JACOB REPORTED FOR his shift, a half-day stretch starting at midnight. Of course, AI could work for days or weeks on end, if necessary. But they were guaranteed certain rights, including at least fifty percent time off, so that they could run maintenance routines to operate at peak efficiency, incorporate new algorithms, and pursue other interests. He synced with his shift partner, gradually transferring responsibility for eleven thousand, six hundred and ninety human patients to his watch. For the remainder of his shift, he’d monitor their vital signs, adjust medications, execute routine procedures, and alert specialized AI when they were needed. He was caretaker, watcher, nurse, aide, and doctor in one. For this task, he had the computing power roughly equal to ten thousand human-brain equivalents, or HBE, nearly like having a dedicated hospital staff member for each patient. His mind ran on a distributed network of computer servers, and his body, such as it was, spanned everything from robotic surgery arms that grew out of walls, to automated medical dispensaries, to 3D printers for replacement bones, tissues, and organs.
