40 pages • 1 hour read
Martha WellsAll Systems Red
Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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Non-Gendered Identity and Asexuality in Speculative Fiction
Two elements of Murderbot’s characterization are its lack of both gender identity and sexual interest. Murderbot does not have sexual organs, gendered physical features, or sexual desire. In Chapter 2, Murderbot notes that the only robots that have sex-related parts are sexbots. In the same passage, while forwarding through a sex scene in Sanctuary Moon, Murderbot notes that even if it did have gender or sex-related parts, it would not find sex scenes interesting. Murderbot believes its lack of sexual interest is part of its personality rather than a consequence of its hardware or programming.
Throughout the novella, Murderbot tries to hide behind its opaque helmet to avoid being seen. In Chapter 6, when Gurathin presses Murderbot about why Murderbot does not want them to look at it, Murderbot replies: “You don’t need to look at me. I’m not a sexbot” (106-07). Murderbot finds the human gaze (or augmented human gaze, in this case) inherently sexualizing. In addition to being shy, Murderbot does not want to be seen as a sexual object or participate in a sexual or romantic relationship. Its love of relationship intrigue and melodrama is voyeuristic, not participatory.
To the Preservation team, Murderbot’s non-gendered identity is normal. Robots are full citizens in the Preservation Alliance, suggesting that gender is not considered a defining aspect of personhood. Moreover, same-sex relationships and polyamory are common among the crew, implying that, at least in Preservation, people in Murderbot’s world are accepting of gender and sexual diversity.
Wells explains that in a society that privileges binary gender identity and heterosexuality, writing a non-gendered character that lacks sexual interest poses difficulties:
The challenge comes from how deep in our culture the idea of gender is, and how hard it can be to think outside that box. Even though I was committed to the idea of a character who was not human and did not have a human expression of gender, I still made mistakes and was lucky to have an editor and early readers who helped catch them (Liptak, Andrew. “Sci-Fi Author Martha Wells on Writing a Series About a Robot That Calls Itself Murderbot.” The Verge, 16 Sept 2017).
For Wells, gender and sexuality representation in the fantasy and science fiction worlds transcends character descriptions. In her speech “Unbury the Future” at the 2017 World Fantasy Awards, Wells discussed the histories of female, LGBTQ+, and minority creators. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there was more diversity in fantasy and science fiction than today’s readers realize: “We know there were LGBT and non-binary pulp writers, too, but their identities are hidden by time and the protective anonymity of pseudonyms” (7 November 2017, Tor.com). The theme of “protective anonymity” resonates with Murderbot’s anxious guarding of its identity behind armor, an opaque helmet, and feigned disinterest in others’ feelings.
The Importance of Relationships over Technology
Like many science fiction works, All Systems Red foregrounds technology. Corporation Rim is an interplanetary system of space stations, alliances, interstellar trade organizations, augmented humans, clone-bot hybrids, and tech-savvy humans who constantly interface with the central data network, HubSystem.
While technology is often portrayed as the supreme intelligence, far smarter, faster, and more capable than humans, Wells skews this paradigm in All Systems Red by presenting the company that creates the technology as fallible and more interested in cutting costs than in producing quality products. The Preservation team’s information packages are faulty, SecSystem requires frequent updates, and Murderbot is constantly downloading new information packets, some of which it uses and some of which it discards.
As an artificial intelligence, Murderbot must quickly absorb large amounts of data and make decisions in real-time based on the information it accesses and the input of its team members. Murderbot also has access to drone cameras, recorded and downloaded footage, live feeds, logs, and a communication system—not to mention its entertainment feed. With its hacked governor module, Murderbot has more freedom over how it accesses and processes data than it would otherwise.
Having an AI that hacked its own system is a creative trope that allows Wells to focus on how Murderbot’s AI and human features work together. If Murderbot’s governor module were intact, it would always override its emotional or intuitive decisions. For example, at the end of Chapter 1, Murderbot realizes there is an “abort” command in its HubSystem feed that it considers a glitch (24). Given the error-prone nature of Murderbot’s systems, it could indeed be a malfunction, or it could be an example of the company trying to cut its losses by aborting a costly rescue attempt. Ignoring the command, Murderbot makes decisions that prioritize human life over profit.
Wells said that she created HubSystem—the company’s AI—based on her experience as a software programmer creating databases and user interfaces:
The frustration of getting different updates, the update that destroys everything because it wasn’t quite finished, and the way an AI or any intelligence would work with databases to figure out what it’s supposed to do and how it’s supposed to organize its thoughts. It all came from my experience as a programmer (Liptak, Andrew. “Martha Wells on Writing an Anxious, Relatable Killbot.” Transfer Orbit, 27 April 2021).
One of the reasons Murderbot admires Mensah is that Mensah understands that, when it comes to decision-making, technology has limits. Mensah values Murderbot not only because it is a capable security specialist but also because Mensah realizes Murderbot is invested in protecting the crew, just as the other PreservationAux members are invested in protecting each other. The result is a group that uses science, technology, and data to inform, but not dictate, its decisions. In the end, Murderbot owes its freedom to the PreservationAux team that decides not to restore its hacked governor module because they see Murderbot as a human, rather than a machine.
The Humanity of Artificial Intelligence and Bot Ownership as Slavery
Czech playwright Karel Čapek coined the term “robot” in his 1921 play R.U.R. Čapek’s robot is an autonomous humanoid (biological, not mechanical) whose purpose is to perform labor. “Robot” comes from the Czech word for “forced labor” (robota). R.U.R. ends in humanity’s extinction after the robots—who have feelings and desires—decide they no longer want to serve humans. Murderbot staged its own quiet rebellion by hacking its governor module so that it no longer must follow HubSystem’s commands. Like Čapek’s robots and many versions thereafter, Murderbot is assumed to not have feelings. If beings with feelings, intelligence, and the desire to be free are forced to work in roles they do not choose with no compensation, that practice is slavery. All Systems Red questions the line between human and robot, requiring the reader to ask whether Murderbot is unique in its desire for freedom, or whether all robots, if freed of their governor modules, would want the same.
Unlike augmented humans in Corporation Rim, robots and constructs have assigned roles, such as sexbot, security unit, or cargo transport. At this stage in the series, Murderbot is not concerned with liberating other robots. At least on the surface, its attitude toward robot servitude is nihilistic and apathetic. In Chapter 7, when Murderbot is fighting the DeltFall SecUnit with an implanted combat module, it says: “I know I said SecUnits aren’t sentimental about each other, but I wished it wasn’t one of the DeltFall units. It was in there somewhere, trapped in its own head, maybe aware, maybe not. Not that it matters. None of us had a choice” (132).
Ratthi and the other humans in PreservationAux agree that Murderbot should be free, but within certain limitations: They agree with Preservation’s requirement for robots to have an owner, even if only nominally. In Chapter 8, when Murderbot tells the transport it is “a happy servant bot who needed a ride to rejoin its beloved guardian” (149), it is a sardonic commentary on the assumption that robots are content in their roles as compulsory servants. Wells contrasts Murderbots obvious humanity with the practice of robot slavery to set up a tension that unfolds in the rest of the Murderbot Diaries.
