Computer

Despite the impressive capabilities of computers, they are not completely ubiquitous - at least not visibly so. Encephalons reside inside people's craniums, working as watches, cellphones, calculators, data readers and kin. While some people certainly possess overengineered appliances, these are generally considered oddball types.

• Portable computers are typically used by those without encephalon meshes. They are highly resistant to EMP, contain one or two separate processing units and a quantum processor. Typically about the size of a large, thin outstretched hand, they look like little more than a miniature keyboard, with a number of data jacks, a disc reader, and a thin holoprojector that uses trapped gasses to display an image in the surrounding air. It can be private, or also display in 'reverse' for a demonstration, for example. Some are light enough that they are often worn on the forearm.
• Workstations are advanced computers usually used to run basic virtual-reality simulations, and other high-end entertainment and processing tasks that don't require yottaflops of processing power. Not to say that some people don't go out and get a mainframe for such needs, but few people need to. As in the 21st century, workstations generally refer to the modular tower unit and display surfaces, audio, printers and other accessories are hooked up separately.
• Mainframes are likewise evolved, heavy computing platforms with dedicated cooling systems (or sometimes incorporating mobius patterns into the design within the Milky Way). They are built and purchased in 'blocks', and used where tracking and predicting insane numbers of objects is considered necessary.

Technology

Classical computers reached a peak in the late 21st century, with most modern processors topping out at around fifty gigahertz, though more specialized systems and internal components approach the terahertz range. Compared to their 21st-century predecessors, however, they are quite sturdy, able to withstand radiation and electromagnetic shocks many orders of magnitude in excess of their ancestors. Due to the abundance of silver, gold, diamond, and sapphire in their construction, the processors themselves are sometimes called jewelry. Exomatter processors can provide far greater performance, but need to be handles carefully, and are more expensive.

Both optical and magnetic storage methods are still in use, though naturally far more advanced. Optical discs come in a variety of sizes, though the most common are eight centimeters in diameter, holding yottabytes of data. Magnetic 'discs' are now descendants of Magnetic RAM, removing the hard disk - memory distinction common to early 21st century machines. This, however, is more susceptible to EMP, and thus considered to be a semi-temporary storage mechanism.

Quantum coprocessors underwent major development from the end of the 21st century to the present, now boasting around 80 qubits, where development has largely stopped. While not the panacea hyped of them, they are still profoundly useful for many tasks that require brute force methods of problem solving. They frequently help govern distribution networks of all sorts, in addition to their rather obvious use in cryptography.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence has come a long way, and for more than a century and a half, sapient computers have been recognized, and accorded rights appropriate to such a stature. Like humans, they have emotions, goals, and biases, though these are under far greater control than say, children. When so advanced, they are typically called artificial sapiences. Copying one actually has many of the problems associated with copying a human brain, though it is not impossible in either case, and sometimes the exact origin of an intellect is a mystery.

The vast majority of AIs that interact with humans are tutors. These expert-systems-on-crack are masters of a single subject, such as math, linguistics, physics, biology, history, and so on, containing the combined expertise of thousands of top human researchers in their respective fields, and are well-versed in communicating their subject matter. Most people have a small library of these on discs to load into their computers to provide needed insight for a specific problem. Some even integrate parts or all of such an AI's understanding directly into their own brain, and unload it when needed.

Even though such systems make for unparalleled specialists, pre-sapient AIs make for poor generalists. Life experience is of real value, it seems.

Even considering the above, in the end, mankind chose to enhance its brain anyway, rather than let its creations eclipse it.

Androids and gynoids are somewhat common, but indistinguishable from homo excelsior unless you get their origins out of them. They have the same general response to patterns.

See artificial sapience and nanites for further discussion.