is available to anyone with a brain implant. They could switch off their anxiety – or their empathy – as required. With total recall of every moment in their lives and every piece of information they ever encountered, every problem solved before the conscious mind could consider it, life for these people would be pretty much frictionless. In that world, wouldn’t there be incredible inequality between those who had BCIs and those who didn’t?

“If you think about all technology today, there are people who have the money to use things and people who don’t,” Noland says when I put this to him. “I know Elon wants to produce it to scale, and make it cheap and affordable.” He shrugs. “It’s not fair, but life isn’t fair.”

FDA rules mean Neuralink can’t pay Noland for his participation in the research, or contribute to the cost of his care. His house isn’t fully accessible; for the last eight years, he has been showering outside in his back yard. “There’s no privacy. But we didn’t have the money to build a shower for me. That’s something that we’ve always wanted.”

Since becoming the human face of Neuralink, Noland has amassed more than 128,000 followers on X. In November, he announced that he was going to do a 72-hour fundraising livestream: people could watch him using the brain implant in real time and donate so his family could build a new house that would meet his needs. He raised $750,000 over those three days, he tells me, but most of it came from the “crypto community” and will be subject to huge taxes when he tries to cash it out. He’s still trying to raise funds.

Noland dreams of being able to connect to a Tesla car and Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot. “It would give me the ability to have a 24-hour caregiver that I can control, to do anything for me, and I would be able to get around.”

You could start smoking again, I say.

“I could totally start smoking again. I could teach the Optimus robot how to roll cigarettes!”

“What the heck are you encouraging him to do? Jenny, you can leave now,” says Mia, laughing.

The reality of Noland’s future looks far more prosaic. When the study ends, Neuralink will either remove his implant or simply switch it off. Surely he will want an upgrade then?

“They can’t promise me anything,” he says. “Any sort of promises would incentivise me to stay in the study.” He’d like to go back to college to complete his degree, and then use his skills as a spokesperson to become an advocate for the growing BCI community. If anyone ever works out a way to restore movement to people with quadriplegia, Noland says it will probably be too late for him: his muscles have already atrophied so much.

“I’m content with my lot in life,” he says. “I was before Neuralink, and I will be again after. I’ll find a way.”

As I pack up my things, Noland tells me that he calls his chip Eve. He’s always liked that name. “Neuralink and I, we’re on the eve of something great, so that works out perfect, too. Also – Adam and Eve. God created Adam, and then gave Adam a helper, who is Eve. I’m Adam, in this scenario, and Eve is my helper. Together they cursed humanity. Maybe I will do the same, with Eve.”

He shoots me a bright grin. “I don’t think enough people enjoy that joke as much as I do.”

The Guardian, USA

Several netizens have raised concerns and called for a systemic investigation into how USAID health funds allocated to Nigeria have been spent amid widespread dissatisfaction.

The U.S. Agency for International Development allocated approximately $2.8bn to Nigeria between 2022 and 2024, according to data from the United States Foreign Assistance Dashboard.

The platform serves as the primary source for budgetary and financial data from U.S. government agencies managing foreign assistance portfolios.

Before President Donald Trump’s second election, USAID faced significant controversy, with critics accusing the agency of inadequate oversight in its funding mechanisms, which could have led to resource misallocation.

In 2024, USAID came under fire for funding organisations allegedly linked to terrorist groups, raising concerns about the agency’s vetting processes.

In response, Trump issued an executive order on January 20, 2025, suspending all U.S. foreign aid for 90 days, citing misalignment with American interests and concerns about global destabilisation.

The directive led to the furlough of thousands of USAID staff worldwide, with overseas employees instructed to return to the U.S. within weeks.

Amid the controversy, data from Financial Aid revealed that in 2024, the U.S. agency disbursed a total of $41bn to no fewer than 206 countries, including Nigeria, which received $780m.

In 2023, USAID allocated $72bn to 209 countries, with $1bn disbursed to Nigeria. Similarly, in 2022, the agency released $74bn to fund 21,000 programs in at least 212 countries, and Nigeria received $970m.

Over the three years, Nigeria received a total of $2.75bn from USAID. Of this, $1.469bn was allocated for health, $887m for humanitarian services, $141.77m for economic development, $41.75m for education, and $16.39m for peace and security, with the remaining funds directed toward program support, democracy, human rights, governance, and other sectors.

Among those calling investigation into how USAID health funds allocated to Nigeria have been spent amid widespread dissatisfaction over the chronic underfunding, dilapidated infrastructure, and energy crises faced by several federal teaching hospitals in the country is a netizen, Sir Dickson@Wizarab10, posted on Tuesday.

He wrote, “Nigeria has received more than $5 billion in USAID funding, yet there has been no meaningful development that the funding has been used for. For instance, in the Nigerian Healthcare Sector, there was “The HIV/AIDS Program Scandal/Fraud” where a 2017 audit by the USAID Inspector General (OIG) found that millions of dollars in HIV/AIDS funds were lost due to mismanagement and non-oversight of how the money was spent on HIV prevention.

“How can an organisation claim to have spent $5 billion on healthcare, power and agriculture with no tangible infrastructure or benefit to show for it?.”

On Thursday, Kelechi Ugonna (PhD) @Ugo_KelechiPhD wrote, “All around Nigeria, children, men and women are having to scavenge for rotten “food” in waste bins in 2025. Actually, this has been the case for a few years. Yet in 2023 USAID “spent” $824million in Nigeria alone. I join @DavidHundeyin & ask: where’s the money gone?”

Another netizen identified as Obiaraeri Nnaemeka Onyeka, also posted on Friday, “How I wish @elonmusk and DOGE will release the names of the recipients of the USAID $7.8bn inflow to Nigeria between 2014- 2023 and the amount each of them received. We need to know the NGO/ agency establishment bandits, who used USAIDs to shore up their sagging personal economies.”

Punch

The Nigerian Red Cross Society has revealed that Nigeria accounts for 10% of global road traffic fatalities, making it one of the countries with the highest road accident rates worldwide. According to the organization, of the two million annual global road deaths, approximately 200,000 occur in Nigeria.

Speaking at the launch of the Safe Steps Road Safety Campaign, Nigerian Red Cross Society President Oluyemisi Adeaga cited the World Health Organization's (WHO) 2023 Global Status Report, which ranks road traffic injuries as the ninth leading cause of death globally. Adeaga emphasized that official statistics likely underestimate the true scale of the problem, suggesting that actual accident rates may be five times higher than reported figures.

"This campaign comes at a crucial moment," Adeaga stated. "We are working with government agencies, law enforcement, transport unions, and private sector partners to implement comprehensive road safety measures." The initiative, which began in Abuja last December, brings together key stakeholders including the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Nigeria Police Force, National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), and National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO).

Zenith Prudence Foundation representative Afolabi Lawal highlighted that Africa experiences the world's highest annual road fatality rate despite having relatively few vehicles. Despite interventions from WHO, the Ministry of Transport, and FRSC, road accidents continue to claim 1.35 million lives globally each year.

The Safe Steps Road Safety Campaign aims to reduce traffic accidents across Nigeria and promote safer driving practices among its citizens.

A passenger boat carrying 20 travelers was hijacked by sea pirates on Thursday along the Bonny-Okrika waterways in Rivers State. Reports indicate that the boat driver violated regulations by navigating through Kilometer 10, a restricted channel for commercial vessels.

Of the 21 passengers on board, nine have been rescued so far, while search operations are ongoing to locate the remaining 12 individuals. This incident highlights the persistent issue of pirate attacks in the region, despite efforts by the state government to curb such activities.

Anengi Claude-Wilcox, Chairman of Bonny Local Government Area, confirmed the incident and stated that the rescue operation was carried out in collaboration with security agencies. In a statement released by his media aide, Boma Waribor, on Friday, Claude-Wilcox said, “Security reports indicate that a passenger boat with 20 individuals traveling to Bonny was intercepted by sea pirates near Isaka in Okrika Local Government Area. Thanks to the swift response of government security operatives, nine passengers have been safely returned to Port Harcourt. Efforts are being intensified to rescue the remaining 12.”

Claude-Wilcox urged the families of the victims and the public to remain calm, assuring them that the government is working closely with neighboring local government areas and security agencies to address the situation.

Meanwhile, the Maritime Union Workers of Nigeria (MUWN), Rivers State chapter, has expressed deep concern over the recurring pirate attacks in the state. Isreal Wariboko, Chairman of the MUWN Rivers Commercial District, criticized the ongoing attacks despite government efforts to combat them. He explained that the pirates frequently change their tactics and operate from hidden locations within the mangroves, making it difficult to track them.

“These criminals are always monitoring security movements and exploit any gaps to carry out their operations. They often strike in areas where security presence is minimal or absent,” Wariboko said. He called for increased security patrols along the waterways to prevent further attacks and confirmed that the latest incident has been reported to the police.

Wariboko also noted that the union has dispatched search teams to assist in locating the missing passengers. “After our previous protests and the governor’s donation of gunboats, pirate attacks had reduced. However, the pirates have now adopted new strategies. We are investigating whether the boat followed the approved route or deviated. The marine police are handling the matter, and we remain committed to ensuring the safety of our waterways,” he added.

Gunmen suspected to be bandits have abducted several worshippers from a Mosque in the Bushe community, Sabon Birni Local Government Area (LGA) of Sokoto state.

The suspected bandits stormed the mosque at dawn on Thursday while worshippers were performing their early morning Subhi prayer.

Not less than 10 worshippers, including the Imam, were reportedly whisked away during the attack.

Punch quoted Ahmed Rufai, spokesperson for the Sokoto State Police Command, as confirming the incident on Friday.

Rufai said the command in collaboration with other security agencies “are working tirelessly” to ensure the immediate release of all the victims.

He said: “I just confirmed the incident from the DPO of the community when I spoke with him on the telephone.

“I want to assure you that the Nigeria Police, in conjunction with other security agencies, are working tirelessly to ensure the immediate release of all the abductees.”

Sa’idu Ibrahim, a member of the Sokoto State House of Assembly representing the area, also confirmed the incident.

Daily Trust

Hamas set to release three Israeli hostages as Gaza ceasefire holds

Palestinian militant group Hamas is set to hand over three Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for Palestinian detainees and prisoners in the latest stage of a ceasefire deal aimed at opening the way to ending the 15-month war in Gaza.

Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi, both taken hostage from Kibbutz Be'eri during the cross-border Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, and Or Levy, abducted that day from the Nova music festival, will be handed over on Saturday, Hamas said.

In exchange, Israel will release 183 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including 18 serving life sentences, 54 serving long sentences and 111 detained in Gaza during the war, Hamas media office said.

The exchange is the latest in a series of swaps that have so far returned 13 Israeli hostages as well as five Thai workers abducted during the Hamas attack and 583 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

Despite hiccups, a 42-day ceasefire and hostage-for-prisoner exchange worked out with U.S. backing and mediation by Egypt and Qatar has held up since it took effect nearly three weeks ago.

But fears the deal might collapse before all the hostages are free have grown since U.S. President Donald Trump's surprise call for Palestinians to be moved from Gaza and for the enclave to be handed to the United States and developed into the "Riviera of the Middle East."

Arab states and Palestinian groups have rejected the proposal, which critics said would amount to ethnic cleansing.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, welcomed Trump's intervention and his defence minister ordered the military to make plans to allow Palestinians who wished to leave Gaza to do so.

Under the deal, 33 Israeli children, women and older men are to be released during an initial phase in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

Negotiations on a second phase began this week aimed at returning the remaining hostages and agreeing a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza in preparation for a final end to the war.

Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 as hostages.

In response, Israel launched an air and ground war in Gaza that has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, and devastated the narrow enclave.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine sees marked improvement in accuracy of Russia's North Korean missiles

North Korean ballistic missiles fired at Ukraine by Russian forces since late December have been far more precise than salvos of the weapons launched over the past year, two senior Ukrainian sources told Reuters.

At a time when Moscow's burgeoning ties with Pyongyang are causing alarm from Washington to Seoul, the increase in accuracy - to within 50-100m of the intended target - suggests North Korea is successfully using the battlefield to test its missile technology, the sources said.

A military source, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive information, described a marked improvement in the precision in all the more than 20 North Korean ballistic missiles that hit Ukraine over the past several weeks. A second source, a senior government official familiar with the issue, confirmed the findings when asked by Reuters.

Yang Uk, a weapons expert at Seoul's Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said such improvements in North Korean missile capabilities have troubling implications for its potential to threaten South Korea, Japan and the United States or sell upgraded weapons to "failed" states or armed groups.

"That can have a major impact on stability in the region and the world," he said, in response to questions for this story.

North Korea's military programmes have developed rapidly in recent years, including short- and intermediate-range missiles that Pyongyang says can be tipped with nuclear warheads. However, until its involvement in Ukraine, the long-isolated nation had never tested the new weapons in combat.

Ukraine's defence ministry did not respond to requests for comment. Ukraine does not usually disclose the outcome of Russian missile and drone strikes on military targets.

The defence ministries in Russia and South Korea, as well as South Korea's National Intelligence Service, did not respond to Reuters questions.

The North Korean embassy in London did not answer calls seeking comment or respond to a voicemail. The country's mission at the U.N. did not respond to questions. North Korea and Russia have denied any arms deals though their leaders pledged closer military cooperation when they met in September in Russia's far east.

The U.S. Pentagon and U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment.

'CUSTOMER FEEDBACK'

Military expert Yang said his security contacts in Ukraine had also independently reported improvements in the latest batches of North Korean missiles.

"As they are making missiles and getting feedback from the customers – the Russian army - then they have more experience making more reliable missiles," he said.

The sources and Yang said it was not clear what modifications North Korea had made.

The military source said forensic analysis conducted on debris had not identified changes to the design of the missiles, although there had been very little debris left to analyse.

Two possible explanations were the missiles being fitted with better navigation systems or with a steering mechanism to help manoeuvring, the source said.

According to Yang, other factors that could improve accuracy include better targeting information for crews, new guidance system components provided by Russia and improvements based on the data and experience North Korean scientists have gathered in the war.

Earlier in the war, the missiles had an accuracy of 1-3 kilometres, but the most recent had an accuracy of between 50 and 100 metres, the military source said in an interview in Kyiv on Jan. 27, disclosing a previously unreported assessment for the first time.

The source declined to publicly disclose what had been targeted, where the missiles were fired from or the dates of the attacks, citing military secrecy.

Russia began firing North Korean K-23, K-23A and K-24 short-range ballistic missiles at Ukraine towards the end of 2023 and has since fired around 100, the source said. Kyiv says Russia has also received millions of artillery shells and thousands of troops from Pyongyang to help its war effort.

North Korea is expanding a complex that manufactures K-23 missiles, Reuters reported in November.

In February 2024, Ukraine's top prosecutor cast doubt on the reliability of North Korea's little-known weaponry, saying that only two out of 24 missiles that had been fired up to that point had been "relatively accurate."

The advance in the weapons' precision appeared suddenly, the source said, after months of inaccurate launches. The new assessment was based on where the missiles - identified as North Korean through examinations at blast sites - fell in relation to the presumed target in the vicinity, the source said.

Reuters could not independently verify the sources' assessment.

BIGGER PAYLOAD

Though North Korean ballistic missiles account for only a small portion of Russia's missile strikes they carry a large warhead of up to one tonne and have a range of up to 800 km, the military source said. The Iskander-M, an equivalent Russian missile, carries a smaller payload and has a shorter range of 500 km.

Moscow and Pyongyang have rapidly grown closer since 2023 when Russia's then-defence minister visited North Korea. The two powers signed a treaty on "Comprehensive Strategic Partnership" last year.

When then-U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Seoul in November, he warned that Pyongyang's deepening ties with Moscow were a threat to global non-proliferation regimes.

South Korea's national security adviser Shin Won-sik said in November that Russia had provided North Korea with anti-air missiles and air defence equipment in return for troops and weapons supplies.

Moscow may also be assisting North Korea with missile parts and financial support, as well as space technology, South Korea's intelligence agency has said.

"North Korea is getting something," Yang said.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Raging battle for key Donbass town

The Russian Defense Ministry has released a compilation video on Saturday, highlighting moments from the five months-long battle for the town of Dzerzhinsk.

The town (known as Toretsk in Ukraine) in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) was liberated by Russian troops on Friday.

The video gives a glimpse of the urban warfare in the heavily battered town, depicting intensive use of assorted drones.

The footage features excerpts from various videos taken by surveillance, bomber and first person view (FPV) drones during the battle. It shows the targeting of Ukrainian logistics and personnel, as well as strikes against firing positions set up by the Ukrainian troops in high-rise buildings.

Kiev deployed some 40,000 soldiers to defend the town, which had been turned into a heavily fortified stronghold, the Russian military has said. The Ukrainian force stationed in Dzerzhinsk lost around 70% of its personnel in the battle, roughly 26,000 troops, the military added, noting that its garrison included the most motivated hardline-nationalist units at Kiev’s disposal.

“Almost every building was turned into a well-equipped and protected long-term firing position. The waste heaps and shafts located in the northern and western parts of the town were used for defense as well,” the Defense Ministry in Moscow stated.

Apart from the liberation of Dzerzhinsk, Moscow announced the capture of two villages adjacent to the town, Druzhba and Krymskoye, with the development apparently signalling that the Russian forces had already established a solid defensive zone around it.

The control over Dzerzhinsk is expected to alleviate the hardships long-endured by the DPR city of Gorlovka, located a short distance to the southeast of the town. Apart from serving as an important fortified position for the Ukrainian troops, the town also served as a key staging point for indiscriminate artillery, missile and drone attacks, endured by Gorlovka on an almost daily basis.

The liberation of Dzerzhinsk now opens the way to Konstantinovka and potentially gives the Russian military room to flank Ukrainian forces concentrated inside and near Kramatorsk, a major city located in the northwest of the DPR.

Reuters/RT

The mayor of Berezovsky shockingly lost the recent local elections to a “puppet candidate” who happens to be his subordinate and the wife of his personal driver.

Russian media has been reporting on the surprising outcome of the mayoral race in Berezovsky, a satellite city of Yekaterinburg, in Russia’s Sverdlovsk region. The reelection of Yevgeny Pistsov, who was trying to secure a fourth consecutive term as mayor, seemed little more than a formality, as he was running against a fellow member of Vladimir Putin’s United Russia political party who also happened to be a subordinate of his and the wife of his personal driver. No one expected Yulia Maslakova to win, she even told reporters that she ran as a “sparring partner” for Pistov, but the impossible happened and now she is doing everything in her power to avoid being sworn in as mayor.

In Berezovsky, like in many other cities, the mayor is not elected directly by the people, but by deputies on the proposal of a selection committee. The deputies are usually representatives of various local and regional authorities. This year, the deputies had reportedly asked the selection committee to allow more alternative candidates to choose from, but they were ultimately presented with only two options, Mayor Pistsov and Yulia Maslakova, the head of the investment development department of the Berezovsky administration and wife of Yevgeny Pistsov’s personal driver.

Russian newspaper Kommersant recently reported that during the recent local elections, out of the 23 deputies, 17 voted for Maslakova and only six for Pitsov. It is believed that the vote was in direct retaliation to the current mayor not allowing the deputies to elect “their candidate” by preventing them from running.

When the result of the elections in Berezovsky was announced, no one was more shocked than the winner. Maslakova reportedly tried to withdraw from the race but was told that it was impossible because she had already competed and won. She now has two weeks to take the oath as mayor, but she apparently has no plans to do so. A source in the Sverdlovsk region government told Kommersant that Maslakova “has refused the position” of mayor because she doesn’t want to work in “an atmosphere of conflict”.

If Yulia Maslakova doesn’t show up to be sworn in as mayor in 15 days, new local elections will be held, but political analysts in Russia doubt that Yevgeny Pistsov will secure a new term, because of the embarrassing result of this first election.

“It is an illusion to think that since the mayor is supported by the regional authorities, this will save him from falling into political oblivion,” local political scientist Alexander Belousov explained. “No one needs weak mayors.”

We’re just speculating, but could Yulia Maslakova’s refusal to accept the seat of mayor of Berezovsky have anything to do with the fact that her husband would become her personal driver?

Oddity Central

PRESS RELEASE

It is with profound sorrow and a heavy heart that we announce the passing of His Royal Highness, Oba Idowu Adeleke Basibo, the Alaperu of Iperu-Akesan-Land, who transitioned to join his ancestors on the 6th of February, 2025. The news of his departure has left a deep void in the hearts of the Basibo family, the Iperu-Akesan-Land in Council, the Ruling Houses, and the entire community of Iperu-Akesan-Land.

Oba Basibo was not just a monarch; he was a beacon of hope, a unifying force, and a tireless advocate for the progress and development of Iperu-Akesan-Land. His reign was marked by unwavering dedication to the welfare of his people, both at home and in the diaspora. Kabiyesi’s life was a testament to the virtues of integrity, compassion, and selfless service, leaving an indelible mark on the sands of time.

Though his passing is a stark reminder of the transient nature of our existence, we take solace in the enduring legacy he leaves behind. Oba Basibo’s leadership was characterized by wisdom, grace, and an unyielding commitment to the advancement of his kingdom. His efforts to foster unity, promote education, and uplift the less privileged will forever be remembered and cherished.

As we mourn the loss of our beloved Royal Father, we also celebrate the gift of his life—a life well-lived in service to humanity and the Fatherland. We give thanks to the Almighty for the privilege of sharing in his journey and for the countless lives he touched with his kindness and vision.

In this moment of grief, we extend our deepest condolences to the Basibo family, the Iperu-Akesan-Land in Council, the Ruling Houses, and all sons and daughters of Iperu-Akesan-Land. May the soul of Oba Idowu Adeleke Basibo find eternal rest in the bosom of the Almighty, free from all earthly troubles. May his legacy continue to inspire generations to come.

To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die.

Rest in peace, Kabiyesi. Amen.

Signed:

Sir Dr. Kesington Adebukunola Adebutu, CFR, KJW, FISM, FGPS, FNIJ, FAmedS.*

The Pillar of Methodism in Nigeria, Baba-Oba of Iperu-Akesan-Land, and Odole-Oodua of The Source.