When I wrote my story “Afterimage”* back in 2007, I was doing research on an experimental treatment for blindness being studied in Germany–the implantation of a small computer inside the eye that would receive images from a remote camera and transmit them directly to the optic nerve. Not true vision, but a vast improvement for someone with Retinitis Pigmentosa (or other conditions where the retina is degraded but the optic nerve is intact.)
The story sold to Jim Baen’s Universe, but due to their publishing schedule, didn’t see publication until the very last issue in 2010.
Now, about three years later, the tech has been approved by the FDA.
Yes, this is one of the scary things about writing near term SF…it comes true faster than you could ever expect!
*Afterimage is available free here.
