Yes—products like programmable "Dandelion" chips/adapters have existed for some mounts, including Canon and Nikon. These are designed to let a manual lens appear more like a native electronic lens to the camera, so some EXIF data can be recorded.

What gets written depends on the adapter/chip design and the camera body. In general, these solutions can provide lens identification and sometimes a programmed maximum aperture or focal length, but with fully manual film-era lenses the actual aperture is usually not electronically known unless the system has some way to communicate it. So they can help, but they’re not always a complete substitute for true electronic lens communication.

In short: it’s not a pipe dream—similar products do exist, often referred to as Dandelion chips or chipped adapters.