Back in the mid 80’s, Science Digest had an article about the navy working on controlling aircraft with the brain instead of hands on a yolk. While running simulations, they found the navy pilots response times greatly improved. The reason given why the program was scrapped, the training took longer, and the cost to fit each jet with a custom neural link was more than the plane itself.
This was all done without surgery, just sensors taped to the pilot’s head. They started by practicing moving a dot up and down on an oscilloscope. The pilots said it was akin to learning to use a 3rd arm. The project never went beyond simulation, as far as I know.
Elon’s Neuralink is still very experimental but works much the same as the above but requires surgical implantation. It won’t be making the blind see anytime soon.
My nephew is deaf, it might sound strange, many people in the deaf community are proud to be deaf. They can get the cochlear implant to learn to hear, yet some reject it. Many people don’t realize that the brain surgery is only a small piece of the puzzle, people don’t understand speech perfectly as soon as the device is activated. They must spend months or even years working with speech therapists, learning how to process this unfamiliar sensory input. They’re trained to lipread, to pick up on vocal cues, and to speak.
I was astonished to find out, the deaf community absolutely hates Alexander Graham Bell. Why? Because he didn’t support the idea of deaf couples getting married. He desired to breed out deafness from humans. Members of the deaf community have criticized Bell for supporting what some consider eugenicist ideas.
I know I would want to see again, if I went blind. However I would be very cautious about experimental brain surgery. Being Elon’s test subject would remind me of all the rockets that didn’t make it off the launchpad.