Events accelerated quickly after the NMRI got introduced to the Auto Heretic line.
Many neural interface specialists and related researchers reluctantly or decisively abandoned their ongoing research projects.
As much as they hated to admit it, if their entire discipline failed to improve the usability and accessibility of neural interface technology in the last 4 centuries in a meaningful way, then how probable was it that they could attain a breakthrough in the next 4 centuries?
A few scientists argued that they had accumulated so many theories and experimental data over the years that they were on the cusp of a major breakthrough. If they just kept mining dirt in the same direction, they would definitely stumble upon a rich ore vein within the next decade!