ambiveillant

regular folks will handicap themselves on purpose, in order to perform better with this system.

This is already happening, or nearly so. Hugh Herr at MIT said in 2007 that he'd already encountered high school-age athletes seeking to have their legs replaced with advanced prosthetics to give them a competitive edge. (New Scientist, behind a pay wall.) These athletes had been injured, but didn't want to do traditional rehab -- they wanted the cyberlegs.

I'm glad -- I found that to be a wonderfully imaginative universe.

Linda, have you ever thought about revisiting (even in essay mode) the "Nanotech Succession" world? VAST was my first encounter with your work, and I eagerly went back and read the previous three books of the series.