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The sci-fi lens

Sci-fi → Tech

Science fiction got here first, and it points to where the money goes next.

Trope → Tech → Timeline

Fiction, today, and when it gets real

196019802000today2050Jacking in Neuromancer2040+ · 25%VISOR Star Trek: TNG2027 · 55%Neural lace The Culture2032 · 35%Universal translator Star Trek2030 · 50%Jarvis Iron Man2029 · 45%Robot avatar Avatar2028 · 40%Cortical stack Altered Carbon2045+ · 10%Skill download The Matrixnot in 20 yrs · <5%State cyberbrain Ghost in the Shell2029 · 40%196019802000today2050Jacking in Neuromancer2040+ · 25%VISOR Star Trek: TNG2027 · 55%Neural lace The Culture2032 · 35%Universal translator Star Trek2030 · 50%Jarvis Iron Man2029 · 45%Robot avatar Avatar2028 · 40%Cortical stack Altered Carbon2045+ · 10%Skill download The Matrixnot in 20 yrs · <5%State cyberbrain Ghost in the Shell2029 · 40%
appeared in fiction today WETWIRED expected year · confidence Arrows mean "or later". Years are our estimates; the "today" facts are sourced in the table below.
Sources (10)Sources: Neuralink, 27 Jan 2026 Science Corp., 13 Oct 2026 Neuralink, 1 Oct 2026 Science News, 15 Oct 2026 Neuralink on X, Jul 2026 Bird & Bird, 2026 Wikipedia: Consider Phlebas (first Culture novel, 1987) Wikipedia: Star Trek (1966) Wikipedia: Altered Carbon (2002) Wikipedia: Ghost in the Shell manga (1989)

The full table

Each row pairs a trope with the closest real thing today (sourced), WETWIRED's estimated year, our confidence, and the layer of the stack to watch.

Trope, today, our year, layer to watch (9 rows)
TropeThe ideaClosest real thing todayOur yearConf.Layer to watch
Jacking inNeuromancer (1984)Elective implant for healthy people21 participants, all in medical trials (Jan 2026) Neuralink, 27 Jan 20262040+25%Platform makers with the highest channel counts
VISORStar Trek: TNG (1987)Artificial sightPRIMA on sale in Europe; patients read letters (Oct 2026) Science Corp., 13 Oct 20262027 (US approval)55%Retinal and visual-cortex prosthetics
Neural laceThe Culture (Iain M. Banks)High-bandwidth whole-brain link11.32 bits/sec cursor record (Oct 2026) Neuralink, 1 Oct 2026100+ bits/sec in a human by 203235%High-channel electrodes, thin-film arrays
Universal translatorStar TrekThought straight to speech~2 million words through one speech BCI since 2023 Science News, 15 Oct 2026First approved speech BCI by 203050%Speech decoders, voice models
JarvisIron Man (2008)Run your devices by thoughtTrial patients drive wheelchairs and computers by thought (Jul 2026) Neuralink on X, Jul 2026Approved BCI for home device control by 202945%Device and OS integrations
Robot avatarAvatar (2009), SurrogatesDrive a body remotelyNothing beyond wheelchairs and cursors. Musk has talked of BCI control of an Optimus body (unverified, no demo). Neuralink on X, Jul 2026Public BCI-to-humanoid demo by 202840%Robotics + BCI tie-ups
Cortical stackAltered CarbonBack up the mindNeural data as an asset: 50,000 hours pre-trained (Oct 2026); no memory read/write Neuralink, 1 Oct 20262045+10%Neural-data compute and storage
Skill downloadThe Matrix (1999)"I know kung fu"No human precursor we can source Not in 20 years<5%None yet
State cyberbrainGhost in the ShellA national BCI industryChina: first implanted-BCI approval plus an insurance code in 48 hours (Mar 2026) Bird & Bird, 20261,000+ commercial implants a year in China by 202940%Chinese BCI IPOs