- A 1024-channel CMOS micro-electrode array with 26,400 addressable electrodes (Ballini et al., VLSI 2013) is currently the highest-density in-vitro neural interface, yet all such arrays remain flat and surface-limited, prompting debate that micro-electrode approaches are a “dead-end” for chronic implants due to glial encapsulation and depth-access issues.

- Optical neural-interfacing methods—optogenetics, two-photon imaging, and DLP/laser-scanning—were proposed as the long-term alternative to electrodes, with a European project already planning to bridge a transected neonatal rat spinal cord using a 256-electrode array coupled to an artificial neural network to restore locomotor output.

- The open-source molecular CAD tool NanoEngineer-1 (NE1), originally funded at ~$1 M/year by Nanorex until its 2009 shutdown, is now maintained at https://github.com/kanzure/nanoengineer; the Python codebase still depends on obsolete PyQt4 and needs 5–8 experienced developers to modernize it.

- Community CAD discussions centered on the BOLTS parts library, FreeCAD/OpenCASCADE limitations, and experimental Python bindings for BRL-CAD, while noting that Lego patents expired in 1989, enabling open-source Lego-compatible hardware.

- A Kickstarter campaign for “The Microfactory—a machine shop in a box” was deemed unlikely to fund, and the channel debated the relative merits of FreeCAD versus minimal kernels like BRL-CAD or esolid for open-manufacturing workflows.

- The ##hplusroadmap channel explicitly rejects speculative futurism/philosophy, positioning itself as a hands-on space dedicated to building open-source transhumanist and open-manufacturing technologies.