The Inconvenient Aug is a book written by Talos Rucker that explains his view on the human augmentation technology. Excerpts from this book can be found in the Útulek Complex during the mission M7: The Rucker Extraction in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Chapter 5 appears in the System Rift DLC and can be found inside the Plomboybtžo restaurant on the Blade Plaza.
Transcript[]
By Talos Rucker
Chapter 2: Hope and Uplift - Potential Unealized[]
This chapter can be found in the security room in Rucker's office.
At the time when Hugh Darrow and his team were perfecting the PEDOT technology, en route to redefining the very face of Humanity as we knew it, a fundamental mistake was committed, with only the most noblest of intentions, which, as we came to understand the ramifications of this new technology, proved to be the very exemplar of 'damning by definition': They called the resulting prosthetics 'Augmentations'.
In a very short while, this weighted term became the discussion: embraced by those who sought out this technology for their own purposes, and rejected with equal passion by those who opposed it.
In the process, the social discourse lost all perspective of the myriad uses of augmentation technology in medicine, the awe-inspiring depth and breadth of what we could accomplish, if the governments, societies, and medical communities of the world would only capitalise on Augmentation technology's staggering possibilities.
Chapter 5: Ignorance and Misattribution[]
During the Incident, I became convinced that those around me were ghosts, the angry spirits of the dead, returning to this plane to drag me into the afterlife with them. I remember hiding myself, helplessly cowering and whimpering.
Every first-hand account from that day describes an underlying paranoid delusion. But cognitive dissociation is inconsistent with the prevailing model of bioelectric synaptic override that forms the basis of the overwhelming majority of theories as to the cause of the tragedy. It was not our bodies that were taken over: It was our minds.
Our endocrine systems were afflicted, subsequently poisoning our perceptions, and leading to the actions that were taken. There is no existing theory which acknowledges this, and therefore all speculation as to the Incident's origin begins in the wrong place, and can only go further afield from there. For some reason, the accounts of the Augmented are universally ignored.
Chapter 12: The Illusion of Technological Solutions[]
Many of the propositions put before the United Nations to resolve the Augmentation Divide involve the application of new or pre-existing technology. The most prominent and popular of these 'solutions' is the Limited Chip, a mandatory microchip implanted into every Augmented person which would be capable of deactivating the person's augmentations in the event of 'disruptive behaviour'.
The potential for abuse inherent in such a situation is staggering. Who will define what constitutes 'disruptive behaviour'? Then, how will that definition be applied? And by whom? One of the most sacred tenets of all Humanity is that every person's body is his or her own: Giving anyone the ability to paralyze someone else with little more than a thought is antithetical to the very notion of Freedom itself!
The answer lies not with technology, which divides us, but in our Humanity, which unites us.
Chapter 17: One Future For All Humanity[]
In the nanotechnological future discussed in previous chapters lies a lesson for all of us, in that nanotechnology will enhance human capability, tapping into our limitless and magnificent potential.
The human mind is the greatest computational device the world has ever experienced, not only in the impressive reach of our rational and deductive abilities, but also in our capacity for less-empirical concepts such as love. Love is infinite. Hope is infinite. And Understanding is also infinite.
When we apply to the problem of the Augmentation Divide our boundless capacity for empathy with our fellow Human Beings, the seemingly-insurmountable intricacies of the situation cannot help but be revealed for the minuscule challenges they are, with solutions both simple and obvious. We have but to open our minds - and our hearts - and all will be made manifest.