Comment:

There's a lot of worldbuilding stuff that's only implied in Forward, for much the same reason that not many people in our time walk around saying "gosh, that automobile sure runs on petroleum-based fuel, I sure am glad it was invented a hundred years ago".

The exception, of course, is Hitler and the Nazis, which are always relevant, and are referenced by everyone to accuse everyone else of any type of malfeasance.

Transcript:

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0141 - 2167/07/06/15:47 - Lee Caldavera's apartment, front door.
CP [data connection]: Do I really have to talk to Lee through you?
Zoa [data connection]: That is the way Mzr. Caldavera has set things up, yes. I, Zoa, apologize for any inconvenience this causes you.
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CP [data connection]: It's just... weird. It's like talking at someone's dog.
Zoa [data connection]: I prefer to think of myself as the opposite of a dog.
CP [data connection]: A cat?
Zoa [data connection]: Human being - dog = AI. More or less.
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CP [data connection]: By that logic, a sufficiently cybernetically augmented canine is equivalent to a person.
Zoa [data connection]: Well, if Alphawiki is to be believed, a dalmastiff named Tuxedo Christofferson was briefly granted status in 2144, but that ruling was subsequently struck down, and Tux passed away before the appeal could make it up to the Danish Supreme Court.
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CP [data connection]: ...Huh. And apparently, that specific form of neural augmentation was subsequently banned, for being "an egregious offense both to human dignity and to all biological life". Rightly so, if you ask me.
Zoa [data connection]: ...said the augmented mammal through their built-in Internet connection...
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