From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodak
Aug 20, 2026 · 31:39
Max Hodak, CEO of Science.xyz, tells Sarah Guo the brain is literally a computer, and his PRIMA retinal implant—just approved in Europe—restores formed vision to people blinded by macular degeneration by putting a chip under the retina that receives laser images from glasses. He argues this is the first step toward a BCI strategy focused on vision, hearing, balance, and motor control, not brain keyboards. Hodak ties consciousness to continuity rather than identity, making substrate independence the goal. He defends the Platonic Representation Hypothesis, saying AI model internals align with animal brain recordings, and outlines Science's pipeline—vision, biohybrid neural interfaces, and perfusion program VESSEL—to reduce human fragility and enable adapting to space.
