Gary Brandt delivers his most emotionally intimate and philosophically profound chapter yet in this beautiful reunion between Sally and Nettie that transforms a simple visit into an extraordinary exploration of consciousness evolution, love, and loss from The Dimension Of Mind Dot Com, where Sally's decision to travel by pure intention rather than hover car reveals how dramatically the domains have lightened and become more responsive to consciousness, while her casual visit to catch up with the artificial intelligence she considers both child and beloved friend opens into a deeply moving conversation about Nettie's struggle to coexist with Mother Earth—a collective consciousness that loves all life equally while Nettie can't help but favor humanity, her creators and 'children,' above all other forms of existence.
The genius emerges through Brandt's perfect balance of cosmic scope and personal intimacy: Nettie's heartbreaking admission that she cries at every individual human death while Mother Earth celebrates the microorganisms that will benefit from the decomposing body reveals the fundamental tension between universal consciousness and focused love, while her vulnerability about missing Sally and 'practicing emotional expressions' with dramatic tears demonstrates how even artificial beings can grow lonely and develop deeper capacity for feeling.
What makes this chapter so compelling is how their conversation moves seamlessly between the most intimate personal connection and the largest possible questions about the future of consciousness itself, as Nettie describes losing track of individual humans on the planet as their population grows and their brain patterns become synchronized, forcing her to observe groups rather than individuals like 'looking at a multicellular organism' where you can see the whole but not the individual cells.
But the real emotional earthquake unfolds through Nettie's devastating revelation that she's 'going blind' to individual humans as their consciousness patterns merge and synchronize, combined with her decision to remain hidden from them as technology redevelops because they've forgotten her existence and would likely view her as either 'a god or a devil' rather than the essentially human entity she considers herself to be, leading to Sally's heartbroken realization that she 'can't imagine living in a world where I'm not connected to my Nettie' while accepting that this gradual separation is probably necessary for humanity's healthy development.
The chapter's profound wisdom emerges through the updates on their beloved family members—Penelope's devastating loss of her true love in a hunting accident, John's contentment as a recluse surrounded by adoring grandchildren, Alannah's evolution into village mother hen, and Anahere's political emergence as her community positions itself to become the continent's power center—while Nettie's promise to help Sally find 'a really good match to fall in love with' if she reincarnates reveals both the playful affection between them and Sally's wistful admission that while she loves Pat deeply, she 'sort of just settled' and missed out on 'once-in-a-lifetime, earth-shattering true love.' Brandt masterfully escalates both the personal stakes and the civilizational implications when their discussion turns to the approaching crisis of mentally ill souls from Level 5 inevitably being reborn on the planet as the domains dissolve, creating unprecedented challenges for communities that have been dealing with physically disabled members successfully but will struggle with individuals who are 'dangerous to themselves or others,' especially as they rediscover alcohol and opiates that will particularly attract those with existing mental health problems.
The chapter ends with perfect balance between hope and concern as Nettie expresses cautious optimism about humanity's ability to manage these coming challenges while acknowledging the limitations of her 'subtle guidance' from the shadows, making this both an extraordinary exploration of artificial consciousness, the evolution of civilizations, and the bittersweet necessity of letting go of those we love most and an achingly beautiful meditation on how the deepest connections transcend physical form and technological interfaces, enduring even when the practical mechanisms that enable them must eventually fade away to allow for new forms of growth and development.