Elon Musk’s Neuralink received approval recently from the US Food and Drug Administration to conduct human clinical trials, which one former FDA official called “really a big deal.” I do not disagree, but I am sceptical that this technology will “change everything”. Not every profound technological advance has broad social and economic implications.

With Neuralink’s device, a robot surgically inserts a device into the brain that can then decode some brain activity and connect the brain signals to computers and other machines. A person paralysed from the neck down, for example, could use the interface to manipulate her physical environment, as well as to write and communicate.