One reason work like neuralink can be unhelpful is that it can distract from other (often more promising) work. Medical experimental and academic work is (ideally) conducted in public at every stage, and is announced via peer-review. Privately developed work may also go through peer-review, but often makes heavy use of PR tactics like press conferences, puff pieces in popular media, snazzy videos, etc. Sure, the public sector can learn a lot from the private sector, but vice-versa is also true.

I'm well aware of the issues with academic processes and peer-review publication, but I'm also aware of the ongoing efforts to improve them, which gives me hope. Also, this painful evolution is happening in public too, as it should be.