Hello, SFIA audio listeners. In this month's Nebula exclusive, big alien theory,

we're asking the reason alien civilizations might be rare is because most aliens are huge.

To hear it and every episode early and ad-free, plus hours of bonus content,

check out go.nebola.tv slash Isaac Arthur and use my code, Isaac Arthur.

We often try to distinguish between what is alive and what is a machine, and note,

the machines cannot reproduce or fix themselves, but that may soon change.

In the verdant suburbs of the future nestled between lush green hills, a sparkling river, stood a great house that was known among locals as The Living House.

It was the home of Susan, a world-renowned robotics expert, whose home always had the latest

and greatest advances in robots

on display, many years before they came out on the regular market or prototypes that never

wore for sale, and were unique to her abode or a handful of other colleagues, Miss

Calvin's home had robotic integrations on everything, even the kitchen sink.

When a bad storm came by and knocked free many roof tiles in the neighborhood, Susan's

house seemed untouched, as drones had come out after the storm to readjust and replace those

moved or broken.

While her neighbors used robots to mow their lawns and favor low-maintenance gardens,

Susan's garden is as elaborate as you'd see in any home and garden magazine, carefully

tended by small robots who even harvest her vegetable and herb garden for her. It's not the immaculate lawn

or hedges, or the sparkling clean house that's the true wonder though, instead is that

the Calvin household hasn't had to call a repairman in years. The house knows every problem

as it pops up, and what it can't fix itself, it can send

you a detailed DIY video for, and with your permission even have any specialized tools rented

...