Each technology equated to some human value or set of values, she saw. She’d known that. But on Earth, in the Archipelago and everywhere else, techno… - Karl Schroeder

I am the Government, she said. I am a force of omniscience and unparalleled power within the human part of the Archipelago. I am a public-domain distributed artificial intelligence. I have made all human institutions redundant, for I am the personal and intimate friend of each and every one of the trillion humans under my domain. I am the selfless advocate of each of them, from the lowliest to the greatest.
The only problem is...Well, nobody listens to me much anymore.

I haven't organized my life as a narrative, you know. I'm not sure you'll understand.
As listeners, we are not required to understand, said Qiingi. Only to care.

You know I was once a human being, too, Doran. I remember how hard it was to marshal all the resources I needed to cure myself of the affliction. I also remember, quite clearly, how I always told people I had no interest in self-deification. It was a useful and sometimes necessary shield against interference.
Blow off, said Doran. Unless you have some specific threat you want to use on me.
Choronzon laughed. Not a threat. Just curiosity as to why someone so violently opposed to improving on the human model should decide to go against all his principles.
Sometimes, said Doran icily, mature people do things they don't want to do. It's called following higher principles. But someone without mortal concerns, say, like yourself, wouldn't understand that.