Murderbot, written form
Jul. 15th, 2025 02:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethI have finished rereading all the Murderbot books.
I had a few little thoughts as I went along. Like, I wondered if there are constructs for care work instead of security. Care work being made of complex problems with emotional context. The point of view SecUnit doesn't seem to have met many disabled people before Preservation but they have to exist, even with augmentation being a possibility. They would have a different name of course but be strong to help with lifting and have faces to help with communication and comforting and... oh. ComfortUnits.
And Secunit Murderbot calling the ComfortUnits Sexbots is probably true to its experiences, but ... actually does it use that word after finding out about the Pit? I think maybe it stops? It has limited experience of limited sorts of places so there could be a lot going on that it doesn't know about. And calling itself a bot is... complex. Factually inaccurate. Rejecting the baseline human assumption that artificial intelligence would want to be more human. Like using It pronouns when so many are right there as options. Calling other constructs bots? Has some layers.
The most recent book, the one where story saves the day, that made me feel kind of tired. Because I felt like the truest line was saying if the corporates made story at them first they would win. I have not of late been optimistic about the power of story, since I have been seeing people reading many things with the special lenses on, the ones that have decided the meaning first and only see the ways that fit. It's an excellent theory and a great development for the character and kind of a writer power fantasy. It should work.
The world could be nicer.
But the reread was good.
I had a few little thoughts as I went along. Like, I wondered if there are constructs for care work instead of security. Care work being made of complex problems with emotional context. The point of view SecUnit doesn't seem to have met many disabled people before Preservation but they have to exist, even with augmentation being a possibility. They would have a different name of course but be strong to help with lifting and have faces to help with communication and comforting and... oh. ComfortUnits.
And Secunit Murderbot calling the ComfortUnits Sexbots is probably true to its experiences, but ... actually does it use that word after finding out about the Pit? I think maybe it stops? It has limited experience of limited sorts of places so there could be a lot going on that it doesn't know about. And calling itself a bot is... complex. Factually inaccurate. Rejecting the baseline human assumption that artificial intelligence would want to be more human. Like using It pronouns when so many are right there as options. Calling other constructs bots? Has some layers.
The most recent book, the one where story saves the day, that made me feel kind of tired. Because I felt like the truest line was saying if the corporates made story at them first they would win. I have not of late been optimistic about the power of story, since I have been seeing people reading many things with the special lenses on, the ones that have decided the meaning first and only see the ways that fit. It's an excellent theory and a great development for the character and kind of a writer power fantasy. It should work.
The world could be nicer.
But the reread was good.
no subject
Date: 2025-07-16 02:00 pm (UTC)❤️
~