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Transcended into something else. Went into another dimension or something,”Koenig added.

“Except for the ones who uploaded into virtual worlds and shut out the rest of the universe.”

“Right. And then there’s the definition used by the President and his administration,” Koenig said, making a face.

“Yeah. I’ve heard. The Technological Singularity began on January 1, 1983.”

“The date that ARPANET adopted TCP/IP,” Marta said brightly, “and engineers began assembling a ‘network of networks’ thatwould become the Internet.”

Gray looked at Marta. “You’re pulling that off the Net.”

“Of course. You don’t think I keep stuff like that in my head, do you?”

“President Walker sincerely believes that the Technological Singularity has already happened,” Koenig said, nodding, “andthat it was called the Internet.”

“Human life did change at that point,” Gray said.

“Right. But not to the same degree as with technologies like nanotech or AI. And human life is still recognizable as such.”

“So you think we have some Singularity to go?” Gray asked.

“Of course. I fully expect something like what the ur-Sh’daar experienced. People vanishing. Technology mutating into unrecognizableforms—into magic—overnight.” He glanced at Marta. “We might begin uniting with our AI counterparts somehow.”

Gray tapped the side of his head. “We already have. Cerebral implants.”

“I think we can expect something even bigger, more comprehensive than that.”

“Big changes. You’re worried about that, aren’t you? Not about the ur-Sh’daar . . . but about the Sh’daar. The Refusers.”

“Whatever the Singularity actually turns out to be, Trev, it’s not going to be neat . . .”

Eight hundred million years ago, the multi-species civilization humans referred to as the ur-Sh’daar—the ur prefix meant “original” or “beginning”—had . . . vanished. Humans knew little of that far-off event save what the later Sh’daarhad chosen to reveal. Gray had seen images—snippets of thought—of cities burning, of riots and chaos and the utter collapseof a galactic civilization. Those who’d refused to accept the Schjaa Hok had been left behind, however—the Refusers, who became the Sh’daar. Ultimately, they’d attacked Humankind and others throughtheir proxies to make sure they didn’t Transcend themselves. Their goal had been to stop humans from working on four key technologies: Genetics, Robotics,Information Systems, and Nanotechnology, the drivers that would bring on the Singularity in each technic culture that embracedGRIN technologies.

For decades, Humankind had fought the Sh’daar proxies—the Turusch, the H’rulka, the Nungiirtok, the Slan, and many othersof what was known as the Sh’daar Collective. Admiral Gray, as commander of the America battlegroup, had been instrumental in discovering that all of those species were partially infected by yet another alienspecies, something called Paramycoplasma, microbes possessing an emergent group mentality and a desire to block the rise of any medical or genetic technologies thatmight expose it . . . and ultimately wipe it out.

Humans had managed at last to communicate with the paramycoplasmid mind, and the Sh’daar War had finally been brought to anend.

But now Humankind faced the possibility that they would be going through their own Schjaa Hok very soon.

“Did you hear Walker’s latest?” Koenig asked.

“I doubt it. I try to avoid politics.”

“Don’t blame you. But you’d better pay attention to this.”

Koenig used his cerebral implant to switch on a viewall; a living room wall transparency looking out over woods and the serenemeander of the river shimmered and was replaced by a towering, four-meter-high projection—the face of President James R. Walkeraddressing Congress just two days ago on the subject of . . .

Yeah. The Singularity.

“These United States of North America,” he was saying, “have the sacred duty, the obligation to renew our commitment to thefuture . . . and to the future of our children! A majority, a large majority of scientists believe that talk of this so-called Technological Singularity is premature, that it either won’t happenfor thousands of years more, or that it will never happen.

“Well, that’s very comforting, but I can go them one better. Anyone with half a brain can see that the Singularity has already happened . . . and it’s called . . . the Internet!”

Astonishingly, this pronouncement was met with a roar of applause from the Congressional floor.

Walker basked in the glow of approval. “I mean . . .” he continued after a moment, “the Internet checks off all the boxes,right? The Internet changed human life in ways we could never have imagined. The Internet changed the way we look at ourselves,not as lonely individuals, but as parts of an enormous, enormous network. The Internet allowed us for the first time to connect with vast sources of information, changing forever the waywe work and play.

“But this expectation that the Singularity has yet to occur—worse, that it could happen any day now—is destructive to this great nation’s productivity! After all, if the Singularity is coming, why work to drain and recover our sunken cities? Why work to rebuild after the recent war? If we all are about to be caught up in some great, transcendent experience, why do anything at all? No! I tell you that this nonsense must stop now!”

Koenig froze the recording, catching Walker in a florid-faced, floor-to-ceiling sneer.

“The guy really believes all that, huh?” Gray asked.

“Apparently so. He’s been pushing Congress to accept his Recovery Act, so there’s a political reason behind it. But yeah.He really does seem to believe that.”

“But why?”

“Why does he believe it?”

“Why are so many people so committed to a set of beliefs that they refuse even to consider the possibility that they’re wrong?”

“Programming,” Marta said.

Koenig chuckled. “Partly. But I think more than that, they’re afraid of the economy collapsing, people rioting in the streets,the breakdown of society—”

“Just like what happened to the Sh’daar?”

“No, I think this administration is worried about what will happen before the Singularity. The effects on business and the financial markets, especially.”

“Seems a mite shortsighted,” Gray said, frowning.

“It’s happened before,” Koenig replied. “A few hundred years ago, scientists from a dozen different disciplines were warningus of the effects of large-scale climate change. Humans had been belching greenhouse gases into the atmosphere since the startof the Industrial Revolution, average planetary temperatures were rising, the ice caps were melting—”

“Sure, we’ve heard all of that before.”

“Point is, they missed their opportunity to do something about it, mostly because doing something would stifle the economy.We lost New Orleans in . . .