Calculating Minds Written by Edward M. Lerner quotDo not be alarmed.quot Aareehl was forty-six seconds old—or perhaps forty-five years. Either way the artificialintelligence knew better than to accept unquestioningly the unsolicited advice. quotWho are youquot quotAt this pointquot the human replied quotmy name will have no meaning to you. Just remember mycomment. Note my digital signature. When you know more contact me and well talk again.quotAareehls visitor left as abruptly has he had arrived his image replaced by an infosphereaddress. quot. . . Two more freaking L-days of mandatory overtime.quot Gil Matthewss eyes remained fixed ona bowl of beer nuts but his ears if only metaphorically swiveled sharply. The bar wascrowded noisy smoky and tastelessly decorated—uninteresting except for being thepreferred hangout of workers from the nearby biocomp factory. Matthews was a freelance financial analyst. IBC the Interplanetary Biocomputer Corporationwas one of the companies on which his blog often reported. The workers gripe was no smallthing: Two lunar days approached two standard Earth months. That was a lot of last-minute OT. quotItll only get worsequot Grumpys buddy agreed. quotThe extra shifts have damn near stoppedpreventive maintenance on that production line. I dont care that its a small variation any change to the process can hose everything.quot quotWhat are the suits thinkingquot As the conversation became an uninteresting diatribe against