The Human Touch

You want me to choose whether we have red or white wine? First, let me tell you about being abducted by aliens. I was standing on Westminster Bridge in London, and Big Ben had just chimed the hour. Next moment, I am on the bridge of a starship, face-to-face with the pointy-eared alien from that '60s sci-fi show. "Either this is a dream, or something's interfering with my mind. "We thought this would make the transition easier for you." The only realistic way to travel across the galaxy is as an artificial intelligence. Our ship is crewed by AIs." Why?" Somehow, I'd expected first contact with aliens to be more profound, but then I didn't do it every day. "Even your primitive designs have benefited from interaction between AIs--it's the best way to enable machine learning.