Part of the reason why sci-fi has become so pussified is because so many sci-fi writers are scared of actual science inevitably making their science fiction look quaintly archaic in its cluelessness.
There are many, MANY reasons to find the film version of Johnny Mnemonic ridiculous, but even more than the dolphin, the MOST absurd notion is the idea that it would take an organ as complex, and as capable of storing as much information, as the human brain to hold ZOMG 80 GIGABYTES worth of data (or 160 gigabytes, but only if you use a doubler), when my fucking necktie-clip-sized MP3 player alone holds at least 8 gigs of data.