Every Saturday on Future of Internet, our Tech Movies series reviews films that reveal more about our digital tomorrow than about cinema itself, and few illustrate this better than Ghost in the Shell 2017, the Hollywood adaptation of the legendary cyberpunk manga. Scarlett Johansson plays Major, a human whose brain has been transplanted into an artificial body, a fiction, perhaps, but above all a disturbing metaphor for the Internet we are building: hackable, manipulable, and increasingly fused with our lives.
The question is simple: if everything in us can be hacked, what remains truly human?
2017: A future already in motion
When the film arrived in 2017, the world was already shaken by Snowden’s revelations, the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and the rise of early consumer AI. At that time, the dominant fears included big data, mass surveillance (Phone Surveillance: The silent spy in your pocket), and biohacking. Ghost in the Shell 2017 captured those anxieties directly: stolen identity, falsified memory, and the human reduced to data.
By contrast, in 2025 many of these ideas feel real:
- Generative AI now shapes most of our content.
- Web3 attempts to impose a decentralized Internet.
- Neural implants such as Neuralink enter human trials.
As a result, the cyberpunk prophecy continues to unfold before our eyes.
Ghost in the Shell 2017 synopsis
Hanka Robotics creates the first fully cybernetic human: Major Mira Killian. As an elite soldier, she hunts a mysterious hacker. During her mission, she discovers fabricated memories and realizes that someone has stolen her identity.
Therefore, the film raises its central question: if everything in me can be modified, am I still myself?
The technologies in Ghost in the Shell 2017 live-action
- Cyber-brain & mind hacking: a connected consciousness vulnerable to intrusion.
- Cybernetic bodies: full prosthetics, replaceable and optimized for combat.
- Thermo-optic camouflage: total invisibility through optical manipulation.
- Falsified memories: altered memories used to control individuals.
Where are we today?
These technologies no longer belong only to fiction:
- Cyber-brain → brain-computer interfaces (Neuralink, Synchron) already link the brain to machines. Connecting them to the Internet is the next inevitable step.
- Augmented bodies → bionic prosthetics controlled by thought, advanced exoskeletons, and semi-autonomous robots expand human capabilities.
- Camouflage → military labs now test adaptive fabrics and optical cloaking. Meanwhile, in the digital world, VPNs (exclusive Deal with Nymp VPN, our official partner) and algorithmic cloaking serve as our equivalents.
- Memory & identity → social networks, recommendation engines, and deepfakes constantly manipulate our digital memories.
Clearly, we already live in a world where identity connects directly to the Internet and remains open to manipulation.
As explored in Neurocoins: crypto meets the human brain and Reprogramming Humanity: Effective Accelerationism, Web3 and transhumanist visions already push us toward a future where minds turn into tokens and technology rewrites what it means to be human. Ghost in the Shell 2017 anticipated this acceleration: a hackable, augmented humanity shaped by the Internet itself.
Tech timeline: yesterday, today, tomorrow
| Key idea in the film | 2017 | 2025 (today) | Near future |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hacked consciousness | Pure sci-fi | Deepfakes, digital identity theft | Neural hacking via connected implants |
| Cybernetic bodies | Blockbuster vision | Bionic prosthetics, AI-driven medicine | Hybrid bodies almost entirely artificial |
| Invisibility | Sci-fi gimmick | Military optical prototypes, digital cloaking | Complete social & algorithmic erasure |
| Falsified memories | Fiction | Fake news, AI-driven narratives | Editing & deleting personal memories |
The Internet as a battlefield of identity
The film highlights a truth: the Internet is not neutral. Instead, it has become an invisible battlefield.
- Our digital identities already act as “Ghosts” connected online.
- Our bodies increasingly turn into network nodes through wearables and implants.
- The cloud stores our memories and exposes them to manipulation.
Consequently, what remains human, our “Ghost”, feels fragile and must be protected if we hope to retain control of this future.
Why Ghost in the Shell 2017 still resonates in 2025
Ultimately, the real question raised by Ghost in the Shell 2017 is not technological but existential:
👉 if everything can be copied, falsified, or replaced, what remains of us?
Today, with generative AI, Web3 avatars, and neurotech trials shaping our digital reality, this question feels more urgent than ever.
Conclusion
This film Wikipedia is not just a remake. Instead, it serves as a mirror of the Internet’s future: a world where our identities become files, our memories lines of code, and our bodies connected extensions.
The issue is not whether this future will arrive, but how we will survive it while staying human.
FAQ
What is Ghost in the Shell (2017) about?
It’s a cyberpunk thriller where Major, the first human-cybernetic hybrid, discovers falsified memories and learns that someone has stolen her identity.
Why is Ghost in the Shell important for the future of Internet?
Because it anticipates identity theft, data manipulation, and transhumanism — all themes directly linked to today’s digital society.
What technologies from Ghost in the Shell exist today?
Brain-computer interfaces, bionic prosthetics, AI, deepfakes, augmented reality, and digital cloaking.
Is Ghost in the Shell still relevant in 2025?
Yes. With AI, Web3, privacy debates, and neurotech trials, its themes feel more timely than ever.
👉 And you: do you believe we’ll be able to protect our “Ghost” against digital Shells?
Share your thoughts and explore our other Tech Movies analyses to dive deeper into the future of Internet.
