I get this question a lot. For instance, when the Good Doctors explain mind reading to Jack, they say ” Specifically, we enable bi-directional inter-cortical communications while eliminating the need for Turing-conformant computational intermediation. This permits one cortex to stimulate a second cortex. The second cortex responds and the first cortex can directly apprehend the semantic context of that response without neuro-transduction.”
Actually, the above quote makes perfect sense in its own peculiar way. And as a lifelong technologist (and owner/controller of internal research and development funding), I’ve heard much odder pitches than that. Such imaginative requests stick with me even if research funding is denied.
Every bit of technology in the book, no matter how preposterous, has its roots in some presentation, article or discussion I’ve had in my day job. And some of it is real, if not particularly public. Enjoy!