This episode guest stars Jeannetta Arnette as Dr. Loews, Tim Ransom as Jack, Hilary Shepard as Lauren, Michael Keenan as Patrick and Faith Salie as Sarina Douglas, with Casey Biggs and Jeffrey Combs reprising their recurring roles as Cardassian leader Damar and Dominion representative Weyoun.
When Bashir's secret was uncovered, his parents cut a deal for him to be allowed to retain his position as a physician and in Starfleet - both career paths from which genetically augmented individuals are normally banned.
Bashir realizes that their primary problem is boredom: as Jack points out, they are forbidden from pursuing any profession where they could put their enhanced brain power to work.
The augments decide to leak Starfleet's strategic plans to the Dominion, hoping to shorten the war and minimize the casualties.
Bound hand and foot, and left alone with Sarina, Bashir convinces her that her fellow augments' actions will result in their imprisonment and separation.
Bashir realizes that the augments believed they couldn't possibly be wrong because of their superior intellect; but despite the presumed infallibility of their statistical model, the actions of one person (Sarina) completely altered history.
Writer Bradley Thompson explained that the idea of predicting the future using advanced statistical models was based on a concept known as "psychohistory" from the Foundation novels by Isaac Asimov.
The article notes that one reason the Federation banned genetic augmentation was because of the Eugenics Wars, in the Star Trek timeline.