"All Systems Red" by Martha Wells
My new favorite robot.
Read Review Below
I don’t know why I’m am just getting into Martha Wells, but if you’re a reader of my blogs, you’ll remember I listed her book “A Prayer for the Crown Shy” in my Top 10 Reads in 2023. She has a way with the robots I suppose. But we all know it’s more than that - it’s the crux of defining what makes us human. A theme close enough to my heart that I even wrote my high school thesis on it, supported by Philip K Dick novels. I’m sure I still have that lying around somewhere…
Her robots are intelligent, but innocently naive. From this perspective, we gain insight into who we are and what defines us. Personally, for me, this question has evolved. “What make you a human?” is the same as asking “What makes you a fox?”. Most tend to think that humans are the only species that do “humane” things, but all animals have the capacity and have exhibited doing “humane” things. Humane is just a word to make us feel special - we aren’t special. So it’s not fair to ask that question compared to other animals and, now, robots. The question we should ask ourselves today is “what benefits us as whole”? “How can my behavior contribute to ensure our species, ecosystem, and world thrives?” Once we stop comparing ourselves to others, then we may have a sliver of hope. Otherwise, yes, the robots will take over.
That was a tangent… this was was an amazing short read and I highly recommend!
| Pub Date: | May 2, 2017 | Page Count: | 144 Pages | ISBN: | N/A |