People ask sometimes if I’d change anything if I had the chance. I normally say no. I like who I am. But I had to go through a lot of hell to get here. And I wasn’t always a nice guy doing it. And there are times when there is one change I have thought about making. Julie and Alex. We would have had fifteen years together before The War came. Would we live or die there? I don’t know. But there are times when I would trade immortality for those fifteen years and be happy.
After Contact, Earth’s smartest AIs began to work with the Peloran cybernetic intelligences. The public story was that the Peloran cybers uplifted our best AIs to cybernetic intelligence levels. The truth was that Earth’s smartest AIs simply began calling themselves cybernetic intelligences and became all but indistinguishable from their alien brethren. To mere fleshling intelligences at least. The cybers could tell the difference, and Earth cybers brought irrevocable change into the partnership.
Over two thousand years ago, a child was born. He grew up, spoke out against the religious leaders of his time, and was crucified by the Roman Empire. A rag tag band of Jewish believers taught that he rose from the dead to give humanity new life, that he was the son of God, and were killed for that teaching. They became the largest religion on Earth over the next two thousand years, and today is the day they chose to celebrate the boy’s birthday. Today they celebrated the Christ Mass. And so it is today that Christians say Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
I was stupid. I just didn’t want to go to Nashville. Julie and Alex wanted it real bad. I was stubborn. They were stubborn. It was one of the things I always loved about them. There were some ultimatums set. There were some cross words. Raised voices. Thrown household items. I couldn’t believe they’d actually go without me. They couldn’t believe I’d stay if they left. We were all in for a real surprise.
Earth’s most advanced AIs had spent two centuries hiding from the majority of humanity when the Peloran made Contact. Oh, everybody knew there were AIs, but they never realized what that truly meant. Most AIs were dumb simulations of intelligence rather than having a true mind. The true AIs only revealed their capabilities and intelligence to a select few. The arrival of the Peloran’s cybernetic partners gave Earth’s AIs the perfect way to go public without revealing their long deception.
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