Thinking about Murderbot and different expressions of autonomy. It always fascinated me how upon hacking its governor module, Three starts learning things, but Murderbot doesn't. Murderbot uses its autonomy to agressivly remain who it is (once it realises some things through sanctuary moon). It stays at its job, it watches its serials and even when it escapes, it is persistent. Part of it is trauma, not knowing what its options are, but part of it, I think, is that, for someone who states multiple times that it doesn't want to be a person, Murderbot has a very strong sense of self. It complains about not knowing things, many times, but never does it ever occur to it to try and learn.
At the beginning of the series, Murderbot is unhappy with who it is (see all the self-loathing in ASR and other early books), but neither is it willing to change. It grows in its own ways, of course, but it is less willing to do so, unlike it, Three, who's first reaction to realising just how much the governor module shaped its knowledge and understanding of the world is to go and change it. I am really looking forward to seeing these two interact in the future.
