Gabe Newell, the Man Behind Steam, Is Working on a Brain-Computer Interface
Gabe Newell, the Man Behind Steam, Is Working on a Brain-Computer Interface
Gabe "Gaben" Newell, the man behind Steam, has for years been quietly building a BCI company — and it just came out of stealth.
This is rather old news, predating Neuralink entirely even. There used to be an unlisted YouTube video by Gray(Grey?) Newell that showed off what they were working on back a few years ago, too.
Yeah. I've been out of the loop apparently, because today was the first that I heard of it.
Haha glad that I brought it up on your radar! I like this one cause it seems much more medically oriented, vs. Neurolink existing "just because it can".
Which normally, I don't really have an issue with. I think it's great to do things just because we can (within reason ofc!), but I am definitely more skeptical of the fraud-Hyperloop flamethrower space-car man.
Half-Life 3 is gonna be full dive VR.
Which implies that the brain-computer interface will never be viable as a product
You mean Half Life: Full Dive, followed by Half Life: Full Dive 2. The second in a trilogy never to be finished.
You'll have to install it onto your soul, once again revolutionising the video game industry - and the world at large.
Gosh darn it, Newell. It's too much winning. So much good faith. Leave some for the rest of us! Look at Elon! He's dying over there!
shudders thinking about SAO
Welcome to city 17, Kirito
Imagine you damage the brain cells to quit the game. Instant isekai irl.
First news I hear since hearing about Gabe working on BCIs and it's just... An announcement of something that was already known. 😮💨
Man, the way that headline begins, I thought he had died.
On a macabre, but related, note: how long after Gabe's death before Steam goes public and turns to shit? I'd give it 6 months.
Just so we’re clear here, it’s the game marketplace called Steam. Not just, you know, steam.
Before Gaben, there was only vapour. He invented, nay, created steam.
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As one eagle-eyed user on the site formerly known as Twitter pointed out earlier in the week, the website for Newell's Neuralink competitor, Starfish Neuroscience, has been updated to reflect its forthcoming wares.
Newell, who is president and cofounder of Steam's parent company Valve, has also promoted the tech's other, far more sci-fi-esque use cases — including, as he told a New Zealand news station back in 2021, the ability to edit one's feelings.
At the time, Gaben was working on developing a BCI headset, though it seems now that Starfish is, like its Elon Musk-founded competitor, interested in "minimally-invasive" brain implants.
Besides bringing his BCI endeavor out of stealth, the famously reclusive billionaire has also been embroiled in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that Steam is essentially running a monopoly on PC gaming and charging exorbitant fees in the process.
He also, as the yachting blog Luxury Launches reported in February, sold his 220-foot megayacht, which he'd converted into a mobile hospital during the beginning of the pandemic.
It's clearly been an interesting few months for Gaben — though given that lawyers are collecting sign-ons for the class-action lawsuit against Steam, he may need some help raising money for Starfish once the settlements start being paid out.
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