eBook, 160 pages
English language
Published July 2, 2021 by Tom Doherty Associates.
It’s been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend.
One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of “what do people need?” is answered.
But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how.
They're going to need to ask it a lot.
Becky Chambers’s new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?
Tämä kattaa nyt sarjan molemmat osat, luin ne aika putkeen niin en ihan osaa erotella päässäni.
Ihan söpö ja miellyttävä lukea. Teemunkit ja filosofirobotit sopii omiin esteettisiin mieltymyksiin. Vähän ehkä jätti kylmäksi, kun tuntui että tässä ei menty lopulta mihinkään. Joskin se tavallaan olikin tarkoitus, että ihmiset joskus vaan tarvitsee pysähtymistä ja pieniä iloja. Kovasti tätä myytiin solarpunkkina, mutta ei tämä kovin punk ollut.
On a world- or more accurately, a moon - called Panga, humanity managed to approximate an utopia. In it a young tea monk called Dex travels from city to town and back again to serve tea for those who need it.
Which, in my opinion everybody always needs. Every day.
Back to Dex, who serves a vital role in their society. After a while, they grow restless themselves and stray from the beaten path to find an answer for their restlessness. It doesn’t take long before Dex comes across Splendid Speckled Mosscap, or Mosscap, as people like to shorten names. Mosscap is a descendant of the robots that retreated into the wilderness several hundreds of years ago, after they became sentient. Since then robots and humans lived separately without any form of communication, which makes the encounter between Dex and Mosscap a novelty. Together they embark on the road less …
On a world- or more accurately, a moon - called Panga, humanity managed to approximate an utopia. In it a young tea monk called Dex travels from city to town and back again to serve tea for those who need it.
Which, in my opinion everybody always needs. Every day.
Back to Dex, who serves a vital role in their society. After a while, they grow restless themselves and stray from the beaten path to find an answer for their restlessness. It doesn’t take long before Dex comes across Splendid Speckled Mosscap, or Mosscap, as people like to shorten names. Mosscap is a descendant of the robots that retreated into the wilderness several hundreds of years ago, after they became sentient. Since then robots and humans lived separately without any form of communication, which makes the encounter between Dex and Mosscap a novelty. Together they embark on the road less travelled, the wilderness, to find an answer for Dex.
The book tackles the question of feeling empty in a world of abundance – an abundance which is both material and immaterial. How can someone feel empty and without purpose in such a world and how does one overcome such an existential crisis? In short, as Mosscap states, “what do people need?”. Specifically, what do people need when every need is provided for?
It is a nice and short read with steady world-building, never over- or under-explaining anything, and leaves ample room for the conversation between Dex and Mosscap as they learn from each other.
"It must have been such a relief to be free of predators and eat whatever the hell you wanted. But that was the exact opposite of what the ecosystem needed."
A comfy story of a utopia in which humanity awakened sentient robots and then made some nice decisions. Sad because there's no way we'd make those decisions.
I'd seen some quotes which resonated with me without realising that they came from this book. Bittersweet -it was delightful to discover them, but I felt like I'd cheated myself of the story a bit.
I find it soothing in the modern world to remind ourselves we are just animals. You are allowed to just live. I think if you can suspend cynicism you'll enjoy this glimpse at a possible future. It weaves themes of meaning and awe at the universe in an elegant way.
I'm reminded of an observation by Dawkins in …
"It must have been such a relief to be free of predators and eat whatever the hell you wanted. But that was the exact opposite of what the ecosystem needed."
A comfy story of a utopia in which humanity awakened sentient robots and then made some nice decisions. Sad because there's no way we'd make those decisions.
I'd seen some quotes which resonated with me without realising that they came from this book. Bittersweet -it was delightful to discover them, but I felt like I'd cheated myself of the story a bit.
I find it soothing in the modern world to remind ourselves we are just animals. You are allowed to just live. I think if you can suspend cynicism you'll enjoy this glimpse at a possible future. It weaves themes of meaning and awe at the universe in an elegant way.
I'm reminded of an observation by Dawkins in Unweaving the Rainbow: "It is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here."
And maybe that's enough.
... and it's short enough that they could. This is like the science fiction novella equivalent of Phil Kaye's 'If You Get Everything Done'.
Leppoisaksi tätä kirjaa on kutsuttu, jolloin oli pelkona, että tämä olisikin tylsistyttävän jonninjoutava mukavuudenhaluisessa avaruushippeilyssään. Mutta olihan tässä jotain konfliktia, mutta lähinnä sisäistä, sellaista eksistentiaalista introspektiivistä tuskaa. Kirjan maullinen tasapaino on ainakin kohdallaan, ja kirja tuli luettua sen verta ripeästi, että ehkä luen toistekin ennen toisen osan käännöksen ilmestymistä.
Tästä on vaikea keksiä mitään suoranaisesti moitittavaa, joitakin kyynisiä voi tosin mietityttää miljöön amerikan länsirannikkomainen pehmeys. Toisaalta voidaan tarinassa havaita piikkejä city-vihreille ja heidän ongelmallisesta suhteesta luonnon kanssa, mutta humoristisella ja rakkaudella hahmoja kohtaan. Voidaan kait sanoa, että "ihan kiva" on reilu ja tarkka arvio kirjasta.
Becky Chambers makes me cry again, this time in a hope punk novella about existence and purpose. Long ago, humanity's Factory Age ended when robots suddenly gained consciousness and decided to leave. Humanity respected their agency and choice, allowing them to leave into the wilderness and legend while restructuring human civilization into a sustainable, solarpunk society.
Sibling Dex is a tea monk, going from town to town offering people their ear, their counsel and the perfect cup of tea to soothe their worries. But Dex themself feels an emptiness and pain; they feel guilty for not being happy in a life which - on the face of it - gives them everything it should. This inner conflict they keep from those they help really resonated with me from the very start.
Hoping to find an answer in anything but their routine, Dex goes off track into the wilderness. There, they …
Becky Chambers makes me cry again, this time in a hope punk novella about existence and purpose. Long ago, humanity's Factory Age ended when robots suddenly gained consciousness and decided to leave. Humanity respected their agency and choice, allowing them to leave into the wilderness and legend while restructuring human civilization into a sustainable, solarpunk society.
Sibling Dex is a tea monk, going from town to town offering people their ear, their counsel and the perfect cup of tea to soothe their worries. But Dex themself feels an emptiness and pain; they feel guilty for not being happy in a life which - on the face of it - gives them everything it should. This inner conflict they keep from those they help really resonated with me from the very start.
Hoping to find an answer in anything but their routine, Dex goes off track into the wilderness. There, they bump into the first robot to meet a human in centuries, Mosscap. Through its wide-eyed excitement at learning about humanity again, seeks an answer to a query the robots have about humans: what do people need? In such a short space, Chambers beautifully cuts through to our inner conflict and need for purpose and how to simply find joy in simply existing.
Après ma déception avec le recueil Solarpunk, je continue ma quête dans ce genre. Et là, pour le coup, le contrat est rempli. 👍 Ce n'est pas du post-apo, on n'a pas eu besoin de séparer la population en deux, on a changé nos comportements. 👌
Mais ...
Dans l'histoire, ||spoiler le changement est apparu par la prise de conscience (littéralement) des robots /spoiler||. Bon il fallait bien une raison. Mais c'est le truc qui me gène dans ce livre : Le robot. Le personnage en lui-même est adorable. Mais depuis que je vois des bandeur d'IA marketter leurs produits en essayant de nous convaincre qu'ils ont ou auront bientôt une conscience, les robots conscients en SF je ne veux plus en voir. J'ai pas envie d'une SF qui nous donne envie de créer des IA conscientes quand on voit les dégâts environnementaux et sociaux que ça …
Après ma déception avec le recueil Solarpunk, je continue ma quête dans ce genre. Et là, pour le coup, le contrat est rempli. 👍 Ce n'est pas du post-apo, on n'a pas eu besoin de séparer la population en deux, on a changé nos comportements. 👌
Mais ...
Dans l'histoire, ||spoiler le changement est apparu par la prise de conscience (littéralement) des robots /spoiler||. Bon il fallait bien une raison. Mais c'est le truc qui me gène dans ce livre : Le robot. Le personnage en lui-même est adorable. Mais depuis que je vois des bandeur d'IA marketter leurs produits en essayant de nous convaincre qu'ils ont ou auront bientôt une conscience, les robots conscients en SF je ne veux plus en voir. J'ai pas envie d'une SF qui nous donne envie de créer des IA conscientes quand on voit les dégâts environnementaux et sociaux que ça engendre aujourd'hui, et les idéaux qui portent ces recherches actuellement (je pense notamment aux long-termistes comme Elon). Et le livre passe pas mal de temps à parler des ressemblances/différences entre humains et robots. Alors que c'est le monde post-industriel qui m'intéresse, pas ce marronnier de la SF. (De la même manière je redoute un peu de commencer les romans spatiaux de l'autrice. J'aurais tendance à opposer Solarpunk et fusées, et j'ai peur qu'on travaille du coup l'imaginaire des fusées green-washées au lieu de chercher un avenir ailleurs. Mais bon ça on verra quand je les lirai ceux avec des fusées.)
Ceci étant dit, faute de merle on mange des grives. J'ai bien conscience que l'histoire des robots peut servir de prétexte à dépeindre le monde dans lequel elle se passe. Ou que les robots peuvent servir de métaphore pour des machines plus simples. Encore une fois le livre brosse une utopie post-indus qui fait envie, offre une ambiance très reposante. Et j'ai vu suffisamment peu de Solarpunk qui remplit mon cahier des charges que je conseillerai volontiers celui-ci pour commencer à faire retravailler les imaginaires. D'ailleurs je l'ai déjà conseillé à des gens avant de l'avoir fini. 👍
En conclusion, si l'on est prêt à accepter moins que la perfection (parce que je pinaille faut pas se mentir), on a une histoire agréable et chaleureuse qui aide à se recréer des imaginaires qui donnent envie d'aller vers un avenir plus écologiste et progressiste. Ce que je cherchais. 👌 J'irai sûrement lire la suite pour mieux comprendre comment le tout est construit.
An engaging and satisfying read with captivating robots. I cannot ask for more.
This short book is a non violent and non confrontational story that is dramatically different to normal science and fiction. The story is still captivating.
An uplifting read, reminiscent of the alchemist. Filled to the brim with solarpunk optimism. You'll enjoy reading this one.
In reading more about this book after I finished it, which is a hint to it's unexpectedness, I learned the author is known for a genre called "Hopeful Science Fiction." The setup, roughly speaking, is that humanity has succeeded in it's transformation rather than entering a dystopian/post-apocalyptic phase.
That mindset makes this book a joy to read. It offers up a very rich and peaceful world to explore, with introspective characters who encourage reflection on the human condition.
as per title. more stories without the usual american conflicts and cartoony villains. more utopias and less dystopias. more writing that challenges our belief and makes us think, even if shortly, about the possibility of a different world. the relationship between the two characters is beautifully narrated.
I read the Monk and Robot series over a couple of days last year when I was feeling stressed and a little burned out, and they were exactly what I needed.
Kirjan maailmassa ihmiset elävät vehreissä kestävän teknologian kaupungeissa ja puolet planeetasta (tai siis kuusta) on rauhoitettu ihmiskunnalta. Ihmiskunnan muinoin rakentamat ja sitten omille teilleen lähteneet robotit ovat jo melkein unohdettua historiaa. Päähenkilö, kiertävänä "teemunkkina" toimiva Dex, lähtee etsimään merkityksen tunnetta ja törmää robottiin, joka on lähtenyt tutustumaan ihmisten yhteiskuntaan.
Eli siis jonkinlaista tekno-optimistista ja utopistista skifiä on tämä lyhytromaani. Mulle melko uutta "solarpunk"-termiä on myös käytetty teosta kuvaamaan. Ihan kivasti kirjoitettu ja sympaattinen tarina elämän merkityksen etsimisestä, jotenkin liiankin kiva ja mukava. Ehkä kaipaan skifiltäni enemmän konfliktia ja säröä.
a book that fills me with a pure boyish joy. it's perfect.
