Originally published in Christianity Today
It’s officially been one year since Noland Arbaugh, a 30-year-old Christian, became the first human recipient of a Neuralink brain-machine interface chip.
In 2018, a spinal-cord injury from a swimming accident left Arbaugh with quadriplegia — able to breathe and speak but unable to move his arms or legs. Now, with the Neuralink implant, nicknamed Telepathy, Arbaugh can control a computer cursor just by imagining movement, allowing him to play chess and engage with others on social media.
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The brain chip bypasses Arbaugh’s damaged nervous system and transmits movement-related signals to Neuralink’s computers, where a supercomputer processes the data and translates his thoughts into action. While the implant enables Arbaugh to interact with technology in groundbreaking ways, it only sends data out of his brain — it cannot receive or modify input.
Neuralink is a company formed by SpaceX and Tesla co-owner and engineer, Elon Musk, with the mission to “create a generalised brain interface to restore autonomy to those with unmet medical needs today and unlock human potential tomorrow.”
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Many are praising this advance in neurotechnology, especially for its ability to enhance the quality of life for those who suffer from neurological disabilities, like Arbaugh. Yet others have raised significant ethical concerns, including data privacy and security, potential risks for users, and equitable access.
After seeing Arbaugh post about his faith last year, CT reached out to ask him how he grapples with the implications of this technology — its promises as well as its ethical and theological tensions. He shared about the abundance of Christians in the neurotechnology field, the reasons he named his brain implant Eve, and his spiritual journey throughout the process. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and where you come from?
I’m from a smallish city called Yuma, Arizona. It’s basically in the middle of a desert. It was always hot here. I grew up in a nondenominational church, around 2,000 members. My mom started going to a church here when I was a little kid. I worked with her. I worked at a summer camp for kids when I was in college. So I was always in the church. I was a student leader at my church when I was in high school. And so it was fun growing up; it was a really good time.
My college studies were international studies with an emphasis in politics and diplomacy. I wasn’t planning on using that specifically for anything. I was always interested in politics, and I was always interested in the world in general. And so it seemed to fit with my interests, but ultimately I was going to use it to possibly go to law school.
How did your accident change your life and faith?
Within the first year after my accident, I had just met someone, and the first thing he asked me was: “Do you ever consider suicide?” I think it’s a valid question for someone in my position. A lot of people struggle with whether or not it’s even worth living at this point. I need someone to help me with just about everything in my life. I’m an incredible burden on all those around me.
I’ve been incredibly blessed to have a family who was willing to take me in and to ultimately just love me and say that it is worth still having you around. I believe personally that that day that I was injured, it was not an end to my life, but a beginning in a lot of ways. I believe God saved me that day. The path that I was on before my accident is something that I’ve thought about tremendously.
Even though I grew up in the church, when I went to college I definitely didn’t live a godly life at all for years. And I wasn’t planning on it. My goal was to go and do everything I want to do when I’m young, and then when I get older, I’ll settle down and turn back to God — I’ll do it on my time, on my terms. Obviously, that didn’t happen, but I was on a path to destruction, and God saved me that day. There were times where I was incredibly angry, bitter. But ultimately, I knew in my heart that I would always turn back to God. And so I’ve always felt as if I had a purpose.
I found very early on that maybe my purpose is not to be a Job. I’m sure many people believe that they are Job in their lives, that their story is Job’s. I thought very early on that maybe I was one of Job’s children who got killed in a terrible accident and my mom is Job — and I am her tribulation.
How would you describe your reasons to apply for Neuralink?
I had no idea what Neuralink was when I first was given the opportunity to apply. My buddy called me one day and said Neuralink opened up their human trials: “Do you want to get a chip in your brain?” We applied right then and there over the phone. He filled it out for me. We made some jokes about it just because I wasn’t taking it incredibly seriously. I said I wanted an Iron Man suit in the application letter.
In the process of becoming the first patient, did you talk about your faith in your daily life?
No, I don’t think it came up at all, honestly. Not at first, at least. In this field, I don’t expect to see a lot of religious people — in the tech field, the medical side of things. But then we started meeting people face-to-face, and they met with me and my mom. My mom is very open with everyone about her faith, so it very quickly became known who we were.
And I was blown away by the number of people who shared our beliefs. I think about everyone that I met on the medical side; the vast majority of them were Christians. We very quickly connected with all of them on a very personal level. And it became more of an open discussion.
When I went in to do my surgery, the last thing I did before they put me under anesthesia was ask if I could pray over the room. And so I prayed over all the surgeons and the nurses and everyone that was a part of this. My prayer was put on the hospital intercom, and even Elon was listening in by phone. I especially prayed for my mom because I knew she was going to be a wreck while I was having brain surgery.
How has this whole process of getting an implant and meeting those people influenced your faith?
It made me step out of my comfort zone quite a bit. I was always very afraid about excluding people from this process or offending people. I thought it was my responsibility to be a good advocate for Neuralink. Posting for the first time on X about my faith was one of the most nerve-racking experiences of my life. I was extremely afraid. I was more afraid about posting about my faith than I was about the brain surgery. The brain surgery was so simple!
I noticed you named your implant Eve. Why is that?
There were a few different reasons why I chose the name Eve. I’ve always loved the name Genevieve. And then there’s WALL-E and EVE, or Eva. So I thought that’s kind of cute, being robotic and everything. I also said we’re on the eve of something great with Neuralink. Then, obviously, God made Adam, and he gave Adam a helper named Eve. And I always like to throw in a little joke: Adam and Eve cursed humanity, and so I said maybe it’ll be the same thing with me and this implant.
Elon Musk has mentioned two other goals for the future of Neuralink apart from helping people with spinal injuries: He said it could help us prevent the AI overlords from overtaking us. And he said it could help us to have a kind of enhancement, like an extra brain connection to a computer, so he can finally work on his electric-airplane business. What do you think about those goals?
I’m really excited about that sort of future. I believe that cybernetic enhancement is really fascinating. I know when that day comes, it might be a much different story about how it’s implemented and how it’s controlled. I don’t believe that’s ever stopped us from moving forward in the past. You would hope that it would give people pause to think through the ramifications — to think through exactly what direction we’re going and how it is handled.
You are training the Neuralink machine, but the machine is training you as well to learn to move the cursor by thought. How do you feel about that? And how is your brain data protected?
I learn the little quirks of the implant and the software side of things just as much as it learns from me. Who knows what I’m changing in the brain just from having this implant? Maybe that will become apparent in five or ten years.
Neuralink has my data; I don’t care what happens in 50 years. As far as my data goes, very specifically, they’re allowed to do whatever they want with it. I don’t do anything bad on my computer, so I’m not worried about my data. I feel confident that my data is stored safely with Neuralink since they have good cybersecurity and firewalls.
Are there any boundaries in what you want the machine to be trained in?
I don’t want this to become a situation where you can control people’s minds, control people’s thoughts — where you can write onto someone’s brain things that you would like them to see or hear or act. But I think there is almost an infinite number of applications, such as being able to input and output different languages. So those sorts of things I’m really excited for. Again, I’m blown away by what the Neuralink is capable of, and it’s just implanted in my motor cortex.
Neuralink now has specific motor-cortex data which could be duplicated in an Optimus Robot from Tesla. There are many technological possibilities we can think of. But how might you personally, as Noland Arbaugh, the first Neuralink patient, make a difference for the future of technology?
I have a vision of what the brain-machine implant can be used for, and I hope that those visions come true in 50 years. Anything technology can be used for good or bad. The internet, telephone, and any technological advancement can be used for good and bad. It is a tool for humans to use. I am extremely positive on that front — that the people who will use this, the vast majority of them, will use it for good.
I have no doubt in my mind that there will be people who use it negatively. That is just a fact of life. But that goes for everything in our world. Humans are good and evil. And this technology shouldn’t be hindered because of that. I don’t think it will be, so it gives me a lot of hope for the future. I think the good will far outweigh the bad.
You’re very aware of your position and role as the first patient, and you’re an ambassador for Neuralink, but you also have a chance to talk with the developers. Do you think, as a Christian, you have something special to bring to the table in the ethical discourse surrounding this technology?
I hope this is something that I am more comfortable talking about as time goes on. It’s not something that I am extraordinarily well-versed in. I do believe that as a Christian, I have a unique perspective on all this. I have found that a lot of people I work with on the Neuralink side also share my beliefs, and they also share my vision of wanting to help people with disabilities first.
As a Christian, I hope to give this discourse an extra layer of something that maybe they’re missing if they’re just looking at things from the business or tech or science side of things. Hopefully, I can be there to bring a different perspective — and ultimately my platform to spread the Good News so that, if nothing else, people might hear about Jesus.
Some see human beings as essentially just slow computers held together by meat — reducing us to the biological. What do you think of that?
If we were just the body, if everything was just neurons firing in our brain, we wouldn’t be who we are. Our conscience gives us our morals in the world, and I believe all of that comes back to God ultimately. Without our conscience, we have no connection with God. But how much of the brain can you take away and still have a conscience? Where is it located? If we took away half of the brain, would you still have a conscience?
As a Christian, how do you view the human body, the bodily resurrection, and the soul?
There’s a lot to look forward to in the Resurrection, and it’s not just about a bodily resurrection. It’s not just about being in our perfect bodies. It’s about having a complete resurrection of the soul and of being finally in the presence of God. I do want a body that is perfect, but even more I want this desire for sin to be gone.
We talked about faith and technology. Some Christians say technology distracts us from God. What is your view?
Yeah, it’s something I’ve thought a lot about. It’s something that I am not sure I fully appreciate but I’m working toward — because anything can become an idol in our world. Anything can become a distraction, something that we treasure in our heart more than God — and that has nothing to do with the item. We need to learn to treasure God first and to be able to put aside these distractions.
That doesn’t mean they aren’t still useful. It doesn’t mean we can’t still push the boundaries of things. I’ve been given this opportunity to be a part of this study and to use the Neuralink for whatever I want, for as long as I want. And what am I going to do with it? After eight years of being paralyzed and not being able to do anything, am I going to take this and now turn away from God because I don’t need him anymore?
I have just been reading The Reason for God by Tim Keller. He says that what people don’t realise is that freedom is not about being free from every constraint. It’s about finding the constraints that give you the most freedom — the freedom that comes with being a Christian.
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