I had my oldest grandson over today. I spent about three hours in the morning clearing snow from the driveways and the afternoon and evening watching a science fiction tv series that he liked. It’s called “Murderbot” and it’s about a cyborg that figures out how to override the “governor” that forces him to obey and protect humans. The series is based on books that my grandson read and liked. It was somewhat a black comedy because the cyborg finds humans incredibly annoying and so he is sorely tempted to do them harm from time to time. He is also disgusted by most human speech and emotional activities, finding affection and sexual behavior especially nauseating.
And so the plot puts him in contact with a group of humans that can only be described as woke hippies. They’re constantly virtue signaling about their sexuality and politics and thereby annoying the “SecUnit” (security unit) almost constantly which triggers him to complain internally and that provides most of the monologue of the show.
And the SecUnit is further incensed when his actions to keep the hippies safe requires him to kill cyborgs and humans who are actively hunting. The audience sees the absurdity of this squeamishness but the hippies are just too pacifistic to understand. But by the end of the season, they learn the value of fighting back and SecUnit becomes a valued part of their group. Well, I can’t say I didn’t despise the hippies but the cyborg was an amusing protagonist.
Afterwards we talked about fiction publishing and how short stories are currently shared on the internet (for free). He mentioned a story he was reading that had a character that finds a sentient being that resembles a tin can but is possessed of tremendous cosmic powers. I told him it reminded me of a short story called “The Sack” about an omniscient being found by humans on an asteroid that could answer almost any question and how that becomes the cause of an interplanetary battle.
Then we talked for a while about joining the work force because he graduates college in May. I told him a story about some mistakes I made during a job interview and how maybe they worked to my advantage in the long run. And we talked about crafting a resume. I had a story about how maybe insanity may have played a hand in one of the first jobs I got. A distant relative added some text to my resume using the phrase “tenacity of purpose.” And this phrase was mentioned by my prospective boss’s boss as one of the things that attracted them to my application. At a later date I could confirm that both the relative that came up with that phrase and the manager who liked it were both certifiably insane. Maybe that was a good thing. But it has to make you think about how bizarre circumstance plays a role in moving our lives in the directions they go. I told my grandson to use that phrase “tenacity of purpose” with care since apparently it attracts the crazies.
An interesting day.