#sexbots

No shade to the ladies (and gents) who decide to go chrome over meat. I've seen men too. I...like make not a machine in the likeness of a human mind and all that, but also yeah sure fuck em I guess.

Also, a friend of mine wrote a book on robot sex.

This is what I have to Deal with on Tumblr almost Everyday...

*NOTE - if there's someone you think should be on here but isn't, it's most likely because they either weren't submitted, are already in the tournament or were eliminated in a previous poll (RIP Fisto)

Also the term "sex robot" is used somewhat loosely here and includes robots where sex isn't necessarily their primary function.

So in Artificial Condition ART suggests (you know, the way friends do) that it hack a couple of centimeters of length out of our SecUnit’s arms and legs.

This is something Martha Wells is a little bit uncertain about, is it 2cm from each limb or 2cm overall the texts are:

SecUnit modifications:

“After a lot of argument, we agreed the easiest change for the best result was to take two centimeters of length out of my legs and arms. It doesn’t sound like a big change, but it meant my physical proportions would no longer match Unit standard.”

Artificial Condition

“My friend ART had changed my configuration, removing up to a centimeter from my arms and legs so I wouldn’t match a scan for SecUnit standard body shape.”

Exit Strategy

But, hey: unreliable narrator/unreliable author? Does it matter (yes, yes it does but possibly only to me).

MUCH MORE IMPORTANTLY, EYELASHES!

“Then ART said we also needed to change the code controlling my organic parts, so they could grow hair.

My first reaction to that was no fucking way.

I had hair on my head, and eyebrows;

that was a part of SecUnit configuration that was shared with sexbots, though the code controlling it kept SecUnit head hair short to keep it from interfering with the armor.”

Hair on head and eyebrows (which BTW get a whole lot more mentions than most human attributes, Mensah is the master of the pointed eyebrow)…no mention of eyelashes. Which is just rather weird in that I don’t include eyelashes in with eyebrows or head hair… And eyes without eyelashes (as with individuals with alopecia universalis such as Tómas Lemarquis) are quite distinctive (also see eyelash loss in people with madarosis, milphosis (a falling out of the eyelashes), alopecia adnata (an underdevelopment of the eyelashes), and hypotrichosis (a reduction in hair numbers).

Some people apparently don’t notice eyelashes? I think ART would argue with you (ART had done some analysis and come up with a list of biological features that humans might notice subliminally. Hair was the only one we could change my underlying code to create). So does Martha Wells just not mention eyelashes? It’s strange that an author who is thinking about the subliminal response of humans to “the fine, sparse hair humans had on parts of their skin” and who mentions head hair and eyebrows DOESN’T mention eyelashes? I means she literally writes:

“I had hair on my head, and eyebrows; that was a part of SecUnit configuration that was shared with sexbots…”

Is this just Murderbot not mentioning its eyelashes because they make it think of ComfortUnits (which is the preferred term, thank you MB)? That’s actually feasible, it does get really touchy about that, like when Gurathin asks why it doesn’t like them looking at it:

My jaw was so tight it triggered a performance reliability alert in my feed. I said, “You don’t need to look at me. I’m not a sexbot.”

Ratthi made a noise, half sigh, half snort of exasperation. It wasn’t directed at me. He said, “Gurathin, I told you. It’s shy.”

Which is another one of those situations where…really Ratthi? (I love Ratthi, but sometimes)

So eyelashes?

Does Murderbot simply not have them until ART modifies its code? Possible-yes most people would this (there is a huge eyelash focused cosmetic industry based on this) BUT considering we get a lot of “I didn’t even know it had a face!” reacts, or “I’ve never seen one out of armor. They really do look human.” so I guess this is plausible?

Or does Murderbot have beautiful long eyelashes which it hate hates hates so much that it doesn’t mention them, associating them with “the other constructs” which is doesn’t even like to think about or name? Also feasible.

Or from a Doylist perspective did Martha Wells just forget we have these cilia around our eyes? Possible? Seems odd in a section all about the subliminal human response to things like vellum hairs? Did Martha Wells just think it was an extra detail that was unnecessary? Again: seems odd in a section about SecUnit appearance. But hey, she forgot who Tapan was, those 2cms are a bit random and there are the feet… I find the Doylist “the author forgot” a bit dismissive, anyway WHY did they forget.

So: what do you think?