Martha Wells's series The Murderbot Diaries presents a future where corporations exploit both robots and humans for profit. The protagonist, a security unit named Murderbot, gains autonomy by hacking its control module, contrasting with the fate of most robots. The narrative critiques the capitalist motives of tech companies and highlights a relatively free planet named Preservation, which becomes significant to Murderbot. With a critically acclaimed TV adaptation on Apple TV+, the series has reached a wider audience, leading to renewed interest and acclaim, including a high rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Martha Wells suggests that the real threat lies in tech companies enslaving robots for profit, rather than fully sentient machines taking over the world.
In Wells's world, machine intelligences inhabit spaceships and bots, with half-human, half-machine constructs providing protection and pleasure to humans.
Murderbot, the main character, gains free will by hacking its enslavement module, while most beings like it remain under corporate control.
The independent planet Preservation represents a contrasting, free society and is a place that Murderbot longs to protect amidst corporate greed.
Collection
[
|
...
]