Brain the size of a planet – and here I am, counting to ten. Paul recalled the perennial – naïve and paranoid – fear that all the networked computers of the world might one day spontaneously give birth to a global hypermind – but he was, almost certainly, the first planet-sized intelligence on Earth. He didn't feel much like a digital Gaia, though. He felt exactly like an ordinary human being sitting in a room a few meters wide.
Permutation City
Peer had been exhausted when he’d stopped, but after a minute’s rest he felt, literally, as energetic and enthusiastic as ever. Back in cloud-time, preparing himself, he’d edited out any need or desire for food, drink, sleep, sex, companionship, or even a change of scenery, and he’d pre-programmed his exoself – the sophisticated, but non-conscious, supervisory software which could reach into the model of his brain and body and fine-tune any part of it as required – to ensure that these conditions remained true. He resumed the descent gladly, a happy Sisyphus. Making his way down the smooth mirrored face of the skyscraper was, still, the purest joy he could imagine; the warmth of the sun reflecting back on him, the sharp cool gusts of wind, the faint creak of steel and concrete. Adrenaline and tranquility. The cycle of exertion and perfect recovery. Perpetual motion. Touching infinity.