The Mind of a Furry Vandal
SOL 502
Earth 2045
The World’s First Brain Computer Interface: Designed for Animals, Made for Humans. Art by Lightspring.
Returning from an evening of piping hot ramen with my wife, we open our apartment door to a red-carpet entrance—or more so, a white carpet. With some semblance of a teenage prank, yards of toilet paper are strewn all over the house. My wife follows the papyrus trail to find her velvet slippers chewed up at the foot of the mantle, in what seems to be a ritualistic sacrifice. A furry vandal, our yellow Labrador named Pumpkin, was responsible for this devastation.
Seeking vengeful justice, my wife and I begin our search party for the desecrator. We soon find Pumpkin deep underneath our mahogany bed. This is her safe-spot, a confessional. She has already placed herself in a self-imposed exile, an ostracism. I drop down next to the bed to see a distraught Pumpkin. She knew what she did. Tail in between her legs, the vandal pulls her ears as far back as she can, desperately trying to avoid eye contact.
Is she really ashamed? Or is it a learned-response designed to elicit sympathy?
With a bounty of hugs and kisses her exile expires just minutes later.
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““Have you ever wondered whether your dog is truly happy?””
“Have you ever wondered whether your dog is truly happy?”
Gray Matter CEO Max Kerbaum asks the audience at the company’s first product summit, held in Death Valley.
Inside our air-conditioned white tent even the arid desert seemed inviting. Kerbaum stands tall in front a wall of glass overlooking a vista of mountains. As a member of the New York press, Death Valley seems to exist in a vacuum, devoid of matter.
Since the company’s launch in 2025, Gray Matter has amassed $1.2 billion in investment from venture capitalists, research institutions, and pharmaceutical companies around the world. The general technology community is largely unaware of the company’s purpose. In fact, Gray Matter seems to bask in its own anonymity with its sparse website and its vague mission statement: “To become one with the machines.”
With offices and research facilities in the Palo Alto, London, Cape Town, Buenos Aires, and Shenzhen, Gray Matter is generally perceived to have leveraged its anonymity and ubiquity to escape regulatory measures on testing consumer health devices on humans and animals.
Today, we—the Press, investors, and the global technology community— will finally learn about what Gray Matter has been working on for more than a decade.
Kerbaum begins: “We are excited to announce a product that will advance our relationship with ‘man’s best friend.’ A best friend is someone you hold dear; someone who understands you better than almost anyone else. You know your best friend’s deepest secrets, and your friend knows yours. In many ways, your minds are linked, allowing for a deeper understanding of how you feel, who you are, and what you desire. Today, we introduce a device that is a step change in communication—a device that will allow you to read your dog’s mind.”
““Today we introduce a device that is a step change in communication, a device that will allow you to read your dog’s mind.””
With this mighty declaration, Kerbaum brought his own dog, Pixie, onto the stage. “Pixie is our 8-year-old poodle and the love of our lives. Pixie has inside her the special device that we developed over the last decade. We are proud to introduce PetLink.”
PetLink is the first Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) sold to the general public, a direct communication pathway between the brain and an external device. There has been a history of human and animal BCI technologies being used in research applications; however, Gray Matter’s announcement marks the first time in history that consumers can purchase and use a commercial BCI product.
“The polymer net meshes with the animal’s brain, with neurons growing on the net, similar to a polymer structure of a natural protein scaffold.”
PetLink works by inserting a neural mesh into the pet’s brain using a syringe. This semi-invasive procedure administered by trained vets will release a soft polymer net embedded with nano-scale electrodes to read brain activity. The electrodes transmit information using ultrasound to another fixed device that is surgically embedded in the nasal cavity of the animal, closest to the brain. The polymer net meshes with the animal’s brain, with neurons growing on the net, similar to a polymer structure of a natural protein scaffold. The nasal cavity device connects to the Internet and periodically uploads brain activity data into Gray Matter’s electronic health record platform, Cerebra.
PetLink gives pet owners access to basic information on the animal’s current state of mind by capturing brain activity in real-time. Information like appetite, mood, lavatory requests, fatigue, sophisticated sleep analysis (including logging active/passive dream-states) are all transmitted to the Cerebra platform, accessed by the owner using almost any smart device. In addition, Gray Matter will allow pet owners to give veterinarians access to their pet’s health data to further aid diagnoses. PetLink is currently an Output-only device, only capable of sending data out to the owner. PetLink has no Input capabilities, or the ability to influence the pet’s brain or behavior using the BCI.
Gray Matter also stated that they are experimenting with caplet technologies that require a less-invasive procedure to be implemented in a future version of PetLink. These interconnected caplets would theoretically be injected through the arteries to be released into the blood stream. These caplets unfurl into the animal’s vascular system, allowing for the capture of neural activity.
PetLink will cost $9999, which includes the neural-mesh syringe, nasal hardware, and data capture for 10 years. PetLink for Dogs will be available for pre-order this month, and a new version for cats is coming out next year.
Kerbaum also announced a program (VetLink) that gives veterinarians and select-developers the power to use the PetLink hardware or the Cerebra data platform for research applications. Gray Matter has also announced a partnership with several veterinary schools and hospitals, including Cornell and Ohio State’s veterinary programs.
In addition, Gray Matter partnered with Braxton Mills, the parent company of the Union World Cup, the largest horse racing event in the world to release HorseLink, which provides horse owners, jockeys, and trainers a live capture of a horse’s mental fatigue, appetite, and other performance data. In addition, Union World Cup bettors will also gain limited access to HorseLink data that is captured on race day, which may inform betting.
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One week after Gray Matter’s product launch in Death Valley, more than 5000 people have preordered PetLink for their canine friends. Despite its high price tag, PetLink is expected to be a smashing success, with projected orders exceeding 20000 units this year. Gray Matter is also working with several pet insurance companies to provide a discount to insured pets.
“With the launch of PetLink, Gray Matter hopes to achieve several objectives: consumer education/acceptance of Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) and the necessary capital, research, and production expertise to develop a human BCI in the future.”
Kerbaum closed his product announcement with a detailed plan for the company going forward. With the launch of PetLink, Gray Matter hopes to achieve several objectives: consumer education/acceptance of BCIs, and the necessary capital, research, and production expertise to develop a BCI for humans (HumanLink) within the next decade. Although PetLink is a rudimentary output-only BCI, Gray Matter is betting on customers realizing the value of unparalleled access into the minds of their pets. PetLink will also provide Gray Matter a plethora of data into modeling the brains of animals. The company firmly believes that they are only a few years away from a sophisticated model of the animal brain, something researchers have been trying to capture for the better part of this century.
Despite the early demand for the device, not all dog owners are lining up to buy the product. Several animal rights groups have voiced health and ethical concerns over the use of PetLink. On a personal note, my wife and I are interested in the device once the cost-of-entry decreases; however, we are more inclined to buy a future input-capable BCI that keeps Pumpkin from engaging in her vandalistic exploits.
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“The Mind of a Furry Vandal” was originally published in 2035 and is Passage One of a Three Passage series on Brain-Computer Interfaces.
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Luke has been a writer for The Martian Passage since 2042. He writes about entrepreneurship on Mars.
