Netrunner is as much, if not more, psychologically than rule-and-optimization rewarding.
The person sitting across the table could have all of his jank pieces in hand, and feeling confident. And then you lay this on the table.
Fundamentally, this changes nothing about their game plan. Or it shouldn't. This current has no mechanical effect on what the runner does. But if you're playing a Humanity Upgraded Xanatos Gambit-style deck, this card does something different even if its effect never comes into play:
Deterrence.
You've substantially raised the penalty for failure. Hourglass into Ryon Knight. Howler into Janus 1.0. They're far less likely to run on the card you just Mushin No Shin'd out (Mandatory Upgrades) for fear of +1 Brain Damage when they've already functionally suffered one simply by you choosing HU as your ID. Or if you've played the same opponent for a while, they think you're counter-bluffing and maybe that is a Cerebral Overwriter on the table.
A runner will float a brain damage or two. Nobody wants to float three or four. I believe that this card is a solid 1-of in Xanatos cheese decks for the psychological deterrence effect alone.
And with a Brainstorm looming on the horizon, this current will make the brain damage equivalent of facechecking Komainu with a scored House of Knives token, melting the unprepared Runner's cerebral cortex into a thin, lumpy soup.