What Futuristic Tech Exists Now, From $1 to $1 Billion?

TL;DR

Neuralink lets a paralyzed man named Noland control a computer with his thoughts alone, typing and gaming without moving his hands. Other working technology shown includes a $25,000 sensor-driven bionic arm, a $150,000 flying car that beat a normal car to work, a $1 million car that drives upside down, and lab-grown chicken from Upside Foods.

Transcript

This is a $1 billion rocketship. A future technology that will one day take you all the way to Mars to live in your brand new home, a $500 million biosphere. Oh my gosh. And throughout this video, we'll show you just how epic the future will be. You'll see how we're going to bring extinct species back to life. This is literally the future. Flying c... Read More

Key Insights

• Neuralink is a computer chip surgically implanted into the brain that costs $10,000 in this video's pricing. It reads neurons firing and converts those signals into on-screen movement, so a user paralyzed from the neck down can do anything anyone else can do on a computer.
• The $25,000 bionic arm given to Kai works through sensors that pick up nerve signals, so the hand opens and closes without pulling on anything. Kai, 12, was born without an arm, adopted from China, and was expecting a far simpler prosthetic.
• A flying car costing $150,000 beat a normal car to work by roughly ten minutes because it ignores roads entirely. The ground car had to obey traffic laws such as stopping at stop signs, while the flying car cut a straight path and even crossed over the ocean.
• A jetpack priced at half a million dollars flies over 80 miles an hour but has only a three mile range. That combination makes it the fastest option for very short commutes while ruling it out for longer distances.
• The fastest car in the world, at $1 million, uses two vacuum fans that generate enough suction to let it drive upside down, though not for a long distance. Jimmy described feeling all the blood in his body rushing to his head during the inverted drive.
• The Mercedes concept car priced at $10 million is inspired by the universe of Pandora and behaves more like a creature than a machine, reacting when touched or petted. It is steered by pushing a control forward to go and pulling back to stop, and it can twist to drive sideways.
• Upside Foods has produced hundreds of thousands of pounds of chicken meat without killing a single chicken, after spending over $200 million on research and development. Roughly 220 million chickens are killed every single day worldwide to meet demand for their meat.
• Wing drones deliver packages in minutes and have already completed over 750,000 deliveries. During a Wilderness Challenge shoot, Wing delivered s'mores ingredients to the middle of the woods in a couple of minutes, work that would normally have taken hours.

Questions & Answers

Q: What can a person do with a Neuralink brain implant?

Noland, who was paralyzed from the neck down for about eight years, says that anything anyone can do on a computer, he can do with Neuralink. In the video he types the word "Hi" using only his thoughts while his paralyzed hands are filmed to show they are not moving, and he plays a racing game by thinking left and right, beating the hosts. The chip is surgically implanted in the brain, reads the neurons firing there, and translates those signals into movements on screen. The video lists its cost at $10,000.

Q: How does the bionic arm in the MrBeast future tech video work?

The $25,000 bionic arm has sensors built into it that pick up on the wearer's nerves, so the hand can grip and release without the wearer having to pull on anything mechanically. Kai, a 12 year old who was born without an arm, adopted from China and abandoned on the side of the road as a baby, is shown flexing his forearm to open and close the hand, grabbing a piece of wood and shaking hands. The arm carries Beast branding that can be popped off, though Kai chose to keep it on.

Q: Is a flying car actually faster than driving to work?

In the video's race, yes, and by a wide margin. The $150,000 flying car arrived at the destination and its pilot had been waiting ten minutes by the time the normal car pulled up. The main reason is route freedom: the ground car had to obey all traffic laws, including stopping at stop signs and following the road, while the flying car took a straight path and flew out over the ocean. Jimmy notes the appeal is cutting a daily commute in half, though his estimate of saving a thousand hours a year was admittedly not based on any math.

Q: How fast is the jetpack shown in the video and what is its range?

The jetpack costs half a million dollars, flies at over 80 miles an hour, and has a three mile range. The video calls it the fastest way to get to work on that basis. The speed makes it quicker than road travel over short hops, but the three mile limit means it only suits very short commutes. It is presented as part of the video's argument that the future of transportation is happening in the sky as well as on the ground, alongside the flying car and Wing delivery drones.

Q: How can a car drive upside down?

The $1 million car billed as the fastest in the world has two vacuum fans that are powerful enough to suck it against a surface, letting it drive upside down. The video notes the caveat directly: it can do this, just not very far. Jimmy drove it inverted and described the acceleration as extremely fast and the experience as terrifying, saying he could feel all the blood in his body rushing to his head. The onlookers described it as defying gravity.

Q: What makes the $10 million Mercedes concept car different from a normal car?

Mercedes describes it as a vision of a futuristic car a couple hundred years out, inspired by the universe of Pandora, and says it is more like a creature than a vehicle. It reacts when you touch it and responds to being petted. Instead of a steering wheel, the driver pushes a control forward to move and pulls it back to stop, and a top section twists so the car can drive sideways. The seats pick up the occupant's heartbeat and vitals and automatically adjust settings such as temperature.

Q: How does Upside Foods make chicken meat without killing chickens?

The process starts with cells taken from a chicken egg in 2018. The company cracked an egg, took a small amount of cells, and froze them at -80. Those cells are gently thawed, then fed a mixture of protein, fat and sugar inside a container that simulates a chicken's body, causing them to multiply. The feed and cells travel through pipes across the factory into a tank where the chicken cells can be seen swimming. Upside Foods has spent over $200 million on research and development and produces roughly a chicken's worth of meat every few seconds.

Q: Can people tell lab-grown chicken from regular chicken?

In the blind taste test in this video, no. Chef Nick DiGiovanni prepared two chicken sandwiches, one made from a chicken killed that day and one grown in a lab, and predicted that if he cooked it correctly the tasters would not be able to tell. Jimmy and Tareq tried both without knowing which was which and could not distinguish them, with Jimmy saying it was scary how similar they were and that both tasted really good. The video also notes that lab-grown chickens do not get diseases, removing the risk of disease spreading on a farm.

Q: How does Wing drone delivery work in the MrBeast future tech video?

Wing uses a drone to carry a package and release it at the delivery location. In the video, it delivered s’mores ingredients to the middle of the woods in a couple of minutes, though it normally delivers to a doorstep or backyard.

Q: Is Wing drone delivery already available or just a future concept?

Wing drone delivery already exists and has delivered over 750,000 packages to people’s doors. The video describes it as capable of delivering packages in minutes.

Q: What are the $1 billion rocketship and $500 million biosphere for?

The $1 billion rocketship is presented as technology that will one day take people to Mars. The $500 million biosphere is described as their brand-new home there.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The lineup climbs by price, starting at a $1 light that becomes a simulated Mars surface when millions are combined, then moving to a $10,000 Neuralink brain chip, a $25,000 bionic arm, a $150,000 flying car, a $500,000 jetpack, a $1 million car, a $10 million Mercedes concept, a $200 million meat facility and a $1 billion rocket ship.

• Neuralink recipient Noland was paralyzed from the neck down and spent about eight years searching for purpose. The implant reads neurons firing in his brain and translates those signals into cursor movement, letting him type the word "Hi" and win a racing game while his paralyzed hands stay visibly still on camera.

• Upside Foods took cells from a chicken egg in 2018, froze them at -80, then thawed and fed them protein, fat and sugar so they multiply into meat. A chef prepared two blind sandwiches, one from a slaughtered chicken and one lab-grown, and the tasters could not tell them apart.