Re: Nebula finalists 2018

On 1/22/2025 11:24 PM, Chris Buckley wrote:
[snip]

I happened to read _All Systems Red_ within a couple of days of it
coming out since I like Wells. I re-read it that day (it's short). The
next day I reported it here as the most enjoyable book I had read in
several years. It's that good.

I had a more muted -- but still positive -- reaction. Back in 2021 I wrote:
I thought it was well written and quite funny in places but a little thin. Still, it was pretty good overall. It probably worked better for people who found the protagonist highly relatable.
It got me thinking about the fact that fictional non-humans (robots, aliens, etc) are often fascinated with human culture. It probably tells us something about the current state of humans, but I am not sure what it is. I too find it attractive at the visceral level, but why? Is it a mammalian thing – we just want to cuddle? A psychological self-defense mechanism because otherwise we would be facing implacable, almost Lovecraftian, forces out in the cold of space? A desire for external affirmation, for someone to tell us that what we have produced is of universal value and not just a bunch of monkeys prancing in the dirt?