(Normally I comment on new/strange journals with an explanation of how I found them, but the honest truth is that between Yuletide & the Tumblr migration I have about 23048232 tabs open and I can't remember how I got to any of them, so: Hi, stranger! I have no idea how I found you!)
I am super invested in AI/robot narratives, and this pins down a distinction within them that I hadn't made so specifically before but do recognize. It was something that really bothered me in the graphic novel Alex + Ada, which a story about a robot waifu/sexbot/personal assistant whose sentience is liberated by her owner. When the newly-liberated android meets some established free androids, one of them says:
"I specialize in robot alterations. A lot of freedroids discover they don't identify with the bodies or genders they started out with, or any gender at all. Some reject looking human altogether. It gives us a way to take control of our lives."
And this never comes up again; more, the comic is a romance between a cis white dude and a pretty robot lady. So, nevermind, I guess! It's not a bad comic, but it's not in the least transgressive, and transgression is important to the trope for precisely the reasons you discuss.
Two other narratives worth your consideration (this doesn't mean I recommend Alex + Ada, btw. It fulfills "aggressively doesn't fit," but probably doesn't do enough with the issue to merit reading):
Elizabeth Bear's Jacob's Ladder series engages this in similar ways as does Yoon Ha Lee's Machineries of Empire: not everyone is an AI, but some people are, and transhumanism/issues of the body within space/society are a big thing. And it's super queer.
Rachel Swirsky's "Eros, Philia, Agape": Woman purchases an AI companion with malleable programming which is able to adapt itself to her desires as it matures; falls in love with the AI, and gives him the ability to control is own maturation. I guess you could say it's explicitly about an android being given the choice to accept or reject social guidance. It's a novelette, free as podcast or online.
And for further reading, you may want to look into A Future Worth Thinking about, the work of Damien William. "I've been writing, talking, thinking, teaching, and learning about philosophy, comparative religion, magic, artificial intelligence, human physical and mental augmentation, pop culture, and how they all relate." His work can be repetitive in content just because of the nature of its publication (a lot of interview podcasts/overviews, etc.), but it also means you can start anywhere. The podcasts tag may be useful.
And it's highly relevant! The major overarching theme of his work may be "the future is transgressive" (and "if we don't want to perpetuate the evils of the past it has to be").
Apologies for a wall of text! But you've hit on something fantastic, and I love it.
no subject
I am super invested in AI/robot narratives, and this pins down a distinction within them that I hadn't made so specifically before but do recognize. It was something that really bothered me in the graphic novel Alex + Ada, which a story about a robot waifu/sexbot/personal assistant whose sentience is liberated by her owner. When the newly-liberated android meets some established free androids, one of them says:
"I specialize in robot alterations. A lot of freedroids discover they don't identify with the bodies or genders they started out with, or any gender at all. Some reject looking human altogether. It gives us a way to take control of our lives."
And this never comes up again; more, the comic is a romance between a cis white dude and a pretty robot lady. So, nevermind, I guess! It's not a bad comic, but it's not in the least transgressive, and transgression is important to the trope for precisely the reasons you discuss.
Two other narratives worth your consideration (this doesn't mean I recommend Alex + Ada, btw. It fulfills "aggressively doesn't fit," but probably doesn't do enough with the issue to merit reading):
Elizabeth Bear's Jacob's Ladder series engages this in similar ways as does Yoon Ha Lee's Machineries of Empire: not everyone is an AI, but some people are, and transhumanism/issues of the body within space/society are a big thing. And it's super queer.
Rachel Swirsky's "Eros, Philia, Agape": Woman purchases an AI companion with malleable programming which is able to adapt itself to her desires as it matures; falls in love with the AI, and gives him the ability to control is own maturation. I guess you could say it's explicitly about an android being given the choice to accept or reject social guidance. It's a novelette, free as podcast or online.
And for further reading, you may want to look into A Future Worth Thinking about, the work of Damien William. "I've been writing, talking, thinking, teaching, and learning about philosophy, comparative religion, magic, artificial intelligence, human physical and mental augmentation, pop culture, and how they all relate." His work can be repetitive in content just because of the nature of its publication (a lot of interview podcasts/overviews, etc.), but it also means you can start anywhere. The podcasts tag may be useful.
And it's highly relevant! The major overarching theme of his work may be "the future is transgressive" (and "if we don't want to perpetuate the evils of the past it has to be").
Apologies for a wall of text! But you've hit on something fantastic, and I love it.