Here’s my guess: Neuralink will unveil a vision implant at today’s “show and tell”

That means about 700 phosphenes could make a useful form of vision, even though it’s nothing like natural sight, which is incredibly rich, in color, and travels along a million axons from the eye to the brain.

Exactly how the demo will be carried off is anyone’s guess. Although Musk is a drama-magnet, Neuralink has played it pretty conservative in the past, so we don’t expect anything too crazy. For example, while Neuralink once brought a pig onstage , we wouldn’t expect any kind of live demonstration involving a rhesus monkey. They’re a bit aggressive, and animal rights campaigners are already criticizing the company and its university partners for hurting animals. But there could still be a video demonstration involving primate, as was the case with the monkey that played Pong.

Certainly, Neuralink could go wild if they wanted to. It’s entirely possible for Musk to type letters live, right into a monkey’s brain, and have the animal transcribe his message.

After taking over Twitter, Musk has been acting like a court jester, making rash but, in his view, true comments about free speech and other matters.

I think it would be pretty funny if all Musk’s recent tweets had been transmitted by him and typed by a monkey.

But that is my stretch goal. Everything about Neuralink tells me they will be fairly cautious and stick to a basic demonstration of implant-driven vision. The company wants to show that its device is useful, could help people, and outline a cool future that will attract talented engineers to apply for jobs there.

I could be wrong about all this. So I am definitely tuning in to Neuralink’s event. And so should you. Even though Neuralink’s demonstrations of brain-interfaces aren’t really new, it’s always a great show.

We thank the following researchers for sharing insights and background on vision implants in the preparation of this item: Eduardo Fernandez, Universidad Miguel Hernandez; Konrad Kording, University of Pennsylvania; Richard A. Normann, University of Utah; Sumner Norman, AE studio; Anonymous.