They say that everyone with an augmentation is bound to break society’s rules. That one day we’ll commit the taboo. When I say ‘they’ I’m not referring to anyone specifically, in a way I’m referring to everyone. It would probably be harder to find someone who doesn't think that way, although there are plenty of differing reasons.

  Those who put their faith in science believe it’s a physical result of overcrowding in the skull. The temporal lobe of an augmented will grow to be substantially larger than that of a normal human. Apparently that’s part of what allows us to interact with the information dimension. And since our skulls aren’t any bigger this puts added pressure onto the other areas of the brain, especially the frontal lobe. They think that overcrowding causes us to have poor reasoning skills, and makes us prone to take rash actions without considering the consequences.

  Psychiatrists believe it’s the result of our ego’s running wild. We live our lives with power most couldn’t comprehend. We can change this world to our liking and ignore the rules of the universe. It’s no surprise they think we all develop god complexes. They think we’ve stopped seeing ourselves as human. Living life only beholden to our own whims. They think that line of thought causes us to have poor reasoning skills, and makes us prone to take rash actions without considering the consequences.

  The general population believe it’s because we’re monsters. They see our stigmas and assume we’re demons who’ve abandoned humanity, no different from an aberration. That might be a poor choice of words. It’s not as if they all hate us, but it’s undeniable that they see us as different. We’re a tool, a weapon, a cure, a liability. They see us as so far removed from humanity it’s easy to accept that we have poor reasoning skills and are prone to take rash actions without considering the consequences.

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  So, who’s right? Probably all of them. Although they all ignore the most important reason. The reason most augmenteds would give when confronted with this issue.

  It’s because we’re human. We’re nothing more than humans given the power to do as we please. The inevitability of augmenteds committing the taboo is merely a result of giving humans a power they were never meant to have. For better or for worse, we’re no different from the rest of humanity. And sometimes people have poor reasoning skills, and sometimes people take rash actions without considering the consequences. But whenever you can kill another human with nothing more than a thought, each mistake, every misstep becomes a lot more noticeable.

  That’s why it’s all the more important that we live exemplary lives. That might seem rich coming from someone in my line of work, but even in an unsavory situation there are appropriate ways to handle things. As inexperienced as I am I’ll certainly have trouble finding them.

  Still, I’ll look.

  I’ll struggle as pathetically as I have to in order to reach the correct way of finding redemption.

  Not for myself.

  For all the people I’ve already inconvenienced.