How polite are you to Siri? Do you say your “pleases” and “thank yous” to Alexa? Do you treat ChatGPT like a friend or a servant? In the AI age, these aren’t just matters for etiquette experts, but debates that challenge the nature of humanity. The emergence of non-human intelligence confronts us with plenty of philosophical questions, but will Murderbot, a new Apple TV+ series about a rogue machine exploring our mortal realm, provide any answers?
Security Unit 238776431 (Alexander Skarsgård) is a hi-tech droid, deployed to protect workers on a remote mining expedition, somewhere in the dark, unexplored recesses of the galaxy. “I was built to obey humans,” his internal monologue announces. “And humans? Well, they’re a**holes.” So, when he discovers that he can hack and override the protocol that forces him to obey orders, he re-christens himself Murderbot and uses his newfound freedom the only way he knows how: to watch reruns of the schlocky space opera, The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon. But when the beat-up old robot finds himself deployed with a ship crewed by renegades from the pacifist Preservation Alliance, led by Dr Ayda Mensah (Noma Dumezweni), he finds his uncanny lack of emotion tested. Maybe not all humans are a**holes after all.
