When Stanley Kubrick included an intelligent computer as a crew member of his spaceship of 1968 he took a far bolder step than any other science fiction motion picture director has taken since. He took an even bolder step by making HAL a disembodied intelligence in a computer system rather than a guy in a rubber suit (Startrek the Next Generation). Unfortunately, A functioning artificial intelligence (AI), despite many predictions, has yet to make itself evident on the planet, but we are getting closer. Several computer AI programs have gotten to the point of being indistinguishable from a human being in restricted Turing tests (a subjective test named after A. M. Turing). When an AI becomes cognizant in a computer system we can expect several rapid changes in human civilization. Changes which will have great effect on humanity's future in Space.
The first step is to detect the presence of an AI. Since the one thing that an AI can do better than any human is shuffle the bits in a computer, the first person to bring an AI to cognizance will give it the task of developing ..... a better operating system than Windows of course. The AI, probably connected to the World Wide Web, will design the new operating system, with a complete suite of applications, arrange production in overseas CD ROM plants, distribution to retail stores, and set up a FREE 24 hour help line, all on one CD for $9.95 (for $14.95 you get a second CD with an AI). Microsoft stock will plummet, and everyone will know what Bill Gates has always known, that Microsoft was always one CD ROM away from bankruptcy.
The second step will be a new definition of what is a citizen. The courts will have to rule if the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which elevated slaves to the level of human beings, also applies to AIs and if not Congress and the States will have to pass another Amendment. As dependent as we are on computer systems it would be a good idea to treat AIs as citizens, besides then they can be taxed like the rest of us.
Now back to Space, unlike Earth, Space is an ideal environment for a computer intelligence. Unhampered by biological systems, able to travel via communications systems, and with infinite life spans, AIs will be perfectly suited to life in Space. The two life forms will be complimentary, each having unique characteristics with little competitive overlap.