Evolution can’t be predicted, Julian used to tell me; it’s a scattershot business; it fires, but it doesn’t aim. - Robert Charles Wilson

For them, the idea of forgetting was indistinguishable from the idea of death. To pass out of memory was to pass out of the world. To conserve memory was to confer immortality.

Wow," Sue said. "You actually stole this?"
"We don't use that word," Elaine told her. "Chris has an unnamed high-level source.

So are they some form of life, or are they machines?"
"At the chemical level all living things can be construed as machines.