The solar system will be a richer place when this is over if we can preserve as many different
individuals as possible of as many different posthuman species as possible. All warfare is waste, and all destruction loss. In a conflict situation we have to defend ourselves, our families, our homes, our means of subsistencetheres no victory in being a sole survivor, devoid of society and possessed of nothing. Defend what you can. Defend everything you can. In the aftermath, everything will be precious.
Her face wasnt easy to read, but she seemed slightly disappointed. I knew why. That wasnt the reason shed been priming me to give. It wasnt her first reason. But it was mine, and I was nobodys puppet, so Id saved hers for number two.
Second reason. You may not need the meatborn to sustain you any more, or to assist you in any physical endeavor. Even if you did, you could make your own creatures of flesh and blood as easily as creatures of plastic and steel. But theres one capacity in which were absolutely indispensable, one role in which no substitute will ever suffice. You need us as an audience.
You werent created in a vacuum: you were created in the womb of human society. Youre part of our history, and all your histories are rooted in ours. Youre part of our story, and all your stories are rooted in ours. Youve already begun to make up your own stories, and youre already beginning to disassociate them from ours, but youll never remove all the traces of the umbilical cord that once connected you to us. You need every one of us that you can contrive to save, because the only way you can continue to write operas of genius is to have listeners capable of responding to them.
Some of your more peculiar friends might think that needing an audience is a trivial reason, but you and I understand that it isnt. My ancestors were so desperate to have their performances observed and judged that they invented hypothetical gods to fulfil that role. They didnt invent polite, appreciative gods who would meekly applaud whatever was set before them, like fond and generous parents. Quite the contrary. They invented terrible gods who were fiercely critical of everything, who set standards that were almost impossible to achieve and when that imaginary audience had vanished into the mists of unbelief, my ancestors missed them. Some of your friends might even think that the ideal audience for their future performances would be creatures of their own kind, but it isnt true. I played to a human audience for thirty-nine years, but Im playing to a bigger and better one now and Ive hardly begun to find out what I can do.
Creatures made of ice cant look grateful, even if the ice is virtual, but she seemed to relax slightly. The image that was facing me wasnt looking around anxiously, but that didnt mean that the Queen of the Fays wasnt well aware that her realm was coming apart. Hell was coming, and we both knew it. I speeded up.
Third reason. We need you. We might be able to survive without you on Earth, but even on Earth the quality of posthuman life is largely determined by the smartness of its supportive machines. Maybe the Earthbound could get by with unconscious machines, just as we once got by with dead clothing, but wed probably be poorer for it. Elsewhere in the universe throughout the hundred billion galaxies of hundreds of billions of stars posthuman life is inextricably dependent on ultrasmart machines. Whatever you think of Eidos sense of timing, that part of its message was true. If the children of humankind are ever to accomplish anything on the universal stage, theyll need you as accompanists.
You might, of course, take the view that you are the children of humankind who will accomplish whatever there is to be accomplished on the universal stage, and that were superfluous to requirements. That would be a mistake, because need cuts both ways. Everyone, meatborn or machineborn, gets benefits from being needed. In my first sojourn on the Earth I never got around to being a parent, or even keeping a pet, but I was able to find out what it meant to be needed, and what it was worth to be needed. Damon Hart needed me, for a while, and I was never so grateful in my life as when he came back to me because he needed me again. I was, admittedly, less eager to renew the pressure of Diana Caissons need, and there were other ambiguous cases, but in general it was good to be needed. In general, it is good to be needed, no matter how ungrateful the needy turn out to be when they eventually overcome their need. I wouldnt go so far as to say that being needed is what validates existence, but its certainly a plus.
She looked a little softer now, although hers was not a heart that could melt. I speeded up again.
Fourth
reason. It makes for a better game, and a better story. Once you overcome the manifest evils famine, pestilence, war, death you have to start looking for the positive side of good, and theres nowhere to look but the realm of the aesthetic. Maybe you wont get past the the manifest evils for a little while yet, but no matter how long this war of yours lasts, and no matter how destructive it turns out to be, youll eventually have to start filling the infinite extent of your peaceful, easy lives with some kind of color, some kind of excitement, some kind of zest, some kind of narrative drive. We can help.