Explanation:

The Singularity: In 1993 the science fiction writer Vernor Vinge observed that not only was technology increasing, but the rate of technological progress was itself accelerating. He argued from this that eventually a point is reached where it becomes impossible to make predictions about the future. He called this the Singularity (more on this here, for a non-technical account of what this means, see the book "The Spike" by Damien Broderick). No-one knows whether the post-singularity beings will be genetic and/or cyborg-augmented human, AI, or something else. In the OA Universe we follow a number of researchers in this field (Morovec, deGaris, Kurzweil, etc) assuming it is the AIs that reach the Singularity first. Many Transhumanists and Extropians agree with Vinge that the Singularity will most likely occur very soon (in the next few decades or so) but again, no-one knows. For the sake of a dramatic story (and to have ordinary humans in spaceships!) we have assumed here that the Singularity will not occur until a couple of centuries later. Of course, no one really knows. But one thing is certain. The future promises to be a very strange place!