It makes a much better sci-fi story if the future is an extrapolation of the present. We're not in this moment collapsing into a theocracy so torturing a brain

It makes a much better sci-fi story if the future is an extrapolation of the present. We're not in this moment collapsing into a theocracy so torturing a brain in a jar isn't so punchy. Instead, imagine that a company pays for your revival by writing extreme brand-loyalty onto your psyche.