Martha Wells: Artificial Condition
May. 10th, 2018 02:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bibliogrammaThe second Murderbot Diaries novella, Artificial Condition, is just as delightful as the first. In this new adventure, our protagonist, the still unnamed “free” security unit/cyborg construct, has left its human “governor” Dr. Mensah, and is trying to find out what happened on a previous contract, before it became autonomous.
It has been informed that while serving as security for a mining concern, it went rogue and destroyed nine other security units and the human personnel. It wants to find out why, and whether this is the reason that it was able to hack its governing module and become capable of independent action.
The murderbot has been hitching rides on automated transports, exchanging its collection of entertainment media for passage with the bots controlling the ships. On the last leg of its trip, it hitches a ride with a scientific vessel that normally carries a crew, but is travelling empty. The bot that runs the ship is a highly complex AI called ART with more computing power and almost as much autonomy as Murderbot itself. They establish what might be construed as a friendship, and the AI decides to help Muderbot become more able to pass as human, and to use its experience dealing with its human crew to help Murderbot successfully investigate its past.
In order to have a reason to go down to the planet, ART advises Murderbot to take a job as a security consultant to a group of researchers, which turns out to be a serious matter in itself, as someone is definitely out to kill Murderbot’s new clients, though all ends well, thanks to assistance from ART.
What’s fascinating about this installment of Murderbot’s story is watching its process of moving from a being accustomed to following orders to a truly independent being. It makes mistakes in handling its clients’ affairs, because it hasn’t quire grasped that it doesn’t have to settle for doing the best it can within the parameters set by its clients, it is allowed to insist on the parameters the clients must follow. Reading these diaries is like watching an intelligence begin to understand itself and the nature of freedom and responsibility, and it’s a very interesting process.
It has been informed that while serving as security for a mining concern, it went rogue and destroyed nine other security units and the human personnel. It wants to find out why, and whether this is the reason that it was able to hack its governing module and become capable of independent action.
The murderbot has been hitching rides on automated transports, exchanging its collection of entertainment media for passage with the bots controlling the ships. On the last leg of its trip, it hitches a ride with a scientific vessel that normally carries a crew, but is travelling empty. The bot that runs the ship is a highly complex AI called ART with more computing power and almost as much autonomy as Murderbot itself. They establish what might be construed as a friendship, and the AI decides to help Muderbot become more able to pass as human, and to use its experience dealing with its human crew to help Murderbot successfully investigate its past.
In order to have a reason to go down to the planet, ART advises Murderbot to take a job as a security consultant to a group of researchers, which turns out to be a serious matter in itself, as someone is definitely out to kill Murderbot’s new clients, though all ends well, thanks to assistance from ART.
What’s fascinating about this installment of Murderbot’s story is watching its process of moving from a being accustomed to following orders to a truly independent being. It makes mistakes in handling its clients’ affairs, because it hasn’t quire grasped that it doesn’t have to settle for doing the best it can within the parameters set by its clients, it is allowed to insist on the parameters the clients must follow. Reading these diaries is like watching an intelligence begin to understand itself and the nature of freedom and responsibility, and it’s a very interesting process.