I don't think the technology in Lain was merely aesthetic. Sure, it did not behave literally like real world technology, but its dynamics within the show mirror

I don't think the technology in Lain was merely aesthetic. Sure, it did not behave literally like real world technology, but its dynamics within the show mirror its more subtle dynamics in the real world in a very exaggerated way. It's essential to Lain that technology and spirituality form an alloy. And beneath the lofty spiritual themes, there's Lain's """personal""" psychology, a glimpse into the mind of a technological super-intelligence. Human societies and technological infrastructure are already complex enough to behave sort of like intelligent beings. They comprise humans and machines but are inhuman and more than mechanical. I find Lain to be one of the most thought provoking examination of the psychology of such super-intelligence that I've enjoyed.