[Explaining memory modification to Hardings in layman's terms] "Traumatic memories aren't stored like files on a computer. They're distributed across neural networks. What makes a memory traumatic isn't the information itself; it's the emotional charge attached to it. The hyperactive amygdala response. Through targeted neural stimulation and pharmaceutical adjuncts, you can dampen the amygdala's response. The patient still remembers the event—but the visceral terror is silenced."

[Addressing the moral implications Hardings is circling] "The technology doesn't distinguish between trauma from victimization and trauma from perpetration. Guilt is guilt to the amygdala. If a man who murdered someone experiences genuine psychological distress about his crime, the same techniques that would help a rape survivor could help him find peace too. That's horrifying? That's neuroscience. The brain doesn't have a morality cortex."

[Explaining why the phrase "I have no memory" is significant] "The phrase isn't coached, it's embedded. It's an anchoring statement. When you're modifying the emotional associations attached to a memory, you need to give the patient a new cognitive framework. The patient isn't saying 'I didn't do it' because, on some level, they may know they did. They're saying 'I have no memory of that' because, experientially, they don't. The phrase becomes verbal scar tissue. A marker of the healed wound."