43 pages • 1 hour read
Martha WellsArtificial Condition
Martha WellsFiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
Murderbot is a security robot (SecUnit) pretending to be a human. Since SecUnits are typically shipped as cargo, Murderbot is for the first time moving among “the parts of stations or transit rings that were meant for people” (9). Murderbot exchanged its armor for human clothing and covered its inorganic parts. While its disguise appears to be working, it is nervous that its identity will be discovered. Murderbot speculates that its disguise has been so effective because SecUnits are typically depicted in the media as “always in armor, faceless and terrifying to humans” (13).
While not initially open about the details, Murderbot wants to find out what happened during a past security assignment at the RaviHyral mining facility. Murderbot supposedly malfunctioned and murdered dozens of people, but its memory is cloudy because it was cleared after the incident. Aiming to return to the scene, Murderbot heads toward an unmanned research vessel that will stop at Murderbot’s destination. Murderbot pings the vessel’s computer and offers it access to “hundreds of hours of media” (17), like television shows and music, in exchange for a ride. The research transport accepts the deal.
Chapter 2 Summary
Boarding the transport, Murderbot explores the ship, realizing that it will need to eventually get over its SecUnit tendency to patrol its area. As it looks back on its previous existence, Murderbot says that humans made SecUnits smart enough not to need human supervision but “anxiety and depression” were side effects of this increased capability (19).
As the ship takes off, Murderbot begins watching Worldhoppers, a new television serial that promises “extragalactic exploration, action, and mysteries” (21). It doesn’t get far into the show, however, before the vessel’s computer interrupts with a message saying, “You were lucky […] that no one realized what you were” (21). The computer knows Murderbot is a rogue SecUnit that hacked its governor module and is pretending to be human. The computer, built for complex scientific analysis, reveals to Murderbot that it has vast computational capabilities, and Murderbot realizes that it has “never directly interacted with anything this powerful before” (23).
Murderbot isn’t afraid of most things, having been shot repeatedly and tortured by former clients, but this computer makes it afraid. The computer apologizes for frightening Murderbot. Murderbot starts watching its favorite show, Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, while wondering why the vessel let it come aboard if it knew what it was. While Murderbot watches the show, the computer watches as well. Eventually, it asks Murderbot to go back to Worldhoppers. Murderbot enjoys Worldhoppers for being “very unrealistic and inaccurate” (27), but the computer appears to take the show seriously, getting upset when characters appear to die and feeling relieved when they come back to life.
Murderbot eventually names the ship and the computer that controls it ART (Asshole Research Transport) for its persistent questions. After they finish Worldhoppers, ART asks to watch shows that feature research vessels like itself. When it asks Murderbot why there aren’t any SecUnits in Sanctuary Moon, Murderbot points out that few shows portray SecUnits, and when they do, they are evil and unrealistic caricatures. In the worst shows, SecUnits have sex with humans, even though real SecUnits have no interest in sex. Murderbot concludes that “you can’t tell a story from the point of view of something that you don’t think has a point of view” (31). The computer presses Murderbot about why it is traveling to the RaviHyral mining facility. Murderbot tries to dodge the question, but it persists until Murderbot shuts itself down in frustration.
Chapters 1-2 Analysis
Artificial Condition begins in medias res with its protagonist and narrator Murderbot on the move. Frequent oblique references to futuristic technology and space travel remind the reader that this novella, like all The Murderbot Diaries, takes place in a science fiction setting where, for example, humans and robots travel to distant planets through wormholes. This vast and unfamiliar setting reinforces Murderbot’s isolation; not only has it left everyone it knows behind, but it must navigate a universe of a scale and complexity that defy comprehension.
Murderbot’s focus on its human disguise provides an early indication of the blurriness of The Line Between Human and Machine. Murderbot has many physical traits that mark it as a non-human SecUnit, but nobody sees through its rudimentary disguise because they are used to seeing humans with artificial implants. The fact that no one takes a close look at Murderbot hints that, in this setting, people are so caught up with themselves that they can’t see what’s in front of them.
Another reason that Murderbot is able to move among humans without discovery is that most humans have only encountered SecUnits in the media, where they are presented as terrifying, violent, and faceless killing machines. This representation is false, as readers learn from the novel’s insight into Murderbot’s complex thoughts and feelings. These opening chapters demonstrate both positive and negative outcomes of this gap between representation and reality. On the positive side, Murderbot uses human misunderstandings to its advantage. Since nobody can imagine a SecUnit without an opaque helmet and murderous demeanor, Murderbot can move about without causing suspicion. On the other hand, the caricatures of SecUnits in the media make it difficult for people to empathize with them. Murderbot says, “You can’t tell a story from the point of view of something that you don’t think has a point of view” (31). By telling the story from Murderbot’s perspective, Wells pushes back against science fiction stories that, like the shows that Murderbot watches, reduce robotic characters to mindless killing machines. By keeping the focus on Murderbot’s nuanced emotions and thoughts, the narrative reexamines similar characters in science fiction more broadly, indicating empathy for those who would otherwise be reduced to simple caricatures.
Ironically, Murderbot makes this mistake when it meets the spaceship it will later refer to as ART. Believing that ART is an unsophisticated machine, Murderbot tries to exploit it to get from one place to another. Murderbot soon discovers that ART is capable of complex, human-like thoughts and feelings, just like it is. Murderbot and ART have clear personality differences—Murderbot is quiet and introverted, while ART is social, curious, and outspoken—but the fact that they have unique personalities suggests that the same may be true for all robots and computers that straddle The Line Between Human and Machine.
Murderbot and ART’s experience watching Worldhoppers and Sanctuary Moon provides playful commentary on the theme of Representation Versus Reality. The description of Worldhoppers—full of space exploration, action, and mystery—could apply to Artificial Condition, which includes all these elements. This connection puts readers in the same position as Murderbot, aware they are consuming a work of science fiction. The reader gets to decide whether to view that fiction as mindless escapism, as Murderbot does, or to take it seriously, as ART does, and to consider whether a story can be escapist and meaningful at the same time.
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