The DNI concept goes back at least to the 1960s, in Larry Niven's "Known Space" stories, where "wireheads" use "drouds" to stimulate their pleasure-centers....
HPD- yeah Varnes said it to you I think, so I came to see. And Cat43 -- unless the ittle guy can swap out his groinal attachments he'll nevder be up there with Kryton! Looks more like Kryton had an affair with C3PO's auntie.
Is Meddick raiding RED DWARF for ideas? BETTER THAN LIFE is similar to this DNI--guess that's a parody of the StrTkNGI holodeck anyway--but didn't the wee robot have a head transplant? [Can't find arc just now] The older heads had a bit of a spat in their closet just like Kryton's in one episode. Tribute or plagiarism? Probably tribute, cause I think it's a sly wink to...nerds.
Watch old programs where they use state-of-the-art technologies, and it is always a hoot. How many storylines depend on a phonecall being made or received at a particular time and location? I was watching a doco on North Korea this week, and was stunned to think that people can still exist without Internet. Yeah, there were lots of other things they don't have, like more than one TV/radio station and food, but imagine not even knowing about Internet. Fast forward 50 years, and what technologies are going to be in the background that we don't even imagine yet.
