Theoretical androids (not the phones) are better than humans: discuss

While I undertook what turned out to be an over-ambitiously planned meal-prep, I turned on Netflix and re-binged the excellent show Dark Matter. And I realized that I really enjoy a good Android/AI. In fact, the theme of some of my favorite reads, watches, and re-reads in the last week has been: sentient beings that somehow manage to be more like a moral and emotionally aware human than the humanity that surrounds them.

The Weekend's Reads

 

Rogue Protocol and Exit Strategy ~ Martha Wells

I love Martha Wells. I randomly picked up part of her Ile Rien series from the library when was in college and that was it for me. I started hunting down every one of her books I could get my hands on. Her world-building is excellent and her main characters at once intensely familiar AND surprising.

Now, let's talk Murderbot. Murderbot is my hero. Murderbot is intensely relatable. Murderbot would hate all three of the preceding sentences. But how can you not love an AI that hacks ITSELF and then names itself Murderbot? You really just can't.

Each of the Murderbot Diaries (four thus far, with - according to Goodreads - a fifth in the works, cue my squeeing) is a slim novella packed full of laconically-narrated adventures. They are works of art, and since they are so short, there is no reason for you not to pick them up. 

Read these if: You liked ANY t.v. show that had a mostly-helpful self-aware AI. You would have liked more Marvin the Paranoid Android in either the movie OR the book. You like SciFi and want something short and fun to read.