Comment by knolax

From the title "lena" and the reference to compression algorithms made with MMAlcevedo, it's clear that the story is trying to draw parallels to image processing. In which case being able to store images has come decades before realistic 3D rendering, photoshop, or even computer vision. For example, the sprites from some early video games look like they were modeled in 3D, but were actually images based off of photographs of clay models. I think (with suspension of disbelief that sinulating consciousness is possible) it is realistic to think that being able to capture consciousness would come before being able to understand and manipulate it.