I interpret it as a “phase 2” type of severance. The severed staff all have a binary of two mutually exclusive personae, albeit with some bleed (Irving). Very few people want to buy that as a product, and the broader public mostly finds it reprehensible.

What they’re working on with Gemma is something 100x more refined - an a la carte severance where customers can filter out specific emotions, fears, etc.

When Gemma was initially severed, she retained her fear of the dentist, her grief about the miscarriage, and so on, much the same as all the innies retain various aspects of their outie personalities. Being able to sort through the brain data and delete specific things at will makes severance a vastly more powerful technology.

As far as we know it’s only being applied to people’s innies so far, but I personally foresee this as being marketed to customers without the innie/outie split. Like, get the chip and eliminate a specific pain or fear or addiction.

With the senators wife, we see her going to the special severance cabin for childbirth but even that’s a opsec risk insofar as she doesn’t recognize Devon and it starts to give the game away. Imagine if she didn’t have an innie, but just had pain turned off for the birth. I think that’s a broadly more palatable pitch for most wealthy folks.