Neura Pod
Neura Pod is a series covering topics related to Neuralink, Inc. Topics such as brain-machine interfaces, brain injuries, and artificial intelligence are explored. Neura Pod host Ryan Tanaka synthesizes information, shares opinions, and conducts interviews to easily learn about Neuralink and it's future.
5 Year Goals*
- Be the world's primary source for Neuralink related news
- Provide a bridge for the general public to the field of neurotechnology & AI
- Inspire & support learning/ tech advancements in the medical field, especially relating to the brain
- Be the most desirable option for any new neurotechnology company to grow awareness of their product/ service/ company
- Serve as Neuralink's public-facing extension (do what Neuralink would do if they had a large, public PR team)
1.) Provide increased exposure for open roles;
2.) Highlight technical progress made by the team;
3.) Educate by presenting technical information in simple language;
4.) Alleviate misguided concerns related to products & services;
5.) Inspire and excite society about the future w/ Neuralink.
*Subject to change yearly
Starting Neura Pod
Around early 2017, I caught wind of a little company Elon Musk was working on. Shortly afterwards, Tim Urban released an article (*book*) about the company, Neuralink. After taking a couple weeks to read through it, I was hooked. I thought Neuralink could be game-changing for many people.
In 2019, we finally got a glimpse into more of what Neuralink was working on. They held a public launch event and began actively recruiting for a wide variety of roles. My fascination was reinvigorated. Almost a year later, Elon Musk chat with Joe Rogan and discussed more of the potential for brain-machine interfaces. I tried sharing the video with some friends, but they unfortunately did not have the same level of enthusiasm I did.
Prior to, and during the Covid years, everyone was starting a podcast and I thought: How cool would it be to interview different folks in this space so that I could learn more about the brain? If I had a podcast, I'd have an excuse to reach out to more people who may not have given me the time of day otherwise. I pondered over what the podcast could become before realizing there simply wasn't a way for people to get consolidated, accurate news related to Neuralink. This was a bummer because it was clear the potential for the company was huge, and Elon never gives up, so the odds of success were/ probably are high.
In July 2020, I committed to the podcast. I bought a simple mic, downloaded Audacity, and posted the trailer on Spotify's Anchor platform and YouTube. Right after posting, I had a Zoom call with Rob Maurer, the host of Tesla Daily. I was on the fence about putting in the work to consistently post on YouTube, but he encouraged me to do so and it tipped me over to the greener grass. In hindsight, his advice might have been the difference between Neura Pod continuing to exist beyond 2020 or not. Thanks Rob. 🤙
After one year, we hit about 38,000 subscribers on YouTube, generated around 1.5 million views, and almost 120,000 hours of content watched. The numbers are substantial, but it's still the beginning. Neuralink is just getting started; neurotech + brain-machine interfaces are just getting started, and the vast majority of people are still unaware Neuralink exists (forget unaware of what they do).
It is my belief that the amount of success we have is predicated on having as large of an audience as possible. If you have any ideas for how we can rapidly accelerate the size of the audience, please don't hesitate to suggest them. Thank you for your support.
- Ryan
Usage
- Please feel free to redistribute, repackage, contextualize and clip, or commentate our content, but don't misrepresent, blatantly steal, or claim ownership of the content.
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