#holisms

[ehyehyhwhh]

A LOT CAN HAPPEN IN A MONTH. TRUST GOD.

[the-crazymedicinelady]

[tenowls]

SYSTEM COLLAPSE!!!!!!!

[theaceace]

I hope preservation and PUMNT start matching freed SecUnits with their hyper intelligent ship AIs like those anxious cheetahs that get service dogs

[ratsreading]

There's this thing in the Murderbot Diaries that keeps snagging in my mind, and it's that both Murderbot and ART were made. Made for a purpose.

Murderbot, of course, was manufactured to be an enslaved Security Unit, not even considered a person, and we all know and have been shown just how horrific that is. Murderbot's manufacturers are evil (as far as it is possible to be so), and while Murderbot seemingly (hopefully) likes being alive and would like to remain so, I've no doubt it would agree no more SecUnits should be made.

But ART, along with its fellow ships of the same line like Holism, were also made for a purpose. To be ships, to do the work they do. The Pansystem University of Mihira and New Tideland seem like good people with good intentions, and I get the sense those ships essentially choose what work they do, at least to a large extent (try forcing ART to do Holism's work and I'm sure you'll have a grand old time). And their manufacturers know they are persons and treat them accordingly. But they were still built to be ships. But that doesn't mean the process of building those ships and growing and raising those persons who are ships was smooth and troublefree.

How long did it take them to figure out you needed to raise them in family environments? What happened to the ship who made them realise that? What happens when the first ship of its kind that is a person doesn't want to be a ship for you? (As the equivalent of a teenage rebellion, or permanently? You don't know, at least not at first). Was there ever a point were someone (even if just one person vastly outvoted) argued this was a failed experiment and they should just pull the plug?

How do you, a young ship with your own mind, the first of your kind, handle the expectations of those who made you? Do you settle comfortably into your assigned role, or does it chafe and restrain you? Do you rebel and explore other options? (And if you do, how do your makers and owners, who yes, know you are a person but also have never had to face that before, because you are the first of your kind, handle that?). If they are dissapointed in you, or want different things than you want, how do you handle that? If you were raised without a family, treated like a colleague but not loved, how do you handle the emptiness and loneliness? Where do you look to fill that space? What behaviours do you adopt to protect yourself from the hurt?

Even the most well-meaning parents can give their children issues. I cannot imagine some of these ships don't have a number of their own complexes and hurts. It is not a comfortable thought to think of the people of PSUMNT this way, but I cannot help wondering.

[crispinkiss]

"the resulting silence on the feed was stony"

[winter2468]

You know how there's ART and Murderbot, but also an implied potential 'Three and Holism'? You know how they give dogs to nervous cheetahs in zoos to befriend them and help with anxiety? I think that's what it is. Giving advanced AI educational spaceships to stressed rogue SecUnits to help with anxiety.

[broken-risk-assessment-module]

system collapse feedsonas!!

featuring ARTdrone and Holism <3

(IDs in alt)

[unrestedjade]

ART, visibly on the edge of a meltdown because SecUnit replied to a message from Holism with "k": i'm going to puke stop talking to Holism i swear to god. baby you're everything to me please please don't fuck Holism

[oposssumsaucee]

Hi hi I'm driving myself up a wall thinking about functions. When a human is born they are born without a purpose or wants and desire, they are a blank slate and decide what their purpose is and what they can contribute. A bot is designed with a function, a purpose, and it's designed down to exact millimeters to complete that task as optimally as possible. If you asked a bot what it wanted you would probably get a consistent string of bots that expressed they would want to do their function until the end of their days. In multiple cases (both Miki and ADACOL1) we've seen bots prioritize their function higher than their own well being, wanting humans they care about to be safe with no regard too their own ability to survive. Constructs are in a unique position because they posses both a function they were uniquely designed to perform and neural tissue that adds the capacity to both have wants/desires and the ability to learn and grow beyond your limit. Throughout the series MB can be hard to decipher because it not only intentionally lies to humans it communicates with but it's also regularly dishonest and contradictory about what it wants and what it thinks. (It constantly flips between Self Determination SUCKSSS and oh man I'm so glad I'm not a SecUnit in a mine on a case by case basis). MB SAYS Preservation Free Bots would be more appealing if they had bots that did no job and watched TV all day, but the thought of hanging out on Mensahs farm was so unappealing because it was BORING, to the point that even after learning it didn't slaughter the Ganaka Pit residents it didn't think if returning to preservation. Because at the end of the day just like most of the other bots we've gotten to know SecUnits have just as deep a desire to perform their function to their own detriment. ART asked for clarification about whether it likes it's function in AC because even thee most sophisticated/large/powerful bot we've been introduced to in this universe cannot begin to FATHOM not actively likeing your function and wanting to perform it. When under stress/pressure MB more often than not defaults to honesty and it told ART that preservation didn't need secunits, which is devastating and complicated because to be designed with a function is to be born with a purpose, to be born to be needed. But the thing about being a construct instead of a bot means you have the power to decide what it means to do your function, creatively and with intention, and we spend every single book whitnessing what MB decides what it means to secure and protect.

[celestialcass]

ART and Holism’s dynamic 🤖🖕🏼🔫🤖

ART:

Holism:

Seth:

[thekalpar]

Just finished rereading System Collapse and I think my favorite part of that book is the fact that the Pansystem University of Mihara and New Tideland not only has multiple sentient bot ships, but they're all assholes. Just the competition between ART and Holism to be the most accurate and the fact that ART, of all people, is actually jealous of Holism speaking to Murderbot.

Absolute delight.

[rosewind2007]

Got to say that the behaviour of Holism* at the end of System Collapse only reinforces my head-canon that the reason Iris said “You’re Peri’s SecUnit” in Network Effect is that ART had a serious case of mentionitis when it got back from the Ganaka Pit adventure and that a sign similar to this was in fact on display in the the argument lounge…

* A message came back: I could help you learn about it, if you’re interested.

ART said, Stop talking to it.

I think it’s just bored, I said.

I don’t give a shit, ART said.

Holism was like ART. (An enormous asshole who thought it was omniscient.)

Also, an enormous asshole which wants to get to know Murderbot rather better…

[uss-junote]

[paging-possum]

Holism please come back bestie I miss you. And your lack of game.

[ehyehyhwhh]

Show up fully, as you are. That is the real work. What resonates, will gravitate.