BoMay reviewed Artificial condition by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #2)
Murderbot explores its past
4 stars
Another enjoyable episode in the series. A bit better than the first.
158 pages
English language
Published Nov. 12, 2018
It has a dark past - one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself Murderbot. But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more. Teaming up with a research transport vessal named ART (you don't want to know what the A stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue. What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks...
Another enjoyable episode in the series. A bit better than the first.
Just like in the first book it's entertaining to read Murderbot's perspective on humans and the world in general. I also really liked the transport ship. We learn more about bots and why they help humans even if they don't have to. It's also about freedom and what to with it, consent, trust and responsibility.
Murderbot is such a fun character. Never thought a construct could be so relatable but it’s just the cutest. I love when it gets bewildered by humans.
Wild that these books are so cosy. Devoured in about an hour, they're snug little reads that dont need much from you, which is very nice. Mystery, action, media, its got it all! (Loved our new friend ART, I hope it returns.)
I was reading parts 1 (All Systems Red) and 2 (Artificial condition) of the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. Here is what I wrote about it: denkpass.de/2023/04/05/Reading-Murderbot-diaries-by-Martha-Wells.html
Two passages:
What’s funny is that these AIs are supposedly superintelligent, yet they behave like small kids. This is what makes them also human or relatable in my eyes. But would artificial intelligences even pay attention to humans? We’ll see why the murderbot (and the ship AI) do, but this is almost all that makes me read these books (or Iain Banks’ Culture series, which is also heavy on AI, or Anne Leckies Radj series): because the AIs want to understand humans, they observe them so much. And find out something that we humans don’t observe consciously (but most of the time subconsciously).
Martha Wells was aware of this human centred storytelling with often the only reason being that we human readers are …
I was reading parts 1 (All Systems Red) and 2 (Artificial condition) of the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. Here is what I wrote about it: denkpass.de/2023/04/05/Reading-Murderbot-diaries-by-Martha-Wells.html
Two passages:
What’s funny is that these AIs are supposedly superintelligent, yet they behave like small kids. This is what makes them also human or relatable in my eyes. But would artificial intelligences even pay attention to humans? We’ll see why the murderbot (and the ship AI) do, but this is almost all that makes me read these books (or Iain Banks’ Culture series, which is also heavy on AI, or Anne Leckies Radj series): because the AIs want to understand humans, they observe them so much. And find out something that we humans don’t observe consciously (but most of the time subconsciously).
Martha Wells was aware of this human centred storytelling with often the only reason being that we human readers are so much interested in ourselves, not actually in any artifical intelligences. We want the AIs to focus on us, because we only focus on us as well.
Finished book 1 and went straight into book 2. Murderbot just keeps on coming, and I ain't gonna get in its way!