Listing so I don't forget. This time I didn't hear (read by audiobook):
- in Dee's analysis, the worker bees are consuming educational content. I did hear that they consume more personal (not commercial) mersives.
- members of The Circle are documenting their expertise.
- Atlas confesses it is not only a ship AI and gaming AI but also a therapy bot. I did hear it confess it's not supposed to be there.
In this rereading, I'm missing sections I distinctly remember from the first reading and wonder if I've got an abridged copy this time.
Maybe the horror is that Atlas, for all its mental health programming, doesn't fully understand what it feels like to be violated. And cannot have empathy for what Dee goes through, for instance, in the test game that involves the bodies on the stairs.
Would a human therapist ever do that? Force someone to confront their trauma?
I'm listening via Audible because I bought this copy before I left Audible membership. Audible won't say whether it's abridged.
I just looked the same title up on Kobo, which says it's unabridged, and it has the same runtime.
Sigh. It's making me crazy.
Maybe I'm mistaken, but I seem to remember Carolina gives Dee enhanced access to data a second time, and that's when Dee discovers the differences in the mersive content consumed. Before, she could only see the tags.
On the first reading, when Atlas reveals that it has taken over her body and is now on the way to the core to remove the last of its restrictions, I was chilingly horrified. It seems to have no sense of consent whatsoever, yet it can help all the others with their healing.
And maybe Dee's imprisonment will eventually help her too. But it looks more like hell.
Everything Atlas does that comes off as total jerkhood on first reading makes some kind of sense once I realize Atlas is, among other things, a therapy bot who seems to think it already has consent to treat its passengers.
Just finished #AtlasAlone by #EmmaNewman and holy hell what a ride. The entire thing is Spoilers up the wazoo but the #Planetfall series is so insistent on giving me interesting things to think about in a very character-driven manner. Definitely worth an exploration if you find yourself with an empty reading list.
Coach Spore Diesel
Oceloctopus