The term `` "hard-wired" '' was being used figuratively above to mean
something like ``artificially innate.'' No wires are actually involved.
I'm not sure why you don't think it seems reasonable, but if you thought it
involved physical wires, it doesn't.
The story presupposes that there is such a thing as an "engram," which term
has been in use by non-fictional Earthling researchers to mean "a
theoretical memory unit consisting of a relationship between a network of
neurons, electrical charges and chemical neurotransmitter emissions," and
that these engrams can be "implanted" (figuratively speaking) in a person's
brain (and mind) using a combination of millions of nanobots and hundreds of
thousands of viruses specifically designed for the task.
Moreover, the story also presupposes that engrams can be established
genetically (in the same sort of way that a spider knows how to weave a web)
as a result of custom-designed genes on the X chromosome (or any chromosome,
for that matter).
If it still sounds unreasonable, then I'm disappointed because I failed to
establish suspension of disbelief.