Directly editing memories and personalities is the sort of technology that seems like it should, in principle, eventually be possible; and like it should have an enormous impact on our lives and societies; and yet it’s hard to imagine exactly what that impact would be. I love when sci-fi tries to imagine it. In the world of Glasshouse, one impact is that the most feared crime is not murder, but “identity theft”—which is meant in a rather more literal sense than we use the term: what’s stolen is a copy of the victim’s mind, which can then be modified to think or do whatever the thief wants.
It’s a cool setting and I liked the story, though it didn’t click with me quite as much as I was hoping.