Thank you! My enhanced human character, Asimov, in The Council, and my robot character, Colter, have both recoiled from the use of the term “AI.” I rejected the concept on an emotional and intuitive level. Peter Plantec helps me understand that there is an alternative to AI. I wouldn’t term it “fake” conscious behavior, however. Would the term “synthetic” be more appropriate? A synthesis isn’t merely artificial, it’s a recombination of essential elements to make something new. And if it’s real, it isn’t “fake.”

Congratulations on getting The Speculist up again. We missed it!