Hexapodia as the key insight...I haven't had a chance to see the famous video from Straumli Realm, except as an evocation. (My only gateway onto the Net is very expensive.) Is it true that humans have six legs?

IA is something that is proceeding very naturally, in most cases not even recognized by its developers for what it is.

Pham Nuwen plunked himself down, stretching indolently.

What we have is a data glut.

Politics is good; when it works properly, disagreements get solved without people beating each other up. But when a regime knows its days are numbered, there's always the chance it may use its position to change the rules and make the debate it is losing irrelevant.

The physical extinction of the human race is one possibility.

I never guessed I could cry so hard my face hurt.